Workday

The Transition to Workday

Workday will replace Banner finance and HR in Fall 2025

Workday will replace some of Banner as the new enterprise software platform for finance and human resources. To meet the evolving needs of its faculty and staff, W&M is modernizing its ERP to align the current business demands of the university with a technology partner and toolset that delivers the functionality and user experience that is needed by the W&M community.

About Workday

Recent Activities

Leadership & Change Network

Frequently Asked Questions

A graphic that reads "Streamlining Processes, Amplifying impact" with the Workday and William & Mary logos

Benefits of Workday

Modern and intuitive user experience
Streamlined processes
Built-in automation engine
Expanded data quality
Advanced analytics capabilities
Flexibility and scalability
Long-term cost control

Evaluation overview

Project Phases

1. Readiness & Plan

Spring 2024 - Summer 2024. Gather data, set strategies and build the initial Workday environment.
2. Architect & Configure

Summer 2024 - Spring 2025. Design, configure and test Workday, including integrations and reports.
3. Test & Train

Spring 2025. Conduct end-to-end testing, payroll parallel testing and training.
4. Deploy & Support

Summer 2025. Release the system with training and support.

Email the project team

Executive Sponsors, Steering Committee Leadership & Change Network

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Peggy Agouris, Provost
Ed Aractingi, Chief Information Officer
Tawanda Johnson, Chief Human Rescources Officer
Mike Todd, EVP of Finance & Administration

Corinne Picataggi, Chair, Chief Technology Officer
Ed Aractingi, Executive Sponsor, Chief Information Officer
Alana Davis, Associate Provost & University Registrar
Tawanda Johnson, Chief Human Rescources Officer
Melanie O'Dell, Chief Financial Officer
Pete Kellogg, Chief Information Security Officer
Barbara Forth, Chief Data Officer
Andrew Crawford, Deputy Chief Information Officer
Marra Austin, Assistant VP for Supply Chain Services
Mike Todd, Executive VP for Finance & Administration
Abby Houser, Associate Budget Director

The Workday Change Network at William & Mary is a proactive community of staff dedicated to supporting the university's transition to Workday. The Change Network fosters two-way communication between departments and the project team, positioning Change Ambassadors as vital contributors to this initiative.

Change Ambassadors are at the forefront of understanding and disseminating information regarding business processes, policies, and system changes associated with the university's implementation of Workday. They play a crucial role in helping colleagues prepare for and embrace the forthcoming changes.

Meet our Change Ambassadors

* Steering Committee Leadership

Andrew Crawford, Change Management Lead *
Melanie O'Dell, Finance Functional Team and FDM & Financial Accounting Lead *
Tawanda Johnson, HCM Functional Team Lead *
Abby Houser, Projects and FDM & Financial Accounting Lead
Ana Pascale, Banking & Settlement Lead
Brittany West, Benefits Lead
Connie Motley, Grants Lead
Denise Bailey, Payroll Accounting Lead
Eric Myers, Identity Management Lead
Erin Fryer, Communications Lead
Ghana Smith, Training Lead
Grace VanDivender, Compensation Lead
Ivan Lyashenko, Customer Accounts Lead
Janet Balentine, Finance Functional Team Lead, Finance Support
Jason Pully, Technical Team and Cutover Lead
Jennifer Cook, Time & Absence Lead
Jessica Newton, Business Assets Lead
Katherine Davis Small, Grants Lead
Kathy Baldwin, Conversion Lead
LaDonna Brown, Expenses Lead
Lauren Meyer, Compensation Lead
Mary Lueker, Core HCM and Time & Absence Lead
Michelle Bernal, Endowments Lead
Mike Maddalena, Projects Lead
Nick Artime, Security Lead, Community and Learning Admin
Pam Eddy, Academics Lead
Ruth Erb, Expenses Lead, Customer Accounts Lead
Sherree Walker, Business Assets Lead, Banking & Settlement Lead, Payroll Accounting Lead
Shewlyn Chen-Stewart, Integration Lead
Simonne Vance, Payroll Lead
Spencer Jenik, FDM & Financial Accounting Lead
Tratisha Hayes, Recruiting Lead

Recent Activities

W&M prepares for Workday training rollout

In a bid to ensure that employees are well-prepared for the upcoming transition to Workday, the Workday Change Management team has unveiled a comprehensive training rollout plan that promises to be both timely and engaging.
Project Team Feature: Ivan Lyashenko

We are excited to recognize the hard work that is being done by the Workday project team.
Workday Newsletter March 2025

In this issue, we give an update on end-to-end testing and glimpse into recruiting in Workday.
Project Team Feature: Spencer Jenik

We are excited to recognize the hard work that is being done by the Workday project team.

See all recent activity

Frequently Asked Questions

Have a question about the transition to Workday? Email [[workdayproject]].

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W&M’s current ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, Banner, and its business processes no longer allow the university to operate efficiently and deliver the services our faculty, staff, and students expect. Replacing the system gives us the opportunity to improve our business processes and services and adopt a modern system that provides our faculty and staff with best-in-class tools.

