FST Updates

Want to listen to this update instead of reading it? Click here to tune into the WFST Broadcast!

No time to read paragraphs?  Check out "Five Things to Know about WFST"

Project Timeline

 Finance Strategic Transformation is nearing the end of the configure and prototype phase.  We’re closing out a number of activities and getting ready to move forward with the testing phase.  The key activity our team is focused on at this moment is getting the next tenant of Workday Financials built and ready for the end-to-end testing that will kick off in September. The end-to-end tenant, as we’re calling this latest build of Workday Financials, will incorporate changes based on insights gained from the second round of Customer Confirmation sessions and other work in the configuration tenant.  End to end testing kicks off on September 1 and will continue through January 14 of 2022. 

Read more about the testing phase.

Meet Sunil Sah, the FST Testing Lead.

FDM Updates

Other things keeping the FST team busy these days include pursuing other great transformation activities including getting underway with FDM mapping activities.  Mapping leads from each school and unit will have a kickoff workshop next week to get that process underway.

As we work toward the go-live of July 1, 2022, we’ll have a time of frost and freeze.  Frost is when the velocity of change slows down and people commit to their FDM values.  Changes aren’t impossible at this point, but they’ll be slowed down significantly. Freeze is a timeframe that comes after frost, when there are no more FDM changes because the data will be in the process of being loaded into the UVA tenant of Workday Financials that we’ll use at go-live.

Read more about frost and freeze.

Other transformations in progress

Besides the Workday Financials and Adaptive Planning implementations, there are many other transformations taking place.  Check out installment number three of the continuous improvement/process improvement projects taking place as a part of FST to and see all the cool things that are going on that will make doing finance at UVA better.

 

Five Things to Know about FST: July 29, 2021

1.  Next week, mapping leads from each school and unit will take part in a kickoff event with the FST team to get the FDM Mapping work underway.  Read more about the start of mapping.

2.  As we work toward go-live, FDM activities will have a time of both frost and freeze:  frost is when changes to FDM values slow down, and freeze is a time period where no more changes can be made because the data will be being loaded into the UVA  tenant of Workday Financials.  Read more here.

3.  The FST team is busy getting the next tenant of Workday Financials built and ready for end-to-end testing, which kicks off on September 1 and continues through January 14.  Read more about the testing phase.

4.  FST is more than just a tech implementation!  Besides implementing Workday Financials and Adaptive Planning, there are also lots of other continuous improvements going on.  Check out our third installment of transformations in progress on the blog.

5. As we wrap up the Configuration & Prototype phase of the FST project, we're excited to get a version of the tenant ready that reflects insight from the second round of Customer Confirmation Sessions.  It's a big step toward go-live in July of 2022!

Cool Off: Understanding FDM Frost and Freeze Terminology

If you've been in a meeting with discussion of Foundation Data Model (FDM) timelines, you've probably heard the terms frost and freeze mentioned. They are part of the progression of activities taking place as we near the Workday Financials go-live date of July 1, 2022. 

So what do they mean and how do they differ?

Frost

When we frost mapping activities, the velocity of change really slows down. People will be getting committed to their FDM values and starting to do their conversions. So at that point, while changes aren't off the table completely, wholesale alterations like those that have been happening for months prior will be slowed down significantly. Some changes can continue if needed. For example, if a new gift came in during the frost period, the project team would map that, as you would want to recognize the gift in the current year. Just like in nature, the frost sends signals that it's time to slow down and prepare to go dormant. 

Freeze

The freeze, therefore, is that time of dormancy. When activities are frozen, it means there will be no more FDM changes because the data will start being loaded into the UVA tenant that we will use at go-live. That necessitates that the data stop moving for a while. 

The frost and freeze periods don't mean that changes can't happen in the future, after go-live, but they are necessary to help us prepare the tenant to be ready for use on July 1. 

Getting Everything Just Right: FST Testing

The FST team is currently working on the creation of the End-to-End (E2E) tenant of Workday Financials that will be used for testing. 

