FST Updates January 28, 2021

 

Want to listen to this update instead of reading it?  Tune into the WFST Radio Broadcast!

Short on time?  Check out the "Cliff's Notes" version:  Five things to know about FST for January 28

Notes on the Timeline

With 2020 more firmly in our rearview mirror, the FST project team is moving forward into new and exciting territory. We’re seventeen months and a couple of days away from the go-live of Workday Financials, and there’s a lot happening.  We're fresh off of the first round of Customer Confirmation sessions and the project team is in its first of two sprints – during the next two months, they’ll be making sure we have all the requirements our stakeholders have outlined are configured or in progress toward configuration in the tenant.

After that, they’ll do a second build of the Workday financials tenant, and then, it will be Customer Confirmation Session time once more! For this round of CCS, we’ll not only include more folks on the invite list, but we’ll also be working with our Change Leaders in the schools and units to help do some additional outreach in their areas.  After that, there will be two more sprints to make sure everything is ready, from configuration to user stories, and then it’s time for end to end testing.

FDM News - What's up in the Chart of Accounts Area

The project team is focusing on developing the mapping tool that will get our current GA/GL strings into the new FDM.  They have a pretty good idea on most mappings, but there are of course some things they can’t be sure of, especially because of the current flexible use of the PTAEO.  They’ll be working closely with schools and units and showing some sample mappings in groups like the Fiscal Administrators in the coming weeks and months.  The whole FDM mapping process will be iterative, beginning around April or May and stretching all the way to March of next year. 

There will be lots of opportunities during that time for tweaks and adjustments.  If you’re a fiscal person in your area, you may be wondering what you can do to get a head start on all this mapping.  You can start thinking about your tasks – the task has been used in a number of different ways by different departments.  If you can think about the easy connections – the ones that can map to already-identified work tags, that will be a great help, and then the team can work closely with your school and unit on the outliers.

Nicole Ferretti recorded a great “intro” to all the FDM before the first round of Customer Confirmation Sessions.  It’s a good primer to get your head around the new structure and help you start thinking. View it here.

Training News

 Besides the everyday work that the training team does -- being imbedded with the FST project team in an advising capacity, doing outreach, and gathering change impacts, they’ve also been talking to peer institutions that have recently gone live with Workday Financials.

They have learned a lot from our colleagues, both on what really worked for them in terms of training and on what to avoid. We’re on the cusp of starting content creation for training.  This spring, they will be developing a curriculum, a training plan, and a calendar.  Read more here on the blog.

Five things to know about FST: January 28, 2021

 

1.  System remediation enters the plan and analyze phase. Key activities include developing specific systems' remediation plans and ensuring units have necessary resources available. Read more in this remediation blog post.   

2.  FDM mapping work continues.  The team is working closely with schools and units and showing some sample mappings.  A good primer on the FDM as the new chart of accounts can be found on the Community (Video).

3. Workflow Control is a new workstream in FST.  Christine Kennedy and Steve Marciniak will be partnering with Records and Information Management, Audit, and Compliance to address questions related to approval flows. More on this soon!

4. Training is being developed.  The FST Training team is using info from peer institutions who've just gone live with Workday Financials to develop training in a wide variety of modalities.  Read more here. 

5.  Workday Financials goes live on July 1, 2022.  Besides the Workday implementation, FST consists of four parts.  See them here on the FST website.

Not So Basic Training: FST Training Team prepares to deliver

The go-live date of Workday Financials is a good 18 months away.  But if you know the UVAFinance training team, it won’t surprise you that they’ve been busy for quite some time now, developing a training strategy that will enable users to be ready on day one.

Patty Marbury, Training Lead for the FST project, along with her Deloitte consulting partner Zelda Speight, recently conducted benchmarking interviews with peer institutions that had gone live with Workday Financials.  The aim of the interviews was to inform UVA’s training plans and to note the lessons our peers learned in the course of developing and delivering their Workday training.

Marbury and her colleagues learned a lot from their conversations, and there were a few key threads on what worked well and what didn’t in terms of training. One of the most important threads, she notes, was the importance of having a variety of training offerings.

“What we heard from our colleagues reinforced our own ideas,” she says, adding that “It was clear that having a diverse range of modalities for a variety of learners and circumstances is the best way to go.”

Multiple, easy to use training options meet multiple learning styles, notes Marbury.  Her team is planning on offering in-person and virtual training, as well as job aids, office hours, and more.

Another commonality in successful training across the institutions interviewed was training content centered around the role a user’s role in Workday, which is also a part of the FST training team's plan.

Marbury says her team will begin creating content this spring, developing a curriculum, a training plan, and calendar, and working with the functional team on the role mapping that will enable them to deliver focused training.