Workday’s modern interface is intuitive and more robust. It will make everyday activities – such as hiring and onboarding new employees and budget processing – smoother, faster, and easier.
Anyone who uses Banner now, whether an employee or a student, will benefit directly from this transition. Workday’s modern, accessible, and intuitive user experience reduces inefficiencies and workarounds common to Banner.
Workday’s suite reduces the number of software products W&M has added to Banner to conduct business over the years. Workday is constantly evolving, allowing W&M greater flexibility and the ability to scale up with changing needs.
Workday’s regular upgrades and patches will keep the system always up to date.
Better data and advanced analytics will help W&M get real-time and accurate information immediately after launch.
Workday’s built-in automation engine promotes efficiency across the university, letting employees focus on tasks with the most impact.

The project to implement Workday by Fall 2025 will occur in phases.

View the project phases and timeline

Transitioning from Banner to Workday will digitally transform the university’s business activities. We want our community to be as prepared as possible, and we are ensuring that everyone will receive robust training and the support they require to be successful.

The Workday Change Management team’s primary focus is on communication, training and stakeholder engagement. A change network has been formed, and the team will work directly with the change network to provide bi-directional communication between departments and the project team. Throughout the project there will be ways for the community to stay in the know, including reading the Workday newsletter and attending town halls and trainings.

The Workday website serves as a hub of information and is regularly updated to keep the community posted on the project and its progress. In particular, the Recent Activities section of the website serves as an archive of the latest news, including the Workday newsletter.

The university is committed to modernizing the student information system as well as the ERP supporting finance and human resources. The student information system modernization is a future phase of the ERP transformation. Students will continue to use Banner during the first phase of the project. A strategy and roadmap of the student information systems will be identified and communicated once determined.

Yes. There is a training team, and a change management team comprised of representatives from across campus who are developing a training plan that will fit William & Mary. While the plan is still a work in progress, the community can expect how-to documentation, videos, in-person sessions, and more!

Yes. This is the beginning of a long partnership between W&M and Workday. Ongoing support will be crucial to the success of the employees who transition from Banner to Workday as well as those who join the community after Workday goes live.

The modernization of the student information system is a future phase of ERP transformation. Students and Faculty will continue to use Banner during the first phase of the project (HR/Finance). A strategy and roadmap for student information systems will be communicated in the future.

William & Mary will retire several enterprise systems as part of this transition. We are working with our vendor partners to communicate our contractual changes.

We will have non-production tenants that are running alongside Banner to support testing. The strategy for using those efficiently and effectively is being developed now as part of the testing work stream.

There are several ways to do this. One is to reach out to your change network ambassador or project team lead (anchor link to change network row). Another is to reach out to the project team at [[workdayproject]].

While we continue to use Banner as our primary student information system, the faculty will engage with Banner Student to support course management, grading, and other student administrative activities the same way they do now.

After extensive discussions with Workday, other universities of similar complexity, and institutional leadership, William & Mary selected Workday’s proven Launch+ methodology, which influenced the timeline.

William & Mary users who interact with the HR and Finance components of Banner today, will interact with Workday instead to perform those tasks. Additionally, some tasks that happen in third-party administrative systems will also happen in Workday. The change management team will communicate specific changes, and the training team will recommend or require training as appropriate.

Workday and Banner both serve as ERP systems but differ significantly in their approach. Workday is a cloud-based platform that provides a unified solution for finance, HR, and student administration. Its user-friendly interface and object-model navigation will enhance operational efficiency compared to Banner’s cumbersome transaction-based navigation. Workday’s development model also brings innovation into the platform with improved business functionality, whereas Banner recommends purchasing and integrating third-party solutions to expand functionality.

Yes. Training paths will be designed based on your role and how you’ll interact with Workday. Training paths will start with an overview. For now, please learn more on the project website and at workday.com.

We want to hear from you!

We know this is a big change. Please feel free to send us your questions, comments, concerns, or ideas and a member of the Workday project team will get back to you.

Email the workday project team

The Transition to Workday

Workday will replace Banner finance and HR in Fall 2025

Navigation buttons for the page

Benefits of Workday

Project Phases

1. Readiness & Plan

2. Architect & Configure

3. Test & Train

4. Deploy & Support

Email the project team

Executive Sponsors, Steering Committee Leadership & Change Network

Topics

Executive Sponsors

Steering Committee Leadership

Change Network

Project Leads

Recent Activities

W&M prepares for Workday training rollout

Project Team Feature: Ivan Lyashenko

Workday Newsletter March 2025

Project Team Feature: Spencer Jenik

Frequently Asked Questions

Topics

Why does the university need a new ERP?

What are some of the major benefits of switching to Workday?

What is the timeline for this project?

How are you going to prepare the community for this change?

How can we get more information about the project?

Is Banner Student going away?

Will employees get proper training to learn how to navigate and utilize Workday? How will training be delivered?

Will there be ongoing support after Workday goes live?

Are we going to have Banner Student and Workday at the same time and will they talk to each other?

What systems and tools will be replaced by Workday?

Will there be a testing/pilot period with real-world users from across the university, including faculty and VIMS?

How can individual stakeholders engage with the team to advocate for our user needs and functionality specifications?

What will happen with the faculty services portion of Banner?

The timeline seems very rushed/aggressive. Why?

When and how will things change?

How does Workday work in comparison to Banner?

Will there be an overview of Workday and how it functions?

We want to hear from you!