Or, Prototypes—the Model(s) of a Modern Major Process Change
The Project is using a series of working models, commonly called prototypes, to build NSHE’s Workday configuration. Over the next few updates, the Project will drill down on how Workday prototypes are built and what goes in to them. To begin, here’s why the Project is using prototypes in the first place.
Prototypes are self-contained working copies of Workday. Each prototype features an attempt to configure it with NSHE’s common business processes that were designed to serve all institutions. They’re also loaded with a copy of real institutional data that has been cobbled together from disparate legacy systems. Some data and processes work seamlessly in Workday from the outset, and some don’t. Workday may not completely follow an NSHE business process, or it may not know how to interpret some old legacy system’s data. But Workday is designed to be highly configurable, and that’s where NSHE’s prototyping approach comes in. Each prototype allows the Project to refine the configuration’s functionality and to fine-tune data conversions to more accurately reflect NSHE’s expectations. With each successive prototype, the Workday configuration becomes more aligned with NSHE’s expectations, and the process of pushing data from legacy systems into the prototype is improved.
The Project’s first prototype (P1) was relatively generic. It served as a baseline for figuring out exactly how to configure Workday with NSHE’s business processes, and also how to convert legacy system data cleanly and accurately into Workday. P1 was then scrutinized for data errors and process issues. P2, NSHE’s second prototype, is the inheritor of all the information the Project gathered from its experiences with P1. It features revised processes that are now more tightly aligned with NSHE’s original needs and current expectations—and, just as importantly, a more useable copy of data from legacy systems. P2 is a drastic improvement over P1—its functionality is 80 to 85% of what the finished product will contain when Workday goes live at NSHE in October 2017. However, like P1, P2 will be examined and tested for errors and alignment with expectations. Those findings will help the Project build NSHE’s third prototype, P3.
The goal, of course, is to build a Workday configuration that works the way it’s expected to work—where functions and data return accurate, consistent results across all eight NSHE institutions. It’s a big project with a lot of moving parts that requires teamwork among all stakeholders—and the iterative approach that prototyping offers—to ensure success.