Frequently Asked Questions
Select the FAQ category to see questions in that area.
General FAQs
Workday is a state-of-the-art cloud-based solution that will replace many of our current manual processes. Workday will combine multiple administrative applications into one unified system for RITs business operations in human resources, finance and payroll.
Workday is a leader in the ERP space used by over 400 higher education institutions and growing. Its friendly user interface and robust resource-, finance-, and HR-planning modules enable RIT to bring many functions and processes into one secure platform.
The anticipated benefits of the Operation Tiger Cloud project are:
- Enable agile university operations through efficient, transparent, standardized and sustainable processes.
- Harness the connections between interconnected business processes for increased synergy.
- Ensure that individuals have access to the necessary data to perform their role effectively.
- Provide convenient access to information facilitating data-driven decision-making that aligns with fiscal accountability and established budget goals.
- Establish a cross-departmental data governance process for financial, budget and human resources data, underlying the critical role of data and information as invaluable institutional assets.
- Implement widely accessible strategic analytics and operational reporting capabilities.
- Deliver an intuitive user experience for students, faculty and staff.
In September of 2023, RIT solicited bids for software vendors and system implementation partners simultaneously.
Workday has been selected as the software vendor; Accenture has been selected as the system implementation partner. Accenture will work hand-in-hand with the RIT project team to implement Workday.
Two cloud-based ERP vendors were asked to provide RIT specific demonstrations. Each demo invitation was for a week-long period; one vendor presented their product the first week, and the other vendor presented the following week. Demo attendees were asked to attend demos presented by both vendors so that their feedback could be fairly weighted. For example, if a participant attended the Accounts Receivable demo for Vendor A, they were asked to attend the Accounts Receivable demo for Vendor B during the following week. The topics covered during the demo sessions can be found here. At the end of the week, demo attendees were asked to provide feedback on the sessions they attended via a survey.
RIT has selected Accenture as a partner for the project. Accenture, also known as the project’s “system implementation partner" (SI), has significant experience implementing Workday in a higher education environment. They will work side-by-side with the RIT project team to configure and deploy Workday. This is standard/best practice when organizations implement this type of software.
The staff career architecture (SCA) and Operation Tiger Cloud (OTC) project teams have regular check-ins to ensure proper alignment. For more information about career architecture at RIT, please visit the SCA project website.
Workday will promote consistency across the University while reducing costs, risks and technology debt. Workday will provide all users with the following benefits: a modern look and feel, a user-friendly experience, access to real-time data and reports, mobile access and enhanced business processes.
We are looking for volunteers to join our Workday Ambassador Network. If you're interested, learn more at Get Involved! and use the attached contact form to let us know your interest. We'll begin Ambassador informational meetings in November and expect this program to help us have mutually beneficial two-way communication and feedback that will bring the project to the people and the people to the project.
Thank you for your interest in helping us bring Workday to the people at RIT! We're working out some final details of the ambassador program anybody who signed up before Monday 11/4 received an email with additional details. We anticipate our official Ambassador Kickoff to be in mid-November.
Workday Functionality
RIT has purchased multiple "SKUs" (a stock-keeping unit, or unique identifier for a product/service) from Workday, including Finance (including Grants Management), HR, Planning (budget), Time Tracking and Purchasing-related modules.
Yes. Workday is protected by a secure socket connection, the same protection used for online financial transactions. Your information is safe whether accessed within RIT environment or on another web connection. We will be using Two Factor Authentication. Learn more about Workday security: https://www.workday.com/en-us/why-workday/trust/overview.html
We will ensure that when needed, all employees will have access to Workday. Additionally, Workday has a robust mobile application available for all employees to view information and complete certain tasks.
The methodology used to build the Workday system consists of phases where the Project Team works with consultants to design the system to meet RIT needs. Then we test hundreds of scenarios to make sure it works as we need it to. The last test to complete will be to run a payroll in Workday and cross referenced all the numbers to a payroll in our current system to make sure the numbers match indicating Workday is calculating payroll and compensation to our standards.
Will employees need to enter any information in Workday to bring Workday up to date when we go live?
Information will be loaded into Workday from the various other systems that RIT currently uses. Employees will receive a Go-Live Checklist of tasks to complete starting on day 1. You may be asked to verify or update information.
Yes, Workday will manage benefits for all RIT eligible employees. Employees will be able to view benefits, change benefits based upon life events and complete annual open enrollment in Workday.
RIT-Specific Functionality
RIT and Accenture are actively working to build the first RIT-specific instance of Workday. Architecture and configuration began on 10/21/2024 and we anticipate some brief RIT-specific demos may be available shortly after the new year.
The change management team will provide opportunities to preview Workday prior to Go Live which will include screen shots, videos, and demonstrations.
Additionally, you can preview quick demos of Workday features "out of the box" on our Resources page.
Workday for HR and Finance will roll out on January 1, 2026.
Your first paycheck of 2026 will be visible in Workday.
Workday will be rolled out for HR and Finance on January 1, 2026. All employee and manager self-service functions, including financial transactions that can be initiated by employees or managers (such as expense reimbursements) will be live on day 1. Your first paycheck in 2026 will be through Workday. Additional functionality may be ready to use on day 1 but may not roll out until the next appropriate period (such as performance appraisals).
The Workday project will have a phase 2 to implement budget planning functionality beginning approximately in Summer of 2026.
At this time, international locations will not be impacted by this project.
The project team is doing their best to mitigate and reduce any account number changes, but some are bound to change as we work through this effort. We’ll work directly with you when your accounts may be impacted.
We are examining all end-to-end processes as we work to configure the system, but at this time, SRS and SPA functions will continue to be maintained by their current teams.
Systems Replacement/Integration
At a high level, Workday will replace the Oracle E-Business Suite for HR and Finance purposes, including employee self-service, manager self-service, expenses, payroll, etc.
Workday is also being evaluated to replace Cornerstone/Saba for talent management, BrassRing for hiring, and more.
Stay tuned to the Operation Tiger Cloud site for more information as we continue to understand the unique needs for these other systems and how Workday can enhance the user experience.
No. The Operation Tiger Cloud project will replace RIT’s enterprise resource planning solution (ERP), which is used for managing RIT’s financial, human resources, and budgeting processes. As an RIT employee, you use Oracle, the current ERP, to view your paystub, sign up for benefits, submit an expense reimbursement or update your personal information. Depending on your role, you may also use it to approve expense reports, invoices and time off.
Workday for HCM (human resources), finance and payroll functions are set to go live January 1, 2026.
The Workday Student product evaluation will be a separate consideration.
Workday offers some options to help with our Talent Roadmap for new hires and other learning objects. We are actively investigating specific use cases and needs to ensure that Workday can fit our needs, but we will continue to use Saba for now.
Our identity and access management system, CLAWS, will be integrated with Workday.
Yes, PNC is planned for Workday integration.
Apex is our framework for custom applications to manage data from Oracle and other sources. It is currently under consideration for replacement with Workday.