Delivering solutions to integrate with Workday Student

Delivering solutions to integrate with Workday Student

June 17, 2022

Workday, a cloud-based system, will replace UBC’s SIS as the core student information system. As illustrated in the graphic below, in addition to existing systems, newly created point solutions will integrate with Workday to allow for business continuity (as well as future improvements) at UBC.  

While Workday will be able to cover a majority of the current SIS’s functionality, there are several instances where Workday or existing applications are unable to fulfill UBC’s needs. A point solution is a newly created system that is required when Workday or an existing application does not meet UBC’s requirements. Appian BPMS - the Business Process Management System (BPMS), and the Admissions Solution (ADM) have been selected to integrate with Workday and create a better user experience for UBC’s faculty, staff, and students. This article will explain some of these point solutions being implemented alongside Workday. 

 

 

Business Process Management System (BPMS): A BPMS is a tool for the execution of management methodology to improve an organization’s business processes. UBC is using a BPMS to fill certain gaps that are not currently supported by Workday. Identifying and addressing these gaps is an ongoing process. Functional areas that will be supported by the BPMS include: 

Assessment Outcomes: It involves the management of outcomes - or grading - of established forms of assessment. The Assessment Outcomes design for the submission of final course section grades functionality will be hosted in the BPMS. 

Learner Financial Management (LFM): LFM is the functional area for assessing and managing charges and payments on student financial accounts. Some functionality gaps in LFM will be covered by the BPMS. 

Learner Financial Support (LFS): LFS manages how the University distributes money to students (e.g. scholarships, bursaries, loans, and awards). The BPMS will enable the management of these funds and also allow students to apply for awards, track the status of their applications, and accept their award offers online. 

Learner Management: This area enables the management of student data, supports the management of official transcripts, third-party authorizations; learner associations as well as comments and communications management. Learner management will be using the BPMS for transcripts, letters, and mass ad hoc communications. 

Scheduling: Exam scheduling will be supported by the BPMS to assist in requesting and creating exam schedules. Processes associated with scheduling course sections in Scientia, an existing application at UBC, will be integrated into Workday through the BPMS   

Graduation: Diploma printing will be supported by BMPS to ensure UBC’s quality needs for graphic design layouts and capabilities are met. This solution will also help deliver, reprint, and order parchments.  

 

Admissions Solution (ADM): Workday’s Admissions Module does not currently meet all of UBC’s requirements.  Therefore, a decision was made to not implement the Workday Admissions Module, but to instead leverage existing SIS functionality through ‘extraction’.  

Extraction involves taking the Admissions functionality from the SIS and developing it into a standalone application. Some existing functionalities will be modernized as part of this process to improve compatibility and reliability. The look and feel will remain similar to the SIS. This ADM will work with new systems, such as Workday, to support graduate and undergraduate Admissions processes. 

The ADM Solution will also support the Transfer Credit functional area.  Prior to admission, transfer credit for courses completed outside of UBC will be assigned through the Admissions Solution.  The rules that support transfer credit articulation (i.e. the formal process of determining if coursework is eligible for transfer credit) will also be stored and managed within the Admissions Solution.  The assignment of transfer credit for course work taken by UBC students during their studies, through exchange or on a letter of permission, will be completed on Workday; however, the requests for this credit will be submitted outside of Workday.

*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.