In the meantime, Marbury and her team will continue their immersion in the project, imbedded in the workstreams, working with stakeholders across UVA, to understand both the ins and outs of the transition to Workday and the needs of those who will use it.

Delivering training for Workday Financials is an admittedly intense undertaking, says Marbury, but it’s one she and her team are excited to take on. 

“We’ve been serving the UVA finance community for years, and here on the cusp of something new and exciting, we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but partnering with that community to help make this transition as smooth as it can be,” she says.

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You can read more from Patty Marbury in the Online Community 

Keep watch here in the UVAFinance blog and our other ComsChannels  for more news as the training team continues its work.

FST System Remediation: The Plan and Analyze Phase

The System Remediation Network (SRN) continues to meet monthly as we enter the plan and analyze remediation phase, which will continue through March.

During this phase, system owners/sponsors and system functional/technical support staff, in collaboration with FST team members, will do the following:

• Develop an understanding of changes
• Assess the impact of changes on their systems
• Develop a project plan for remediation
• Ensure unit resource availability
• Communicate the plan to system users

In the January SRN meeting, participants heard about processes that will be moving into Workday Financials, going live July 2022, and key terminology changes to understand. Those interested can access the 1/20 System Remediation Network meeting slides and video here on the Community.

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Stay informed about system remediation by keeping an eye on the System Remediation Network page in the Online Community, and get other tips at the FST Info Station.

Use Workday Words to learn new Workday Financials terminology. The page features definitions and connects the future terms, when applicable, to the current phrasing.

Change & Continuous Improvement: A Blending of Possibilities

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

While there are multiple models of change management, and even more tools available to apply continuous improvement, at its foundation, it’s all about thinking differently.

Continuous change comes first with changing our thinking. 

Consider this: Someone may set a new year’s resolution to “get healthier.” She may map out a new exercise routine, plan healthy meals, even find a partner to hold her accountable (all behaviors). However, if her thinking about her health doesn’t change, it may be hard to sustain new habits.

To make any change, you should ask:

• How might I think about this differently?
• What perspectives do I need to ensure these new habits?
• Why is this important?

Blending tools plus challenging your thinking may lead to a world of possibilities!

Change & Continuous Improvement: Swimming Toward an Answer

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

To ensure continuous improvement, it’s important to understand the real problem we’re trying to solve. In Lean terminology, it’s called Root Cause Analysis (asking "Why?" over and over again!).

Consider this example from when my son was a competitive swimmer in high school. The star butterfly athlete graduated and as my son went in to his senior year, the team looked to him to step up and win butterfly races. However, as his senior season got underway, his times in butterfly races were way off. The coach was completely surprised. It didn’t make sense that he wasn’t even hitting his own best times.

If you were his parents or coach, your next step to help improve his performance was critical. So we explored some possible causes together:

• Is he distracted by a new girlfriend?
• Is he working hard at practice?
• Is he mentally stressed from the pressure?

None of those seemed to be an issue. So the coach decided to do some underwater filming of my son’s butterfly stroke. And lo and behold the culprit became obvious: his form and timing going into his turns didn’t look the same. Long story short, my son had grown over 5 inches the summer before his senior year! His technique hadn’t adjusted for the additional body length. A targeted focus on his technique to accommodate his new height did the trick. He was soon winning a lot of butterfly races!

Now consider if the root cause wasn’t really addressed. What if the coach had made him work “harder” at practice? What if as a parent I grounded him from time with his girlfriend? Well—you get the picture. No amount of good intentions will help improve a situation unless the root cause is addressed.

Do you understand the problem you are trying to improve? Start with asking “Why?” five times in a row to ensure you are getting to the root cause!

T&E Card Annual Training Begins February 1

Annual T&E card training begins on Monday, February 1, 2021 and must be complete by February 28. We look forward to providing this training to give cardholders the most current information on T&E Card policies and procedures. Cardholders will receive an email on February 1 with a link to the training.

If you are no longer using your T&E card, please cancel your card.

Beyond Electronic Signatures: Continuous Improvement around DocuSign

UVAFinance has been using DocuSign for over two years now. From fixed assets forms to digital reconciliation forms, vendor contracts to remote work agreements, DocuSign software has made it possible to transition from paper to digital with a complete audit trail and improved security (not to mention reduced the time and effort it takes to get things signed).

But why stop there?

In the spirit of continuous improvement, UVAFinance’s Business Services Group (BSG) has taken DocuSign in hand as an expanded service the group can offer for the benefit of all. 

UVAFinance does not,
unfortunately, currently 
offer DOGuSign.

The group’s aim is to have business processes in place for use of DocuSign. In other words, says Scott Adams, Director of Business Services, the group intends to develop DocuSign as a service they can offer, with full support and guidance.

