MSU Denver carefully selecting new student information system

Metropolitan State University of Denver announced on Wednesday that its search to replace its student information system to provide a more accessible, mobile-friendly and cloud-based digital experience has come down to two options: Workday Student and Ellucian Student. 

MSU Denver convened a working group of campus experts in student affairs, academic affairs, business intelligence, information technology services and other areas of campus to help inform the decision making process, according to a press release. The group has already logged more than 2,000 hours for system demos, feature reviews and meetings, the release said. 

“To our knowledge, no other university has made a comparable investment in reviewing candidate platforms,” Nick Pistentis, deputy chief information officer at MSU Denver, said in the release. “This gives us confidence that MSU Denver will ultimately make the best choice for the next generation of students.” 

The university has been using Ellucian Banner to support admissions, registration, financial aid and grading since 1998, but is now looking for a more modern student information system. Both of the cloud systems would improve accessibility, increase security and improve mobile support, the university said. Additionally, both systems offer dashboards that would enable faster, data-informed decision making and help modernize processes for students and staff. 

MSU Denver implemented a new enterprise planning system through Workday last year and has been using feedback from that experience to help shape its decision making process to bring on a new student information system. Earlier this month, more than 200 employees and campus leaders discussed that process and identified challenges such as inadequate organizational preparation, insufficient end-user training, poor communication and change management, as well as issues with inconsistent data.

“Building on the lessons from the Workday implementation, the team recognizes that the success of a student-information-system project will hinge on better engaging front-line teams and prioritizing communication, training and data integrity,” the release reads.

The university said it is aiming to choose a new system by the end of the year and have it fully implemented on campus by 2027.