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Project Context
In 2019, MSU Denver engaged Campus Works LLC to perform an ERP Assessment. Over the course of one week, the Campus Works team met with over 100 Roadrunners to gauge the prevailing opinion of the Ellucian Banner environment and appetite for change, and to make a recommendation for MSU Denver’s future ERP system strategy. In summary, Campus Works determined that the present Banner implementation was no longer effectively meeting the needs of the campus and recommended that MSU Denver consider a reimplementation or replacement of the platform.
With this in mind, in early 2020, Human Resources and Information Technology Services launched an RFP for a replacement HRIS solution with a willingness to consider both “add-on” solutions and full replacement platforms. Following a thorough bid process, Workday HCM was selected. An evaluation of the Workday Financials platform followed, and the University ultimately opted to proceed with a combined HCM/Financial implementation, supported by Collaborative Solutions LLC as the awarded implementation partner.
Project Overview
Workday will allow MSU Denver to reimagine the business of the University, enabling organizational efficiency and empowering our community to make timely strategic decisions, support our students and core mission, and become one of Colorado’s most desired places of employment by implementing an agile, sustainable and modern system.
Why Workday?
Workday will replace Banner, our current HR and Finance management system. Banner is outdated and can no longer meet the evolving needs of our staff, faculty and students.
What are the benefits of implementing Workday?
By moving to Workday, employees will benefit from a system that is easy to use, equipped with powerful tools and provides lots of self-service functionalities that previously did not exist.
What does success look like?
Our people are our number one priority. By implementing Workday, we will boost employee engagement, maximize productivity and increase efficiency across the University – less time focused on processes and more time focused on our employees and students. We want to transform the way our employees work, making their lives and jobs easier. Workday will help us do that.
Workday FAQ
For answers to additional Workday-related questions, please see the Workday FAQ webpage.
Project Phases
The Workday initiative was broken into three main phases:
Strategy and Organizational Readiness
In August 2021, Collaborative Solutions began working on a Strategy and Organizational Readiness engagement, which was completed in December 2021. During this phase, we finalized decisions around system architecture, data structures, and job duties. We also launched project governance, change management, and communication efforts.
Phase 1
The core implementation launched in March 2022 and took 10-12 months to complete. We leveraged a project plan rooted in Workday’s Launch Methodology and branded by Collaborative Solutions as Xcelerate. Based on this timeline, we went live with both the Human Capital Management and Financials solutions in early 2023. This phase represented the most intensive period in the overall project and required focused engagement from all stakeholder groups.
Phase II
Workday Phase II kicked off in March 2023 and continued throughout the spring and summer. The following functional areas were included in Phase II:
- Prioritizing talent optimization for employee development, which includes performance reviews/evaluations and performance-improvement plans, as well as succession planning, allowing our employees to showcase their career progression.
- Enhancing effort certification for grant management.
- Implementing a new supplier portal.
- Incorporating more robust budgeting and adaptive planning tools.
Phase II brought even more efficiency and further enabled supervisors to lead their teams more thoughtfully and empower all employees to do their best work.
Project Timeline
Strategic Drivers
This initiative directly supports three of the five pillars in MSU Denver’s 2030 Strategic Plan:
Pillar III: Civic and Economic Catalyst
- Through this project, MSU Denver has established itself as a technology leader among peer institutions statewide. To date, three institutions (Colorado School of Mines, University of Northern Colorado, and Colorado Mesa University) have signed a letter of intent indicating that they plan to collaborate with MSU Denver on ERP strategy. This letter was shared with several Colorado State legislators.
Pillar IV: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- The Workday HCM platform includes several features designed to support diversity and belonging in the workplace. The VIBE (Value Inclusion, Belonging, and Equity) Central dashboard and VIBE Index, included at no additional cost, provide insight into an organization’s gaps in representation, leadership, hiring, and attrition.
Pillar V: Organizational Agility and Sustainability
- Implementation of this solution will support staff members at all levels, providing an improved employee experience from application through retirement. By delivering a streamlined experience and automation of current manual workflows, this solution will help the Human Resources team transform their services from a transactional model to a business partner-focus.
- Similarly, this solution will revitalize our aging financial systems, and empower the team members who have been supporting dated, manual processes to take a broader, proactive approach to account and budget management.
- Lastly, we project that over the next ten years, this project will yield a positive ROI (estimated at $6-12 million) by both reducing existing operating costs and by obviating significant new investments which would otherwise be needed to deliver comparable results to the organization.
Early Bird Article Archive
The Early Bird featured Workday articles throughout and after the implementation project, ensuring that all campus constituents stayed informed.