May 19, 2020 – Email from Office of the President on Revised Go-Live Date

Dear Colleagues,

I am sharing an important update on the Workday project. We have the opportunity to modify our current timeline and execute the Student module of Workday with a more cost-effective, more flexible and timelier implementation. However, that means we will need to move the go-live date for both the Human Resources and Finance modules from July 2020 to January 2021.

Being able to implement the Student module will give greater opportunity for our faculty and staff to obtain information quickly and accurately and will provide services to our students that will help with financial aid, academic advising, curriculum management and a host of other areas. The end result for our students, faculty and staff will be a powerful 21st century tool that is vital to the success of our institution.

Postponing our HR and Finance modules will also allow us to conduct in-person training on the new system. We have developed strong online training, but we do feel in-person training would greatly benefit faculty and staff who will need to utilize the system on a daily basis at launch.

Our Workday implementation team has devoted so much time and talent to ensuring our implementation is on time. This slight shift in timeline will ensure that our institution is better positioned to capitalize on their work and successfully transition to Workday.

Given the timing of our fiscal year close, all previously announced Finance deadlines will remain in place. However, the Human Resources deadlines that we shared last month will be revised to reflect our new go-live date. Those changes will be communicated in the months ahead.

I remain excited about the cutting-edge, cloud-based platform that we will all begin using in January. I am most grateful for those of you who have helped us make so much progress with the Workday project. We would not be at this point without the tremendous dedication of so many of our staff.

LSU New Orleans Proud,

John Nicklow, PhD, PE, PH, DWRE
President
LSU New Orleans