Understanding IRP Student – Learner Management

The Integrated Renewal Program – Student (IRP Student) has numerous focus areas – following the student journey from application to graduation.  This series aims to explain each area, its unique requirements, and our designed solutions in terms you, our UBC community, will understand.    

Workday Student will replace UBC’s Student Information System (SIS). It will be the foundation for the renewed student information ecosystem, integrating with external systems - both existing and new - that are required to conduct operations at UBC.  

Learner Management enables the management of student data, supports the management of official transcripts, third-party authorizations; learner associations as well as comments and communications management. There are a number of focus areas within Learner Management, as outlined below.  

Learner Biographical Information: 

This involves a large breadth of Student personal information. Workday Student allows many different input fields, for example; Gender Identity, Pronouns, International Student Designation, Contact Information, etc. The current SIS is not as user-friendly when filling out this information and does not allow as many input fields.  

Workday, as an enterprise resource planning tool, allows users to log into one system and access multiple resources for example allowing students who are also employed by UBC, to easily navigate between Workday Student and Workday HR/Finance. Security roles will ensure that administrative users will only see the applicable student/employee information as required for their role.  

Learner Hold Management: 

Currently, in the SISC, there are advising blocks and holds that prevent students from taking specific actions (for example, registering or generating a transcript). There are also holds and advising blocks that are informational only and do not block any actions. 

In Workday Student, holds offer a similar functionality but there are no informational holds; all holds will block some sort of action from being taken. In addition, holds can be applied for a specific academic period or be open ended. 

Many of the Hold Types in Workday Student are similar to the Advising blocks and Holds in the current SIS. Any active hold in the current SIS that prevents students from taking a specific action will be converted into Workday Student. Workday Student does not have the concept of ‘soft holds’ so any holds in the current SIS that are for information only will not be converted. Past/non-active holds will not be converted into Workday Student. 

Learner Associations: 

This capability focuses on the management of student associations with staff and faculty, for example advisors and supervisors. There are two different sets of Workday Student functionality that will be used to manage these associations: 

1. Student Cohorts: The student cohorts functionality allows students to be grouped together based on certain criteria. This enables the ability to provide effective advising to students or apply rules to cohorts, such as for registration appointments and student fees, for example. Cohorts can be visible or hidden to students. They can be auto-populated based on reports, manually populated, or populated through an Enterprise Interface Builder (EIB) load - a tool that supplies users with both a guided and graphical interface. Within the area of Learner Management, use cases for cohorts include Indigenous Students and Enrolment Services Advisor Groups. 
    
2. Committees: Graduate Supervisory Committees: Current State in the SISC is a dedicated Supervisory Screen featuring: 

• Search field to identify required committee members 
• Ability to associate a committee role to the identified prospective member  
• View of all assigned committee members  
• Committee approval status 

Communications Management: 

In the SISC, ad hoc communications can be sent based on any available search report or combination of reports. Communications are then logged in the communication tracker. 

In Workday Student, communication tools include broadcast (banner) messages, notifications, ad hoc communications and engagement plans. UBC’s usage and design of communication tools within Workday Student is still underway. Initial findings identified limitations with the mass ad hoc communications functionality when compared to the SISC. 

Comments Management:  

In the SISC, comments are captured under Comments and Notes. In Workday Student, a Notes functionality exists. Note categories and Note topics are configurable, meaning Notes can be viewed from the Student Profile under the History > Note History tab.  

A new functionality that exists within Workday Students is the fact that Notes can be shared with students. Not only will it be possible to share notes, but the Notes will be related to an academic period or academic record, for example, Winter Session 2022. This advancement allows for a more efficient process for staff and faculty as well as create more visibility for students.

- Erin Shannon, IRP Student Senior Business Lead - Student Records and Advising

Learner status management: 

The current status REGI, ELIG, and CONT will no longer exist but will be replaced with In Progress in Workday Student. Workday Student provides a list of Statuses that cannot be edited; however, status reasons can be configured based on the needs of UBC. Statuses are based on a specific date rather than a specific academic period. These statuses and reasons, if applicable, can be seen on the student’s Academics tab under Overview. 

Academic and Non-Academic Discipline Management: 

The scope in Workday Student is limited to capturing the discipline outcome only (same as current state). In the SISC disciplines are captured as a Hold and sometimes as discipline notations on the Sessional Evaluation tables. 

In Workday Student, several mechanisms can be used to record discipline outcomes: 

1. Program of Study Statuses & Reasons: 
   •  Dismissed – Academic Expulsion, Dismissed – Non-Academic Expulsion
   •  Suspended – Academic Misconduct, Suspended – Non-Academic Misconduct 
2. Holds: Possible Discipline, Academic Discipline, Non-Academic Discipline 
3. Transcript Notes 
4. Student Notes 

Leave of Absence management: 

Currently, the SISC supports the entry of leaves and automatically updates a student’s program completion date accordingly on the Additional Program Details screen. Workday Student, however, has a delivered Leave of Absence Business Process which can update an individual student’s status to Leave of Absence. The Leave of Absence status will only be used at the Graduate level. 

Program Extension Management: 

Graduate programs have maximum durations; typically, 5 years for Master’s programs and 7 years for Doctoral programs. If students will not complete their studies within the maximum allowable duration, they must request an extension. 

In the SIS, there are dedicated fields to capture granted program extensions. When an extension is entered, the program end date field will also recalculate. 

In Workday Student, there is an Expected Completion Date field that will need to be updated upon approved Program Extensions and Leaves of Absences. 

Transcript, Document, and Credential Management: 

This capability encompasses official transcripts, unofficial transcripts/academic history, proof of enrolment letter, program completion letter, and replacement credentials. These are all produced within the SIS in the current state, with support for student self-serve requests in the SSC. 

The intended future solution is a point solution, that will create a storefront for students and administrators to request these documents. A point solution or newly created system is required when Workday Student or an existing application does not meet UBC’s needs. It’s yet to be determined which system will be used to produce the letters. 

Replacement Credential Management: 

The current state supports self-service requests in the SSC. The intended future solution, yet to be designed, will be outside of Workday Student. 

*Reflecting on our experience so far in working with Workday and seeing how our design is shaping up, we realize that we have to embrace change and be confident in our ability to adapt. Workday Student, along with IRP Student’s functional requirements, are evolving quickly and this could mean that we may have to adapt our approach throughout the project timeline.