New on Finance Matters: Challenging the Status Quo Manager's Panel (special edition series)

Last week the UVAFinance Continuous Improvement Committee hosted the second "Challenging the Status Quo" webinar in that series, this time featuring three UVAFinance managers. 

You can view the full webinar in the CI space in CommunityHub, or listen in to the discussion on Finance Matters.  We'll continue presenting the webinar series as a special edition run of the podcast.  

Panelists:
Isaiah Behnke – Director, Student Accounts Operations with SFS
Jenn Glassman – Director, Procurement & Supplier Diversity Services
Brian Logwood – Managing Director, Financial Planning & Analysis

LISTEN HERE!

More about Continuous Improvement in UVAFinance

You're Invited: Socially Responsible Investing Webinar

Webinar: Socially Responsible Investing for UVA Employees

Wednesday, October 7 from 4:00-5:00pm

+ optional pre-session from 3:30-4:00pm

Hosted by UVA Sustainability, UVA HR, and Social Entrepreneurship at UVA


Systemic challenges -- like racism, sexism, climate change, and more -- require systemic solutions. Unfortunately, many people feel lost when it comes to influencing change through our economic systems. There are many ways to “put your money where your values are,” and this virtual event will focus on helping UVA employees explore responsible ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) fund options for their retirement investments. This webinar aims to serve as a “how-to” that will help interested employees overcome barriers from not understanding their UVA benefits to feeling uncertain about how to pick the right mix of investment options.


Full details: https://www.virginia.edu/calendar?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D148138833

Registration: https://tinyurl.com/UVAResponsibleInvesting

Questions: ds8nh@virginia.edu

FST Updates

 

 

Want to listen to this update instead of reading it?  Check out the WFST Radio broadcast!

Configure & Prototype: The project team is configuring the system according to what our stakeholders have specified in terms of functionality and capability.  They're converting current Oracle data into the new chart design and loading that data into the system so that later this autumn, we’ll get to see UVA data with the UVA chart inside Workday Financials  After all this time, we’ll finally have the first tenant build, and people will get to see how processes work within the system. It’s important to realize that this won’t be every bit of UVA data, here in the first tenant – it will be a healthy cross-section that will accurately represent what most people will experience in the system.  Read more from James Gorman in CommunityHub.

The Adaptive Team is hard at work with budget colleagues in UVAFinance and across Grounds to start the FY22 budget process.  They’re using all the things they learned in the FY21 revised budget process to make this a good experience for all involved.  Read this update from Elissa Morton in CommunityHub.

The Reporting and Analytics Team are continuing discussion with other functional leads within the project tto review and analyze reporting user stories for supplier accounts, internal service providers, accounts payable, procurement, purchasing, and expense.

The Technical Team has completed data scope analysis for suppliers and sub-recipients conversions and has begun supplier extracts modifications to support subrecipients conversion.

The Spend Focus Group has kicked off and are working on topics such as purchase order receiving, requisitioning, supplier management, invoice routing and approval, and so much more. We’ll link to a blog piece in the show notes where you can read more about their work and learn who from your area is participating in the group.

FDM:  Nicole Ferretti shared some more context around converting the current chart of accounts to the FDM at a recent Fiscal Administrator’s meeting.  She remarked on how, since our current chart is very flexible, we can’t just convert the fields into the FDM on a one to one basis.  The team is looking at each of our PTAEO strings and determining how they fit in the new FDM.  If you’d like to hear more about this, check out Ferretti's presentation at the September 16 Fiscal Administrator meeting found here. 

New in CommunityHub: FST Content!

Elissa Morton shares an update on Adaptive Planning, what they learned through the FY21-R process, and how they'll use it for FY22.  Read it here. 

James Gorman gives insight on what is going on behind the scenes with the FST project team as they work on the first build of the UVA instance of Workday Financials.  Read it here. 

The Good, the Badminton, and the Conversion Lead: Abhishek Daga Joins FST

Abhishek Daga brings 17 years of experience working with Oracle applications to his new role as the Conversions Lead on the Finance Strategic Transformation (FST) project. Daga is new to working on a higher education project, but he has collaborated with global clients on at least 17 large projects during his career. That vast breadth of experience will serve him well in his new FST role.   

