Evaluating the results of our second community readiness assessment

The Integrated Renewal Program ‒ Student (IRP Student) is dedicated to supporting our community members through the academic and organizational transition to Workday Student. As such, IRP Student has established a process for assessing how prepared the UBC community is to respond to the coming changes and adapt to any new ways of working. This process – known as the “Institutional Readiness Assessment” (IRA) - includes a series of surveys.

IRA #1 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. The first IRA was undertaken in late 2022, learn more about the results here. 

IRA #2, deployed in Spring 2023, provides a measurement to evaluate trends in community preparedness and readiness changes for the launch of Workday Student in October 2023. 

Overview of IRA #2 survey participation & responses

Overall, 900 members of the UBC community, from both the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses, participated and provided feedback. The image above shows the comparative data from the IRA #1 versus IRA #2 results. There are similar quantitative results, with the notable exception being a 3% decrease in the Learning and Knowledge Management dimension – a significant difference, but not meaningful.  The likely reason for this consistency in results could include the fact that training had not yet taken place at the time of the survey to shift user confidence toward feeling more prepared - Advanced User Training commenced in June 2023, and Core User training will be available to the community from July 2023.  

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?”, which 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, however, 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. One may conclude that our community has moved from having sufficient awareness and knowledge about what Workday Student is to now wanting to learn more about how to use the system.  

Next Steps

The UBC community has expressed a need for understanding the impacts on individuals with the transition to Workday Student as well as a clear timeline and roadmap for when these impacts will occur. By considering and evaluating these needs, as well as the indicated lack of confidence in the level of training to be provided, IRP Student is proposing the following recommendations: 

• Continue planned activities – IRP Student has a strong plan that provides the community with the support and resources necessary to adopt the new system. 
• Support and deliver training – It is critical for impacted users to have access to the training to not only ready themselves but also provide support to students. IRP Student will continue to keep our website updated with current training information.    
• More focus on Leaders – Resources, such as engagements, program updates, and action items, for University Leadership (VPs, AVPs, Deans, Associate Deans etc.) will be available to help their teams through the launch of Workday Student. 
• What’s in it for me? – Our community understands the reasoning behind the move to Workday Student and IRP Student will help guide and support them to be accepted as well. 

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.