Workday at Bryn Mawr

The Next-Generation Enterprise Data & Systems (Next-Gen Enterprise) project is Bryn Mawr College's multi-year initiative to migrate key data systems (especially PeopleSoft and Financial Edge, currently hosted on premise) to Workday, a leading cloud-based enterprise platform. The Next-Gen project has enlisted external vendors to help lead the selection and implementation of this integrated data management system, which will replace our current systems that support Human Resources, Payroll, Finance, and the Bi-College Student Information System (SIS).

The new platform will communicate with other key data systems employed at the College to support effective and efficient work across campus. The strategic planning and institutional readiness phase of the project was completed in summer 2024. We have moved quickly into the first phase of implementation for HR/Payroll/Finance, which typically takes approximately 18 months. The Next-Gen project will affect how business functions are experienced by students, faculty and staff. It will provide various BMC constituents with tools to work effectively and efficiently and with data relevant for informing strategic decisions and measuring progress.

This project is a College-wide undertaking that is endorsed by the Board of Trustees and senior institutional leadership with a commitment to providing sufficient resources and support to ensure that new business processes and systems can be developed, implemented, and maintained.

Critical to the success of this project is the collaborative leadership of the core Project Team, and the contributions the team will solicit from the campus community. Support for this project is anchored in the knowledge that automation and standardization of routine business practices and enhanced institutional data practices are necessary to create capacity and ensure that BMC can meet its mission into the future. 

As processes and procedures are reviewed for NextGen, business process owners will focus on improving service experience and streamlining steps or requirements that don't add substantive value. Processes and policies that are developed during implementation of Workday will be created to work for, and apply to, relevant areas of the BMC community.

As a community, we will aim through this project and beyond to reduce or eliminate the need for customized solutions that impede the sharing of data and expertise across departments and offices. More consolidated policies, processes, and systems support seamless experiences for College constituents, save the College money, reduce institutional liability, and support integrated analysis and decision-making.

Authorized users will have access to information necessary for their respective roles, and that information will be presented in a manner that enables interpretation by the necessary data users. Campus users of data will be encouraged to invest in developing their data literacy skills and in consulting with appropriate experts on campus to ensure information is being used appropriately in support of departmental and institutional goals.

A core Project Team was convened and charged with leading this project. The Team will gather information necessary for making well-informed decisions and ensuring that the implementation timeline and goals are met. When open questions or challenges appear to threaten the schedule or goals of the project, the NextGen executive sponsors will convene to resolve these issues, making decisions when necessary or working with the President and Senior Staff to arrive at a decision in accordance with established goals and deliverable dates.

The Team and sponsors will provide regular project updates through multiple channels for the community and will solicit input at key junctures from representatives from all relevant stakeholder groups. Community input will be considered by the Team to arrive at solutions that serve the best interests of the College. Decisions about policies, processes, and tools will be based on what will best serve the institution going forward.

Institutional commitment to the project will necessarily extend long beyond the initial "go-live" date for the platform, and we as a community will commit to continuous improvement of business processes and data practices to ensure we deliver as well as possible on the BMC mission.

To support this commitment, we will

1. Create a process for ensuring new software releases are collectively reviewed by an established committee representing key College constituents
2. Implement prioritized policies, procedures, and components of the system that could not be implemented prior to go-live
3. Review enterprise data and systems-related policies and procedures periodically. We will look proactively for ways to improve operations and community experience.

• Samir Datta, Vice President of Finance and Administration (co-Executive Sponsor)
• Shannon Kearns, Chief of Staff (co-Executive Sponsor)
• Jennifer Spohrer, Interim Chief Information Officer (co-Executive Sponsor)
• Tijana Stefanovic, Controller (co-Executive Sponsor)
• Melissa Cresswell, Senior Project Director

This committee leads and sets direction for the transformation strategies developed during the project.