On why he was drawn to the role, Daga says, “I think it’s a very interesting project—we are migrating from Oracle EBS to Workday Financials. I have worked on a lot of Oracle implementation projects, but I’ve never worked on migrating out of Oracle into Workday Financials and that is really what I am interested in learning from in this project.”

As the Conversion Lead, Daga is part of the project’s Technical workstream. He’ll partner with Technical team colleagues and stakeholders during the course of the project. Since joining the team late last month, Daga has gathered knowledge about UVA and FST, met a lot of people, and developed a greater understanding of the project’s scope. While he will still continue to settle in during the next several weeks, he states he has felt supported in getting acclimated. 

Outside of work, Daga loves spending time with his spouse and two children—two sons, ages 1 and 4. He also enjoys hiking trails on weekends and has a passion for a specific racket sport. 

“I love badminton,” Daga says. “So I try to make space to play badminton twice or thrice a week.”

Playing is a workout, but Daga’s main drive to play is his enjoyment of badminton.   

Decision-Making in Complex Times Workshop sponsored by Organizational Excellence

The responsibility of a leader is not to know all the answers up front, but to know the questions to ask. Yet research tells us that half of the decisions made in today’s organizations are not successful—they do not lead to the expected outcomes. Making decisions off the cuff and without consultation is not sufficient in today’s complex systems. In fact, the most significant predictor of successful decision-making is the quality of the discussions and debate upfront (McKinsey, 2019).

In this practical 90-minute webinar you will discover and use a sequenced process for more successful outcomes for you and your team. Learn what high-leverage questions can do to create more impactful solutions. Discuss how others are using the process and questions in small groups. You will take away powerful questions and tips for decision-making that you can use immediately. Remember that leaders don’t have to know all the answers, but they do need to know the right questions to ask

Target Audience: UVA Faculty and Staff who lead teams, committees, groups and/or those who desire to contribute to more effective decision-making in their work.

Date and Time: Tuesday, September 29, 10:00-11:30 a.m. 

Where: Zoom (Access information will be provided to registrants prior to the event)

Presenter: Kathleen Paris, a nationally and internationally known author and speaker on leadership and planning. 

Register Here

Change & Continuous Improvement: Meeting Stakeholders' Needs

From Angela Knobloch, FST Change Management & Continuous Improvement Workstream Lead

A few weeks ago, I shared the “change curve” depicting the normal ebbs and flows of individual reactions to change. Each of these phases requires meeting a specific need of our stakeholders. We can help others navigate change through activities that address these core needs. For example, as certainty moves to uncertainty about the future, the more information about what we DO KNOW is essential. The emotional support in the middle of chaos (uncertainty about specific impacts of change) is best accomplished through individuals’ direct managers. 

 
When you think people may be resisting change, consider what they may need to navigate the change process successfully. 

Change & Continuous Improvement: See Your Future State Through a Lean Lens

 From Angela Knobloch, FST Change Management & Continuous Improvement Workstream Lead

How to use a Lean lens 

to create an efficient and effective future-state process

To achieve transformation, our future-state processes need to move beyond “lift and shift,” where we merely improve the automation of a transaction. As you’re examining processes, think about the future-state considerations below:

• Minimize waste→(What’s really necessary?)
• Create uninterrupted flow→(How can we keep the process moving?)
• Leverage value-added activity→(What do the end users care about?)
• Error-proof→(How might we eliminate the potential for mistakes?)
• Question assumptions→(Why are we doing it this way now?)
• Achieve desired results→(What is the ultimate goal of this process?)

Ring in Autumn with Comfort Food: Crock-Pot Pot Roast Recipe

This recipe is great to prep ahead and cook all day for an easy evening meal. For those of you in back-to-back Zoomland or being parent/teacher/warden, some go-to crock-pot recipes might be for you. 

Cheffy Tip: Use a bouquet garni, a small parcel of herbs (and potentially other ingredients) that flavor a stew, soup, or sauce. Simply bundle things together with kitchen twine or make a small sachet out of cheesecloth to fill and tie off. 

