Workday Implementation Delay

Dear Colleagues,

I hope each of you are continuing to stay safe and well both for those that continue to work remotely and those limited employees that are gradually returning to campus.  As the impacts of this situation continue to unfold, I have an important update regarding the status of the Workday project.

These past few months have created new challenges in many facets of our work, and the Workday implementation is not immune to those. Given the fact that so many of our employees have been working remotely, it has been difficult to properly train staff in time for the July 1, 2020 go-live date. Even though our training team has been diligently working to ensure all training is ready, as well as the very good virtual training executed to date, the lack of our ability to conduct face-to-face training in a structured environment will significantly challenge our ability to meet the original deadline.

Therefore, it is imperative that we, in collaboration with Louisiana Tech and UNO, push the implementation date for Workday HR and Finance from July 2020 to January 2021. On a positive note, this delay will allow us to implement the Student module of Workday sooner, and make it more cost efficient.

I am grateful for the thousands of hours of work performed by our dedicated implementation team. We have surpassed so many significant milestones. This shift in timeline will ensure that Southeastern is better positioned to capitalize on the work already done and successfully transition to Workday.

Given the timing of our fiscal year close, all previously announced Finance deadlines will remain in place. However, the Human Resources deadlines that we shared last month will be revised to reflect our new go-live date. Those changes will be communicated in the months ahead.

I remain excited about the cutting-edge, cloud-based platform that we will all begin using in January. I appreciate those of you who have helped us make so much progress.

Thank you,

John L. Crain
President