Executive Summary
The State of North Carolina has taken a decisive step toward modernizing and streamlining human
resources operations through North Carolina’s HR Human Capital Management Digital Transformation
Project (HCM project). Sponsored by the Office of State Human Resources, the Office of the State
Controller, and the N.C. Department of Information Technology Secretary and State Chief Information
Officer, this collaborative initiative began with a dual focus. First was the desire to solve the complex
architecture acquired as the result of multiple disparate systems implemented between 2008 and 2014.
This resulted in a disjointed HR “system of record” with interfaces between multiple enterprise-wide
applications, numerous manual processes, and agency-adopted IT shadow systems. The first phase of
the HCM project replaced three outdated, inconsistent, and labor-intensive HR systems with a unified,
cloud-based platform that supports more efficient recruitment, onboarding, offboarding, position
description management, and organizational structure visibility for the 41 participating agencies
statewide.
Secondly, challenges had grown: the labor market remained tight, and it was clear that current technology
must be upgraded to competitively recruit. Rather than allowing agencies to purchase independent
solutions to meet their business needs, OSHR recommended that the state needed a modern, complete
human capital management system, and based on agency challenges around recruitment, retention, and
employee onboarding, it was decided the project should begin with applicant tracking,
onboarding/offboarding, and electronic forms. Without this endeavor, the state would continue to struggle
to fill vacancies and retain its workforce.
The Workday Human Capital Management system was selected to meet these needs, and the first phase
of the HCM project aligned well with the state’s most pressing talent acquisition demands and with the
initial funding provided to kick off this initiative. North Carolina is the first state to begin its Workday HCM
implementation with recruitment and onboarding, and other states have reached out to inquire about this
approach for their consideration.
OSHR began phase I of the HCM project in the first quarter of the 2025 calendar year. Steady
progress continued through the second and third quarters, culminating with an on-time and onbudget
implementation of Workday production go-live on October 8, 2025.
HR Human Capital Management Digital Transformation Scope
Before the HCM project, agencies relied on aging and fragmented technologies for recruitment and
applicant tracking, position description management, and organization charting capabilities, along with
extensive manual processes that added time, complexity, and administrative burden. This also created
inconsistencies and a poor user experience. Additionally, an enterprise solution for onboarding and
offboarding did not exist. These processes varied by agencies and were mostly manual and paper based.
Since the state’s legacy systems were not always integrated, data was not always in sync. Even when the
systems interfaced, there were often lags in processing, creating variances in the data based on timing.
These inefficiencies slowed hiring, complicated onboarding, and limited the ability of HR professionals
and agency leaders to make timely, data-informed decisions. As the enterprise approached the sunset of
three legacy solutions, along with growing concerns around data accuracy and workflow redundancy,
OSHR seized the opportunity to fundamentally redesign HR operations at scale.
Workday launched on October 8, and state job postings were the first feature launched in the new
system. This first phase replaced legacy systems for recruitment, applicant tracking, employee
onboarding and offboarding, position description management, and organizational charts.