Ingredients: 

• 4-5 lb. chuck roast 
• 2 Tbs. vegetable or canola oil
• 2 tsp. Kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. coarse ground pepper
• 2-3 crushed garlic cloves
• 1 tsp. whole black peppercorns (optional—depending on your taste for pepper, add more to meat if skipping this in the bouquet garni)
• 4-5 thyme sprigs
• 1-2 rosemary sprigs
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1 lb. carrots, peeled and cut in 2" chunks
• 2 lbs. Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut in large chunks
• 1-2 yellow onions, cut into large chunks
• 1 1/2 c. beef broth + 2 Tbs. for cornstarch slurry
• 1/2 c. red wine (optional—increase beef broth if you skip wine)
• 1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce (optional)
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard (optional)
• 1 1/2 tsp. Gravy Master or Kitchen Bouquet (optional)
• 2-3 Tbs. cornstarch (may need more for desired thickness)
• 2 Tbs. of cold water (if you want to use instead of beef broth w/cornstarch)

1. 
   Assemble the bouquet garni with garlic, peppercorns, thyme, rosemary, and the bay leaf. Place in the center of the crock-pot. Dried herbs and spices can be substituted instead of fresh.
2. Prep the onion, carrots, and potatoes and add them.
3. Season the roast generously with the salt and pepper. Heat a big pan on medium-high and add oil. (You may also brush oil directly onto the roast; this tends to make less splatter mess and reduce the oil used.)
4. When the pan is good and hot, add the roast to sear. Let it cook 3-5 minutes per side. Lay meat on top of veggies in the pot. 
5. (Optional) While the pan is still hot, deglaze it with wine or broth. If there's excess oil in the pan, drain it first. With the heat still on, pour a few tablespoons of the liquid (wine or broth) into the pan and gently scrape the delicious brown bits off the bottom. When all or most of the stuck-on goodness is free, pour the liquid into the crock-pot over the meat. 
6. Mix beef broth, wine, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and Gravy Master together well and pour over meat and veggies. 
7. Cook on low heat for 8-10 hours or high 4-5.
8. To thicken gravy, you may add the cornstarch slurry (made from combining the cornstarch and broth or water) for the last hour or so of cooking. Alternatively, when cooking is complete, remove the meat and veggies from the pot (discarding the bouquet garni after squeezing it out). Transfer the liquid into a pan on the stove top and thicken with the slurry over high heat. The latter approach provides better results for me. Pour the gravy over the vegetables and serve. 

You can do the prep ahead of time and put the filled, ready-to-go crock-pot insert in the fridge, covered, overnight. In the morning, pull the crock-pot insert out and let it warm up prior to starting cooking. 

Get FST Insider Access with the Weekly Wrap

Looking for an extra way to stay informed about all things Finance Strategic Transformation (FST)? The Weekly Wrap is an FST team internal communication newsletter that is typically sent weekly on Fridays. It's chock full o' FST information as well as some silliness. 

Want to get all the insider scoop—project milestones, workstreams activities, pictures of people's pets? Check out the Weekly Wrap archive in the online Community, and sign up here if you want to get Weekly Wrap delivered directly to your inbox on Fridays. 

Continuous Improvement Bright Spot: SFS Federal Work Study Vouchers

 A key part of continuous improvement culture is "finding the bright spots" -- looking at who has had success making changes and operating differently. Small changes can make a big difference!

The Issue:  Completing the paperwork to hire a student for a Federal Work Study (FWS) position was a pain point for schools and units.  Imaging and reviewing the paperwork was a pain point for Student Financial Services (SFS).  The process involved duplication of effort, manual entry of data, lack of consistency between two systems of record (HR and Financial Aid), manual imaging of thousands of individual submissions, and such “quaint” elements as wet signatures and faxed or emailed forms.  It was a lot of effort for everyone involved, but necessary to make sure both the student and the job were eligible for Federal Work Study.  Often, SFS would receive FWS vouchers that were incomplete or that had incorrect information, which meant team members would have to double back and check with the submitter.  When faxed or emailed, forms could also get lost or sent in unusable file formats.  And because the hiring and voucher-creation processes were entirely independent of one another, and because SFS had no access to the hiring information, there were challenges from a reconciliation standpoint as well.

Click image for a larger view

The Improvement:  The SFS Federal Work-Study team noticed that much of the voucher information was already being entered in Workday as part of the hiring process, yet it had to be re-entered on the FWS voucher in order for SFS to have a copy for federal audit purposes.  What if the information could be pulled directly from Workday to populate the required voucher and job description?

