Workday: Revolutionizing Administrative Support @ Yale

Yale School of Management

Workday is innovative in two different ways: innovative as a system of record for Payroll, HR, Finance, and more as compared to its competitors and predecessors (Oracle, PeopleSoft, etc.), and also innovative for Yale in our newfound ability to transact business without the need for duplication of effort or reliance on paper-based processes. Workday's unique, customer-focused user interface is light years beyond the tables and layered screens of most ERP relational databases, and paves the way for enhanced employee and manager self-service. As a resource in the cloud, Workday offers Yale a much lower carrying cost, as well as a higher level of security in that data is not stored on any local device. Their inclusive approach in which customer feedback is both sought out and acted upon has proven to add significant value for both Workday and their clients. Yale has partnered with Workday in the development of an innovative academic module that tracks academic appointments, tenure, and many other aspects of the faculty lifecycle. For Yale, the decision to knowingly and willingly adopt a system that can be configured, but not customized, has moved us from a path where any upgrade is problematic and overwhelmed by regression testing to one where we know that future Workday functionality won't be in conflict with current Workday functionality. In fact, Workday's inclusive approach to designing a product that serves both the private and public sectors (including education and government) means that Yale no longer has the need for extensive customization. Ultimately, Yale's decision to simplify and standardize workflow makes it easier to get work done across the university, and harder to make mistakes