Evaluating the results of our third community readiness assessment 

The Integrated Renewal Program ‒ Student (IRP Student) is dedicated to supporting our community members through the transition to Workday Student. Recently, IRP Student invited UBC faculty and staff to participate in the third Institutional Readiness Assessment (IRA). 

Following the completion of Launch 1 of Workday Student in October 2023, IRA #3 intended to help measure progress toward efforts to prepare the UBC community and capture any changes in readiness levels as we approached Launch 2, which began February 26, 2024. For this survey, a greater emphasis was placed on whether the community has the knowledge and ability to implement new ways of working.  

Previous IRA results 

IRA #1, undertaken in late 2022, provided baseline information about the UBC community’s experiences with IRP Student and allowed the program to assess the readiness and willingness of impacted users and faculties/units to adopt Workday Student. Learn more about the results here.  

IRA #2, deployed in Spring 2023, provided a measurement to evaluate trends in community preparedness and readiness changes for the launch of Workday Student in October 2023. Read more about the results here.  

Overview of IRA #3 survey participation & responses 

The above graphic outlines the participant characteristics and highlights the overall results for each category measured by this survey. An additional category was added for IRA #3 which focused on identifying whether UBC staff and faculty believe they currently have the foundational knowledge needed to succeed with Launch 2 of Workday Student.  

Overall, 855* members of the UBC community, from both the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses, participated and provided feedback. The survey results were aligned with where we expected to be, as a community, at this point in the change. We have seen improvement in all areas that were surveyed when compared to the IRA #2 survey.  
 
One of the most challenging times during change is having to learn new ways of working and apply that learning. It takes time and practice, which is why results in the Knowledge/Ability are expectedly low. It is important to understand that the metrics shown are not intended as scores, but rather serve as indicators pointing towards areas that require further attention and highlight evolving trends. IRP Student has a structured change management plan, activities, and measures in place to ensure faculty and staff have the resources and increasing confidence needed to do their work.

*Please note: While 855 members of the UBC community participated in this survey, some responses in relation to identification (campus, role, etc.) were not mandatory. 

IRA #2 vs IRA #3 

The image above shows the comparative data from the IRA #2 versus IRA #3 results. This shows that our community is moving forward in their readiness levels across all seven categories with the most notable increases seen in the perception that leadership is aligned and committed, as well as the participants feeling more prepared and ready for the change.     

Looking at the qualitative data 

At the end of the survey, there was an open-ended question asking: “What else do you need in order to be ready for the transition to Workday Student?”. This allowed the program to measure the UBC Community’s preparedness by interpreting attitudes, beliefs, and concerns.   

For IRA #1, the dominant theme for these comments was a general desire to understand more about Workday Student. IRA #2 exhibited a shift from wanting more information about the system, to needing the knowledge and skills in order to work within the new system’s capabilities. IRA #3 indicated that the community now feels positively about their foundational knowledge, overall, and is looking for support from the program and timely and clear communication flow.  

Next Steps 

The survey results showed an increase in confidence across all dimensions. The UBC community has expressed a need for more detailed info on Workday Student functionality, how the changes will affect their roles and business, and to gain greater confidence by practicing and applying what they have learned in training. By considering and evaluating these needs, as well as the indicated need for more support from the program, IRP Student is developing action items related to the following overarching recommendations:  

• Continue planned activities to share information and resources through trusted channels and focus on the benefit of the changes to the work of the community 
• Focus communications tactics on faculty and student readiness as the need for faculty actions in Workday increases  
• Continue to communicate the detailed benefits of the new system on operational and business processes  
• Share more information on detailed individual impacts 

The Transition Network plays an important role in advising both their faculty/unit and IRP Student in transition activities. Community-wide recommendations will be brought to Primary Transition Leads for their feedback, and based on their faculty/units’ specific results, additional action items will be created to support the local-level transition.  

If you have any questions about the IRA, please contact IRP Student by using this contact form.