This September, Simmons will reach the first major milestone in our Workday Student implementation. The Workday Student project is deployed in four stages — Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum — and will roll out throughout the remainder of the academic year. Each stage delivers a new set of functionality that builds on prior work. These phases follow methodology recommended by Workday to maximize design and testing time and minimize the need for rework. The Bronze go-live in September includes the foundational, non-transactional elements which serve as a framework for the new student information system.
The Bronze implementation lays the foundation for the rest of the Workday Student project in production and has no immediate impact on the Simmons community’s day-to-day work. No active transactions will be taking place and no student records will be in Workday. This foundation allows for the Simmons community to prepare for testing of registration and other functions later this fall so that the Silver implementation in March goes smoothly.
The Workday Student project implementation is a complex, multiyear collaboration between the Simmons Technology project team and more than 30 representatives from across the Simmons Community. Workgroups have been meeting regularly for the past 18 months to identify requirements, clean data, configure, and test the system to meet the needs of Simmons students, faculty, and staff.
Once complete, Workday Student will replace Colleague/AARC — which has been our student information system for over thirty years — with a platform that is current, flexible, highly integrated, and able to meet the Community’s changing needs.
For questions regarding the Workday Student Project, please contact Jane Ritt.