Dear Faculty and Staff Members,

Over the past year, we’ve been exploring ways to improve the College’s core administrative systems to better support you by identifying a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Broadly speaking, ERP systems are software platforms that help organizations like colleges and universities manage core operations — such as finance, payroll, human resources, and student records — in one place. Instead of separate systems for each function, they are connected through a single, integrated platform.

Many of you have participated in assessing and identifying our options through individual and office or department-wide discussions, surveys, listening sessions, and vendor demonstrations. We’re excited to share with you that, informed by your feedback and participation, we have selected Workday as our new ERP system.

Why Are We Moving to Workday?

Workday is a trusted leader across higher education; from large universities to many of our peer liberal arts colleges, schools of all types have transitioned to the platform over the past several years. Workday is a modern, cloud-based system that carries numerous benefits over our current legacy system, Ellucian Banner. It is a more intuitive and streamlined experience that will reduce reliance on paper-based processes and third-party tools, and lead to easier access to information and better support for day-to-day work across the College. Workday will also serve as a reliable source of data by consolidating information into a single integrated system, rather than having much of that dispersed across various systems, offices, and departments.

A major consideration in the timing of this transition is the fact that the Ellucian Banner system we currently use will be discontinued in the near future. This makes our modernization effort not only strategic but necessary.

What Does This Mean for You?

For many of you, the transition to Workday will change how common administrative tasks are completed. Workday will serve as the single platform for activities such as managing budgets, recruiting and hiring staff and student workers, submitting and approving time and attendance, enrolling in and managing benefits, and processing expense reimbursements. Staff will also use Workday for performance reviews and accessing employment records, while managers will gain improved tools for overseeing team operations. Once fully implemented, faculty and students will use Workday to register for courses, view and update academic records, track progress toward degree requirements, and support advising activities.

When Will the Transition Occur?

Our transition to Workday will be the largest information technology project in the College’s history and will require a considerable amount of time, effort, and patience. To help with this significant undertaking, we’ve selected Alchemy as our implementation partner. Alchemy specializes in helping colleges and universities move to Workday. There are two phases to this implementation work:

• Phase 1: Human Resources, Payroll, and Financials
  • This phase will begin this month, with a planned go-live date in Fall 2026. We will begin this phase with a three-month planning effort starting in July.
• Phase 2: Student Information System
  • This phase is scheduled to begin in early 2027, with all modules expected to be live by Spring 2028.

While Workday is an impressive, comprehensive tool, it is only part of the equation in our information system modernization efforts. For this work to be truly successful, we also need to reexamine and standardize many of our business practices. Currently, we have highly customized approaches to similar tasks and processes — often using different systems — across the College. These inconsistencies can make it harder to collaborate across departments, and they sometimes lead to duplicate efforts or outcomes that vary from one area to another. The move to Workday is an opportunity to take a fresh look at our operations, ask why we do things the way we do, and examine how we work and where greater alignment could benefit the community.

We recognize that this work will be challenging. It will bring significant change and demand substantial time and effort from many of you across campus. We are committed to supporting you throughout this transition with ongoing communication, training, and opportunities for feedback. We are confident that this work will lead to a better work and educational experience across the community.

If you have questions, are interested in learning more, or would like to become involved in this effort, please contact the Swarthmore Workday Project team at workday@swarthmore.edu.

Thank you for your continued dedication to the College and your engagement in this important initiative.

Sincerely,

Jason Parkhill
Chief Information Technology Officer, on behalf of

The Workday Project Steering Committee

Beth Glassman
Vice President, Human Resources

Robert Goldberg
Vice President, Finance & Administration

Stephanie Ives
Vice President, Student Affairs

Robin Shores
Assistant Vice President, Institutional Effectiveness & Assessment and Assistant Secretary of the College

Richard Wicentowski
Provost & Dean of the Faculty