“What the Business Services Group is doing is taking DocuSign beyond just a vehicle to get electronic signatures,” says Mara Hilliar, Executive Assistant to the VP. Hilliar and other colleagues worked closely with BSG on remote work agreements for UVAFinance employees.

“The potential for DocuSign was known but the opportunity to utilize its many features was untapped – enter the pandemic and remote work and this tool became an invaluable asset to getting work done and keeping our people safe,” she adds.

Members of BSG have designed and led DocuSign training, tested new features, and customer support protocols, along with building templates and a document repository.

Sarah Fleming, Special Assistant to the Associate Vice Presidents for Finance, says that working with BSG on the first large-scale DocuSign project was a great experience.

“DocuSign for all, coupled with the rollout of vpf-support@virginia.edu is an example of the expanded service the group hopes to continue to develop for the benefit of UVAFinance,” she says (see more on the new email for administrative support on the blog here: https://uvafinance.blogspot.com/2021/01/new-email-for-administrative-support-in.html )

Adams says the ultimate goal is to integrate the use of DocuSign into Salesforce for an even more seamless customer experience.

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Read more about UVAFinance's journey with DocuSign on the blog

 

 

Don’t get stuck in the shadows, Adapt!

Contributed by Elissa Morton

How many of you reading this were here at UVA when the sun went down on Discoverer and we transitioned to University Business Intelligence (UBI)?

Remember how hard it was to let go of a system we had used for so long? Even though we were well aware of its limitations and many of us actively disliked Discoverer, we had become attached to it. . . you know what they say: the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.

But as the UBI team built the new tool and we saw all the great things we could do with it, the problems it solved, and the functionality it offered, the University community was gradually persuaded to let go of the old and embrace the new. Was UBI perfect? No, but it was miles ahead of where we were and enabled us to enter a new era of data reporting.

Now if you fast forward just a couple of short years, the Adaptive Team is currently working on the budget process redesign, pivoting from the 2.0 version of Adaptive Planning that was rolled out to all of UVA last year to the 3.0 version that will integrate with Workday and the new FDM.

Adaptive offers us so much more than the shadow systems, supplemental systems, and excel spreadsheets we’ve become accustomed to for years. It may be hard to think of letting go of something you may have built yourself, maybe custom-made for your school or unit, but I encourage you to keep moving toward newer and better things in the form of Adaptive Planning. 

Read more here

As we move through the budget process redesign, we’re focusing on replacing the outdated and inefficient processes with a more streamlined process that focuses on customer service and the support of our end-users’ needs.

Our team is working hard to make each version of Adaptive suit your needs, and there are many ways you can share feedback, ask questions, and get help.

Don’t get left in the shadows! 

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Visit the Online Community for more information on Adaptive 
Visit the FST website for more information on Adaptive 

Procurement Gives Grammarly a Try

Whether we like it (or acknowledge it) or not, we’re all prolific writers. For many of us, our jobs involve writing proposals, reports, plans, and, of course, veritable mountains of email. Most of this writing seems so transactional and so tangential to the actual thing we’re trying to achieve that it’s hard to find time to focus on how we could improve our writing. Beyond the obligatory spell check, we often don’t pay attention to things like grammar and tone. 

Luckily, there are several tools available we can choose from to help us hone our writing in approachable ways.

As part of an overall sharper focus on their department’s communications, PSDS recently identified the app Grammarly as a tool they wanted to try.

Two months into their commitment to use Grammarly for one year, the team in PSDS is enjoying their transformation into more confident and professional business writers.

Many readers may be familiar with Grammarly and may even use the free version, but Raegan Harouff Gaye, a member of a volunteer coms committee in PSDS, says the premium version offers so much more.

“Those of us who think of ourselves as fairly good writers have already seen great improvements in our writing,” she says. Harouff Gaye adds that in the world of email, it’s especially encouraging that the app gives feedback on the tone of one’s writing. 

“It’s nice to get that positive reinforcement that you’re actually achieving that helpful tone you were trying for when you’re trying to solve a problem for someone,” she says.

PSDS team members have especially enjoyed the weekly reports sent by the Grammarly app, which detail patterns in writing errors, use of tone, overall writing output, and even your vocabulary.

So resoundingly great has PSDS’ experience been that several UVAFinance colleagues outside of Procurement have tacked on to the PSDS contract in order to use the program.

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Interested in Grammarly? 

If you’re in UVAFinance and would like to take part in the current trial mentioned in this story, contact Scott Adams  

If you’re out of UVAFinance, talk with your local IT support professionals.

Just added: Another Lean Fluency Course

Due to popular demand, another Lean Fluency course has been scheduled on April 20 from 9:00 – 12 p.m. You can enroll via this link.

