The Challenge
Manual processes and siloed data sources
Employing more than 350 scientists and 150 trainees across 30 research labs and 120 operations, Gladstone Institutes recognized that it needed modern software to complete core business functions, and a single source of information to support decisions and generate insight. Its on-premises legacy system required teams to manually perform maintenance and upgrades, and no longer met Gladstone’s needs as a research institution, particularly for payroll and grants management.
As a research institution associated with a university, Gladstone had a high need for streamlined on-boarding and off-boarding processes for its graduate and post-doctoral student populations. With its legacy system, the process was inefficient and caused delays.
Gladstone faced the growing need to have better visibility into its business functions, and to streamline its processes, including HR functions and budget controls. The increased desire to streamline processes, eliminate siloes, and modernize current systems, were the catalysts to embark on a transformation project.
“It was time to modernize and move to the cloud so that we could enhance our institute’s reach, support our mission, and accelerate the pursuit of science,” said Gladstone Institutes Chief Information Officer Scott Pegg. “Our goal was to implement a system that would streamline our HR, payroll, and finance functions and enable Gladstone to have better visibility across the entire institution.”
450+
Employees
30
research labs
$85MM
operating budget
Key Highlights
WORKDAY HCM, FINANCIALS, AND PAYROLL DEPLOYED BY AVAAP
Gladstone selected Workday as its Enterprise Management Cloud (EMC) solution and engaged Avaap as its systems integrator for the deployment. Avaap was selected based on its Workday experience for similar system modernization projects, and its ability to meet an accelerated go-live goal for the institute. The Avaap team provided consulting and project management services as part of the deployment. Gladstone also selected Avaap based on its experience in deploying Workday’s Grants module, which Gladstone sought from its new system.
“We needed a Workday deployment partner who would be able to get us across the finish line and on our way to achieving the benefits that come with a modern system,” said Pegg. “Workday delivers a unified approach that will help us eliminate data silos and allow our management team to reduce time spent on reporting processes and more time leveraging advanced analytics for actionable insight.”
STREAMLINED PROCESSES AND SIMPLIFIED TECHNOLOGY
Gladstone was able to reduce time-consuming, manual processes across all areas of the business, increasing the ability for researchers and team members to work remotely as a direct result of its Workday deployment. Also important are self-service functionalities that support a more efficient benefits enrollment process.
Gladstone also benefits from an integrated system with a consistent user experience. Systems are no longer siloed and have full functionality for end-users. Leadership also has up-to-the-minute information for better, faster reporting, enabling stronger decision making as a result. People resources now spend time on data analysis, not data entry.
“Avaap and Workday delivered a deployment experience that was efficient, on-time, and on-budget,” said Pegg. “For the first time we have visibility into our processes and access to real-time information, neither of which would be possible without Workday’s streamlined HCM, Finance, and Payroll solution.”
Workday enables Gladstone to have better visibility into data, allowing us to bring all of our processes together. The combination of Avaap and Workday brought us to modernization quickly and efficiently, transforming the way Gladstone approaches its business functions.”
-Scott Pegg, Chief Information Officer, Gladstone Institutes
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