Workday Student Transition Planning

California College of the Arts (CCA)

A common challenge with a Student Information System (SIS) migration is understanding how students and faculty do their work, then designing for, translating, and testing the new solution to achieve a smooth transition.

Problem Statement

Assess current student experiences with WebAdvisor, legacy Student Information System (SIS), and assess the readiness for Workday Student.

How might we thoughtfully and purposefully understand the changes and impact of a major SIS replacement from the perspective of students and faculty so that they have no inturruption in their academic and administrative workflows, can transition with ease, and have improved user experiences.

Approach

Discovery RESEARCH

Understand as-is experiences for students and faculty to assess what and how changes would be experienced in the new SIS to achieve the best possible outcome and reduce risks and uncertainty.

  • Interviews with students, faculty, department chairs, program managers, advisors and support staff

  • Map pain points with the current system and improvement opportunities 

  • Develop journey maps and identify touchpoints for critical student and faculty workflows

Usability Testing

Conduct heuristic expert reviews of student workflows and individual student testing with the new Workday Student system based on the goals and needs of research subjects.

Change Management Support

Inform implementation readiness and customization options. Create guides and visual aids for students to explain the transition to Workday and what to expect and when.

“Insights: So many! All points identified in the assessment findings were spot on. The way journey maps threaded in, out, and through different services, systems and functional areas were surprising. We had been thinking in a pretty siloed way about the student and faculty needs, but seeing the interconnections was enlightening.”

— MICHELLE ZIEGMANN, Associate Vice President, Technology Services, California College of the Arts

Journey Map

An exploration of critical touchpoints for students as they plan for and enroll in classes that can be experienced differently navigating a new SIS.

Outcomes

Migrating from one Student Information System (SIS) to another is complex and challenging, with many inherent risks. Often overlooked are usability and user experience changes, especially how students and faculty approach critical workflows, and where an assessment can reveal critical insights and inform overall readiness. Equipped with research, journey maps of critical student workflows, usability testing results and user guides, CCA gained:

  • Confidence across the project team and sponsors in moving forward with a two-phase implementation approach.

  • Fresh insights and valuable information about CCA students and faculty in planning to deliver the new system, i.e. their goals, behaviors, pain points and needs.

  • A visual understanding (journey maps) of how students approach key workflows, like Funding and Paying for my Education and Academic Planning and Enrollment.

  • As-is and to-be workflow comparisons that informed CCA’s readiness for implementation and change communication needs.

  • Step-by-step instructions for onscreen WalkMe guides.

Critical Success Factors

Power of Design is credited with:

  • Having extensive experience and expertise working with SISs, mapping student workflows and focusing on improving student experiences.

  • Working from an outside-in perspective across “silos,” administrative and academic departments.

  • Bringing a Service Design approach to aid CCA’s understanding of student and faculty workflows and experiences.

  • Identifying no-go critical issues during usability testing that needed to be resolved before going live.

  • Creating informative and visually appealing deliverables.

  • Bridging student experiences with guides and WalkMe content describing WHAT changes will happen, WHEN and WHY the changes are happening, and HOW to find information to complete critical tasks.

Service Design

Power of Design complimented CCA’s work, mapping internal processes, by journey mapping how students and faculty navigate touchpoints across departments.

Deliverables

  • An inventory of “as is” service touchpoints for students and faculty

  • Identification of major pain points, needs and desires

  • Journey maps for five key student and faculty journeys

  • Usability testing results

  • Change communications guides

Services:

  • Discovery Research

  • Service Design

  • Change Management

  • Usability Testing