As more than 300 Iowa State faculty and staff prepare to complete their work this fall on the Workday Student launch, a new focus has emerged: Managing campus needs and software updates on an ongoing basis.
The university has created a new unit, the Office of Student Information (OSI), to maintain and enhance Iowa State's experience with Workday Student after the formal implementation of the project. OSI will help the university get the most from its investment by leading continuous improvement initiatives from configuration to implementation.
The scale of these efforts is significant. More than 350 post-implementation projects already have been identified, each with its own degree of complexity and integration with our current systems. Examples include:
- Integrating graduate-level academic requirements to help faculty and graduate students better track their progress.
- Adding "journeys" to guide students as they navigate multi-step processes such as onboarding, registering for classes and preparing for graduation.
- Developing tools that help department chairs and classroom schedulers assess student demand for courses to ensure an appropriate number of sections and spaces are available.
"Workday Student will continue to evolve and improve as we gain more experience with the software and as additional capabilities are offered," said senior vice president and provost Jonathan Wickert. "Bringing together a team of experts from academics, financials, enrollment and engagement will help ensure we're providing the best service to students throughout their time on campus -- from recruitment to graduation -- as well as to our campus partners."
OSI will be led by Steve Kish, Workday Student project director, who will report to the provost. OSI team members will come from enrollment management and the Graduate College, and they'll collaborate with administrators of systems connected to Workday Student, including Salesforce, DocFinity, EAB Navigate and OneApp. The OSI team also will coordinate its efforts with campus stakeholders in human capital management, finance and information technology services.
OSI team members will be housed on the second floor of the Kingland Building on Lincoln Way, joining the offices of institutional research, research ethics, and strategic relations and communications.