The E2E tenant will incorporate changes based on insights gained from the second round Customer Confirmation Sessions and other work in the configuration tenant. End-to-end testing officially kicks off on Sept. 1, 2021, and continues through Jan. 14, 2022, with a contingency period (in case more time is needed) from Jan. 17-Jan. 31, 2022. 

The hands-on portion of testing begins on Sept. 27. The team is currently confirming the scenarios that will be tested; it will be an opportunity to complete common processes with UVA data to ensure things work as we expect. Testers will also try to break things in the system to suss out issues to fix before the next iteration tenant. Because payroll was already implemented as part of HR Workday (HCM), the testing period also includes six weeks of regression testing for payroll to be sure that things will continue to work smoothly with payroll after Workday Financials goes live. If all goes to plan, testing will be signed off on in early February 2022; use of the contingency period would delay that slightly. 

Following the completion of E2E testing, user experience testing will occur starting in mid- to late-February in a new version of the tenant that will include adjustments based on E2E. That round of testing will include a wider group of representatives from across the University. 

Learn more about FST Testing Lead Sunil Sah here. 

You're Invited: August 5 discussion of Caste

The Caste book discussion originally scheduled for Thursday, July 29, will be held on August 5, 4:30-5:30. We will be discussing Part Three: The Eight Pillars of Caste. 

Check out the VP Finance DEI Resources page for a listing of chapters included and detailed discussion questions.

We have also posted a  “Mixtape” of resources compiled by ToShun Campbell. These resources provide additional content to accompany the book, many of which we’ve talked about in our discussions.

We will be discussing Part Four: The Tentacles of Caste on August 12. Definitely feel free to read ahead as this section is a bit longer and we will only have one week between meetings. We’ll send out some questions the week before.

Please let Patty Marbury know if you have any questions, and as always, invite your friends and colleagues to participate in our discussions!

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• DEI Resources are found here: https://vpfinance.virginia.edu/resources-dei
• More about UVAFinance's Inclusive Excellence Advisory Committee:  https://vpfinance.virginia.edu/diversity-equity-and-inclusion

UVA has a new safety app

UVA recently announced its new mobile safety app, Guardian, which will replace LiveSafe after July 30, 2021.

Students, faculty, and staff can use Guardian to:

• immediately locate and contact safety resources on and off Grounds
• click on UVA’s online reporting system, Just Report It
• text concerns and tips to UVA Police, even anonymously
• receive urgent notifications based on their geographic location
• invite friends to join a virtual walk, and more

Other ways to stay engaged with safety at UVA:

• Receive UVA Text Alerts. Anyone who wishes to receive official UVA Alerts via text may now opt in by texting “UVA” to 226787. This free service is available to anyone, anywhere.
• Submit Tips to UVA Police. TipSubmit is available to anyone who wants to send secure and anonymous tips to our police department. Tips can be sent either via the web or SMS texts. Send your text to 274637 (crimes). In the message type “UVATIPS” followed by the tip or information.
• Follow Twitter accounts for UVA Police and the Department of Emergency Management.

Read more here:  https://uvapolice.virginia.edu/safety-security-resources/report-tips-through-guardian-app-and-tipsubmit

Register for the Back to Travel Webinar (you could win prizes!)

Travel restrictions have been lifted but you probably have some questions about getting back to travel.

To assist you, the TravelUVA Team is hosting a webinar on Thursday, August 5, so that we can review booking travel for faculty and staff.

We will discuss how to save money with unused tickets and new actions the travel industry is taking to keep travelers safe. Other topics to be covered include:

• What is TravelUVA?
• Traveler Benefits
• How to Book in Concur
• Travel Assistants
• Guest Bookings
• Companion Taxes
• UVA Travel Policy
• International Travel Registry
• Support

Register now at the link below and join us on August 5, from 2-3 pm. Everyone who attends is entered to win door prizes including three airline tickets and three hotel certificates for UVA business use!