• Millie Bond, Senior Advisor for External Relations and Secretary of the College, President's Office
• Wendy Cadge, President
• May Cheng, Dean of Graduate Studies and Professor of Physics
• Samir Datta, Vice President of Finance and Administration (co-Executive Sponsor)
• Tim Harte, Provost and Professor of Russian
• Cheryl Horsey, Chief Enrollment Officer
• Brooke Jones, Chief Investment Officer
• Shannon Kearns, Senior Advisor for Operational and Administrative Strategic Initiatives (co-Executive Sponsor)
• Bob Miller, Chief Alumnae Relations and Development Officer
• Jeanine Molock, Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness, Planning, and Assessment
• Samara Sit, Chief Communications Officer
• Janet Shapiro, Dean of the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research
• Jennifer Spohrer, Interim Chief Information Officer (co-Executive Sponsor)

Core Project Team & Workstream Leads

• Candace Baer, Interim Director of Human Resources
• Richard Barry, Director of Institutional Research, Planning, and Assessment (Reporting Lead)
• Amy Berry, Assistant Controller for Receivables (Customer Accounts Lead)
• Tina Bockius, Faculty Administrative Coordinator
• Syndi Bleiweis, Assistant Director, Human Resources (Recruiting & Talent Lead)
• Michael Chaplinski, Budget Manager (Budgets Lead)
• Dave Consiglio, Director of Assessment, Learning Spaces, and Special Projects
• Melissa Cresswell, Senior Project Director (Change Management Lead)
• Lauren Douglas, Project Coordinator
• Christine Eigenbrot, Payroll Manager, Controller's Office (Payroll Lead)
• Ann Marie Gallagher, Programmer/Analyst
• Mike Johnson, HRIS Manager (HCM Lead)
• Kaitlin Mahon, Benefits Manager (Benefits Lead)
• Marty Mastascusa, Director of Human Resources
• Jeanine Molock, Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness, Planning and Assessment
• Kirsten O’Beirne, Registrar (Student Touchpoints Lead)
• Vince Patone, Director of Enterprise Data, Systems & Interfaces
• Rupesh Parekh, Senior Accountant (Endowments Lead)
• Sarah Robertson, Director of Sponsored Research (Grants Lead)
• Beth Shepard-Rabadam, Associate Provost for Administration (Faculty Affairs Lead)
• Tijana Stefanovic, Controller (Finance Lead)
• David Sturgis, Director of Administrative Information Systems (Security Lead)
• Patricia Szybowski, Assistant Controller for Disbursements (Accounts Payable Lead)
• Aaron Tsay, Senior Systems Analyst (Integrations Lead)

Subject Matter Experts

• Maria Albano, Benefits and Data Coordinator
• Linda Butler Livesay, Faculty Appointments Coordinator, Provost's Office
• Billie Jo Ember, Grants Associate
• Abby Gilman, Research Grants and Compliance Manager
• Deb Grant, Assistant Director for Business Operations
• Shawn Jackson, Staff Accountant
• Donna MacIntosh, Purchasing Coordinator
• Megan Radomicki, Payroll Coordinator
• Alyssa Slattery, Department Coordinator, Human Resources
• Elaine Tang, Staff Accountant

Workday CAN! Members:

• Gillian Baillie, Patron Services and Circulation Lead
• Amanda Coltri, Associate Director of Web Strategy and Content
• Melissa Cresswell, Senior Project Director (co-Facilitator)
• Erika Dawson, Assistant Director of the Post Baccalaureate Program
• Lauren Douglas, Project Coordinator (co-Facilitator)
• Katie Feno, Interim Director of Client Engagement and Planning
• Nina Fichera, Academic Administrative Assistant
• Zoe Gold, Admissions Counselor
• Amy Graham, Monographs Acquisition Librarian
• Leslie Lawrence, Academic Administrative Assistant
• Christine Leinbach, Programmer/Analyst
• Susan Lewis, Executive Assistant to the President
• Peter Maple, Interim Assistant Manager for Client Support and Education
• Daniel Parker, Academic Administrative Assistant
• Liz Roan, Executive Assistant to the CIO and Director of Libraries
• Peggy Robinson, Director of the Center for Professional Development and Certifying Officer of the School Social Worker and HSV Certificate Programs

Change Agent Network members help build readiness by: 

• Understanding the Workday implementation scope and key project decisions 
• Communicating with your departments, colleagues, and peers in alignment with project activities 
• Learning the benefits of using Workday 
• Collecting and sharing meaningful feedback from the campus community 

