Workday Student Glossary

Key terminology has been divided into two glossaries. The functional glossary includes terms most users will use to understand and complete student-related tasks in Workday. The project technical glossary includes terms that are relative to technical and project implementation aspects of Workday. 

Term

Definition

Crosswalk 
Academic Calendar  The academic calendar provides the time framework for Workday Student. It is the template for creating academic years (ex: 2024-2025) and academic periods (ex: Fall Semester 2024).  Academic Calendar 
Academic Period  An academic period is a formalized segment of time within an academic calendar that has defined start and end dates. An Academic Period must fall completely within a Standard Academic Period (defined below).  Semester/Module/Term/Session
Academic Plan  A list of the requirements to complete the student's program of study, organized by recommended completion term. The Academic Plan template is standardized for each program of study, but can be adjusted for an individual student's use. The Academic Plan is an optional planning tool and does not replace or supersede Academic Progress for tracking degree completion.  Recommended Path
Academic Progress  A list of requirements to complete the student's program of study. The report indicates which requirements are satisfied, in progress and not satisfied. The report does not indicate when students should take the classes.  Degree Audit 
Academic Requirement  Academic requirements define what a student needs to do to complete a program of study. Academic requirements enable advisors, staff and students to track and verify a student's progress towards completing their program of study.   Degree Requirements 
Academic Requirement Override(s)  Manual adjustments performed by an administrator (with appropriate security access) via a student's Academic Progress to grant exceptions to an academic requirement.  Substitution, Waiver 
Academic Unit (AU)  Workday Student's primary organizational structure is built around Academic Units. An academic unit admits students and offers programs of study or courses. Academic process flows, security access, Workday rule inheritance and reporting are often structured by academic unit.  College/Department/School 
Active  Academic Record Status that is applied if the student has one of the following Program of Study Statuses: Matriculated, In Progress, Leave of Absence, or Pending Completion   
Addable (addable program of study)  Addable refers to a configurable trait of a non-primary program of study in relation to a primary program of study on a student record. Addable programs must be completed in the same timeframe as its primary program of study. Minor, Double Major 
Business Process  Tasks that you can initiate, act on, and complete to accomplish a desired business objective.    
Class Standing  Identification of the year level the student is in (e.g., Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior).  Year Classification 
Complete  Program of Study Status for graduated students.   
Course Definition  Central source of data related to an individual course, such as the course's title, credit value, description, and eligibility rules.   Course Description/ACM Information
Course Section  A course section is the specific instance of a course for which a student registers during a given academic period.   
Course Section Definition  Data specific to an individual course section that mirrors that of the course definition with some additional areas of configuration, such as meeting patterns, instructors, capacity, or section notes.  Course Offering 
Course Section Status  Field that indicates availability of a course section for registration. LSU is using five statuses: preliminary, open, waitlist, closed, and cancelled.  Held, Available, Full, Cancelled  
Course Subject  A subject is the area of study for a course, like accounting or biomedical engineering. In Workday, these align most closely with "departments" and can be used to filter courses.   Rubric 
Course Tags  Course tags are custom identifiers that attach to courses or course sections to categorize them and make them easier to track and manage  Descriptors that may have been found in "Remarks" or via Special Enrollment Codes on mainframe
Declare Date  A field on a student's academic record in Workday that indicates when the student began their program of study. Workday assigns and evaluates a student's academic requirements based on that date. The effective date of academic requirements may be adjusted for a student wishing to change "catalog" years.   Original Entry Date/Original Date in Program/Catalog Year 
Dismissed  Program of Study Status used when a student is removed from the University for academic or other reasons.   Scholastic Drop/Expulsion
Drop without Record End Date  The last date to withdraw a student from a course section without a W grade appearing on their transcript  Drop without a W period 
Effective Dates/Dating  An effective date in Workday is the date when a version of something goes into effect. Based on the action being completed, this may be a past, present or future date.   
