Unified PeopleSoft HCM, Campus Solutions and FSCM to power Australia's newest university supporting 60,000+ students, 22,000 staff records and 9,000 positions

Adelaide University adopted PeopleSoft as an enterprise planning foundation across student, workforce and finance operations, supporting one of the world’s most complex higher education mergers.

PeopleSoft underpinned the launch of Australia’s first new major university in a generation by connecting student, workforce and finance operations across an integrated enterprise platform. It helped support more than 60,000 students, around 22,000 staff records, approximately 9,000 staff positions and hundreds of critical systems with no Tier 1 outages when the institution opened its doors.

With an immovable launch date, Adelaide University brought together two established universities, thousands of staff and more than 60,000 students.

This was no ordinary merger; both foundation institutions – the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia - continued to operate while a third, Adelaide University, was designed, built, tested and activated in parallel.

This once-in-a-generation business and technology transformation created a rare opportunity to establish a new university on a modern, unified digital platform. PeopleSoft was central to realising that vision. As Adelaide University's platform for student, workforce and finance operations, it helped deliver a complex transition, connected PeopleSoft Campus Solutions with more than 300 student systems, and supported the January 2026 launch with no Tier 1 system outages on day one.

Adelaide University created a new PeopleSoft Campus Solutions implementation to support student administration, while simultaneously expanding established PeopleSoft Human Capital Management (HCM) and PeopleSoft Financials and Supply Chain Management (FSCM) platforms to support the workforce and financial operations of the new institution.

Student administration at scale

Adelaide University’s Campus Solutions instance was built module by module, drawing on best-fit configuration, integrations and ecosystem choices. This enabled Adelaide University to reassess customisations and integrations as it established a single student administration foundation for the new institution.

Campus Solutions became the Tier 1 foundation for Adelaide University's student lifecycle, supporting admissions, enrolment, curriculum, progression and related student administration activity. It supported the transition of continuing students from both foundation universities into Adelaide University, alongside new commencing students, without dependence on legacy student systems.

International admissions opened in July 2024, creating an 18-month recruitment runway for the initial 2026 student intake. StudyLink integration enabled application processing for offshore students and supported early market positioning.

Campus Solutions, together with Adobe Experience Cloud, Oracle Customer Experience Cloud, Global IT Factory Curriculum First and Canvas Learning Management System, formed the Tier 1 student digital experience stack. Campus Solutions connected with more than 300 Tier 2 and Tier 3 applications, including assessment tools and research systems. These integrations enabled end-to-end student lifecycle processes across a highly complex digital environment while reducing manual intervention across critical activities.

The program enabled the development and migration of approximately 2,599 courses and around 500 program pages, supporting promotion of the new university by making the 2026 curriculum available for recruitment, admissions and enrolment while maintaining accreditation requirements.

Finance and research continuity

In PeopleSoft FSCM, the program expanded a broad enterprise finance footprint across general ledger, payables, receivables, purchasing, eProcurement, asset management, billing, contracts, grants, project costing and inventory. It established a single Adelaide University chart of accounts and redesigned key integrations supporting finance, student and transaction processing activities in the new operating environment.

Grants and project costing capability enabled the transition of more than $900 million in research grants, supporting continuity for more than 5,500 researchers while establishing the grant, finance and project costing foundations needed for the new Adelaide University environment.

Workforce continuity and payroll confidence

PeopleSoft HCM enabled Adelaide University to operate as a single employer by creating the new organisation structure and transferring approximately 9,000 positions and around 22,000 staff records into the combined environment. Core HR, global payroll, time and labour, absence management, talent profile and casual payment capability provided the authoritative workforce platform. The solution supported employment conditions and payroll obligations across two enterprise agreements, with four cycles of parallel pay runs and extensive validation before the first Adelaide University payroll was delivered successfully. This protected pay continuity and established a compliant workforce foundation from the university’s first day of operation.

Connected identity, data and engagement

Critical linkages across the PeopleSoft ecosystem connected student, workforce, finance and research-related operations. Approximately 1.2 million staff and student identity records were matched and de-duplicated to establish one “identity for life” at Adelaide University. The broader launch program also supported the migration of more than 35,000 researcher profiles, reinforcing the importance of reliable identity, data and integration foundations.

Adelaide University implemented an extensive student and external engagement ecosystem using Oracle Customer Experience Cloud, with systems heavily integrated with Campus Solutions student and admissions data. This included student support functionality for wellbeing, access and inclusion, academic integrity case management and industry engagement, alongside a consolidated person record covering prospects, students and alumni. The connected student ecosystem is already operating at scale, with the student portal receiving 100,000–150,000 page views per week and integrated platforms supporting high volumes of student enquiries, appointments and cases. The Sales Cloud component moved to Oracle’s Redwood user experience, supporting a more contemporary and maintainable digital experience.

Launch stability and future optimisation

The high-profile launch was achieved without Tier 1 system outages across PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, PeopleSoft HCM, PeopleSoft FSCM, Adobe Experience Cloud, Oracle Customer Experience Cloud, Global IT Factory Curriculum First and Canvas on the first day of operation. The result is a scalable and future-ready enterprise platform that helped Adelaide University launch with confidence. PeopleSoft supported business continuity through a highly complex merger and established a foundation for ongoing optimisation across student, workforce, finance and research operations.

For the new institution, a functional launch day is only the starting line; PeopleSoft gives Adelaide University the enterprise foundation to simplify, modernise and improve its core operations over time, including through future PeopleTools optimisation and selective adoption activity.