Change Agent Network members contribute to the project by: 

• Acting as a change advocate and champion for transformation  
• Participating in a 1-hour monthly meeting: we will keep you informed of how the project is going and ask you where you think we should be targeting our communication efforts 
• Bringing news of the Workday project back to your departments, colleagues, and peers across the institution: we will provide talking points and targeted communications for the areas you represent and you’ll get early access to demos! 
• Sharing feedback about the Workday project from your departments, colleagues, and peers: we will ask for your participation in User Readiness Review testing (October 2025), and reviewing how-to guides and change communications (fall 2025 through launch)

Change Agents are students, faculty, and staff from across Bryn Mawr who help navigate change in our community. Nominate yourself, a peer, or a colleague to join the Workday Change Agent Network.

Workday is a cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. It's a software system used by organizations to manage various processes and operations. It essentially serves as a central database that stores and tracks information and automates workflows related to things like finances and human resources.

The idea is to have a single, integrated system that provides a holistic view of the organization and streamlines processes across departments. An ERP system can help organizations make informed decisions.

• BMC Project Leadership Team: nextgen@brynmawr.edu
• We also invite you to contact any of us individually to share suggestions or ask questions.

Workday will offer many benefits to the College including:

• Simplifying complex, paper-based procedures into one solution
• Improving data visibility, reliability, & usefulness
• Providing easy to use modern technology

Ultimately, Workday will create a better experience for staff, faculty and students. Updating our systems and processes will help alleviate inefficiencies, increase job satisfaction, and allow employees to spend more of their time on work that advances the mission of the College.

Alchemy, a Workday Service Provider, will partner with Bryn Mawr to design, configure, test and deploy Workday HR, Financials and Payroll. The Workday Project Team is actively working to design and configure Workday to fit the College's needs. Our administrators and staff are participating in daily meetings to understand and shape Workday practices.

• This website is the primary communication vehicle for all Bryn Mawr community members to learn about Workday.
• Regular reminders and updates will be published in the Daily Digest and Lantern Newsletter.
• Project email – We encourage you to send feedback, questions, ideas and recommendations to nextgen@brynmawr.edu. We will do our best to get back to you as quickly as possible.
• Updates and demos will be shared in person when appropriate.

Faculty, Staff and Student Employees

• Workday Employee Self Service will provide easy maintenance of employee profile information, payroll elections, and employee benefits.
• Employees will also be able to submit timecard entries, leave requests, expense requests, and view their leave accrual and paystubs.

Department Chairs and Administrative Staff

• Workday will provide greatly enhanced access to budget information, expenditures, and available funds. It will offer new and advanced reporting features and data analysis opportunities.

People Managers/Supervisors

• Workday will provide people supervisors with streamlined tools to manage their team’s talent and performance profiles, timecards, leave requests, and accrued leave balances.
• The recruiting, hiring, and onboarding processes for new employees will also be managed through Workday.

Human Resources, Finance and Payroll Teams

• Workday will have the greatest impact on staff working in these areas and the reporting capabilities of the college. The Human Resources, Finance, and Payroll teams will gain significant improvements in abilities to efficiently manage core business processes, data, and information critical to the efficient operations of the College.

Beginning this spring the Workday project team will share more details about how staff, faculty and students will be impacted. As we get closer to fall, we will share demos of Workday. This will prepare you for the Workday training planned for fall 2025. Our Change Agent Network will also help share details as they learn new information about Workday.

In monthly meetings, Change Agents will learn about changes relevant to staff, faculty and students. They will also provide feedback on how to best support and communicate with colleagues about Workday.

We recommend that you reach out to them directly if you have questions about Workday. They will be prepared to share information and connect you to relevant resources.

Training for Workday is a very high priority and we are currently refining our training programs and plan for introducing Workday to campus. In fall 2025 staff and faculty will be trained on how to use Workday. The trainings will provide you with a real-world experience of how to effectively use Workday and you will have access to training materials and workshops as we get closer to Workday go-live (January 2026). We will communicate often about these trainings once we get closer to fall 2025.

