Success Story
How MSU Health Sciences Replaced a Legacy System and Scaled Academic Planning with Tru and Anaplan
Academic Medical Centers
What does it look like when a university turns a legacy system replacement into a strategic planning transformation? This case study explores how Michigan State University Health Sciences partnered with Tru and Anaplan to modernize academic planning, migrate years of historical data, and create a scalable platform that empowers users across multiple health colleges.
Industry
Academic Medical Centers
Platform
Anaplan
Use Case
Faculty Financial Planning
Connect With an Expert
Situation
At Michigan State University Health Sciences, Kris Stroud was tasked with a challenge that extended beyond replacing a legacy system, it was an opportunity to build something better. As Strategic Integration Manager, Kris supports the Colleges of Human Medicine, Nursing, Osteopathic Medicine, and MSU’s patientcentered healthcare enterprise.
“The problem wasn’t just that the old system was outdated,” Kris explained. “It was that we needed to rethink how academic assignments were tracked, analyzed, and used for strategic decisions across all health colleges.”
The system in question held five years of historical data for faculty teaching assignments. MSU needed a solution that could migrate that data, offer a better user experience, and scale beyond one college. The existing tools couldn’t meet the demand.
“The old way was time-consuming, and our users were dependent on IT, now they can manage assignments, run reports, and plan effectively on their own.”
Solution
MSU turned to Tru, a partner already familiar with the university through previous Anaplan work. The decision was easy, Tru had built strong relationships with the central team and brought a deep understanding of higher education’s planning needs.
Kris explained, “Tru’s experience with our enterprise data hub and systems meant they could get to work immediately. They didn’t need onboarding; they brought solutions from day one.”
“If I had to pick one word to describe Tru, it would be: successful, we solved our immediate problem — and unlocked so much more.”
Results
Successful Rollout:
By Fall 2025, MSU launched the academic year 2025–26 with a fully operational platform that manages assignments across three health colleges.
Empowered Users:
Administrative staff are now independent in performing tasks once reserved for system experts.
Scalable Design:
The platform is built to expand across other MSU colleges, reducing reliance on legacy systems.
Collaborative Implementation:
Tru offered multiple prototype solutions, iterated with the team, and helped deliver a tool tailored to MSU’s specific needs.
Conclusion
MSU Health Sciences used the opportunity of a system replacement to build a better, broader solution. By partnering with Tru, they implemented a strategic academic planning platform that serves students, faculty, and administrators alike.
Three words to describe Tru?
“Collaborative. Expert. Dedicated.” — Kris