Eligibility Rule  Used to define requirements to register for a course or seek admission into a program of study.   Prerequisite/Entry Requirements
Eligibility Override  Request made to exclude a student from a specific requirement, allowing them to enroll in a course section, pre-requisite override, or instructor permission.   Prerequisite Override/Permission of Dept or Instructor 
Expected Completion Date  A field on a student's academic record in Workday that estimates when the student will complete their program of study that is derived from the standard duration of the program of study (i.e. four years for Bachelor of Arts).  Anticipated Graduation Date 
Final Grades  The final grade assigned to a student at the end of an Academic Period.    
Friends and Family  Student may add contact information for friends and family and may optionally provide friends and family with 3rd party access to view aspects of their student record including financials and academics.    Emergency Contacts/MyProxy
Grading Basis   Audit, Credit/Non-Credit, Graded, Pass/Fail   
Hold  Applied to a student's account and may block the ability to register and/or receive transcripts. There are approximately 29 hold types in academic, financial and records areas.    
Inactive Record  A student's record will be inactive if that student has withdrawn from the university, has been dismissed or suspended, or has completed their program.   
In Progress  Program of Study Status when a student is currently pursuing a degree and has not formally discontinued or completed their studies. Is also used in a student's academic progress to indicate where courses taken are applying to requirements. This no longer necessarily  indicates actively enrolled courses, rather that a requirement has been started. Individual courses are also marked as In Progress to indicate active enrollment.   
Institutional Withdrawal   Refers to a student's status when they cease enrollment during a semester by withdrawing from all course registrations and have no intent to return to the institution.   Resignation (without intent to return)
Instructional Format  The method by which the course can be delivered, such as lecture, laboratory, seminar, or recitation.   
Interim Grades  Midterm grades  Midterm Grades 
Leave of Absence  Refers to a student's status when they cease enrollment during a semester by withdrawing from all course registrations but indicate an intent to return in an upcoming semester.   Resignation (with intent to return in the next regular semester)
Open Registration  A period of time when all students with an "in progress" status can make adjustments to their registrations. Typically begins after the last assigned registration appointments have taken place. Period of time after the resetting of credit hour maxes has occurred through the last day to add for a term.
Pending Completion  Program of Study Status that begins when the student applies for program completion.   
Preliminary  Course section status. Automatically applied when a course section is first created and indicates that the course section is unpublished and unavailable for student registration.  Unpublished Sections (prior to publishing of course offering)
Programs of Study  Used to organize academic functions (such as course requirements), people (students) and/or credentials (such as degrees or certificates) within Workday.   Majors, minors, certificates 
Primary Program of Study  Workday requires one program of study to be the primary program. The primary program is, by default, the first active program a student declares. If only one standalone program exists on a student's record, it will be the primary program.  Primary Flag
Program Completion  Used in Workday to label processes related to graduation. Synonymous with 'graduation'.  Graduation/Degree Completion Date 
Program of Study Status  A field on a student's record that indicates where a student is in the completion of their program of study, and whether their overall record is active or inactive. Does not indicate registration in courses.   
Registration Appointment  The earliest date and time as of which a student can self-register in a course section for an upcoming standard academic period.  Scheduling Priority/Scheduling Window
Saved Schedule  A tentative schedule determined by a student ahead of the registration period, that contains course sections that the student wants to register for a given standard academic period.    
Security Role/Group   Access in Workday is based on user role and security groups. These roles and groups are given access to data, tasks, and information as appropriate.    
Stackable (stackable program of study)  Stackable refers to a configurable trait of a non-primary programs of study, in relation to a primary program of study. Stackable programs may be added to a student record and can be completed independently of (before or after) the primary program of study on that record.  Dual Degree Program  
Standard Academic Period  Fall Semester, Spring Semester, Summer Semester. Also includes accelerated sessions within each semester. Related: Academic Period.   Current Term 
Student Cohort  Student cohorts are collections of students that share characteristics such as program of study, academic unit, special population, tuition rate, etc.   
Student Note  Can be used to capture notes to include on a student record.  Note categories are segmented by security groups and/or Academic Unit.    Comments (Mainframe); Notes (Navigate)
Student Profile  Central location for information specific to a particular student.    