The Solution:  Shuler (then of SFS, now part of the FST team), Hopkins, and others from within SFS (including Ashley Rogers, Beth Steppe, Mary Fields, and Sabrina Whitcomb) worked with the UVAHR Team to make the improvement.  The cross-functional team was able to develop an integration between Workday HCM and ImageNow that transformed the process.  Now for almost all FWS-hire-related functions (Phase I) the submitter provides a few additional data points on an integrated questionnaire; the remaining information is pulled directly from Workday; and the FWS voucher and job description are automatically generated, approved electronically by departmental representatives, and sent to the SFS ImageNow system through a nightly process with no extra labor involved!

The Benefits:  The data submitted with the form is now more reliable, as it is fed directly from Workday hiring information.  Also, since the form is electronic, incomplete forms are a thing of the past due to required fields (fields that also have clearer explanation of the information being sought).  No emailing or faxing is required, and the SFS review process has been streamlined dramatically as a result of standardized formatting, typed vs. hand-written entries, and many fewer opportunities for user error.

The Bottom Line:  Last year 855 Federal Work Study students were hired, resulting in 3,194 imaged pages (submissions are more than one page each, and students often hold more than one position).  Shuler, Hopkins, and their colleagues finished the new process in August (in the midst of a pandemic and distributing CARES Act funding!), just in time for it to be useful for schools and units that were hiring student workers for the fall.  Because continuous improvement is continuous, the next step is creating a similar approach for FWS compensation changes as well as hires – that’s a Phase II enhancement, on the docket for early 2021!

__________________________________________________________________________

A big shout out goes to Janet Turner-Giles and the Talent Flex Team, who provided insights as to end-user and downstream impacts on the HR and departmental side, and especially to senior analyst Maggie Breeden, also of UVAHR, whose Workday programming prowess was instrumental in making the new process operational. Thanks to the SFS Federal Work-Study team and our ImageNow colleagues.  Thank you, all! 😊

 

Got a bright spot to share?  Email the Continuous Improvement team at  uvafinance_ci@virginia.edu   

Special Edition of Finance Matters: Challenging the Status Quo

UVAFinance's Continuous Improvement Committee recently hosted a webinar on Challenging the Status Quo, featuring UVAFinance leadership. This webinar was the first of a series and was full of such inspiration that we couldn't help but share it with you here on Finance Matters. 

Tune in to hear Melody Bianchetto, Bill Ashby, and Augie Maurelli discuss continuous improvement. 

LISTEN HERE!

Find more on Continous Improvement in the blog

UVAFinance: You're invited to our next Inclusive Excellence Book/Movie Discussion (only it's a podcast!)

For the next book/movie discussion (note this is different then our bi-weekly Sprint discussions) we are going to discuss a podcast. We hope to see you there!

The 1619 podcast is an audio series hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones that examines America in the shadow of slavery. The series is made up of 6 episodes—that last being in two parts—that use democracy, the economy, music and the medical field as touchstones to discuss, in sometimes troubling detail, the brutal realities and lasting impacts of slavery. Hannah-Jones and her contributors use storytelling, interviews, music, poetry and prose to tell a compelling story of America that might be new to some of us. Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia both play a part in the narrative of this project. 

Nickole Hannah-Jones

We will be listening and discussing the first four episodes: The Fight for a True Democracy, The Economy That Slavery Built, The Birth of American Music and How the Bad Blood Started. We also recommend the introduction, which sets the tone, and episode 5 part 1 & 2 titled the Land of Our Fathers, though our discussion will not focus on that content.

You don’t have to subscribe to the New York Times to listen. You may use this link as well a variety of podcast apps and services such as Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify and others.

The audio series is part of a larger project that you do have to have a subscription to view.

Nikole Hannah-Jones visited UVA in February and spoke with President Ryan. You can read the UVA Today article about their conversation.


Zoom Meeting Information:

Topic: 1619 Podcast Discussion

Time: Oct 20, 2020 02:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://virginia.zoom.us/j/94815709653?pwd=TEhFOEVrcUdCNW5QSzJPN1V6Z0NpZz09



Meeting ID: 948 1570 9653

Passcode: 274158

A Day in the Life of 3 FST Team Members (Video)

 

Addie Coe, Aarati Sonkusare, and Erika Priddy discuss what they do on the FST team, for our stakeholders, and to build a better way of doing finance at UVA. 

You can also watch this and other great videos on the UVAFinance YouTube Channel.

Managers: Help your team members during Open Enrollment

Please encourage those on your teams to participate early and often in the Open Enrollment process this year. It behooves employees to treat the process as they would any major purchase, with an intentional well-researched approach, and to look at the cost/benefit analysis of each plan carefully so they are able to make the best benefits decisions that meet their needs.

