At a glance
Higher ed digital transformation
CLIENT Overview
Founded in 1901, Joliet Junior College is recognized as the first public community college in the United States. As a leader in higher education, Joliet Junior College continues to set an example as an innovative institution with its recent Workday transformation.
10000
+
Students served annually
100
+
Employees
0
Campuses across Illinois
The Challenge
As the first public junior community college in the United States, Joliet Junior College (JJC) has history as a higher education leader. As JJC matured, it recognized the growing need to modernize existing process to meet changing student expectations and maintain its heritage of educational innovation and excellence.
For example, across the institution, processes were paper-based and lacked transparency. The current ERP was confusing to navigate, and operational and compliance processes were manual. Employees faced inefficient processes for tasks that could be moved to self-service in the cloud and delays without automated approval workflows. For example, when JJC employees requested time off, the process was paper-based and took days to complete.
Another element to the transformation initiative was the growing need for better data transparency to inform decisions.
Key Highlights
Workday Financial Management and Human Capital Management (HCM) deployed by Avaap
Joliet Junior College 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 in the core application and Student, familiarity with the needs of higher education institutions, and culture fit, including bringing a culturally diverse team to the project. JJC’s project goal was to integrate systems more easily and make work efficient and possible for employees, on or off campus.
Workday’s cloud-based solution eliminates the need for JJC to have dedicated resources to maintain physical hardware, and spend more time focusing on streamlining processes. The college experienced the benefit of cloud technology firsthand when the COVID-19 pandemic caused the project to shift to a fully remote deployment with Avaap.
IMPROVED FUNCTIONALITY AND GREATER INSIGHT
Joliet Junior College has seen a decrease in manual processes as a result of its Workday deployment. With Workday, employees have access to self-service HR functions and automated workflows, including the ability to request or approve time off without the need for campus mail.
JJC has also seen an improvement in the integrity and transparency of its data. Combined with the availability of real-time information, leaders are better informed.
AVAAP AND JOLIET JUNIOR COLLEGE
Joliet Junior College experienced the benefit of cloud technology firsthand when the COVID-19 pandemic caused its project to shift to a fully remote deployment with Avaap. “Workday enables JJC to focus on modernization,” said Chief Information Officer, Jim Serr. “With COVID, this was especially important. Avaap helped us navigate some pandemic-related challenges with the shift to remote work.”
Following the successful deployment of Workday HCM and Financials solutions, JJC and Avaap have started its Workday Student deployment to better serve JJC students.
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With the Workday and industry experience to help higher ed institutions become more agile and respond to change, and a trusted services team excited to help you, getting started has never been easier.
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