Advising

WashU leadership has committed to using Workday Student as the universal tool for advising and degree audit across the university.

Adopting one tool for these purposes will create a more streamlined experience for students – especially those studying across schools – as well as the faculty and staff who support them. 

WashU will use Workday Student for the following advising-related activities: 

  • Maintaining academic requirements for programs of study
  • Advisor assignments 
  • Academic planning, including pre-registration support 
  • Academic progress tracking, notes and final degree audit 

Key changes  

Advisor collaboration 

Various types of advisors will use Workday Student, rather than disparate systems or manual processes, to manage advising activities. Advisors will be able to view notes from other advisors assigned to the same student, enabling stronger coordination. 

This convergence of advisors will provide a more centralized, consistent experience for students, particularly those studying across schools or departments.  

Students can easily see who’s in their support network. Advisors have a similar view. Source: Workday Student demo environment. Click to enlarge.

Academic progress tracking

Academic (program) requirements, e.g., courses, number of credit hours, grades, GPA, etc., will be configured in Workday and applied to a student’s record based on their program of study. For example, a student pursuing a master’s in computer science would automatically have that program’s requirements populated on their Workday profile. 

As a student completes each requirement, e.g., passes a course with the required grade, their progress will be reflected on their record. This in-system tracking will make it easier for students and their advisors to see what’s needed to graduate and how a student is progressing. Having academic requirements configured in the system should also streamline the final degree audit process, which is currently a cumbersome activity.  

Workday Student populates a student’s profile with the academic requirements for their program of study. Their progress is automatically updated in the Status column as they enroll in and complete required courses. Source: Workday Student demo environment. Click to enlarge.

Academic planning

Advisors will be able to better support students who study across programs or schools since all programs’ academic requirements will be housed in the same system. For example, a student and their advisor can better evaluate the impact of switching their program of study or adding a minor. 

While some schools currently have academic planning tools available, Workday will consolidate this functionality, creating a more consistent experience for students. Academic plans, as well as backup plans, can be created to plan out academic requirements, i.e., what semester/year to take a particular course. Students can then use their academic plans to develop saved schedules to use during registration. 

Systems

Workday Student will replace all systems, as well as any manual or paper-based processes, currently used for advising and degree audit activities, including advising notes and academic planning. This shift will be a significant change; however, the benefits of unifying our work are anticipated to outweigh the challenges. Read more » 

Systems that will no longer be used for these functions include SIS and its web applications WUachieve, WebAdvising, WebSTAC, WebFAC, as well as school-specific systems, such as PlanIT (Arts & Sciences), BASe (Olin), Brown School Hub, and Schedule Once (Student Affairs and others). 

Reporting

Advisors will be able to view each student’s complete academic record in Workday, providing a comprehensive view of how a student is progressing – without the need to run a report in the traditional sense. They will also be able to track how their advisees are doing collectively through reports and dashboards. 

Example report for an advisor at the fictitious Alma Mater University. Data points include whether a student has any holds, their program of study (if declared), class standing, and GPA. Click to enlarge.

Contacts

Questions?

Please contact Sean McWilliams, our advising change manager, who serves as a liaison between the WashU community and the project.

Alternatively, you can submit questions or comments through this form.

Project team members 

Campus team members 

View the Sunrise campus teams roster to see who’s on the Advising, Degree Audit & Curriculum campus team from your school or unit. Campus team members provide input on how Workday Student is configured and insight into how changes will affect their area.

Learn more about Sunrise campus teams

Related Resources

Current state assessment

Sunrise project work related to advising is informed by an advising current state assessment developed during the Discovery Phase.  

Articles

These articles are from past issues of Sunrise Spotlight, the project’s newsletter.

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