 

Key Open Enrollment Facts and Changes Here's What You Need to Know

Here are key facts and changes for you to know about and share with your team members:

• Open Enrollment is October 5 – 16, 2020. There is no confirmation period.
• There are no changes to premiums, deductibles, coinsurance, or copays for the Basic, Value, and Choice Health options, for full-time employees.
• Prior year FSA/HSA employee elections will NOT carry over to 2021 automatically. Employees must re-elect them in Workday during Open Enrollment in order to continue them.
• Aetna will manage both health and pharmacy plans, providing a more turnkey approach to health and additional opportunities for both UVA and its employees to save.
• Long-Term Disability will be harmonized to provide the same benefit for Academic Division ORP enrollees and MCRP staff.
• Part-Time eligibility changes for Medical Center team members will harmonize part-time health and dental plan rates.
• Open Enrollment presentations will be virtual and offered as Zoom meetings.
• The Benefits and Well-Being Expo will be virtual and expanded to be available 24/7 for the entire Open Enrollment period. Please encourage employees to attend the Expo.
• The New Wellness Portal: Virgin Pulse is a lifestyle coaching model integrated with the Hoos Well incentive structure, which focuses on self-management, lifestyle improvements, and better health literacy.

Action Items Here's How You Can Help

Ask that your team members:

• Carefully read the Open Enrollment communications
• Mark key dates on their calendar for Open Enrollment kickoff, presentations, Town Hall, and closing
• Learn how to access Open Enrollment in Workday
• Review the Open Enrollment website and its many resources
• Engage in a discussion with you or a benefits counselor about what benefits changes are occurring in 2021
• Attend a virtual Open Enrollment presentation or Town Hall to learn more about benefits changes and important action items
• Attend the virtual Benefits and Well-Being Expo October 5-16 and attend some of the virtual Expo presentations
• Contact the HR Solution Center for personalized, one-on-one service if they still have questions after reviewing all Open Enrollment resources
• Understand that Open Enrollment October 5-16 has no confirmation period, meaning NO CHANGES can be made after October 16.

Thank you!

Time to register for Fall 2020 Virtual FOCUS!

You and your team can now sign up for FOCUS!

FOCUS will be held virtually this October 26th – 30th, hosted by James Madison University.

Check out the conference here: https://whova.com/web/focus1_202010/.  New this year is a mobile app you can download. Be sure to register individually for CPE credit.

Start your registration at https://jmu.irisregistration.com/Form/FOC20. 

If you have any issues with registration, just email us at focusonlineteam@gmail.com and/or use the user guide https://whova.com/pages/whova-app-user-guide/.

We will “see” you there!

Check your home address in Workday

In order to receive important UVA correspondence by mail, all UVA employees are encouraged to review your home address listed in Workday. 

To view and edit your home address:

1. Click the Personal information appon your Workday home screen
2. Navigate to change> Contact information
3. Verify your address in the Home Contact INformation section
4. To change, click the Edit button in the upper left corner of the screen
5. click the pencil icon to edit your address
6. click the orange submitbutton when finished

Questions?  Reach out to askhr@virginia.edu 

New on Finance Matters: The Truth About Employee Engagement

 

Patty and Brandi discuss a book by Patrick Lencioni, “The Truth About Employee Engagement.”  Everyone has a time in their career where they dread going to work.  This book addresses the three root causes of job misery and how they can be remedied. 

LISTEN HERE!

Resources Mentioned:

The Truth about Employee Engagement: https://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Employee-Engagement-Addressing/dp/111923798X

Patrick Lencioni Ted Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5EQW026alY

Finance Matters “Start with Why” Podcast: https://everydaygrace.podbean.com/e/start-with-why-finance-matters/

The Stay Inverview:  https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-forms/pages/stayinterviewquestions.aspx

Don't forget!  We want your quarantine stories for an upcoming episode of Finance Matters.  Click here for more details.

Don't forget to renew your parking permit

Parking and Transportation (P&T) has started the 2020-2021 parking permit renewal process! In response to COVID19, additional parking permit options have been established based on the frequency in which an employee will be parking on Grounds. 