Call for Nominations for the Workday Change Agent Network

The NextGen Enterprise Project Team invites you to nominate yourself or a colleague to join the Workday Change Agent Network. Change Agents are students, faculty, and staff from across Bryn Mawr who help navigate change in our community. More information about the role and commitment is available on the project website. Please send questions to nextgen@brynmawr.edu, Melissa Cresswell, an Executive Sponsor, or any member of the Project Team.

Bryn Mawr announced on 6/24 that they have selected Workday for their next-generation finance and human resource system: the project will begin this fall. After going live with and stabilizing finance and HR, Bryn Mawr will work together with Haverford on a next-generation student information system project (BiONiC successor). More information may be found on Bryn Mawr’s project at: mawr.life/nextgen

Email to Faculty and Staff:

We’re writing to share with the Bryn Mawr College community that we have reached a major milestone in the BMC Next-Generation Enterprise Data & Systems Strategic Planning & Institutional Readiness project. We are very pleased to announce that the College will implement Workday, a leading platform in the ERP (enterprise resource planning) and higher education space.

The strategic planning project began in March 2023, and the core project team, in partnership with Moran Technology Consulting, has stepped through several important preparatory phases that stand us in good stead to begin system implementation in fall 2024. Workday will replace PeopleSoft (BiONiC) and Financial Edge for Human Resources and Finance. We will remain on BiONiC for the Student Information System (SIS) for the next few years.

This summer we will finalize a contract with a consulting partner who will support Bryn Mawr throughout our implementation, and the project team will prepare for implementation by way of data clean-up and continuing business process mapping. Implementation will include helping us adapt or redesign many of the College’s business processes that are currently supported by PeopleSoft, other local systems, or manual/paper processes so that we can benefit from streamlined processes supported by Workday. We plan to go live with Workday with critical administrative processes in place in January 2026. We will engage the community during implementation and support everyone in orienting to the new platform.

Following a stabilization period, next we will move into planning for migration from Peoplesoft to a new student information system, integrated with the Bryn Mawr Workday platform, to enable registration, advising, and related academic support functions. This next-gen Student implementation phase will happen in collaboration with Haverford College so that we ensure our BiCo student systems operate in an integrated way in support of BiCo curriculum, students, and faculty. We look forward to supporting this transformative work at Bryn Mawr, and to our continued coordinated planning and future implementation work with Haverford colleagues.

If you have any questions, you can reach out to Tijana Stefanovic or Gina Siesing as executive sponsors, or to Melissa Cresswell, Senior Project Director. Our project website will remain mawr.life/nextgen and our email, nextgen@brynmawr.edu.

The Next-Gen ERP system evaluation team has been conducting a thorough evaluation of software and system implementation vendors, and the Board of Trustees affirmed their support for this process at its April meeting. We expect to share updates with the community as early as June. Implementation planning and data conversion will begin this summer with an official project kickoff in the fall. We welcome questions and suggestions at nextgen@brynmawr.edu; more project information is available at https://mawr.life/nextgen.

The NextGen Enterprise Strategic Planning & Institutional Readiness project team has had an active fall. A Request for Proposals (RFP) is out for software and implementation services and business process review is underway in HR and Finance areas. The team will be reviewing vendor proposals in January and hosting vendor demos in the second half of February. We will share event details in the new year. We welcome questions and suggestions at nextgen@brynmawr.edu; more project information is available at https://mawr.life/nextgen.

The project team is developing requirements and data strategy for the system that will be replacing Bionic/Peoplesoft and Financial Edge. Guiding Principles are published on the project website. Send questions or suggestions to our project address, brynmawr@morantechnology.com, or directly to anyone on the project leadership team. Continue to look for project updates on the website and in this newsletter. 

Several workshops are underway this month to begin identifying functionality the College needs in a new finance, HR, and student information system that will replace the Bionic/Peoplesoft and Financial Edge systems.

The project team will continue soliciting this input into the fall. Please look for project updates on the website and in this newsletter. Send questions or suggestions to brynmawr@morantechnology.com.