Lean Fluency is the foundational course for the UVAFinance Lean Certificate Program. To learn more about the program, click here and/or contact foc-training@virginia.edu

Loidelis Canela Faces Off as FST’s New Oracle Conversions Developer

Loidelis Canela 
(Authentic image from her first UVA ID Card)

No stranger to UVA, Loidelis Canela already helped UVA Human Resources implement Workday as part of the Ufirst project, and she rejoins us on the FST project as an Oracle Conversions Developer. Canela brings more than eight years of experience as a tech contractor to the role, having worked in the private and public sectors.

Canela’s familiarity with the path from Oracle to Workday will help her succeed in the new role; it also gives her insight into how to assist stakeholders wrap their heads around what their future-state processes will look like in Workday Financials.

“I have an understanding of how the conversion process works,” Canela says. “From a tech perspective, I know how data will morph from Oracle to Workday and can help translate that for users. Having that level of understanding from prior experience is what’s helpful.”

Her background, specifically at UVA, enables Canela to have a crystal-clear sense of users’ needs. She explains that people don’t often get to see the 1:1 comparison of their current Oracle process and how it will look in the new system. That’s what people are looking for: a firm understanding of how their day-to-day activity will be different. Canela can anticipate questions and concerns at a granular level, such as users wondering how the interface will look, the number of screens to go through to complete their tasks, and what data will be available where. A high-quality user experience is a priority for Canela.

“The users are the ones that have to live with the system when we’re done with it,” she says. “It’s them that you really want to maximize the system for. We want to learn from what’s not good in the current system and make process improvements while we can.”

Canela has joined the team remotely at this time from her home in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she’s lived for over 20 years. Charlottesville won’t be completely left to her imagination, as she stayed in the area frequently while working on the HR implementation. Her first visit came shortly after it had snowed. She even shares the Charlottesvillian experience of seeing the Barracks Road snow mountain that frequently builds up in snow-heavy years.

When discussing what drew her back to UVA, Canela explains, “I like the culture itself. When I’m on the Grounds, I feel like there’s history and culture. I like the environment. Some projects are very business-like, but UVA’s very engaging and such a historic place. It makes me feel like I’m learning as I’m doing the work.”

In addition to her workplace tenacity, Canela enjoys sports. She played varsity basketball in high school. She has two children, and her 9-year-old son plays hockey. To help him learn, they frequently watch videos online so she can break down skills in living room practice sessions. Together they’ve worked on faceoffs, shooting pucks, and taking pucks away from defenders. While Canela doesn’t skate, she’s becoming quite the living room hockey star.

FST Adds Workday Reporting Developer to the Team

For Randy Sule, one of FST’s newest team members, the opportunity to work at UVA wasn’t like accepting any other job. 

“I did my research about working at UVA,” he explains, “I was very impressed to learn that UVA is an innovative leader in research and really cares about its employees.”

 It also helped that, “with almost five years of Workday-related experience, particularly in reporting and analytics,” the position of Workday Reporting Developer seemed like a perfect fit for him.

 In this role, his primary responsibility is creating reports for other members of the FST team. He will mostly be working with UVA financial analysts and the Deloitte (FST’s consulting partner) Reporting and Analytics team.

Randy seems to be enjoying his new position so far: “things are going well. I am so excited to be part of this implementation!” We are sure the FST team is equally excited to have him as part of their team. 

When he’s not developing reports, Randy enjoys traveling, getting out in nature, and reading books that enhance his knowledge. He also describes himself as a “news fanatic” and says that he loves cooking African cuisine. Here’s hoping he’ll share some recipes with us sometime!

The Decision Process Continues for FST

Following this month's Advisory Group Meeting, the FST team continued gathering input on key topics at the Steering Committee and Fiscal Administrator Meetings. 

The topics discussed were requisition user access, conversion of historical data outside of Workday, the per diem policy, and receiving in Workday. Feedback and questions were recorded and the team will use this information to make decisions related to these topics. Make sure to stay up-to-date on this process by checking out the FST Decision Log!

Next steps for the previously mentioned topics are as follows: 

• Requisition User Access--the Spend and Approvals Workflow teams will review feedback and consider whether creating a requisition will continue to be restricted by security role. 
• Data Warehouse-Trend Reporting--the Reporting/Data Warehouse, FDM and Conversion teams will continue to gather feedback and determine how best to convert data without burdening the project team and end users in the schools/units.
• Per Diem Policy--the Spend team will continue to investigate the feasibility of moving to a single per diem policy. 
• Receiving in Workday--the Workflow Controls (described below) and Spend teams will analyze approval flows and how requiring end users to upload these documents could potentially affect workflow and end user experience.

The team also provided updates on two other topics: discontinuing the use of WebWire and workflow control. There are alternatives for transactions done in WebWire, but transactions related to Global LLC and intercompany transfers still need consideration. The Banking & Settlement team continues to work through various payment types to determine future state solutions. 

