Workday Student
Workday Student at Hamilton College will replace the current SIS, offering an integrated, mobile-friendly platform for course registration, advising, and financial management.
A New Student Information System
through Workday
In 2024, we launched Workday for our employees, streamlining HR and financial operations. Now we’re extending that same integrated approach to students. Workday’s Student Information System brings course registration, academic advising, finances, and records management into one seamless system. We’re building on the foundation already established and creating a truly connected campus experience.
Leadership, Vision, and Strategy
Discover Hamilton’s strategic vision for Workday Student, our guiding principles, and the leaders driving this transformation forward.
Project Oversight & Advocacy
Workday Student’s success is built on collaboration. Learn how decisions are made, who’s involved, and how you can contribute to shaping this initiative.
Project and Launch Timeline
Workday Student launches in phases throughout 2027. See the detailed implementation schedule and key milestones as we transition to this modern system.
Communications & Announcements
Stay informed about the latest updates, newsletters, and project milestones. Find system maintenance schedules, outages, and answers to frequently asked questions.
Student Information System
Workday Student is a comprehensive Student Information System (SIS) from Workday, designed to integrate seamlessly with Workday’s broader platform. It will replace Hamilton College’s current SIS (Colleague), creating a more connected, efficient campus experience. This unified platform will support a wide range of processes, including registration, gradebooks, records, financial aid, and academic advising.
Workday Student was selected for a range of compelling reasons that resonate with the College’s commitment to efficiency, accessibility, and the holistic development of the Hamilton community. In keeping with the College’s motto, Know Thyself, the system empowers students, faculty, and staff to gain deeper insights into their academic journey and professional roles.
- Student-Focused Benefits: It offers an enriched experience for students by fostering greater accessibility and seamless interaction with their academic progress, making real-time updates and self-management more convenient and intuitive.
- Improved Faculty and Staff Experience: For faculty and staff, Workday Student streamlines administrative processes, reducing repetitive tasks. This gives them more time to focus on key academic and strategic initiatives.
- Embracing Innovation: This modern solution is adaptable and forward-thinking, helping Hamilton College stay at the forefront of technological advancements. It’s designed to evolve with future educational needs.
- Strategic Alignment: Workday Student aligns directly with the College’s larger goals of improving operational efficiency, fostering collaboration, and supporting long-term sustainability.
- Engage Students with a Modern Experience
- Deliver mobile-friendly, accessible tools that support students from onboarding to graduation.
- Simplify Academic Planning
- Streamline saved schedules, course registration, and advising into one cohesive, user-friendly experience.
- Support Student Success in Real Time
- Give students and advisors immediate visibility into academic progress, course eligibility, and key milestones.
- Empower Self-Sufficiency Across Campus
- Enable students, faculty, and staff to complete tasks independently with intuitive self-service options, reducing administrative burden.
- Drive Decisions with Trusted Data
- Provide access to real-time dashboards and reports, ensuring data-informed decisions at every level.
For the Workday Student implementation, these guiding principles create shared understanding, promote accountability, reflect our values, and keep the project focused on meaningful outcomes.
- User-Centered & Transparent: We design with users in mind, improving experiences, and simplifying tasks through clear processes and communication.
- Consistent & Sustainable: We aim for clarity and alignment across the College. What we build should be easy to understand, repeat, and maintain.
- Adaptable & Forward-Thinking: We plan for today and the future. Change is part of the process. We stay flexible, keep learning, and evolve as we go.
- Collaborative & Cross-Functional: We work together across departments and roles, valuing every voice. The best solutions are built with shared understanding.
- Trustworthy & Data-Driven: Our work reflects integrity. We build reliable systems, maintain accurate data, and make decisions rooted in facts, not assumptions.
The entire Hamilton College community will experience the changes brought by Workday Student, including students, faculty, staff, and families. Since this project will impact the entire College, we’re eager for active involvement from our community. Stay tuned for opportunities to engage, provide input, and have your voice heard as we work together to ensure the system meets the needs of all stakeholders. Your participation will be vital in making this transition a success.
Workday Student will provide a modern, integrated system for Hamilton students to manage their academic journey. Students will be able to:
- View and update personal information
- Plan and register for classes
- Access grades and advising information
- View student account balances
- Request official transcripts
Workday Student will provide a seamless and user-friendly experience, ensuring students have easy access to the tools and information they need throughout their time at Hamilton.
Yes, faculty will use Workday Student to manage academic processes and support students throughout their academic journey. Faculty will be able to:
- View course schedules, rosters, and enrollment details
- Enter and update grades
- Access advisee records and academic history
Workday Student will provide faculty with a more efficient and integrated system for managing courses, grading, and student support.
Workday Student will support staff in key academic and administrative functions. Depending on their role, staff may use Workday Student to:
- Access student contact and academic information
- Create and manage courses and sections
- Process academic overrides for students
- Support registration and enrollment activities
- Review student financials and account details
- Manage holds on student accounts
The Workday Student project officially began in 2025, with various go-live phases scheduled for 2027. These phases will introduce the system gradually, ensuring a smooth transition and allowing for continuous feedback and adjustments.
The implementation of Workday Student will integrate essential functions such as admissions, financial aid, student finance, academic records, registration, and advising. The rollout will occur in stages, aligning with key milestones in a student’s experience at the College.
- Financial aid processing
- Course scheduling, degree audits, registration, and advising
- Billing functions
- Grading and graduation processing
This phased approach will ensure a smooth transition and full integration of Workday Student’s capabilities across all academic and administrative areas.
