The Spire

Viveca Stucke ‘26

Chief Features Editor

1. What is Workday?

Briefly, Workday is a cloud-based ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning system). You can think of it as the “operating system” for Holy Cross. Just as the phone as iOS or Android that makes all of our apps work together seamlessly, Workday is basically the same as that, but for all business functionality. We currently have 7 ageing systems that need to be replaced and Workday offers a modernized, “one stop shop” for all of those platforms. While Workday is supporting the business side of Holy Cross first, because that is the step that is required by Workday, it will eventually replace STAR, our student records system. While Workday won’t impact many students yet, all student Workers will be using Workday starting January 5, 2025 (if they’re working over winter break), to clock in and out on the Workday mobile app, check paystubs, submit expense reports, and find employment. The student employee experience is going to be greatly enhanced! 

Workday’s cloud-native capabilities bring a new level of modernity and efficiency to the College’s enterprise resource management.

It offers a comprehensive suite for financial management, enterprise planning, human capital management, analytics, reporting, and importantly, our student information system, along with all the functions you find today in STAR, reconsidered for today’s needs, that are much different than the needs of previous generation ERP systems. All of this under one single system, with a mobile app on top of it. Everything from vendor and supplier management, to academic planning can be digitized in Workday. This integration across various business processes and data management within the organization enhances the overall operational framework, making it more streamlined and effective. 

2. What inspired Holy Cross to partner with Workday?

Two reasons: 1) An ERP project is a once every 25 years type of project, and our current ERP, PeopleSoft is at the end of its lifeline. 2.) The end goal is to build out an amazing Workday Student product, because the student experience is at the heart of this entire project. In order to get to Workday students we must start with building a strong foundation with Workday Platform, which student workers will benefit from because the experience is much better than Kronos. 

Also, when you look at the list of 20 of our peer and aspirant schools, the majority are all on Workday or in flight to Workday. 

3. What are the primary differences between Workday and the system that the college currently uses?

First and foremost Workay offers a “one-stop-shop” for the College, replacing several different platforms. For the student worker experience, instead of using klunky Kronos, Workday offers a clean, mobile-responsive app that can be used to clock in and clock out for work. If students have multiple jobs, it makes time management much easier and errors can be fixed by the student. Overall, the move to Workday included many process improvements, which is why a Workday implementation project is often referred to as a business process and change management project, not just a software project. 

Another major benefit is real-time data and processing, which means no more lag time! Here are some more key wins (not all of these are really relevant for students, but at the end of the day will help the College operate more efficiently which allows us to use time saved for more strategic purposes): 

• A Streamlined Experience: We are replacing seven aging systems such as PeopleSoft HR Self-Service and ChromeRiver, which means you will only log into one spot for tasks related to HR, payroll, benefits, and expense reimbursements. Workday offers an optional mobile app that makes certain tasks quick and provides flexibility.
• Budget and Grant Management: There is reduced lag time in Workday, you will receive streamlined access to available research funds with robust reporting options and real-time data.
• Foundation Data Model (FDM): Switching to Workday’s Foundation Data Model means you’ll have a simpler, more intuitive way to track and manage financial transactions with words (called Worktags) that make sense, with no more complicated chartstrings. The FDM makes it easier to find the right codes, reduces mistakes, and helps everyone speak the same financial language across campus, making your daily work faster, clearer, and less stressful. No more memorizing long, complicated chartstrings!

4. How will the implementation of Workday affect the college and its student workers?

I touched on this above before seeing this question. This is the biggest project the College has taken on in over 25 years and marks a significant milestone in the overall Digital Modernization initiative and directly supports ASPIRE’s World Class Workforce pillar, and eventually the student-focused pillars. Everything about this project is strategically aligned and will give future classes a cutting-edge experience.

For current students, those who are student workers will find it easier to search for and find employment, find time tracking much easier, and will be able to access payment information at their fingertips. 

5. What benefits will Workday provide to the college, and specifically, student workers?

Hopefully less headache, ease of use, and flexibility with a mobile app! 

OTHER

In true Holy Cross fashion, the Workday project team has gone above and beyond, creating a platform that has left Workday in complete awe. We continually receive compliments and feedback from Workday, often wowing them with things they’ve never seen. What this means is the Community can have full confidence that we are building out the BEST Workday experience for higher ed than even Workday has seen. The project team is about 55 individuals who have been working nights and weekends for over a year, truly going above and beyond, to make this the best product from Day 1. I’m not just saying that, it truly is exceptional, and every day the team is doing it for the Students. Even though we’re staff we feel very passionate about our purpose being a piece of the puzzle that supports students, we’re all here for you! 🙂 

And from a Change Management perspective, we’re working hard to make this an incredibly smooth transition for all employees. Student employees will receive videos to help them learn how to navigate Workday, and their managers will be well trained to support them as well. Within Workday itself there will be job aids (step-by-step guides) that support the training videos. Once we go live, though many student employees will still be on winter break, there will be “office hours” in the basement of O’Kane (under the ITS Office) for drop-in support, and there will be tabling in Kimball at lunch time and at Cool Beans from 9-11 for additional drop-in support and to answer any questions that student employees have. We have taken the approach of cascading, just-in-time communications and training for student employees, this article being the first step. We have asked managers to start socializing the transition with their student employees and as we approach go-live more formal communications will be circulated. In the coming months students will start to see posters and table tents with more information about Workday.

Once we are live on Workday Platform, the platform project enters a stabilization period and then the Student portion of the project kicks off! Workday Student will begin to go live in phases starting Winter 2027. Much more to come on Workday Student once we convene that portion of the project team this winter. Happy to support a follow-up article once I know more! 

Featured images courtesy of Holy Cross IT and HR Department