Withdrawal (Deadline)  The last day to withdraw a student from a course section with a W Standing appearing on their transcript. Students cannot withdraw from the course section after this date without administrator assistance.  Drop a course/Last day to drop 
     

Term

Definition
Academic Unit (AU) Workday Student's primary organizational structure is built around Academic Units. An academic unit could be a senior college, division, or other unit that admits students and offers programs of study or courses. Academic process flows, security access, Workday rule inheritance and reporting are often structured by academic unit.
Architect and Configure Stage (A&C) Workday Student implementation stage in which the bulk of future state design work occurs. During this stage, the project team gathers academic process requirements and technical specifications, then uses them to configure the software solution. The team also prepares for testing activities during this stage.
Business Analyst (BA) LSU ITS project team member who evaluates academic and student processes and how they align with stakeholder needs. This team member assesses the impact of process changes; captures, analyzes, documents, and manages requirements for assigned projects; and supports the communication and delivery of those requirements to stakeholders.
Business Process (BP) In Workday a business process is an automated workflow that routes tasks to designated users. Common tasks include to-dos, reviews and approvals. Alerts can also be set up to notify a user that a step has begun or was completed, or a particular review response was selected.
Change Liaison LSU project member who serves as a liaison between a functional area workstream and the Change Management team, providing insight into changes in functional processes to inform end-user training and communication. The change liaisons will also be a point of contact for LSU community members who have questions about how design decisions in the workstream will impact their functional use of Workday Student.
Cloud-Based Refers to software and services that run on the Internet instead of on a server at LSU or locally on your computer.
Cross-Functional Workday functional area comprised of representatives from all other areas on the implementation project who design, review, test and modify system functionality that reaches across multiple functional areas. 
Curriculum and Advising Workday functional area that addresses critical areas for the Workday Student implementation related to advising, academic plans, degree audit (academic progress reports), and curriculum/course creation and management.
Data Conversion The process to migrate data from legacy systems to Workday.
Data Governance Guidelines and standards to effectively manage data. Aligned with policies and procedures set forth by the IT Governance Council. 
Data Load The process of importing legacy system data into Workday.
Data Validation The process of confirming that data form LSU legacy systems has loaded properly into Workday.
Data Verification The manual review of data in Workday against data in our legacy systems.
Data Warehouse A centralized repository of data so that a shared, single source of data may exist. This central repository – along with tools, training and processes – will enable units to better leverage the university’s data as an asset.
Deploy Stage during Workday Student implementation; final preparations occur during this stage prior to systems going live for end users.
Discovery Stage In advance of the Workday Student implementation, the LSU Workday Student project team engaged in a Discovery Phase with Workday consultants to better position the project for success. Cohort 1 discovery occurred March 2020 to May 2021, and cohort 2 from July 2023 to October 2023.
End-to-end (E2E) Process A series of tasks and activities that includes each step of an action that may occur across functional areas. An E2E process may be fully within Workday or may also include external systems.
End-to-end (E2E) Testing A comprehensive review of the end-to-end process. E2E testing includes moving through all steps of a process to ensure that the steps and functionality is as expected and produces the desired end result.
Finance (FIN) Workday system for managing financial data and processes. LSU implemented Workday Finance in 2016.
Financial Aid Workday functional area; addresses critical areas for the Workday Student implementation related to financial aid.
Functional Area Group of related processes and data that support a core academic or student activity or function, such as advising, student records or student financials. Much of the Workday Student project work is organized around functional areas.
Functional Lead LSU project team member assigned to lead the configuration of a Workday Student functional area. The functional lead is responsible for driving the design of Workday processes, policies and integrations.
Homegrown Systems developed by LSU, as opposed to a purchased system.
Human Capital Management (HCM) Workday system for managing human resources and payroll data and processes. LSU implemented Workday HCM in 2016.
Inbound integration Inbound integrations move data from a different system into Workday Student
Institutional Academic Unit (IAU) The apex of the academic unit hierarchy at each LSU institution. (Ex: LSU Eunice = IAU, LSU A&M = IAU) 
Integration A connection between different systems currently being used by LSU institutions so that data can be shared to meet business functionality goals in Workday Student.