Bryn Mawr College is embarking on a multi-year project, called the Next-Gen Enterprise Strategic Planning and Institutional Readiness Project, to replace the Bionic/Peoplesoft and Financial Edge systems. If you use these systems, please look for project planning updates on the webpage and in future newsletters. Send questions or suggestions to brynmawr@morantechnology.com.

Email to Faculty and Staff:

In partnership with Moran Technology Consulting, Bryn Mawr College has begun to plan strategically for our next-generation enterprise data and systems environment, with a goal of replacing the existing Bionic/Peoplesoft and Financial Edge systems in the upcoming years. This year-long planning process will include a review of our existing Human Resources, Payroll, and Finance applications, as well as the Student Information System that is shared with Haverford College. We will be looking closely at the two leading platforms that are being adopted by most peer institutions: Oracle Cloud and Workday.

Through this project, we will identify what we want the system to do (“functional requirements”); how we want to store, organize, and access our institutional data; and which business processes we should modify to improve efficiencies. Additionally, we will identify what resources are needed to successfully manage a systems conversion of this magnitude. We will evaluate the leading enterprise software platforms, and select both a platform and a consulting partner to assist Bryn Mawr with the implementation of the new system.

The planning team will share monthly project updates in the Lantern newsletter to keep everyone informed about the process, including opportunities in the early fall for campus constituents to provide input and feedback. We invite you to visit the project website (https://tinyurl.com/enterprisebmc) for a high-level timeline and additional information about the project and the core project teams.

We welcome any questions or suggestions about the project at any stage. We have set up this project address for community members to send input: brynmawr@morantechnology.com.

From March 2023 - August 2024, Bryn Mawr College partnered with Moran Technology Consulting (MTC) to plan strategically for implementation of a new enterprise ecosystem.

Through this project, we articulated requirements for enterprise functionality and institutional data use, reviewed and updated business processes and project resource needs in key areas, evaluated leading enterprise platforms, and selected both a platform and an implementation partner to assist us with the next phase of the project.

Outcomes of this project include plans for sequenced migration from PeopleSoft and Financial Edge to a new HR/Payroll/Finance system for Bryn Mawr and a new Student Information System for BiCo. In tandem, we are in the process of articulating an associated next-generation enterprise data strategy.

The System Evaluation Team (SET) provided a sounding board for project plans, approaches, and deliverables:

• Richard Barry, Director of Institutional Research, Planning, and Assessment
• Amy Berry, Assistant Controller for Receivables
• Millie Bond, Chief of Staff and Secretary of the College, President's Office
• Melissa Cresswell, Senior Project Director
• Christine Eigenbrot, Payroll Manager, Controller's Office
• Kim Folkes, Associate Director and Financial Aid Database Manager, Office of Financial Aid
• Richard Gebauer, Dean of Student Success
• Deb Grant, Assistant Director of Facilities Services for Business Operations
• Mike Johnson, HRIS Manager
• Katie Krimmel, Associate Dean, Career & Civic Engagement Center
• Marty Mastascusa, Director of Human Resources
• Jeanine Molock, Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness, Planning, and Assessment
• Kirsten O’Beirne, Registrar
• Vince Patone, Director of Enterprise Data, Systems & Interfaces
• Beth Shepard-Rabadam, Associate Provost for Administration
• David Sturgis, Director of Administrative Information Systems
• Joanne Sullivan, Dean of Financial Aid

Strategic Planning & Institutional Readiness Milestones

• July - August 2024: Transition from Strategic Planning & Institutional Readiness Project to Workday Implementation
• September 2023 - August 2024: Business process redesign (ongoing)
• May - August 2024: Contract negotiation
• January - April 2024 Bid evaluation, including vendor demonstrations of how current functionality maps to requirements
• November 2023 - RFP release to vendors
• September - October 2023: Additional requirements development, software and implementation services RFP
• October 2023: Implementation staffing plan
• August - September 2023: Business intelligence/analytics assessment & strategy
• September 2023: Marketplace analysis, implementation strategy and timeline
• June - August 2023: Requirements development
• May 2023: Day in the life vendor sessions
• April - May 2023: Define project drivers, transformation readiness assessment
• March 2023: Project planning and kickoff