As for worflow control, a team specifically focused on ensuring workflows are sufficient to meet requirements (the Workflow Controls Team) will review current processes and investigate potential solutions within and outside of Workday. 

For more information on these topics, check out the slides for the Steering Committee Meeting and the Fiscal Administrators Meeting. 

    

 

2020 W-2s are available in Workday

Access your 2020 W-2 form in Workday now.  Just log in, click the "My Pay" icon, then choose "My Tax Documents" (found in the menu on the right hand of your screen).

More information on W-2s can be found on the Payroll website. 

FST Update

 

Want to listen to this update instead of reading it?  Tune into our WFST Radio Broadcast!

Just need the high points?  Check out "Five Things to Know About FST"

Happy New Year!  Here at the start of 2021, Finance Strategic Transformation is not quite halfway through the configuration and prototype phase.  We’ll be in this phase until summer. (See the whole Phase 3 timeline on the FST website)

The team is currently taking feedback from the Customer Confirmation Sessions we in late 2020, and using it to build another iteration of UVA's workday tenant so we can have another round of confirmation sessions later this spring.  See more info on the sessions here. 

There will be lots of opportunities early this year and in the spring for stakeholders to get a look at Workday Financials.  There are plans in progress to deepen the engagement with the first round of Customer Confirmation sessions, including some video content and other opportunities to broaden exposure to the future state. For right now, you can see the slides from all of the Customer Confirmation Sessions in the Online Community.

In FDM news, the team’s goal is to have a solid structure on cost centers by the end of February.  They’ll be doing outreach to schools and units and socializing the structure, so that we can be sure all units understand the FDM basics.  The mapping tool for the FDM has been just slightly delayed but should be rolled out soon, and FST governance groups, as well as the FST project team, are meeting to review their cost center submissions.  Visit the FST Info Station for guidance on keeping up with FDM news.

There are six major decisions being discussed in FST governance circles this month:  requisition user access, data warehousing and trend reporting, per diem, Workflow control, receiving in Workday, and discontinuation of WebWire.  Remember that we keep track of these decisions in the FST decision log.

In all the decisions that surround our implementation of Workday Financials, it’s easy to forget that Finance Strategic Transformation involves more than just Workday.  FST is actually four parts;  Workday Financials, reporting & analytics, Adaptive Planning, which is the budgeting tool, and probably most importantly, Continuous Improvement.

The work the Finance Engagement team is doing to put together a future-state service model for UVAFinance is a great example of continuous improvement activity.  The Finance Engagement team is implementing Salesforce across UVAFinance departments to help make the customer service experience more consistent for our stakeholders, and to provide us with a more effective way to see problems as a whole, taking into account how different departments touch the processes in question, rather than trying to solve them in a siloed way. Read more about that here on the blog!

Another one of the four parts of Finance Strategic Transformation is the implementation of Adaptive Planning, Workday’s budgeting tool.  Last year, UVA started using Adaptive for its budgeting process.  The Adaptive team is currently working with stakeholders on a budget process redesign, pivoting from the 2.0 version of Adaptive Planning from last year to the 3.0 version that will integrate with Workday Financials and the new FDM.

Adaptive Planning offers us so much more than the shadow systems and excel spreadsheets we’ve become accustomed to for years.  The team moves through the budget process redesign, they're focusing on replacing the outdated and inefficient processes with a more streamlined process that focuses on customer service and support of our end users’ needs.  

May the Force be with you (Salesforce, that is)

As a part of their work constructing a future-state service model for UVAFinance, the Finance Engagement Team is steadily bringing all UVAFinance departments into the Salesforce fold.  And, in keeping with the Star Wars metaphor, they’re empowering team members in those areas to be customer service Jedis.

Incorporation of Salesforce is just part of the plan for more streamlined, consistent customer service from UVAFinance, and it’s a huge first step.  In late 2020, Travel & Expense became the first department to adopt use of Salesforce to manage stakeholder interactions.  Since then, the Finance Engagement Team has onboarded Business Intelligence, administrative services, and System Support, with many other units set to follow.

Using Salesforce to manage customer questions, track the resolution of issues, and provide cross-functional insight into operations, it has become easier for UVAFinance units to deliver great service to those who need the service.

“Traditionally, every unit in finance has provided service in its own way,” says Andrew Sallans, Finance Engagement Manager, explaining that units all have had different ways for stakeholders to contact them, different ways to get information, and different response times.

“What we’re trying to do is reframe UVAFinance services as an interrelated set, with interdependencies between them, and empower our service providers to support stakeholders both in their own unique, personalized way, but at the same time in an easier way that is consistent and takes advantage of all central finance units being connected in Salesforce,” he says.

