April – June 2023

The Project WakeDay team has been making great progress toward the implementation of Workday Student, the University’s new Student Information System, which will replace Banner Ellucian and its many associated platforms.

The Team held numerous in-depth conversations with our community members across many departments. Additionally, several members joined the project team:

  • Jacqueline A. Travisano, Ed.D., the University’s new executive vice president and chief financial officer, will serve as a co-sponsor of Project WakeDay with Provost Michele Gillespie.
  • Tom Benza, director of enrollment, now serves as the functional lead for financial aid.
  • Sheena Ramirez, senior associate dean of enrollment, is the functional lead for admissions.
  • Jonica Burke joined the Project Management Office as project director.

“As I follow the progress of Project WakeDay, it’s so encouraging to see dedicated colleagues coming together to work through complex technical topics and make values-based decisions that will move Wake Forest forward,” says Provost Michele Gillespie. “Workday Student will give us increased access to important, live data and flexible tools that will better support the University’s academic mission and ultimately help us support our students’ academic success. I appreciate everyone’s serious commitment to this work and look forward to seeing even more community members take part in training and events this fall.”


Project Status

The architecture and configuration portion of Project WakeDay is now 75 percent complete and on track with expectations.

Throughout Quarter 2, the team supported design sessions for all functional areas: admissions, financial aid, advising and curriculum, student financials, student records and technical. Visit the Project Leadership page of the Project WakeDay website for a list of the Workstream Leads who are guiding work through each functional area. The technical team also successfully added several integrations, including Follett, StarRez and Leepfrog, which are ready for testing this summer. Overall, work focused on academics and working through core processes of what we do on campus.


Campus Engagement

Project WakeDay continues to partner with a variety of campus stakeholders who make up the change networks. These networks are composed of faculty, staff and students divided into three advisory groups: a Staff Change Network; a Faculty Advisory Panel; and a Student Change Network launching in Fall 2023. Additionally, the Change Management team has been meeting regularly this summer with Academic Coordinators.


Wins, Challenges for Functional Areas

Project WakeDay’s functional areas include Admissions, Financial Aid, Advising and Curriculum, Student Financials, Student Records and Technical.

To support the configuration for each of these areas in Workday Student, the University identified a group of experienced Workstream Team Leads to join the project. (Find a list of them on the Project Leadership webpage.) Their expertise provides guidance that focuses specifically on Wake Forest needs as the design team works to switch the current SIS from Banner Ellucian — and its many associated platforms — to Workday Student, a single unified system.

Additionally, members of the Change Management (CM) team attend these work sessions with the Workstream Team Leads and team members from Huron, the University’s implementation partner. CM listens closely to capture expected changes, including who will be affected and how, and then they evaluate the impacts of these changes and determine the best way to share them with the campus community. High-level topics discussed in Quarter 2 included:

  • Advising
  • Student Financials
  • Student Core
  • Student Records
  • Curriculum Management
  • Financial Aid


What’s Next for Project WakeDay?

At the end of June, Huron completed the fourth tenant (for the final Workset D), which Wake Forest started validating in July. Workset D focuses on integrations, reports, finalizing security and such additional records items as academic standing, transcripts, honors and program completion.

This fall, the Project WakeDay team will more formally introduce Workday Student to the broader campus community through a series of preview events for faculty, staff and students to learn what’s changing and to get an early peek into the system before training starts. Invitations and information will be published ahead of each event. Watch for more details on the Project WakeDay website, in future issues of The Word on WakeDay and in your departmental publications.

The Project WakeDay website, The Word on WakeDay newsletter and other project communications are managed by Communications Specialist Abby Langston. For more information about this update or how to get Workday information for your campus communication or department, contact her at langsta@wfu.edu. You can also share feedback using this form or via the project email, WakeDay@wfu.edu.


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