FAQ

The implementation of a new finance, human resources and student information system is a multi year project with several phases.  The current project timeline can be found on the timeline page of the project website.  The scheduled go live for the Human Resources and Financial system is July 2024 and is the first phase of the project.  Implementation of Student functionality including Registration, Financial Aid and Student Financial Services will be completed in future phases.  The anticipated go live for student functionality is approximately 2027.

The goal of this project is to better support the people and processes essential to the academic and administrative functions of the College as outlined in the Strategic Plan. To do this we will provide improved process design, user interface, access to data, and information security through the implementation of an integrated suite of modern, cloud-based Student, Human Resources and Finance software applications.  Another important factor in support of this project is the fact that PeopleSoft is approaching end-of-life and needs to be replaced.

This project is supported by an established governance structure which includes broad representation from individuals across the college.  Visit the About page on the project website for more information about the teams supporting this project.

All students, faculty and staff will benefit from, and are important partners in, this change.  Any member of the community who participates in the academic or administrative functions of the College including (but not limited to) accessing data, managing curriculum, supporting students academically and financially, managing and developing employees or the financial operations of the college are all stakeholders in this project.

The individual impacts of this change will vary depending on your role at the college and the work that you do.  There are some general impacts that will be felt by everyone including:

• User friendly processes that are consistent, efficient, transparent and accessible.
• A modern user interface that leverages computer and mobile device accessibility.
• Better informed decision making by improved and easier access to information.
• Improved efficiency in collaboration and reporting through a single unified system supporting Human Resources, Financial and Student data and processes.
• Reduced institutional risk generated by outdated on premise enterprise systems.
• Reduction in the number of redundant third party systems used to support processes.

The over arching goal of this project is process improvement.  The impact may be felt by some more than others depending on your role and the work that you do.  No system will replace our people but it may change the work that we do and how we do it.  There will be a detailed training plan that will include a variety of training tools and methods.  Training and documentation will be available to ensure that the community is knowledgeable about the new tools and processes and has the skills and resources to effectively navigate their work.

Yes! As outlined in the strategic plan, the shift to remote teaching and work during the pandemic demonstrated the importance of technology infrastructure on campus. Williams has an opportunity to reimage how we collect, maintain, analyze and protect data across all areas of campus. As a result, the strategic plan includes a commitment to upgrade our enterprise data systems, including our core student information, financial and human resources systems. This change is driven by the pending obsolescence of our systems and also presents an opportunity to rethink business operations and data use. The full plan can be revised on the Strategic Planning website.

This website will continue to offer up to date information regarding the project status and opportunities to engage with the project teams.  Check back throughout the project to learn more about what’s happening.

If you have questions, comments or general thoughts about this work we want to hear them!  Submit your feedback here and a member of the project team will get back to you.

PeopleSoft is our current ERP at Williams.  ERP is an acronym for "Enterprise Resource Planning" and refers to a system used by institutions to manage and integrate their human resources, financial and student data and processes.  An important benefit of an ERP system is that it allows organizations to run the primary business functions of the institution with a single system.