Workday is a cloud-based software that helps organizations of all types manage their operations. This includes finances, human resources, reporting, operations planning, and student-related processes -- in other words, the entire enterprise.

The idea behind Workday is that the most efficient way for organizations to work is to have everyone using the same core system, with the data centralized and consistent for people to use whatever their work entails - a student registering for classes, a professor viewing class rosters, a budget manager checking expenses, or the many other information-related tasks that take place at a college. Workday describes this model as "one unified core that’s always live and always secure." By building an adaptive, or configurable, system, Workday hopes organizations can continuously create plans, execute them, and analyze the outcomes all in one system. 

For a more visual explanation of Workday and Enterprise systems, visit our Visuals page!

Workday training is best done in many forms -- recorded videos, broad and basic overviews, and in-depth functional training. Before users take the leap into Workday, faculty, staff, and students will have ample opportunities to learn how to use the system.

As we move along in this process, training materials will be made accessible in a way we hope will be useful and clear for you no matter where you are on your Workday journey.

The official kick off of the Workday project began in January 2022 with a review and optimization of Workday HCM, which has been in place since 2016. Work for Finance kicked off in January 2022, with a “go live” date of January 2024. The Student implementation will kick off in August 2023 with portions of “go live” running through early 2025. Workday will be the system of record for Student beginning in the 2025-2026 academic year. These dates consist of the official work with our implementation partner Collaborative Solutions; however, we will begin to engage the campus community much sooner.

These terms refer to how Workday divides up its core modules.

HCM refers to most of the college’s core HR functions, such as hiring workers, including student employees, administering benefits, and paying employees and managing their tax information. This also includes functions employees of the college manage for themselves via Workday, in what’s called self service, such as requesting time off or selecting benefits during open enrollment.

FIN (Finance) refers to the college’s internal and external financial accounting and functions. This includes our full chart of accounts, accounts payable and receivable, grant management, procurement, budgeting and planning, expense management, and more. If you’ve submitted expenses, you’ve dabbled in Workday Finance.

Student encompasses all student academic records, including student status and degree audits, registration, grading, transfer credit, and advising, as well as academic administration and student billing. Course and advising rosters and related student information that faculty and advisers use are also part of Student.

If you have questions about the Workday project, not about Workday technical support, you should contact the Workday Project Team via email.

Configuring and implementing Workday at Bowdoin will impact groups across the campus in ways large and small. For this reason, it's crucial that impacted groups across campus are involved in discussions about Workday early and often. To achieve maximum input and efficiency, a project governance structure has been established to help ensure that the voices of impacted groups are heard and to clarify which body has the authority to make which decisions when. The governance structure depicted below and in the following tabs establishes decision making thresholds and member responsibilities throughout the lifespan of the implementation. 

The majority of the project's day-to-day decisions will be made by the groups that make up our Functional Teams. Decisions are escalated further into the middle of the circle as their potential impact grows, such as requiring changes to college policy or widening the project's scope. 

Over the next six years, Bowdoin will build on our current use of Workday to transition from discrete uses of various administrative systems to one single enterprise system.  Establishing this foundation of a sustainable, secure, unified source of administrative data will further enable and foster a culture of integrated and collaborative working, learning, and advising. A transition of this magnitude will require engagement and input from the entire campus community. 

Undertaking structural change of this breadth will be invigorating and, it must be said, difficult. Such fundamental change requires a deep commitment to balancing individual autonomy with the needs of the community, as well as an acknowledgement that tensions can and will arise when we must make choices between the two. The Workday Steering Committee has approved the following Guiding Principles to support prudent and fair decision-making for what must be an equitable and unified technology platform at Bowdoin. These Principles will serve as the foundation for the many decisions our Workday implementation teams will need to make as they lay the foundations of our enterprise system.  

The Guiding Principles are based on core values that members of the Bowdoin community articulated as being of primary importance in the undertaking of the Workday Program. These values include: Communication, Clarity, Collaboration, and Best Practices. 

1. We will utilize Workday functionality as delivered whenever reasonable. 

We will use Workday functionality whenever reasonable, standardizing business processes and relying on configuration rather than customization. We will focus on the institutional value of the function being delivered over individual preferences for the form of delivery. Workday will be Bowdoin’s primary system of record and we will look to Workday first, considering outside solutions only as needed and approved through project governance structures. 

We will make decisions for the greatest good, designing for the needs of the 80%, not the 20%, remaining mindful that the design must focus on the core activities, not the exceptions. 

2. We will follow an inclusive and timely decision-making process that emphasizes self-service, diversity, and equity. 

The Workday Project is a Bowdoin project. It will touch on all areas of the community, and it will require us to intentionally foster a culture of collaborative working. Although not every suggestion will be adopted or acted upon, all members of the Bowdoin community are invited to share their ideas and suggestions throughout the project by emailing workdayproject@bowdoin.edu. 