Workday Student will manage functions currently handled by the existing SIS, including:
- Gradebooks
- Course registration
- Academic records
- Student Billing
While it will not replace the College’s learning management system, Blackboard, Workday Student will complement and enhance its capabilities, ensuring that academic and administrative processes are more connected and streamlined.
As part of our ongoing commitment to providing a seamless experience for the Hamilton College community, we have established a comprehensive set of success metrics to measure the effectiveness and impact of the Workday implementation. These metrics cover a range of areas, from user adoption to system efficiency, and ensure that we remain focused on achieving our strategic goals.
Questions from the Hill
How does this fit with Workday for the other business functions? Is there overlap?
Workday Student connects directly with our existing Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) and Financials systems.
Unified System and Data: Historically, student workers had separate profiles across systems. Student workers will have both their employee and academic roles on one system: Workday.
Financial Alignment: Financial transactions, student payments, and billing balances will feed directly into the general ledger, significantly streamlining real-time financial reporting and reconciliation. When updating bank information, students will only need to make changes in one place to update direct deposit for student refunds and their on-campus pay.
Students will benefit from a "one-stop-shop" model via the new centralized Academics Hub and Student Accounts hubs. Instead of jumping between multiple physical offices and disparate portals, students will have real-time visibility of holds, checklists, bill details, and support networks directly on their computers or phones.
Digital Self-Service: The platform replaces physical paper forms and manual email loops. Students will be able to digitally request minor additions, submit program of study changes (concentrations), request leaves of absence, and ask for registration overrides directly in the system. They will also enjoy real-time account balances, dynamic payment plans, clear hold resolution instructions, and automated waitlist tracking.
The project team is highly confident that student onboarding will be straightforward. Experience from other Workday campuses indicates that students adapt very quickly to the self-service interface with minimal formal training. We also have plans for a Workday Student Ambassador Network for peer-to-peer training and assistance.
Many of our students are already using and familiar with Workday through their on-campus jobs, meaning the major first hurdle of learning a new system has already been cleared.
In addition, the team is preparing a multi-layered support network to prevent and respond to student frustration should it arise:
- Peer Support (Workday Student Ambassadors): Trained students will assist in getting peers familiar with the tasks and processes within Workday.
- Embedded Help & Guidance: For common items, custom help texts, instructions, and quick tips will be integrated directly into screens to prevent students from getting stuck.
- Clear Office Routing: If students encounter issues, they will reach out directly to the relevant campus office, just as they did in years past.
The staff side will experience some of the largest operational shifts, with highly manual, spreadsheet-based, and paper-driven tasks moving to automated, integrated system workflows.
Key examples include:
- Registrar: Automated transfer credit unit conversions, automated credit/no credit request workflows, fewer necessary registration windows, and automated course repeat restrictions.
- Student Accounts: Automated past-due registration holds, native payment plans, and on-demand statement generation.
- Financial Aid: Automated Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) calculations and a streamlined "anticipated aid" display on student accounts
Workday utilizes a role-based security model to restrict or grant access appropriately:
- Academic Advisors: Will be able to view student class years, basic data, academic history, completed credits, and interactive academic progress reports. Students will also have the ability to share schedule plans with their academic advisors for review.
- Course instructors: Will have access to course rosters, basic student data, and a student's full support network list, but will not have broad access to view general student records unless the student is their direct advisee.
- Other Advisor Types: ALEX, Opportunity Program, CSTEP, and Health Professionals advisors will have access to view curriculum, student schedules, support networks, and basic advisee data.
Student employees already use Workday for their time entry and pay, but there will be a few small improvements with the addition of the student functionalities:
Banking information for direct deposit and payroll will be unified, streamlining any changes or updates.
Federal Work-Study payroll allocations will be automated behind the scenes once department costing splits are configured.
Our current project logs and transition strategy documents do not explicitly mention summer research workflows.
To ensure a smooth transition and protect Spring 2027 operations, all Spring 2027 classes, grading, and graduation will remain in Colleague/Self-Service.
The new student information system will roll out in three phases throughout 2027:
| Phase & Date | Focus | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 March 2027 |
Academic Foundation | Course catalog, class schedules, student profiles, advising, and registration tools become available in Workday. Advising for the Fall 2027 semester transitions to the new system. |
| Phase 2 July 2027 |
Student Finances | Student billing, financial accounts, payments, and payment plans become available in Workday. |
| Phase 3 September 2027 |
Records & Financial Aid | Final grading, graduation tracking, transcripts, and financial aid processing/disbursement move to Workday. |
While adjustments are expected during a rollout of this scale, our project status remains on track.
To ensure a smooth transition, we are:
- Building specialized dashboards to simplify day-to-day tasks.
- Using a "Train the Trainer" model for peer-led learning and support.
- Running a "Mock Semester" simulation to test all workflows in advance.
Experience shows students are most likely to find system terminology and the distinction between planning and registering confusing:
- "Am I registered?": Other institutions have noted that students often mistake their "Saved Schedule" or "Academic Plan" for actual registration. We are confident through training and guided on-screen information, students will be prompted to continue past these tasks and actually submit their registration.
- Workday Vocabulary: Terms like "Program of Study" (Concentration) or "Academic Unit" (Department) will take some getting used to.
- Parent/Proxy Access: Students will be entirely responsible for setting up parent/third party proxy access and designating FERPA permissions via their self-service portal, which is a major shift for some.