If you will be parking on Grounds 3 or more days a week or you don’t want to purchase daily/weekly permits, you should renew your annual permit. Employees must take action to renew their annual permits this year. To renew your permit online, please visit: https://parking.virginia.edu/online-parking-portal and click on the option ‘Get Permits’ to begin the renewal process.

If you will be parking on grounds 1-2 days per week or on a rotating schedule, you may consider purchasing daily or weekly virtual permits through the P&T online portal. Please note: Daily and weekly permits are not eligible for payroll deduction.

If you will be parking on grounds for short increments of time, you may want to consider using ParkMobile parking options https://parking.virginia.edu/parkmobile

Additional Information:

• Rates for the 2020/2021 permit year can be found at: https://parking.virginia.edu/rates
• Current license plate information is required with all permit sales.
• Annual permit holders from 2019/2020 will retain their option to purchase annual, daily, or weekly permits throughout the semester. If you are interested in parking for the semester in a different location, please contact Parking & Transportation at parking@virginia.edu with your request.

To renew your annual permit online, either now or later in the semester, and/or to purchase daily or weekly permits:

1. Go to https://parking.virginia.edu/online-parking-portal.
2. Then click ACCESS THE ONLINE PARKING PORTAL HERE
3. Then click on “Login”
4. You will use your Netbadge credentials to access your account.
5. Once you are logged in you will be able to view your account information.
6. Click on Get Permit

To renew an annual permit over the phone, please contact P&T at 434-924-7231 and a customer service representative will assist you. Please note: The P&T office is closed to in-person visitors.

If you need assistance determining the right parking option for you, P&T customer service representatives are available to assist you:

• By phone, Monday-Friday, 7:30AM-5PM – 434-924-7231.
• By on-line interactive chat available at www.parking.virginia.edu, Monday-Friday, 7:30AM-5PM.
• By email – parking@virginia.edu (allow one business day for response).

Happy Retirement, Larry!

Contributed by Gary Young

I would like to take this opportunity to share the news of Larry Norem’s retirement from UVA after 10 years within the Fixed Assets Accounting Group under the Financial Reporting and Operations organization. His last day with us is September 24, 2020.

Larry has been an outstanding staff member, responsible for handling the accounting of all new equipment asset purchases and played a vital role in achieving the yearly Commonwealth’s Equipment Trust Fund requirements with exceptional results.

Those who have come to know Larry couldn’t help but notice his unassuming, quiet nature and the caring spirit he always exhibited in assisting others, his remarkable commitment to excellence along with his wise counsel. His seasoned skills stem from many years of owning his own business (Photo Flash) in the Barracks Road Shopping Center and serving in other businesses, such as Habitat for Humanity.

He is now looking forward to joining his wife Pam, who retired from UVA in 2017 after 31 years of faithful service and spending his time enjoying trailering, kayaking, tackling many DIY projects, and seeing if he has a green thumb.

Please join me in wishing Larry the very best as he begins this new chapter of his life, extending grateful appreciation for his personal friendship and many contributions to our group and UVA. He will be greatly missed and a hard act to follow.

An Update on FST’s Spend Workstream and the Spend Focus Group

 

Sue Clements, Co-lead of FST’s Spend Workstream, gave an update for her team at last week’s Fiscal Administrators Meeting.

She started by introducing the four main areas with which the Spend Workstream is involved: Payee Registration & Management, Requisitions & Purchase Orders, Invoices & Payments, and Travel & Expense.

She then went on to discuss the Spend Focus Group, first sharing the list of the group’s participants who represent a wide range of the different schools and units across the University. Sue also listed some important dates related to Spend Focus Group events, such as the kickoff session that took place on September 1^st and the first official meeting that took place this Monday, September 21^st.

The September 21^st meeting consisted of an overview of FDM and an introduction to the T & E Card strategy that is under consideration.

Below is a list of topics and activities the group plans to use in future meetings:

If you have any questions regarding the Spend Workstream or the Spend Focus Group, you can reach out to the workstream co-leads, Sue Clements and Jenn Glassman.

_______________________________________________________________________

Want to listen in on this presentation?  Check out the September 16 Fiscal Administrator meeting recording; the Spend update starts at 28:25.

             

 

FST Updates!

Want to listen to this update instead of reading it?  Tune in to the latest WFST Broadcast!

The big news is that the Deloitte branch of our team has begun building the first version of UVA's tenant of Workday Financials!  Wow! 

