Many students new and old have registered for their spring semester at Hamline using the much talked about system, Workday. 

Hamline switched to Workday during the 2020-21 school year, using it for many purposes such as registration, payments, scheduling and more, with some resources still being found on Piperline, Hamline’s previous system. 

Hamline students and faculty are in the process of getting comfortable using Workday for registering, still, many having mixed feelings about this system. 

Essence Boe is a junior who has now used both Workday and Piperline for registration. 

“It was pretty simple honestly. I think the way Administration talked about it made it way more complicated than it was,” Boe said. 

Workday has student’s create schedules prior to registration day, Piperline required students to type in the course number (CRN) for classes at the time of registration. Students describe Piperline’s way of registration as “stressful” or as “a race.” 

As for students with double majors, many have been running into some hiccups. Junior Clare Foy has been learning to navigate these challenges as she studies neuroscience and psychology. 

“The first time I registered with Workday went really well. The saved schedule feature was extremely useful. This time around has been terrible. Workday creates problems for double majors,” Foy said.  “The registration system only recognizes one of my majors, despite both being listed on workday, so I can’t register for anything that requires enrollment in my other major. I have also run into issues with some of my classes being credited towards Hamline plan, but not major requirements, despite the fact that classes can count towards both requirements for double majors.” 

One Student Administrative Services (SAS) work study student, Theo Hoang, has dealt extensively with Workday, and finds it offers opportunity. 

“I think Workday works better, but it… still needs more improvements in some stuff, like regards to payment to your account is still lagging behind Piperlime,” Hoang said. “This is a new system and we’re still experiencing it. I think it has more potential towards the future.”

Registrar Gwenn Sherburne has also been navigating Workday as Hamline’s new system. 

“From the Registration and Records office perspective, the set-up behind the scenes in Workday has some advantages over our old system,” Sherburne wrote in an email sent November 12. 

“Fall registration in Workday went better than expected for a transition to a brand new system. We learned a lot going through the processes for fall, made a few tweaks, and expect spring registration to [go] smoothly. Graduate registration opened on [November 8] and has been going well.”

Across campus, offices such as the SAS have made tutorials and walkthroughs of how to use Workday. In Hoang’s experience he has found the resources to be helpful. However, he encourages students to contact SAS if they need any assistance. 

Many students hope Hamline develops an easier way to look for classes as they have found both Workday and the Google Sheet of class offerings are clunky to navigate. Other students hope for more consistency across campus offices. 

“I’m sure that staff and faculty would be great at helping sort out issues, but my schedule is so packed that I couldn’t possibly fit in a meeting to deal with workday issues. I’m just hoping that the built in systems will work well enough that I can get by,” Foy said. “I think the bones of it are there, but there are a lot of flaws to be hammered out… Workday has really screwed me over, and I’d be willing to bet that a lot of double majors feel the same way.” 

Many students have faced holds on their account unlike ever before, adding to already existing stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic, class offerings and enrollment and financial planning. 

“I have financial holds. I always have them. I dislike working with financial aid and I will not be getting any more loans. Hamline seems to want you to rely on loans rather than just working with you,” Boe said. 

For information on Workday, visit https://www.hamline.edu/its/services/. Registration for the spring semester is currently open and will remain open until February 8, 2022. 

Links: https://tinyurl.com/yhbfbz4j