Raegan Harouff Gaye of Travel & Expense says the experience has been overwhelmingly positive and has allowed her team to improve their internal processes in addition to better serving their stakeholders.

“When we implemented Salesforce, we looked at our processes and asked how we could make them work with the system (Salesforce) better.  We’ve truly been having fun, because our team has been taking a fresh look at what we do and asking a lot of questions,” she says.

Scott Adams of the Finance Engagement Team says those questions are important every time they onboard a new unit into use of Salesforce. 

“As an IT person, I constantly ask myself how I can empower those around me, how I can enable them to accomplish what they want to accomplish, and free them up to do what they are best at,” he says.

Another customer service solution offered by Salesforce that has benefitted UVAFinance units is the tracking and reporting that allows them to gather data that is needed for continuous improvement.

Sallans adds that as Salesforce provides more transparency into how work is happening, there are many more opportunities to recognize those involved in the provision of the services.  When services are delivered with that coordination, alignment, and visibility, more of the work that people do ends up being seen, and we can celebrate those who do the work and learn from them.

Adams sums it up: “Our implementation of Salesforce and our future service model work is definitely about the bigger vision of the University.  We’re setting up for the future, laying the groundwork for people to think differently, and providing the opportunities to build on that; and we all have insight into what’s being tried – we move on from failure and learn from it, moving constantly toward a better future,” he says.

Or, to slightly reframe the words of renowned Jedi Master Yoda, “Do, or do not; there is no ‘not trying.’”

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If you’d like to hear the Finance Engagement Team and Travel & Expense talk more about this process and their pursuit of continuous improvement, listen in to this recent conversation on Finance Matters: https://everydaygrace.podbean.com/e/challenging-the-status-quo-panel-series-uvafinance-service-model-finance-matters/

Read more about the Salesforce Implementation on the UVAFinance blog here:  https://uvafinance.blogspot.com/2020/11/smooth-operators-finance-engagement.html

Five things to know about FST: January 14, 2020

 

1. In December 2020, UVA got its first look at UVA data in Workday Financials by way of 17 Customer Confirmation Sessions (CCS) attended by representatives from 93% of UVA campus areas. Attendees previewed the applications and shared their feedback; another round of CCS is planned for Spring 2021. See more on the CCS in the Online Community.
2. During January, FST Governance Groups will be sharing feedback on the following upcoming decisions: requisition user access, data warehouse trend reporting pre- and post-Workday go-live, per diem policy, workflow control and approval requirements, invoice matching redesign, and use of WebWire. See more information in the FST Decision Log
3. The FST project team will be socializing the FDM – the foundation data model – to university-wide representatives, starting in January of 2021.
4. The Adaptive Team is working on the budget process redesign, pivoting from the 2.0 version of Adaptive Planning that was rolled out to all of UVA last year to the 3.0 version that will integrate with workday and the new FDM.
5. Besides the implementation of Workday Financials (set to go-live on July 1, 2022), FST consists of four parts. See them on the FST website here!

New email for administrative support in UVAFinance

In their quest to deliver the best possible service, the Business Services Group has transitioned to working in Salesforce (read more about UVAFinance and Salesforce in the blog).

The only change for you is that effective today, you can email all requests for assistance from their staff to vpf-support@virginia.edu instead of emailing them individually.

This transition allows BSG to collaborate and delegate between team members in a way they haven’t been able to before, resulting in faster and more effective service to you.

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Visit BSG on the web:  https://bsg.vpfinance.virginia.edu/ 

Seeing the Future Clearly: Optical Character Recognition for Invoice Automation

As part of the Finance Strategic Transformation (FST) project's continuous improvement efforts, the spend team has recommended UVA implement the Jaggaer Optical Character Recognition (OCR) product called Digital Mail Room. OCR technology recognizes text in scanned documents, such as invoices, or images and turns it into text data readable by other software.

Adopting usage of an OCR tool would decrease the manual entry of invoices. For example, in fiscal year (FY) 2020, UVA employees manually keyed roughly 55,000 purchase order invoices. Automating the process would reduce the manual efforts of those across Grounds currently keying data and potentially reduce errors. 

When evaluating options, usability factored highly in the decision-making criteria for potential OCR vendors. Jaggaer Digital Mail Room ranked tied for number one in terms of ease of use for end users. An added benefit of Digital Mail Room is that it will work well with Workday Financials' standard interface to enable automated communication between systems; this means invoice information will transfer from Digital Mail Room to Workday smoothly with little added integration preparation.

The RAPID decision whether to act on this recommendation has gone through the review and input process and will likely be finalized soon. If adopted, as expected, Jaggaer Digital Mail Room may be implemented prior to Workday Financials or would go-live with Workday on July 1, 2022.      

For information about project decisions, see the FST Decision Log. 