Back to Travel Webinar Registration

Questions or concerns? Reach out to us at travel@virginia.edu

Reminder: Airbnb not allowed on T&E Cards

T&E cards may not be used to purchase accommodations with Airbnb and similar services such as VRBO or Homeaway, although travelers may personally pay for these reservations and be reimbursed by the University.

As you may know, hotels and other commercial properties carry insurance that covers their guests in case of injury or property loss. The type of properties offered via Airbnb and similar services vary widely in the type of coverage available for guests (if they offer any at all). Because of this, we do not recommend their use for University business.

We do understand, however, that this option might best suit your needs or the experience you want to have when you travel. There may be occasions where choosing Airbnb might be a less expensive option, or perhaps there are limited accommodations in the area. In those cases, you may pay for these accommodations and submit the cost through ExpenseUVA for reimbursement. 

However, if you choose to utilize these services, please be aware that you are accepting personal responsibility for any incidents that may occur during your stay. The university is also not responsible for any fees associated with cancellation.

 
If you have any questions, please email travel@virginia.edu.

Salesforce Update

 The Finance Engagement team has been busy implementing Salesforce.  Here's a roundup of what they've been up to lately.  Click the image for a larger view.

Click the image for a larger view

Time Saving Office Tips Series from the Countinuous Improvement Committee

CI Tips brought to you by the Continuous Improvement Committee and CI-minded UVAFinance FST Intern, Jack Sherwood.  

Tip 1: Productive Breaks 

from Jack Sherwood and Jack Jensen

As the fall semester nears and employees begin to resume in-person work, there is a lot of anxiety in the air about how the transition will fare. This series is designed to alleviate pains and provide time-saving tips and strategies that will make in-person work feel less overwhelming.

While it may seem counterintuitive, taking frequent breaks throughout your workday can drastically improve efficiency while also reducing stress. Breaks elevate energy levels and heighten focus on tasks at hand, though these aren’t just any breaks.

Consider an average day of work. You attend scheduled meetings and complete your work at your own pace. If a meeting ends 5 minutes early, you will probably go to the bathroom then head straight for your phone to check emails, texts, and social media. However, consider what would happen if instead of that routine you walked to the kitchen or breakroom, ate a piece of fruit, and stepped outside to grab a breath of fresh air? These breaks are known as productive breaks; they are both purposeful and recharging.

While it may feel satisfying to check up on last night’s sports scores, your favorite celebrity’s Instagram post about their new puppy, or tomorrow’s weather, you will find yourself more ready to complete what is next on your agenda if you take that free time to give your eyes a break from a screen and your mind a break from stress. These productive breaks are conducive to ideas, energy, and general happiness. Try inserting several 5-minute productive breaks throughout your day, spontaneous or planned, and take time to stretch, breathe, and ground yourself. This skill is impactful in both the virtual and in-person work world, as more and more of our time is spent sitting and looking at a screen.

Try this tip and reap the benefits of a clear mind, fresh thoughts, and increased stamina that will help you complete other tasks faster (and make you happier while doing them!)

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for more CI content, visit the Continuous Improvement space in the Online Community.

Demo of PaymentWorks now on the Community

PaymentWorks goes live with Oracle in just a few months, so now is the perfect time for a glimpse at how the system will work. 

Jonathan Agop, the Supplier Accounts Lead for FST, gave a demo of the supplier registration system during the second round of Customer Confirmation Sessions (CCS). In the demo, Jonathan compared PaymentWorks and Jaggaer Total Supplier Management, went over inviting a new vendor to the system, and discussed the process of vendor registration. 

If you'd like to view the demo, you can find it here on the Community.  

Not just a tech implementation: FST transformations in progress (Volume Three)

When you think about what Finance Strategic Transformation involves, you probably think about the Workday Financials implementation, and that makes sense! After all, it's the thing you probably hear about most often.

