Resources for Faculty & Other Course Instructors

Resources for Faculty & Other Course Instructors

This page contains relevant information about Workday Student for any faculty member or instructor who teaches courses at UBC. We recommend bookmarking this page as it will be updated regularly.


What's on this page

About IRP Student

Why Workday Student?

What do I need to know?

FAQs

Additional Resources


About IRP Student

The Integrated Renewal Program - Student (IRP Student) is tasked with delivering a renewed, reliable, and secure student information system as a foundation to support UBC’s academic mission. Workday Student will be the anchor of the new student information system and is scheduled to be launched in phases during the 2023 and 2024 academic years. 

The following graphic illustrates the IRP Student timeline for delivering the renewed student information system and the launch phases over the 2023/2024 academic year. 

Workday Student is comprised of 3 launches:

  • Launch 01 (Initiate) – October/November 2023 
    The first launch focuses on administrative functions that admit undergraduate students and manage preparations for the 2024 winter sessions. This includes, for example, admissions, scheduling and curriculum management. The impacts to teaching faculty and other course instructors during this launch are anticipated to be minimal.
     
  • Launch 02 (Activate) – February/March 2024 
    The second launch focuses on areas that support students to study, advance, and graduate from UBC. This includes, for example, registration, assessment outcomes (ie. grading), and learner management (ie student data, transcripts, etc.). Faculty and other course instructors may feel the most impacts during this launch.
     
  • IRP Student Completion (Align) – Fall 2024 and onward  
    The Student Completion project is focused on sustainment and the continuous improvements of Workday Student.  


Why Workday Student?

Workday Student will be the anchor for UBC’s renewed Student Information System. This 3-minute animated video will introduce you to the launch of Workday Student and the new system’s benefits for our community.

 


What do I need to know? 

 At IRP Student, there are twelve focus areas (known as functional areas) that follow the student journey from application to graduation. The functional areas are organized by their related administrative functions and concentrate on the unique requirements, features, and processes. 

The following videos highlight functional areas most relevant to faculty and other course instructors. Note, these videos are snippets from Workday Student 101 sessions. 

 

 

 

Functional Area Overview

Approx 2 min

 

 

 

 

Assessment Outcomes

Approx 3 min

 

 

Registration

Approx 2 min

 

 

Learner Management

Approx 2 min


FAQs

What is included in IRP Student? 

IRP Student will include system and process renewal for undergraduate admissions, curriculum management, student record and registration management, student financials (fees) and learner financial support. For more detailed information on the program scope, please visit here.

What is Workday Student – the renewed student information system?

Workday Student is the name of UBC’s renewed, reliable, and secure student information system. Workday, a cloud-based platform, will be the anchor of the system along with additional applications. Workday Student will be replacing UBC's current student information system to transition to a modern educational experience. This will serve as a foundation to support UBC’s academic mission, both today and into the future. UBC will evolve beyond this initial foundation solution as new functionality continues to be released in Workday that can take the place of other components of the current ecosystem.

Who will use Workday Student? 

Current and future students, faculty and other course instructors, student administrators (e.g. enrolment services advisors, faculty advisors, graduate program coordinators), curriculum administrators, financial administrators and UBC system administrators.

Would it make more sense to invest in our current Student Information System instead of purchasing a new one? 

Our current SIS system is 30+ years old and presents numerous foundational issues. Many of the components are no longer supported by the companies that produced them, and their fragility opens UBC to significant reputational, operational and financial risk. The system is based on outdated technology and is nearing its end of life. By investing in Workday, UBC moves to the forefront of its peer institutions in implementing next-generation foundational technology that will better enable innovation and excellence in our core mandates.

What will happen to the existing systems my faculty or unit uses outside the student information system?  

The implementation of Workday Student will require some major changes to existing applications at UBC. IRP Student looked at 427 Applications in total, of which 156 (UBC wider Ecosystem Application )  & 46 (SIS Core & SIS Ecosystem Applications) are believed to in scope for Ecosystem Delivery & Solution Delivery consideration. The team is responsible for working with application owners throughout the University community to determine if and how these 153 applications (and any others that are subsequently identified) will fit into the overall student ecosystem.

Each application will be assigned one of the following “dispositions”:

  • Retrofit - the legacy application or system requires updates to function within the new ecosystem.
  • Integration - a common service subscription or bespoke API build is needed to enable the exchange of data between the application and Workday.
  • Sunset - there are two different types of Sunset dispositions:
    Convert Legacy Data: the application is retired because Workday and/or other application(s) will provide its functionality, and the data will be converted from the application into Workday.
    Discard Legacy Data: the application is retired because Workday and/or other application(s) will provide its functionality, and none of the data in the application will be converted into Workday. 
  • No Change - there is no technical change, but data changes may be required due to new terminology, approved by UBC, and used in Workday. An example of this is CWL Authentication Service

 Inventory can be found on this page.

What is the scope of IRP Student? 

The Integrated Renewal Program - Student (IRP Student) will transform the way UBC supports learning and research with the creation of a critical foundation for a modern educational experience at UBC. The student administrative functions that will be supported through solutions implemented by IRP Student include: Admissions (undergraduate, excluding application submission process), Assessment Outcomes, Curriculum Management, Enrolment, Learner Financial Management, Learner Management, Learner Financial Support, Progression, Registration, Scheduling, and Transfer Credit. To learn more about the scope of IRP Student, visit this page.

Will faculty and other course instructors have an opportunity to provide input into the grades entry (assessment outcomes) design?

In 2022, the IRP Student team engaged the community in sessions that captured processes that are currently working well, and inquired on what pain points exist within the existing system. Two design consultation sessions were held to collect input from faculties on grade entry design; every faculty was asked to nominate representatives to participate. As a result of these engagement sessions, we gathered feedback to inform the final build of the solutions that will be integrated with Workday Student.

 


Additional Resources

 

 

 

Last updated: January 17, 2024