Frequently Asked Questions

A. As we migrate to Workday, our first principle will be to utilize the system's reporting capabilities as much as possible.There are many benefits to keeping the reporting and analytics within the transactional system, primarily real-time updates to reports and the ability to drill from a report into the transactions. PRISM Analytics is a component of Workday that extends our data capabilities within the Workday environment and we are still learning how to best work with this tool. We recognize that we may not be able to meet all reporting and analytics requirements with Workday so we can keep UBI to fill any needs that we can’t meet with Workday.

Closed awards in Oracle will not be transitioned to Workday, but will be available through UBI reports saved from the Oracle database. Active awards will be converted to Workday and transactions recorded prior to July 1, 2022, will be brought into Workday at a high, rolled-up level under identifiable expenditure types. The details will be available from Oracle database stored as UBI reports.

A.  Workday has its own reporting and analytics capabilities integrated into the system, so you can expect that there will be significant changes in the look, feel, and functionality of the reports you use.  Workday has integrated reporting within the platform which will provide increased value and timeliness for your work. Data in reports will be real-time so as transactions are posted, you will see them when you next run a report. You will also be able to drill through reports into the journal or other transaction detail to take action when needed.

We will leverage as many of Workday standard reports as possible because it allows us to take advantage of the collective knowledge from their customers over time and lowers our ongoing maintenance burden over time as Workday releases regular version updates. Where necessary to meet UVA needs we will certainly create custom reports Workday as well. If we find cases where Workday cannot provide what we need, we may then explore the use of UBI for supplemental reporting solutions.

A. We will be creating reports in either UBI or PRISM Analytics (a component of the Workday platform) where you will be able to run trended financial reports across the July 1, 2022 time boundary between Oracle and Workday. We have not yet determined the level of detail that will be available in those reports. For historical data, UBI reports will still be available for running reports containing data prior to July 1, 2022.     

A. To be added to the UVAFinance blog digest mailing list, email bv8h@virginia.edu, or visit UVAFinance@blogspot.com and use the signup feature in the top left of the page. You can also subscribe to WFST Radio via the Podbean app or on Apple podcasts. The Online Community on CommunityHub is behind NetBadge; if you have any trouble accessing it, contact bv8h@virginia.edu. 

A. Here's an easy one-page reference guide on where to find FST information, depending on what you're looking for and how much time you have. 

 A. Project leadership and the project team definitely want to hear from you!  Here are a few ways to reach out:

• Check in with representatives from your school or unit (we have Steering Committee members, Advisory Group members, and Checkpoint Team members in a searchable database on our website).
• Get in touch with anyone on the project team. Our contact info is available on the FST website. We’re ready and listening! Not sure who to email? Just contact us at financetransformation@virginia.edu, and we’ll make sure you get a well-informed response quickly.
• If you have a great idea or a question you think others might share, we encourage you to share it in the online community. Not only are we very responsive in that channel, but also, your colleagues can interact with your thoughts, too. It’s a great way to connect with others and keep all of our concerns, inspiration, and feedback in the open. 
• Want your feedback to remain anonymous? You’re welcome to drop us a line via the FST webpage feedback feature in the top right corner of every page on the site. 

There’s no wrong way to give feedback and no such thing as a dumb question. We are striving for this to be an inclusive process. When questions and concerns surface, we’ll do our best to get those answered both privately and in forums where others can benefit from them. Often this will be accomplished by posting frequently asked questions in the community or on our website, without identifying the person who asked the question.

A. We will have an initial design for all business processes when we build the first prototype in the Configure & Prototype phase which begins this fall.

A. Workday approvals will be driven off of financial approvals and additional approvals. Financial approvals occur within the department, and authorize that the funds are being correctly allocated. Additional approvals occur primarily in the central administration units and involve reviewing transactions that are considered higher risk.  

A. Workday can allow for 2 approvers based on the security roles assigned. Approvals will route to the appropriate person based on the approval role they are assigned in Workday. Each role assignment will be aligned with a specific reason for approval, with the intention that multiple approvals for the same exact business reason are not occurring.

A. We do plan on continuing to allow buyers in the department to self-approve up to a purchasing threshold.  Similar to what we have today, requisitions under a certain dollar amount will auto-create into purchase orders. We are working on re-creating this concept in Workday, though it will not have the same terminology (i.e. self-approvals).

A. Yes, routing will allow for certain security roles to review and/or approve the requisition before it moves on to the next step.

A. Yes – we think there is a good chance that much of the reconciling activities will be included in up-front approvals. This approach, coupled with a monthly Workday report that gives a snapshot of key financial information to those with fiduciary responsibility, should combine to replace what Recon@ does today.  FST core team members want to ensure that we strike the right balance between incorporating required approvals without slowing down transaction cycle times.  To that end, we’ll demo a proposed solution to our various stakeholder groups in the Fall 2020 timeframe.

A. Organization worktags are primarily for analytical, external, and management reporting needs. They are also used to group people, for security purposes, and for business process routing. These worktags typically answer the following three questions about a transaction:

• Who is responsible for the transaction? Example: Cost Center
• How is the transaction funded? Example: Grant
• What type of activity is the transaction supporting? Example: Program

Accounting worktags, however, are used more for recording and classifying transactions into their natural classifications (e.g. cash, equipment, accounts payable, revenues, salaries, supplies, services, etc.) for accounting and financial reporting purposes. Think financial statement lines on a Balance Sheet or P&L Statement.

A.  The team is currently working through a representative sample of COA to FDM mappings. Units can access this sample during Fall of 2020, after it is introduced in the Workday Financials Customer Confirmation sessions. Additionally, the team is developing a process that will provide schools and units the opportunity to view and change default COA to FDM mappings. The default rules and the “viewer” tool will be developed over the coming months. We estimate that we can begin rolling this tool out to units early next year. More details will be available after the process and tool are designed. Stay tuned!

A: The FDM was recently approved. More information will be available on this subject in the upcoming weeks.

A: With the implementation of Workday Financials there will be a new chart of accounts (CoA), referred to in Workday as the Foundation Data Model (FDM).  To establish the new CoA/FDM, we will utilize a workgroup, comprised of subject matter experts from schools, large units, and central offices, which will evaluate required data elements, needed segments for external and internal reporting needs, and leading practices at peer institutions. The intent is to develop a CoA/FDM that will improve data definitions and consistency, as well as reporting and analytics. We will listen closely to the UVA finance community and utilize the governance structure to approve the new FDM. We will train end-users on the new FDM and develop a crosswalk that provides a translation from the existing PTAO to the new chart string in Workday.  In addition, we will train end-users on which reports to utilize for specific analyses.

 A. As of the 6/24/20 revised budget process meeting, attended by budget managers across the University, Adaptive Planning, the new budget tool, is currently being used by all areas to revise the FY21 budget. It will also be implemented tor FY22 budgets. 

A. The Workday Words searchable glossary has definitions of Workday terminology and lists the legacy term, when applicable. 

A. 

End-user training will begin in earnest during the projects Deploy phase, in the months just prior to go-live in 2022 and continue during the Support and Stabilization phase (and beyond). Initial training materials, such as job aids including step-by-step instructions, will be created to help support testing earlier in the timeline. Currently the training team us developing the training strategy, which will include decisions on training modalities, likely including instructor-led, in-person training (assuming that will be possible), webinars, demos, online training, and office hours to provide 1:1 support post go-live. To develop the strategy, the training team is considering input from all stakeholders, lessons learned during the UVA Workday HCM (HR) implementation, experiences from other system implementations at UVA (including the long-ago Oracle implementation), and benchmarking against other peer institutions who have implemented Workday.