Timeline

The Empowering UF initiative will officially kick of in July 2024, following our current phase of preparation. Implementation will then occur in phases, roughly following the timeline above, with greater university-wide engagement beginning in 2025. Our anticipated go-live is July 2027. The phases of the multi-year implementation are as follows:

Post-selection readiness: The “post-selection readiness“ phase includes developing a high-level project and resource plan while also reviewing data and integration components of the project.

Plan: In the “plan” phase, we will onboard new members of the project team, finalize our work plan, schedule design sessions, and determine our data conversion strategy.

Architect: In the “architect” phase we will conduct design sessions and make configuration decisions, while developing a production support model and planning for the re-implementation of other administrative systems, as needed.

Configure & Prototype:  In the “configure & prototype” phase we will configure design solutions, build integrations and reports, convert data and reimplement other administrative systems, as needed.

Test: In the “test” phase we will conduct solution interface, data conversion, and integration testing, and also develop training materials. 

Deploy: In the “deploy” phase, the Workday system will go live and we will conduct a series of end-user trainings.

Support (Hyper care):  When Workday is actively utilized by the UF community, we will extend a period of intensive support to our stakeholders including, education, training and targeted problem-solving.

2023 – 2024 Action Plan

We are currently focusing on critical activities to support the successful implementation of Workday, including identifying an implementation partner, documenting UF’s business processes, and enhancing UF’s data governance and strategy.

	Business process mapping: We will document the current state of UF’s business processes to understand the current workflow and existing technology touchpoints.
	Data conversion and reporting:  We will clean and prepare our institutional data to be ready for the Workday system, while also maturing our data governance framework to better govern our use of data. This workstream is a critical component to the project’s success.
	Procurement Process: We will select the software product and our implementation partner to deliver a new cloud-based administrative system.
	Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP):  The ERP includes refining our systems to implement Workday, such as configuring the data model, and chart of financial accounts, as well as designing security features.
	Technical:  We will conduct up to 18 separate technical projects that will enable system integration with Workday.
	Project Strategy:  Campus participation and representation aligned with project strategy will be key to a successful implementation.  Project strategy also includes managing risks, having a process for issue escalation, and deploying a comprehensive change management framework.