Annual T&E Card Training this February

Annual T&E card training begins on February 1, 2021. We look forward to providing this training to give cardholders the most current information on T&E Card policies and procedures.

If you are no longer using your T&E card, please follow the link to cancel your card: https://travelandexpense.procurement.virginia.edu/te-card/te-card-change-request

If you will be on leave in February, please contact us to prevent your card from being canceled for not completing annual training.

Forward With the Foundation Data Model

As we dive into 2021, the Foundation Data Model (FDM) continues to move towards finalization. 

The Finance Strategic Transformation (FST) functional team anticipates having a solid base with cost center structure in place in February. In Workday, cost center is akin to the legacy Oracle terminology "Organization" (see Workday Words for definitions and legacy term correlations). Changes to cost center will still be possible based on the feedback of school/unit partners as they review the setup for their areas. Sharing information about the FDM and getting people used to the future approach will occur over the next several months. 

A priority in the new year is mapping. As we prepare to transition from our current Chart of Accounts (COA) in Oracle to the FDM in Workday Financials, translating PTAO/General Ledger strings to the new worktag approach is on everyone's minds. The FST team remains focused on providing a mapping tool that will help clarify this process as partners across Grounds determine how their information will be captured appropriately with the functionality within Workday. The timing to implement the mapping tool will be delayed a bit, due to the resource the team hoped to use not being able to do what we expected. Mapping work will still occur in preparation of finding a tool that will meet UVA's needs. 

For more info about what's coming for the FDM in 2021, see the timeline below (click to enlarge image). 

Want to stay informed about all things FDM? Check out the FST Info Station for tips on how to easily stay in the know. 

Wellness Resources

 

Contemplative Sciences Center

Anthony DeMauro, Associate Director of Dalai Lama Fellows at CSC, has curated a special Contemplation and Racial Justice Playlist on the Insight Timer app that is especially relevant during this January’s annual celebration of civil rights, racial justice, and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

More information on the Contemplation and Racial Justice Playlist is available on our website.

If you’re new to Insight Timer, check CSC’s resource page.

For a list of events during UVA's 2021 Community MLK Celebration, visit https://mlk.virginia.edu/.

COVID-Related News

Employees on Grounds now available for saliva testing. University employees who are working on Grounds will be eligible for voluntary asymptomatic testing through UVA’s saliva testing program beginning on Monday, January 11, 2021.   Read more on UVAToday.

Other Wellness Offerings

Common Grounds Healing Arts Virtual Yoga Offerings:  https://www.commongroundcville.org/charlottesville-yoga/class-series/

Boost Your Motivation to Reduce COVID Energy Drain
Jan 13, 12 PM & Jan 26, 3:30 PM
Presented by FEAP
Find other FEAP sponsored events HERE.


Virtual Offerings

Hoos Well Virtual Resources

IM-Rec Virtual Recreation

Range of quality programs, services & venues that support all dimensions of wellness through sport, fitness & recreation.

FEAP Virtual Resources

Collection of resources to support mental & emotional wellness.

WW (formerly Weight Watchers)

Digital subscriptions and virtual workshops are available at a discounted price. You may also be eligible for 50% reimbursement.

Wellbeats

Employees on UVA Health Plan have access to hundreds of on-demand fitness and nutrition classes via the web or mobile app. To create your account, click the "Login" button, type your UVA email address and enter the password HoosWell.

eM Life

Online mindfulness platform to promote health, happiness, stress management and self- care.

UVA Walking Paths
(not virtual)

Interactive walking paths throughout the university. Use the interactive map on your smart phone or print a PDF.

Customer Confirmation Sessions Recap

As of the end of last year, we finished with the first round of Customer Confirmation Sessions (CCS).  The FST team is now refining our first configuration of the Workday tenant for UVA based on stakeholder feedback.  This spring, we'll have another iteration of the tenant ready for another round of CCS.  

See the graphic below for a "by the numbers" recap of the first round of CCS.  

Click image for a larger view.

You can also view the slide decks from all of the CCS sessions in the Online Community:  https://communityhub.virginia.edu/community/uva-finance-transformation/blog/2020/12/04/customer-confirmation-session-dec-2020-slide-decks

Plans are currently in place to deepen engagement with the  content of the first round of CCS, including some video content and other opportunities to broaden exposure across UVA to our Workday Financials tenant. 

Thank you to all who attended a Customer Confirmation Session and shared your feedback!  

In addition to the overall satisfaction expressed by attendees in a follow-up survey, our presenters were also happy with the sessions.  Listen in to three of them (Josh Breeden, Elissa Morton, and Addie Coe) in the video below.

Lights, Camera, Conversion Lead Action: FST Welcomes Ashok Jain

Just before winter break, Ashok Jain joined the finance transformation team as the Conversion Lead. Jain has 14 years of Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) experience and has worked on many implementation projects.

