Park University Teams Up with CampusWorks to Select New ERP

Park University, known for its significant online presence, physical campuses in Missouri and Arizona, and 20 campus centers across the United States, serves a large military and international population.

A diverse and distributed student body requires a state-of-the-art enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, but Park University’s legacy system was no longer keeping pace with the institution’s evolving needs. The system was outdated, inefficient, and relied heavily on manual processes, especially from an IT perspective.

Park University’s leadership was faced with a decision: upgrade to the ERP vendor’s new cloud-ready solution or switch to a different vendor. They partnered with CampusWorks to guide them through the request for proposal (RFP) creation and management process for selecting a new ERP provider.

Tailored ERP Selection Process Reveals the Right Solution

CampusWorks believes that one size fits one, which is why we offer a robust portfolio of services that can be tailored to each institution’s unique needs. Since Park University had already performed some of the initial discovery work on their own, we modified our five-phase ERP Evaluation & Selection methodology to meet them where they were. Rather than conducting Student Experience Workshops and focus groups, the engagement began with a collaboration to identify and refine a list of system requirements, which informed the development of an RFP.

Five vendors submitted proposals in response to the RFP, with CampusWorks overseeing the evaluation and scoring, resulting in three short-listed vendors. CampusWorks then organized technology demonstrations with these selected vendors across a three-day period, extending invitations to the entire campus community to view the solutions firsthand. The demonstrations were well-attended, sparking thorough discussions. Furthermore, CampusWorks prepared a cost analysis for each proposed solution, assisting the Selection Committee in comprehending the overall cost of ownership for each platform.

CampusWorks’ inclusive, transparent selection process set the stage for a successful ERP implementation by ensuring that key stakeholders had a voice in the process. Ultimately, the Park University team decided to move to Workday.

Risk Mitigation Strategies Pave the Way for Implementation Success

To help the Park University team prepare for a successful Workday implementation, CampusWorks conducted a Risk Assessment to proactively identify pitfalls and challenges that threaten the implementation. Based on their findings, the CampusWorks team provided a recommendations roadmap, including considerations for project governance, transition management, and other critical factors, arming the Park University team with the foresight to proactively solve problems and lay the groundwork for a successful implementation.

The collaboration between Park University and CampusWorks highlights the power of expert guidance in navigating the complexities of ERP selection and implementation.