Will Wilson Garland, chief information officer, told the committee on Aug. 25 that the Workday implementation is on schedule and that the project team recommends a multi‑entity (ME) approach for the student module. "The preliminary recommendation that we're making today is to move ahead with a multi entity implementation," Wilson Garland said.

Wilson Garland described accomplishments to date — completion of planning and initial data conversion, building the foundation tenant for finance and HCM, functional architecture sessions and the start of change management. He said project status is "green" and that unit testing would begin in September. He also said the team encountered data conversion challenges early and continues to manage limited staff capacity as a risk.

On the student module, the team assessed single‑entity (SE) versus multi‑entity approaches. Wilson Garland said a single‑entity approach would require using a third‑party system to manage and process financial aid, adding integration complexity and ongoing costs. "In a single entity implementation, Workday really only handles 1 OPE ID," he said, noting compliance and reporting implications.

Wilson Garland said Workday estimated about a $1.6 million one‑time difference in upfront configuration and implementation costs between SE and ME during contract negotiations; staff will refine that estimate and present a change order in November. He added that using a third‑party financial aid product with SE would create both implementation and ongoing licensing costs — he estimated licensing alone for a third‑party financial aid system to be roughly $1.8 million to $2.0 million over 10 years, plus additional IT and personnel costs to host and manage that system.

Trustees asked about cost amortization, operational risks, and student experience. Trustee Glover pressed for a clearer breakdown of one‑time versus ongoing costs. Wilson Garland said Workday's ME configuration includes Workday's integrated financial‑aid functionality in the subscription and that ME would avoid the additional licensing and integration costs required by SE. Trustee Kluver and Trustee Dickinson asked the team to dig deeper into student‑type scenarios and whether the system as configured today would still reflect the needs of students several years out; Wilson Garland said the assessment team will interrogate those scenarios before returning with a final recommendation.

Wilson Garland outlined next steps: the team will confirm feasibility of specific configurations, work with Workday to detail cost and scope in a change order, and present a final recommendation and draft change order to the committee and full board in November. He described the recommendation as preliminary and emphasized the project will continue with planning, testing and change management work streams while staff refine costs and configurations.