Workday Success Stories: WSU is a leading voice in conversations about Workday for higher education

WSU is one of many higher education institutions who’ve made the switch to Workday to manage their HR, finance, payroll, reporting, and grants management needs. Sharing similar challenges and the resulting solutions with others – new to Workday and established – has lead WSU to emerge as a trusted voice in peer-led discussions to improve the system.

WSU’s Modernization team frequently joins other universities in collaborating with Workday to identify and offer solutions to commonly shared problems, as well as help plan new functionality to ensure the system continues to evolve to better meet their needs. These institutions include the University of Washington, Arizona State University, The Ohio State University, Louisiana State University, University of Washington – St. Louis, and University of Arkansas.

Here are a few ways WSU is contributing to key conversations about Workday:

Design Partner Groups

Modernization team members and staff from the broader WSU community currently participate in several Design Partner Groups (DPGs). DPGs consist of a group of customers who work with the Workday product team to design and develop new features. Through DPGs, the product team collects customers’ unique business needs and translates them into functional requirements, shaping our product designs and prototypes to improve your experience.

Currently, WSU participates in the following DPGs:

  • Simplifying Proposed Comp in Change Job for Managers
  • Automating Customer Payments and Deposits
  • Payroll Accounting Adjustments
  • Grants Researcher and Department Support Experience
  • Grants Billing and Accounting

WSU is also an active member of Workday’s Salary Over the Cap focus group.

Workday Community

WSU Modernization analysts are also regular participants in Workday Community, an online platform for customers to connect with one another and with Workday, to receive updates, identify or raise known issues, and seek peer input on shared questions or concerns.

Ideas shared in Workday Community have the opportunity to impact system design, and Modernization analysts actively submit and campaign for ideas that address the issues our staff face.

One-on-one conversations

The Modernization Change and Communications team also receives requests from numerous institutions preparing to launch Workday to share our approach to change management, communications, training, and support. Change and Communications discusses what did and didn’t work during WSU’s launch to help others prepare for their own implementations.

Colleges and universities across the United States subscribe to WSU’s Workday Digest, which has become a widely respected communication throughout the Workday higher education community. 

WSU focus groups and workgroups

Modernization focus groups gather users from different areas of WSU to discuss their experiences using certain Workday functionalities. Participants in these groups share their lessons learned, common pain points, and solutions to help one another use Workday to its fullest potential. Feedback from these groups helps to serve the university, including the development and improvement of existing process, training materials and resources, and awareness of events.

Examples of WSU focus groups include the grants reporting workgroup and project specific workgroups like banking, Adaptive Planning, and Contract Lifecycle Management.

WSU’s Commitment to Continued Collaboration

WSU is committed to the continued improvement of Workday for users across the university system.

Our collaboration with other universities and Workday product developers allows us to bring your concerns, feedback, and interests to the forefront of key conversations that have the power to shape the future of Workday for WSU. Recently, Gerik Kimble, Modernization Director, presented to the Workday Global Higher Education User Group (GHEUG) and has been selected to join the GHEUG leadership team.

WSU employees may submit ideas and feedback at any time at the Workday Service Desk.

This article is part of our Workday Success Stories series. Since the launch of Workday in 2020, we’ve been keeping track of the ways our new system has changed how we work at WSU. Each month leading up to the Elevating Cougs conference, we’re sharing a new story, highlighting how the hard work and perseverance of WSU staff and faculty university-wide has led to improvements across all Workday functional areas.

Interested in hearing more Workday Success Stories in the future? Sign up for the Elevating Cougs newsletter, or visit the Elevating Cougs page on the Modernization website.