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Board committee flags high risk and 1,300 companion projects as NextGen (Workday Student) planning advances
Summary
Internal audit and project leaders told trustees the Workday Student project carries a high risk rating while dozens of related initiatives and roughly 1,300 “companion projects” must be sequenced; staff recommended a roadmap, added program and OCM capacity, and pilot configurations.
Internal auditors, project leaders and trustees spent substantial time March 20 reviewing risk, staffing and sequencing for the Minnesota State NextGen Workday Student implementation.
Mike Cullen and system staff described the audit team’s current assessment: an overall “high” risk rating because Workday Student overlaps numerous other projects and vendor integrations, requires new staffing and organizational change management (OCM), and will demand complex sequencing of companion systems.
Staff reported more than 1,300 companion projects — campus or third‑party systems, forms or processes that feed Workday data or consume it — and urged trustees to approve a clear roadmap and prioritized sequencing. Vice chancellor Davis and project managers said the roadmap is “in progress” and estimated information gathering at about 50% complete.
Audit and project staff recommended specific near‑term actions: finalize a roadmap linking Workday Student to related projects (CRM, identity management, data warehouse, faculty workload management), prioritize and hire a Project Manager for the student‑worker work stream and a permanent Workday director role, and strengthen system‑level project management and organizational change capabilities.
On staffing, project leads said interim change‑management support is in place but additional hires are being processed. Staff said a Workday director request has chancellor approval and is moving through HR, and the student‑worker project manager position is in the PMO hiring queue.
Project leads described plans for a pilot configuration using the data of one college and one university to validate baseline configurations; project staff will validate data across all campuses even though only the two pilot institutions’ data will be loaded for that first prototype.
Finance and HCM leaders told trustees stabilization of the Workday platform is still in progress and that typical stabilization timelines for a project of this size run 12–18 months post‑go‑live. Finance priorities include finalizing payroll posting accuracy, cash management, integration fixes (eg eBuilder integration) and usable budget‑to‑actual reporting; trustees were told progress is on track for key March–April milestones but the work remains substantial.
Trustees asked for clearer sequencing and accountability, noting that when “everyone is responsible, no one is responsible.” Staff said the project’s steering committee has added presidential and ASA representation and is considering campus representatives for future phases.
Project leaders recommended the board consider a permanent, system‑level project management office (PMO) and a system‑level OCM function to coordinate the large number of connected projects and to reduce duplication and risk across campuses. Audit staff flagged a follow‑up risk review for the summer and said many recommendations are already underway.
