• Our university needs a flexible, configurable system with the ability to support the expanding global campus.
• Our outdated, fragile technology does not meet the university’s needs and is not sustainable.
• Updating, maintaining, and repairing the existing HR system is time consuming and costly, and very few individuals have the (dated) system knowledge to do so.
• Multiple audit failures and new compliance requirements require that we implement processes and systems that reduce risk and enhance compliance.
• Complex, out-of-date processes and multiple approval requirements reduce administrative effectiveness and efficiency.
• Lack of user-friendly reports and accurate data present challenges for timely decision-making and business intelligence.
• The university must continue to invest in its future by reducing the administrative burden and enabling staff with new tools.

The up-front HR Business Process Review phase will help lay the groundwork for a system implementation project to support the Human Resources, Time and Attendance and Global Payroll business functions. Key goals during this phase include:

1. Review existing HR, Benefits, Payroll and Time & Attendance business processes and define standard (where possible) future state business processes.
2. Define the operating model to support the new processes and systems.
3. Complete an assessment for bringing payroll functions “in-house.” (CMU currently outsources its payroll to ADP.)
4. Document requirements and perform Workday and external fit gap analysis.

The CMUWorks team will facilitate a series of working sessions with functional representatives from HR, Benefits, Finance, Computing Services and campus (a cross section of representatives from the academic and business units) to design future to-be processes. As a starting point, the team will leverage existing Carnegie Mellon current state information where available to highlight pain points in the process and key improvement opportunities.

During the working sessions, the project team will present draft future state process flows to attendees. All participants will have the opportunity to ask questions, challenge ideas, and make suggestions on how the draft flows can be improved. Outputs from the Business Process Working sessions will provide the basis of working documents needed for the system configuration workshops.

We understand that having campus involved and engaged will be a critical factor in our success. This includes extensive involvement in the vendor selection process and more recently, in the up-front phase (HR Business Process Review). Continued campus involvement through all phases of the project will continue to be a high priority for the team.

During the vendor selection process, representatives from across campus provided valuable feedback on vendors and in particular, on a vendor’s ability to meet campus needs and the product’s usability. On-site demonstrations were well attended by campus representatives and the campus feedback factored heavily in the final decision to select Workday.

Campus is and will continue to be heavily involved in this implementation. The Campus Team, comprised of representatives from the academic and business units, is integrated with the project team and their involvement includes participating in the Business Process Workshops, attending weekly status meetings helping to escalate and make decisions, reviewing change management and communication strategies to help ensure the right communications are being distributed to the right audience at the right time, and helping to shape the Workday implementation.

Workday is the HR Capital Management and Payroll software that CMU will be implementing to support HR and Payroll functions for the University.

Workday is a leader in HR, Payroll and Benefit software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions; in this model, software is hosted centrally by the vendor and made accessible to users over the Internet. Some of the benefits of Workday include a rapid pace of development for new functionality, online approvals, an easy-to-use interface, and enhanced reporting capabilities. Additionally, as a SaaS provider, Workday is responsible for providing the hardware and middleware, installing it, maintaining it, and ensuring uptime.

More information on the company and the product lines can be found at www.workday.com.

The journey to modernize our HR and Payroll systems began more than a year ago, when we initiated an extensive vendor selection process. At that time, CMU’s requirements (more than 1,400 strong) were thoroughly documented and a cross-functional team that included campus representation was assembled to guide the process. Over the course of the next 10 months, the CMU vendor evaluation team carefully evaluated vendors based on their ability to support the university’s business needs, product usability, and best fit for the university.

From the many Request for Proposal responses received, CMU identified five leading HR/Payroll vendors for a final round of demonstrations. In April 2011, the rigorous vendor selection process came to an exciting close when the CMU team made their final recommendation. The outcome was a signed contract in September 2011 with Workday.

1. Strong Business Case: Best Fit for CMU
   • A modern, flexible platform for future growth
   • Reduced administrative burden on CMU staff
   • Lower total cost of ownership (e.g., leased software without server software license fees, maintenance fees, upgrade fees, etc.)
2. Pace of Innovation: Ongoing Updates (Always on Current Version)
   • Continuous improvement and lessons learned from peer universities
   • Ability to influence Workday Higher Ed product development
   • Additional functionality (e.g., faculty management, PTO, position tracking, etc.)
   • Workday community
3. Usability: Positive Campus Reaction
   • Over 80 people attended the Workday demo; 50 evaluated the system; 40 chose Workday
   • Web 2.0 user-friendly interface results in increased productivity and rapid user adoption
   • Empowers users at all levels to easily access information, participate in business processes, and collaborate across the university
4. Technology: State-of-the-Art Architecture and Support
   • Requires less hardware and maintenance support; Workday assumes many of the support, training, infrastructure, and security risks
   • Architecture is consistent with our approach to business services and the information systems that support them
   • Rapid development and deployment of new functionality
5. Robust Auditing and Reporting Capability: Support Decision Making and Strategic Planning
   • Enhanced reporting, ad-hoc query capabilities, and online analytics; actionable business intelligence at your fingertips
   • Audit and governance requirements can be readily addressed; Workday was designed with a "compliance rich" environment in mind

More information on the company and the product lines can be found at http://www.workday.com/company/about_workday.php.