Workday Project Begins

It’s been over a year now since we started our Cloud ERP Project, which is now the Workday project. Over the next 3 years, Augsburg will be changing its primary information system (called Unit4 or the software formerly  known as Agresso). This change will involve moving from our current campus-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system with numerous third-party systems to a unified, cloud-based ERP system, Workday, with fewer third-party systems. The change will happen in phases, with HR and Finance changing first, by January 2027.

This is a complex, multi-year, campus-wide project that changes how we manage student records, registration, human resources, finances, and more. Simply put, how you interact with Augsburg as a student or employee will be changing and improving once we have made the change. How you register for classes, record time worked and time off, submit grades for your courses, and so on—all will be modernized and, ideally, improved.

The last decision in the process has been made which is to partner with Avaap to help us move to Workday. Avaap was founded in 2001 and has been doing Workday implementations for 7 years. Their higher education team is made up of former higher education professionals who have an average of 22 years higher education experience.

The project page has been updated to have a place for us to note the project status. As we get started with Avaap the project timeline will be updated. The HR and Finance parts of Workday will come online at the start of 2027 and the Student part will be fully in use by the fall of 2028. During 2026, the Finance, HR, and the IT ERP teams will be working on this project which will result in the daily work done by them slowing down and taking longer than before. So everyone should expect slower response times from HR, Finance and Erin and Kathy. Please grant them grace as this project will consume a sizable part of their weekly time.

Passphrases

Passphrases are coming! This is a good thing for both security and remembering our logins.

What is a passphrase? 

It is a longer and more secure alternative to a traditional password. Our current password policy has only an 8 character minimum and a bunch of requirements around numbers, symbols, and upper/lower-case. With a move to a passphrase what matters is length, 16 characters minimum, and longer is better. Use whatever characters you want. Most people string a bunch of words together like “wind Denver lock wave road Jeff.”

Why is it better for me?

Beyond hopefully being easier to remember, because we have Duo now for a second factor of authentication, we will no longer require annual changes for “average” accounts. These are the majority of students and faculty. I’ll repeat that, most students and faculty will not have to change their passphrases anymore. People who access institutional data as part of their job (staff advisors, chairs, certain student workers, etc.) will still need to change annually. And if you do fall for a phish and share your passphrase you’ll need to change it.

Why are we changing?

First, passphrases are considered best practice these days. The old rules of complex passwords and frequent required changes resulted in people picking worse passwords. We want to align with best security practices and improve the experience for much of the campus community.

When are we changing?

We’re planning on May to change the requirements on passwords (now called passphrases). The new requirements will be the passphrases needs to be a minimum of 16 characters long and you may use whatever you want for characters. We will not force everyone to change their passwords to passphrases at one time. The new requirements will be in effect in May so when you update your password the new requirements will be in effect (communication coming at that time).

But I have a question….

Hang tight. We’ll have more information and a FAQ coming in the next 2 months.