College Achieves Smooth Workday Student Go-Live with Mid-Implementation Turnaround
3 min read
Quick overview of school
📍 Memphis, Tennessee
🎓 ~2,000 students
📝 A private liberal arts college known for academic excellence and a tight-knit campus community.
“Legato helped us stabilize our implementation and really empowered our team to take ownership of the Workday system. They didn’t just advise us—they were in the trenches with us.”
— Rhodes College Project Team Member
Need
At the end of Configuration and Prototype Stage (Workset D) in its Workday Student implementation, Rhodes College realized its project faced significant obstacles in reaching its go-live milestone on-time. Challenges included inaccurate data, testing gaps, insufficient end-user support and change management, and critical gaps in project team staffing.
“Legato’s deep experience for the process of implementing something complicated, like an ERP or SIS, can help your institution see around corners and tackle things that your implementation partner may not think to mention to you.”
— Rhodes College Project Team Member
Support
Legato Strategic’s team led a remarkable 6-month Workday Student project turnaround, delivering:
Reimagined student, faculty, and admin user experiences with customized dashboards, redesigned user interfaces, and targeted job-aids
Provided critical just-in-time support to the under-resourced and inexperienced Registrar department
Led comprehensive End-to-End (E2E) testing
Delivered high-impact custom reports
Ensured 100% data accuracy for enrolled students prior to Workday becoming the system of record
Provided full business and process analyst services
Offered recommendations and support for third-party integrations
Following go-live, Legato Strategic empowered key personnel through:
Delivered report writing training
Delivered business analyst training
Provided post-production coaching on problem-solving and troubleshooting techniques
Provided post-production technical support
“[Legato] got to know our real requirements, often to the point that they were able to anticipate what we needed before we knew we needed it. They were able to help prevent fires from even starting, and they provided the best plans to fight the ones we couldn’t anticipate.”
— Rhodes College Project Team Member
Impact
✔️ Ensured improved user adoption through a seamless, intuitive interface and comprehensive support documentation
✔️ Smooth initial registration process after go-live
✔️ Proactive identification and resolution of testing gaps ensured a smooth go-live
✔️ Positioned Rhodes as a Workday Rising 2024 presenter showcasing their Workday Student success
✔️Cultivated confident and highly competent system analysts and administrative users
“I would recommend Legato to any institutions implementing a product like Workday, especially if they were under-resourced.”
— Rhodes College Project Team Member
Reflection
At Legato, we believe tech should elevate—not frustrate—the student experience. Our work at Rhodes focused on clarity, usability, demonstrating that even mid-project pivots can become success stories with the right support.
It was a privilege to collaborate alongside an institution committed to invest themselves in creating an excellent service for its campus community. We were impressed by the project members' enthusiasm to develop their Workday skillset and were fortunate to train and coach their team to independently manage the system long-term.
“Legato actually cares about how things work beyond the implementation. They want the important processes your users will experience with the new product to not just work but work well and in a better way than you had before.”
— Rhodes College Project Team Member
“Partnering with Legato Consulting was one of the very best things our institution did during our Workday Student implementation. I am forever grateful for the professionalism, expertise, and teamwork of Legato Consulting.”
— Rhodes College Project Team Member