All members of this project have a shared goal in mind – to implement Workday successfully and collaboratively at Bowdoin. However, we come to the project with varied backgrounds and priorities, and team members will have varying opinions. Functional administrators across campus, with input from stakeholder groups, will be empowered to make the overwhelming majority (roughly 70%) of decisions in this project based on their professional expertise and knowledge of best practices. Even in times of disagreement, we will show respect to each other and demonstrate a willingness to compromise. 

We additionally recognize that the work of adopting an Enterprise System is time-consuming. To demonstrate respect for our colleagues, we will make thoughtful, deliberate, timely decisions that move the project forward responsibly and prudently. These decisions should, when practical, move processes toward a “self-service” model that empowers students, staff, and faculty to complete tasks seamlessly and independently. These decisions should similarly make processes widely accessible to users of all abilities and backgrounds, working to eliminate unwanted disparities. 

3. We will keep an open mind to growth and change.

Workday is more than just new technology. As a fully integrated enterprise system, it will transform the way we manage our data and our processes across the community, and may require changes not only to technology, but also to mindsets and behaviors. This is a moment of growth for Bowdoin, and it is important to acknowledge that the process of growing is often painful and uncomfortable in the moments that lead to breakthroughs.   

We will keep an open mind to growth and to change, seeking excellence but not perfection, with an appetite for improvement. We are open to changes that help us create equitable, contemporary, sustainable, secure, and user-friendly tools.  

4. We will provide frequent, clear communication.

We are committed to keeping the Bowdoin community updated about all aspects of the Workday Project throughout the project website and other community updates. We will use these opportunities to present information along with clarifying any previously communicated information. 

The Functional Teams will be doing the day-to-day work of implementing Workday at Bowdoin. These Subject Matter Experts (or SME's in Workday speak) will review all of their business practices alongside our implementation partners and the Project Management Office to fit into new Workday methodologies. They will test and implement these new functionalities while resolving issues and communicating unresolved issues to the Project Team for discussion. Members may be in more than one Functional Team group, and groups may shift and combine as work goes on. 

These Functional Teams are at the heart of this Workday project. Because these experts are at the core of the college's business processes, they understand better than anyone the impacts of moving from our current processes to Workday processes, and understand the levels of change management that will be necessary to move the culture of Bowdoin along with moving our processes. 

Functional Teams are also places where faculty and students will be most directly involved with reviewing items that relate to their processes in Workday.

The Functional Teams are expected to make roughly 75% of the decisions around the implementation of Workday at Bowdoin.

The Project Team will likely be fluid throughout the life of the Workday project, and will consist of the Leads for all Functional Teams that are working at that point in the project, and may include Leads for Functional Teams whose work has concluded or not yet begun. This group will be key in making decisions that impact multiple functional areas of the college, and will escalate issues they cannot resolve up to the Steering Committee for resolution. 

These leaders will champion the project and will support the Functional Teams, communicate with key stakeholders across the college, resolve issues escalated from the Functional Teams, and help find ways to have a little fun and recognize the hard work of the teams. The Project Team is expected to make roughly 20% of the decisions around the implementation of Workday at Bowdoin.

IT's Project Management Office will support the project in all phases, and will involve Heather Rankin, Bernadette Williams Looper, Brittany Geiger and Emy Farley. For the Finance implementation, Becky Corey will work alongside the Project Team, and for the Student implementation Martina Duncan and Dallas Denery will be involved. 

The Steering Committee of the Workday project will facilitate making big decisions about moving our information systems to Workday. This group will both make decisions elevated by the Project Team and help shepherd conversations through committees and other appropriate standing college governance committees so a decision can be made. This group will sign off on completed project milestones, help support change management at Bowdoin, and help resolve and remove issues received from other groups. The Steering Committee is expected to make roughly 5% of the decisions around the implementation of Workday at Bowdoin.

Matt Orlando (Finance and Human Resources) 

Jamie Tatham (Finance) 

Tama Spoerri (Human Resources) 

Becky Corey (Finance) 

Jen Scanlon (Academic Affairs) 

Martina Duncan (Academic Affairs) 

Dallas Denery (Academic Affairs)

Saari Greylock (Academic Affairs) 

Mike Ranen (Academic Affairs)

Michael Cato (Information Technology) 

Jeff Doring (Information Technology)

Tina Finneran (Institutional Research, Analytics, and Consulting) 

The Steering Committee also includes attendance by Heather Rankin, Bernadette Williams-Looper, Emy Farley, and Brittany Geiger from the Project Management Office, as well as our partners at Cognizant Solutions. 

The Executive Sponsors of the project are responsible for focusing on the "big picture" and overall progress of the Workday project. They are charged with making any changes to the timeline or budget for the project and committing the necessary resources to the project. The Executive Sponsors are expected to make roughly 1% of the decisions around the implementation of Workday at Bowdoin.

Michael Cato, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer

Matthew Orlando, Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration & Treasurer

Jennifer Scanlon, John S. Osterweis Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies; Senior Vice President and Dean for Academic Affairs