“I am very excited to join UVA,” Jain says, “and will work towards successful Workday implementation.”

Prior to joining UVA, Jain worked as a software engineering manager for in Optum Service, Inc. for roughly nine years. In that role, he implemented Oracle EBS for various Optum acquisitions. With him, Jain brings a deep breadth of technical proficiency in in Oracle SQL/PLSQL, reports, and forms as well as experience with modules such as Oracle General Ledger, Accounts Payables, Accounts Receivables, Purchasing, Order Management, Inventory, and Advanced Supply Chain Planning.

Jain says, “I am quick learner and have learned various other technologies.” His work on the FST project will benefit from Jain’s ability to learn quickly as he helps manage the transition from Oracle EBS to Workday Financials.

For Jain, thankfully it’s not all work and no play.

“In my leisure time I love to watch movies and spend time with my family,” he says.  

FST Governance Groups Start 2021 with RAPID Decisions

 

At the end of last year, the FST team introduced a few upcoming choices requiring stakeholder input.

The process for gathering input on these choices (also known as the "I" in RAPID ) began this week at the first FST Advisory Group Meeting of 2021. Nicole Ferretti, FST's Functional Team Lead, presented the following six topics at the meeting:

• Should user access to create a requisition stay restricted or be extended to all users? 
• What is the plan for the conversion of historical data outside of Workday?
• Will UVA require all Workday Expenses users to leverage Per Diem for travel? 
• As UVA considers transformation away from Recon@, it will need to start shifting towards front-end controls sufficient for OSP's audit purposes. To that end, what workflow controls and approval requirements does UVA need? 
• Will UVA revise and redesign their matching policy for invoices before payment?
• Should UVA discontinue the use of WebWire?

Attendees then had the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the potential impacts of these topics. This discussion was extremely important as it will influence the final decisions affecting the future state of finance at UVA. 

This process will continue at the Steering Committee Meeting on January 20, 2021. 

If you'd like a more detailed explanation of the topics presented this month, you can check out slides from Advisory Group here. You can also check in with your department/unit's Change Leader (Advisory Group Representative) for more information. Also, don't forget to stay up-to-date with current FST decisions by checking out the Decision Log!

Hoos Seen This? Forrest Swope in UVAToday

 

Cool stuff around the University that you might've missed

Forrest Swope of Business Intelligence and the FST project team was featured in UVAToday as one of the great minds behind the UVA Covid Tracker.  Check it out!

__________________________________________________________________

Have you seen something cool at UVA that might be useful or interesting to your colleagues? Send it to bv8h@virginia.edu and maybe we can share it in the blog!

Lean Class Schedule through July 2021

Click for a larger view - more 
info on the Certificate Program
and Lean Class Offerings

We are pleased to announce the UVAFinance Lean class schedule through July 2021. A second series of classes will be scheduled later this year. Whether you are seeking to learn the basics about lean, or wanting to advance your lean skills, we’ve got you covered!

We also invite you to enroll in the UVAFinance Lean Certificate Program. The Certificate Program provides a comprehensive curriculum of Lean training opportunities that build from introductory to advanced level understanding of lean principles, terminology and tools. Participants who complete the program will earn a Certificate of Completion.

The suggested course order and prerequisites are listed below:

1. Lean Fluency –- prerequisite for Lean Projects & Lean Labs
2. Lean In Daily Work
3. Lean Projects – prerequisite for Lean Labs (all 4)
4. Lean Labs

See the attached flyer for more information about the Certificate Program and Lean class offerings.

All the classes below will be held virtually via Zoom. It is recommended that you enroll in all four Lean Labs in the same month.

Class	Date	Time
Lean Projects	1/21/21	10 – 12 p.m.
Lean Labs: Data Collection & Analysis	2/16/21	9 – 12 p.m.
Lean Labs: Change Management	2/18/21	10:30 – 12 p.m.
Lean Labs: Gemba and Kaizen	2/23/21	10 – 12 p.m.
Lean Labs: Root Cause Analysis	2/25/21	1 – 4 p.m.
Lean Fluency	3/3/21	9 – 12 p.m.
Lean in Daily Work	3/23/21	10:30 - 12 p.m.
Lean Projects	5/19/21	10 - 12 p.m.
Lean Labs: Data Collection & Analysis	7/13/21	9 – 12 p.m.
Lean Labs: Change Management	7/14/21	1 – 2:30 p.m.
Lean Labs: Gemba and Kaizen	7/20/21	10 – 12 p.m.
Lean Labs: Root Cause Analysis	7/22/21	9 – 12 p.m.

We look forward to seeing you in class! Please email us at foc-training@virginia.edu with any questions.