Integrations Workstream Workday Student implementation workstream focused on developing integrations between Workday and other university systems.
Launch Workday Student implementation term; denotes the point at which LSU will begin using a defined set of Workday functionality to conduct business and academic processes. See the timeline for more information.
Legacy System Current technology system or application in use at LSU.
Milestone Often referred to as a "Business Function Milestone" indicating a goal date by which designated processes and functionality within a business area will be fully built, tested, confirmed, and ready for end user utilization within Workday Student.
Move to production (MTP) Workday Student implementation term; denotes the dates during which Workday configuration and data move into the production tenant. MTP's are different from go-live, which is the point at which the university will begin using specific functionality in Workday Student. There are two moves to production in each cohort's Workday Student implementation timeline.
Move to production 1 (MTP1) The first move to production.
Move to production 2 (MTP2) The second move to production.
Organizational Change Management (OCM) Team A functional workstream area focused on organizational readiness and preparing the LSU community for change. The OCM team drives project communications and training based on changes to the end-user experience. 
Organizational Change Management (OCM) A framework that assists individuals and their organizations move through changes that will achieve a specific outcome.
Outbound Integration An outbound integration takes data from Workday Student and loads it into a different system.
Planning An initial stage during implementation in which LSU (by cohort) works with Workday consultants to map out the calendar of work, identify resource needs, and address any potential roadblocks prior to beginning the Architect & Configure stage. 
Platform A single system with multiple product/functionality offerings. Workday’s tools for HCM, Finance and Student operate on a unified platform that creates a seamless end-user experience with one place to access data and processes for all these areas.
Production Tenant The version of Workday Student that is being used to complete live transactions.
Production A system is “in production” when it is being used to complete live transactions.
Recruiting and Admissions A functional area workstream that conducts design activities related to student recruitment, admissions and entry into LSU institutions.
Reporting Informational summaries that extract data from Workday Student in order to inform decisions or actions.
Role A grouping of specific responsibilities within an organization that are assigned to positions. A role is assigned to a security group to gain access to data associated with the role's responsibilities. People are assigned to one or more roles in Workday based on their job responsibilities.
Security Role Security roles are how Workday manages what each user can see and do in the system. Roles are assigned to position types in Workday to enable data access and the ability to perform certain tasks.
Security The framework for managing user access within the system.
SIS Student Information System; SIS is the official record of the university and contains academic records and data for all students. Each LSU institution is currently functioning on a unique "legacy" SIS. At LSU A&M, the legacy SIS is "Mainframe." Legacy systems will be replaced by Workday Student.
Student Financials Workday functional area; involves calculating charges, producing bills, receiving payments and preparing tax statements for students.
Student Records & Core Workday functional area; involves programs of study, academic records, calendars, and student enrollment.
Subject Matter Expert (SME) A member of a LSU community who possess the operational knowledge around a specific subject including related policies and governance for changes.
Tenant-Wide During implementation, for a myriad of reasons, many decisions are made at the tenant level, or are tenant-wide, meaning they must be the same across all four LSU institutions to provide consistency across the project. 
Tenant A tenant is a Workday software environment, similar to development, test, stage and production environments. LSU will use and manage several Workday tenants throughout the course of the implementation.
Testing Stage Workday Student implementation stage during which the project team conducts several rounds of testing to confirm that the system works as designed.
Training Team A functional area in the Workday implementation responsible for identification and development of training content and materials. The training team will provide the training curriculum for the successful adoption of Workday Student. Beyond implementation, the Workday Student Training team will support new and continuing users of Workday Student.
Workset A workset contains a collection of objectives to be completed within a defined timeframe (6-7 months) during the Architect & Configure stage. Workset objectives include the design and functionality of processes that will be conducted in Workday Student. LSU's implementation will have four worksets: A, B, C & D.
Workstream Workday Student implementation term used to organize related project work areas. Various representatives and subject matter experts from across all four institutions are integrated into each cohort's workstreams.