As we roll out Workday Student in AY2024-25, the Sunrise team is focused on preparing faculty, staff and students for the transition.
What is readiness?
The Sunrise team is planning several major activities to help our community “get ready” to use Workday.
Readiness will be different for individuals versus schools and units. For a school or unit to be ready, they need to understand what key changes mean for operations, including employee roles, policies, processes and systems.
Individuals should be aware of what is changing for them and why. They also should know what training is available, how to complete it and where to get help, if needed.
Explore these pages to learn what to do for your role:
The benefit of a product like Workday is that it is always evolving. We all need to be prepared to use a system that will continually change. Learning will be ongoing, and proficiency will come over time.
Readiness activities
Sunrise readiness activities have been underway since early 2022, starting with Change Impact and Configuration Review sessions with the project’s governance and campus teams.
As we roll out Workday, the larger university community has opportunities to preview changes in Workday by attending our Sneak Peek webinar series, participating in Mock enRoll and using our training resources.
Upcoming Activities
Training
Training for Workday Student will be sustainable because Workday is always changing. We are providing training and support through a variety of methods and tools to meet the varying needs of users across WashU.
Many of our Workday Student training materials are online and readily accessible to students, faculty and staff on the Workday@WashU website. Online, computer-based learning programs tailored to specific groups are now available on Workday Learning.
Instructor-led training (ILT), both in-person and virtual, will focus on heavy users and complex activities.Training will continue to be delivered as system functionality is released, and reinforced by office hours as groups start using the new system for the first time.
In addition to support on Workday@WashU, we will offer help through our ticketing system, ServiceNow, and the Workday help line at 314-935-WDAY (9329).
Learn more about training and support during our go-live year »
Completed Activities
Mock enRoll
Mock enRoll was an open house event where students and those who support were able to experience using Workday Student.
Participants also received a “backstage pass” to continue to explore Workday until Jan. 10, 2025. This gives everyone the opportunity to dive deeper into the different ways they’ll use the system.
Workday Student Sneak Peeks
Workday Student Sneak Peeks were an opportunity for the broader university community to see and experience what’s coming with Workday.
These sessions allowed faculty and staff to learn about the move to Workday Student, understand what is changing and why, preview tasks/processes in the system, understand how to view relevant data, and understand where and how to get help.
Recordings and Q&A from previous sessions available for viewing »
Change Impact Validation
Change impact sessions played an essential part in school and unit readiness. Throughout the project, the Student Sunrise tracked changes anticipated from the transition to Workday Student and reviewed them with IT leaders, steering committee and campus teams members from the schools and academic units.
These conversations were designed to ensure the project team, as well as school and unit leaders, understood the effects of changes on key stakeholder groups like faculty, advisors, registrars and students.
The goal with these sessions was to give our schools, academic units and the university a consolidated picture of what’s changing, for whom and why. Feedback from these sessions informs plans for future communications, system preview events like the Workday Student Sneak Peeks, and training.
Learn more about change impact validation sessions »
Configuration Review
The Sunrise team hosted two rounds of configuration review sessions in 2023 with the project’s steering committee and campus teams to gather feedback from those who contributed to the system design process.
System demonstrations helped Workday Student “come to life” and showed how requirements from the campus community translated into a system that functions well for WashU specifically.
The sessions also were an opportunity for campus teams members to build their knowledge of other functional areas, as well as for the project to hear feedback on configurations before finalizing system design.
Learn more about configuration review sessions »
Workday Student Workshops
During Workday Student Workshops, a small group of end users piloted select training materials, specifically any tutorials or reference guides that provide step-by-step instructions.
The project’s training team used feedback from the workshops to modify these resources before releasing them.