Campus Spotlight: Owens Community College

Institutional Moment

Navigating Implementation

Institution Snapshot

Institution: Owens Community College

Institution Type: Public Community College

Location: Ohio

Technology Initiative: Workday Student

Engagement Style: Institution-Side Implementation Support and Cross-Functional Governance Partnership

Engagement Length: Implementation Support and Data Validation Engagement

When a Technical Decision Becomes an Institutional Decision

As Owens Community College moved through its Workday Student implementation, one challenge kept growing in importance.

How should the institution define and classify its students? At first glance, the question seemed straightforward.

In reality, the answer would influence reporting, admissions processes, student services, academic records, governance, and countless decisions made long after implementation was complete.

The college quickly realized that defining Student Types was not simply a configuration task. It was an institutional decision that required alignment, transparency, and confidence across multiple departments.

You Might Be Here If...

• A key implementation decision affects multiple offices across campus.

• Different departments use the same terms in different ways.

• Reporting requirements depend on consistent definitions and logic.

• Historical data needs validation before future decisions can be trusted.

• Teams are struggling to align around ownership and decision-making.

• You're concerned about how today's implementation choices will be maintained after go-live.

The Challenge

Owens was working through two significant efforts at the same time.

First, the institution needed a sustainable Student Type framework that could accurately classify students within Workday Student while supporting reporting, operational processes, and future maintenance.

Second, the college was validating large volumes of historical student, registration, grade, and GPA data to ensure accuracy and confidence as implementation progressed.

Neither challenge could be solved through technical configuration alone.

The institution needed a shared understanding of how student populations would be defined, reported, validated, and maintained over time. Just as importantly, Owens needed confidence that the historical data supporting those decisions was accurate and trustworthy.

The Turning Point

The defining realization was that the project was not really about Student Types. It was about creating institutional agreement.

The college recognized that even the most sophisticated technical solution would struggle if departments interpreted definitions differently or lacked confidence in the data behind them.

Instead of focusing solely on how Workday would classify students, the conversation shifted toward how the institution itself would define, validate, govern, and sustain those classifications moving forward.

That change transformed the effort from a technical exercise into a cross-functional collaboration.

The Partnership

Legato partnered with Owens to help bring structure, transparency, and shared understanding to the process.

Working alongside stakeholders from across the institution, the engagement combined data validation, requirements gathering, governance discussions, reporting transparency, and knowledge transfer.

Historical student, registration, grade, and GPA data were reviewed and validated to identify discrepancies and strengthen confidence in the information being used to support future decisions.

At the same time, the team worked together to define a sustainable Student Type framework that could support institutional needs while minimizing ongoing manual effort.

To help stakeholders understand and trust the logic being developed, Legato created validation tools, error reporting reports, and logic flow diagrams that made complex decisions easier to visualize and evaluate.

Documentation, reconciliation templates, training materials, and annotated specifications ensured that knowledge remained with the institution rather than the project team.

Throughout the process, the focus remained on helping Owens build a framework that could be understood, maintained, and trusted long after implementation.

The Outcome

Owens established a clearer and more sustainable approach to Student Type classification within Workday Student.

Cross-functional stakeholders aligned around shared definitions. Historical data was validated, reporting transparency improved, and ambiguity around student classifications was significantly reduced.

By the end of the engagement, Owens had stronger data confidence, greater organizational alignment, and a more sustainable foundation for operating Workday Student.

Why This Story Matters

Many implementation challenges appear technical on the surface. In reality, they often involve people, processes, governance, and shared understanding just as much as technology.

Student classifications, reporting logic, and data definitions influence decisions across an institution. Without alignment and transparency, even well-designed configurations can create confusion and risk.

Owens Community College's experience demonstrates the value of bringing stakeholders together around shared definitions, validation practices, and governance decisions before those challenges become operational problems.

By focusing on institutional understanding, not just system configuration, the college built a solution that its teams could trust, maintain, and sustain well beyond implementation.