But it's not just our financial system that's transforming; in addition to the implementation of Workday Financials, the four parts of FST include adopting Adaptive Planning (Workday's budgeting and planning tool), enhanced reporting and analytics, and continuous improvement.

At a recent Steering Committee meeting, the project team highlighted some of the big transformations being driven by FST that highlight the innovation and continuous improvement sparked by the project. You can see those slides in the Community, but we'll also highlight those Transformations in Progress here in the blog, in a three-part series.

Here's our third and final round-up of examples of how changes are taking place surrounding FST:

• Customer Portal: the ability for external customers to view receivables aging and account activity while enabling external customer's ability to pull down pdfs of outstanding invoices for reference.
• Position Budgeting:  UVA has a future-state reporting goal for monitoring personnel expense by position, employee, and/or vacancy.  Reporting capabilities will give HR business partners ease of access to position information when requisitions are completed, as well as alleviating the finance organization's use of shadow systems to monitor requisitions and approved budgeted positions.
• Automated Bank Statement Reconciliation:  Reduction of manual reconciliation for bank statements through Workday matching rules.
• Award/Grant reporting for stakeholders at the Department Level:  Improving visibility into award/grant activities for grant managers and principal investigators through reporting and dashboards (grant budget vs. actuals, award tasks, etc.).
• Multi-Year Financial Planning:  Introducing a five-year multi-year financial planning process across the institution, shifting units from a "year-to-year" mindset to a longer-term, actionable, and strategic outlook.
• Budget Guidelines:  Creating budget guidelines to document all revenue and expense assumptions and owners, define budget philosophy, provide standard definitions, and reinforce policy.  This will also improve financial acumen at UVA.
• Simplifying UFM:  Simplifying the budget model to make it less cumbersome and to increase transparency.  Simplifying UFM will help make the budget model more sustainable and ultimately serve institutional goals.
• Internal Vs. External Reporting:  Analyzing how to transact UFM in the new FDM and the crosswalk between internal vs. external reporting.  This will increase transparency and accuracy in the area of expendable fund balances. 

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See Volume One of the FST Transformations in Progress here: http://uvafinance.blogspot.com/2021/06/not-just-tech-implementation-fst.html and Volume Two here: http://uvafinance.blogspot.com/2021/07/not-just-tech-implementation-fst.html


You can also see all of the transformations in progress in the steering slides in the Online Community!

FST Updates

Want to listen to this update instead of reading it? Click here to tune into the WFST Broadcast!

No time to read paragraphs?  Check out "Five Things to Know about WFST"

Heading toward Testing

We’re wrapping up Configuration and Prototype, and soon the team will start building another instance of Workday Financials as we get prepared to move into a new phase:  the testing phase.  During that phase,  the team will test all of the business processes we’ve been developing from end to end, making sure all the technology flows as we expect it to and making tweaks where we find issues.  There will be more information coming soon on what the Test phase will be like, so stay tuned.

UVA FST Glossary

This is different than Workday Words! The glossary comes out of the need to have a consistent and shared vocabulary for the finance work done across UVA.  While Workday Words is a dictionary of Workday financials terminology compared with our legacy terms, workday terms aren’t the only new words we’ll need to learn during Finance Transformation.  The glossary is a compilation of terms that we’ll be vetting and adding to slowly, describing key components of UVA’s financial workings so we can all have a shared understanding of common terms.  Access the glossary on the FST website.

FDM News:  Mapping is coming

The team is taking a first stab at how PTAO’s will map to the FDM, and then those outputs will be put into UBI for the schools and units to review and update.  It’ll be an iterative process as schools and units review and update mappings, and then the FDM team reviews and reloads. Schools and units will be assigned to a pod, where they’ll be able to collaborate with similar schools and units, there will be a kickoff workshop that gets individuals in the schools and units ready to do the mapping, and the FDM team will be checking in and helping out, too.

