Campus Colleagues,
As we announced in January, UMW has begun a process to move into Workday as our enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform. Workday provides a modern, cloud-based system to help us work more effectively, collaborate easily, and provide better experience for our students, faculty and staff. It will replace Banner, and as we transition to this new platform, we’ll have an implementation partner to assist each area with updates, training, and questions.
We have selected Avaap as the implementation partner for Workday. Avaap has a robust track record of partnerships in higher education, with many impressive recommendations. In addition, we have examples and shared resources from colleagues at William & Mary and Norfolk State University, who have also transitioned into Workday and provided insights into effective implementation partnerships.
Avaap brings deep Workday expertise and a strong record of success with universities like ours. Just as importantly, they bring a people-first philosophy. They understand that this transition is not simply designing a system; it’s about supporting the faculty and staff who make Mary Washington work every day.
Our contract is now in effect beginning this month, and we’ll move quickly to schedule next steps including training opportunities by area. Avaap will provide a timeline for the HR and finance areas that will be first in this project. Here’s what you can expect:
- Planning & Discovery = This is where we work with Avaap to fully understand our current processes and needs.
- Design & Configuration = Here, we shape Workday to support our goals and needs.
- Testing & Training = We use this period to build confidence and readiness for using Workday to its fullest potential.
- Go-Live & Support = During this time period, we transition fully into Workday with hands-on guidance from experts.
The Workday Platform implementation (Human Capital Management, Finance, and Payroll) is scheduled to run from April 20, 2026, through February 1, 2027. More dates and details will be announced soon as we develop a week-by-week plan and prepare for the implementation.
Workstream leaders for the project have been identified to begin project engagement. These leaders will coordinate planning, design, and decision-making within their respective functional areas and will work closely with their teams and the implementation partner throughout the project.
We expect the transition to kick off this summer with a structured set of training activities tailored to each functional area. The Workday ERP platform requires multiple levels of training to prepare project participants for a successful implementation. A detailed training schedule will be released shortly and will identify individuals who are required to participate based on their role in the project. As we approach go-live, end user training will also be assigned to the broader campus community to ensure readiness for the new system.
Questions can be sent to CIO@umw.edu.
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