Colleges and universities have a lot to manage, from organizing finances and processing student information to ensuring timely payments for vendors. That’s why so many institutions have turned to Workday's ERP system to keep their data organized and operations streamlined.
When it comes to higher education, Workday’s standout feature is its ability to integrate with other tools — especially accounts payable (AP) automation solutions.
Let's explore why Workday is the preferred ERP in the higher education world and how integrating it with AP automation can benefit your institution.
What is an ERP?
An ERP, or Enterprise Resource Planning, is a software system that helps you manage key areas of your business's operations, including accounting, payroll, and inventory — all in a single system.
In higher education, an ERP like Workday connects these functions, enabling seamless data flow across departments and eliminating the need to juggle multiple systems. This creates a single, reliable source of truth for all essential information.
What is Workday for Higher Education?
Workday's ERP caters specifically to higher education. Schools use Workday to streamline processes, reduce repetitive tasks, and keep accurate records, all while meeting the unique needs of the education sector.
Workday offers tools that help with:
- Financial Management: Tracks budgets, spending, and other financial data in real-time.
- Human Resources: Manages payroll and employee data for faculty and staff.
- Student Information: Keeps track of student enrollment, grades, and other academic records.
Workday’s system provides real-time data, giving colleges and universities a clear view of their resources and finances. Administrators can quickly pull reports on budgets, spending, and other metrics, helping them make better decisions on resource allocation. Plus, Workday can be customized for each institution, so schools can adapt it to fit specific requirements, like tracking grants, meeting compliance standards, and managing department budgets.
Why Workday Integrations Matter
One of Workday’s biggest strengths is its ability to integrate with other tools.
In higher education, each department often relies on a different software and workflows to manage their day to day. ERP integrations let these separate systems work together, streamlining an institution's entire operations and allowing data to easily flow between teams.
AP automation integration is a key resource that impacts everyone in your university. The AP team manages payments for materials and supplies for all university needs. They're also responsible for managing employee expenses and processing reimbursements. With invoices and requests coming in from nearly every department on campus, your AP team needs automation tools to streamline their processes.
Integrating Workday with AP automation solutions provides many benefits, including:
- Efficiency: AP automation reduces the time AP teams spend on manual data entry.
- Data Accuracy: AP automation minimizes errors by eliminating repetitive data entry.
- Transparency: AP automation offers a clear view of all financial data, making audits and budget analysis easier.
This type of integration allows AP automation to function within Workday, helping schools to manage finances efficiently and ensure timely, accurate payments — without added administrative workload.
How Workday Data Integration Powers AP Automation
AP integration within Workday allows your systems to share information with ease. This is especially helpful for maintaining accurate, up-to-date records.
Workday integration benefits AP automation through:
- Three-Way Matching: When a department creates a purchase order (PO), it’s logged in Workday. When an invoice is received, AP automation automatically matches it to the correct PO. This automated process boosts efficiency by saving time and reducing errors — while also catching any errors before they become an issue.
- Real-Time Updates: As AP data is processed, Workday captures each update immediately. This means the latest information is always on hand, so you're able to make data-driven decisions based on up-to-the-minute data.
- Error Reduction: Integrations prevent duplicate entries and manual errors, helping keep your financial records clean and reliable.
With seamless data sharing, Workday integrations ensure every transaction is accurately recorded, allowing schools to cut down on payment delays — and focus more on serving students.
Finding the Right Workday Integration Partners
Many colleges and universities work with Workday integration partners to set up and manage integrations. These partners are experts familiar with both Workday’s platform and the specific requirements of higher education.
Working with a Workday integration partner offers support for:
- Setup and Configuration: Integration partners can help you customize your integrations to meet your institution's needs.
- Training and Resources: Integration partners can provide training to help your teams maximize integration benefits.
- Long-Term Support: Integration partners are a great resource for helping with updates, troubleshooting, and scaling as your school’s needs grow.
Working with the right integration partner ensures that your team can use Workday to its fullest and simplify operations — so you can focus on the work that truly matters for moving your institution's mission forward.
Integrations with Workday: Extra Credit for Higher Education
Connecting Workday with other systems opens new possibilities for higher education teams — especially the AP department. Accounts payable becomes more efficient, data is better organized, and your staff saves time.
By integrating your Workday ERP with other key solutions, you'll experience:
- Seamless Data Flow: Integration allows information to easily move across departments, eliminating duplicate data entry and ensuring consistency.
- Quick Invoice Processing: AP automation integrations allow schools to process invoices faster, saving time and reducing payment delays.
- Data-Driven Insights: Real-time information from all systems leads to better-informed decisions on budgets and goals.
- Cost Savings: Automation reduces human errors, helps avoid late fees, and promotes stronger vendor relationships — which can lead to early payment discounts.
- Easy Adaptability: Workday’s flexible system means integrations can expand as your institution’s needs change.
When all systems are connected, your school can focus more on delivering quality education — and less on time-consuming, repetitive administrative tasks.
Workday and Nimbello: An A+ Pairing
For schools using the Workday ERP, Nimbello’s solutions offer a seamless fit for AP automation. Integrating Nimbello’s AP automation with Workday brings streamlined, efficient workflows for processing invoices, matching POs, and scheduling vendor payments.
When you combine the power of Nimbello with Workday, you won't just be saving your team time. You'll also be helping your school save time, money, and hassle.
Interested in optimizing your AP process with Workday and Nimbello? Contact us to discover how Nimbello's AP automation tools can help your process run smoother, smarter, and more efficiently today.