The Configure & Prototype phase starts in November and will continue through March 2021 (check out our Phase 3 timeline).  As we continue to move toward this major phase of the project, remember that change itself also involves phases.  Read more about the change process so you can better understand the uncertainty we necessarily go through to reach a transformed future state.

Budget Team:

• The discussion continues re: non-financial plan types: Awards, Projects
• Session held to continue review user story development

Functional Team:

• Lots of work on configuration workbooks and meetings with stakeholder groups are in progress 
• System Remediation Network will begin meeting this fall.  Read more here. 
• See the latest decisions made here.

Reporting and Analytics:

• Reviewed reporting user stories for Grants Management based on reports list provided by the Office of Sponsored Programs
• Collected reporting requirements/user stories for Spend

Technical Team

• The COA to FDM mapping approach completion date will be delayed by two or more weeks.  Read more on the latest with FDM here. 
• Continued data scope analysis for suppliers and sub-recipients conversions

Adaptive Team

• Prepping for the FY22 budget process and gathering stakeholder feedback from the FY21R process. 
• Read more about their current efforts. 

Leadership Feedback

Want to know what folks around Grounds are saying about the project so far?  Check out this roundup of thoughts from our recent Leadership Interviews!

They Don't Call It the Foundation Data Model for Nothing

You've told us that the the Foundation Data Model (FDM) is important to you—that decisions made with it and the granular details of how it will work have far-reaching impacts. We've heard you. 

It fits that the word "foundation" is in the name of Workday Financials phrase for the Chart of Accounts. The project team is committed to building a strong foundation with the FDM that is shaped by stakeholder feedback. The FDM team is wrapping up work to map common UVA business practices and how they're completed in Oracle; their goal is provide stakeholders with some concrete examples soon of what the transition from COA to FDM will look like. 

Below are the FDM-related activities that you can anticipate occurring for the first Configure & Prototype (C&P) tenant between November 2020 and March 2021.

FDM team members consistently reiterate their commitment to collaborating with stakeholders across Grounds. They are and will continue to gather stakeholder feedback and use it to inform decisions as we see how things actually shake out in our first round of testing the FDM with UVA data. More information will follow as we near C&P about how stakeholders can see the FDM in action in our first tenant and share their thoughts. 

If you're looking for some more info about what will happen with the FDM in the longer term, check out the table below with information about key FDM milestones between now and Workday Financials go-live in 2022. 

FDM Milestone	Description		Draft Target Date
Finalize Initial FDM Structure	•        Map top 10 activity scenarios to determine worktag usage •        Finalize worktag formats (field lengths and naming conventions) •        Determine driver worktags	•        Determine required worktags •        Update worktag definitions •        Determine usage of Balancing Unit worktag •        Updated Cost Center review	8/31/2020
Finalize FDM Worktag Format	Length, naming convention		8/31/2020
Finalize Cost Center Hierarchy Structure (levels)	Grouping of leaf-level Cost Centers and hierarchy for managerial and institutional reporting		8/31/2020
Develop COA to FDM Conversion Rules	Mapping rules from Oracle GL/GA chart string to Workday FDM worktags		9/15/2020
Develop process for COA to FDM mapping by Units	Process and instructions to be communicated to the units for their completion or review of the mapping of their Oracle GL/GA charts strings to Workday FDM worktags		9/15/2022
Frost COA to FDM Mapping	Only critical changes will be made in the mapping rules of the Oracle GL/GA chart string to Workday FDM worktags after this date		3/15/2022
COA to FDM Mapping by Units (Begins Sept 2020)	Completion of mapping of the legacy Oracle GL/GA chart strings to Workday FDM worktags		3/16/2022
COA Segment Clean-Up in Oracle	Activity to review inactive values and small dollar balances to reduce conversion activities		4/1/2022
Freeze COA to FDM Mapping	When critical changes in the mapping rules of the Oracle GL/GA chart string to Workday FDM worktags will no longer be accepted		5/13/2022

For three ways to stay informed, check out this recent FDM blog post. 

 

Got Kudos for a Colleague? Shout It Out!

 

While 2020 has been a challenging year (understatement!), we all continue to work hard and help each other out. We've shown exceptional adaptability and resilience in a time of rapid change. When things get tough, the tough start celebrating our wins, big and small.

Recognize colleagues for their awesomeness by emailing the UVAFinance Culture Crew at culturecrew@virginia.edu.