Training Update:  Role Mapping

The training for Workday Financials will be role-based, which means it’s training that gives you what you need to perform your role within the system. The team will start mapping each role in Workday Financials to people doing the work here at UVA so we can make sure the right users get the right training. The mapping process will follow a cycle of review from lots of folks in governance and across grounds to make sure we get it right.  Read more on the blog.

CCS2: Coming to a screen near you?

We recently finished the second round of customer confirmation sessions.  We’re snipping the CCS2 recordings into bite-sized bits so that our Change Leaders can share with others as they see fit.

You can check out the slides and materials from the CCS2 sessions here in the Online Community: https://communityhub.virginia.edu/community/uva-finance-transformation/blog/2021/06/01/customer-confirmation-session-june-2021-materials 

FST:  More than just a tech implementation

Although Workday Financials and Adaptive Planning are obviously huge pieces of the project, FST is also an effort of ongoing and continuous improvement.  As we implement these technologies, we’re trying to improve processes, too.  Check out part two of a three-part series in the UVAFinance blog that shares some of the other transformations that are happening in FST.  It’s always good to see the changes being made to improve how we do finance at UVA – good ideas from good people, lots of collaboration, thinking outside the box.  

Five Things to Know about FST: July 15, 2021

 

1.  FDM Mapping is imminent:  early this August, FDM Mapping Exercise Leads will be ready to kick off the effort.  See a timeline and read more details.

2.  The UVA FST Glossary is online.  This resource encompasses more than just our Workday Words, and will be continually added to over the course of the project so we're all speaking the same financial language. Read more and access the glossary.

3.  CCS2 videos will be shared more widely soon.  Bite-sized portions of the sessions held this June will be shared by our Change Leaders this summer. Watch for more info!

4.  FST isn't just a tech implementation; there are many continuous improvement efforts occurring as a part of the project.  Check out installment 2 of 3 detailing some of these. 

5.  We're getting ready to head into the Testing phase of FST.  We're wrapping up Configuration & Prototype and moving into a time of end-to-end testing of the Workday Financials system.  There will be lots more info on this soon, but you can read about our new Testing Lead here.   Go Live is July 1, 2022!

PaymentWorks: What have we accomplished and what's next?

Yes, it's true: PaymentWorks goes live in just a few months.

That means UVA will transition from using Jaegger’s Total Supplier Management, currently integrated with Oracle, to instead using PaymentWorks with Oracle. At the time of Workday go-live, PaymentWorks will then be connected with Workday to provide seamless supplier registration processing. While this may seem sudden, the PaymentWorks team has been working towards this goal for quite a while.

Here’s a list of just some of the things they accomplished earlier this year:

• Initial data-mapping, sandbox configuration, and training completed in January
• UVA-specific design, configuration, and testing of registration templates completed in February
• Integration specifications completed in March
• Integration development and testing currently underway

Of course, work doesn’t stop after PaymentWorks goes live with Oracle. There is still plenty to do to prepare before Workday goes live. Starting in September, the Supplier Management team in Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services will send out invitations to a pilot group of vendors, asking them to sign up through PaymentWorks. The team will then analyze the process and work with the PaymentWorks team to adjust it accordingly. This process of inviting suppliers to register will continue through May of 2022.

While the impact to departmental users who wish to invite a supplier to register will be relatively minimal, the benefits include the ability for end-users to track registration status and the opportunity to customize the email invitation sent to a supplier. 

PaymentWorks has received a lot of positive feedback from our FST governance groups. For example, when Jonathan Agop demoed PaymentWorks during May’s Fiscal Administrators meeting, attendees were engaged and very enthusiastic about the platform’s implementation.

For more information or to view the demo, you can watch the Fiscal Administrators meeting here. And make sure to keep an eye on this space for future PaymentWorks updates.

Testing the Waters of Workday Implementation within Higher Education: Sunil Sah joins FST as Testing Lead

Now that the second round of Customer Confirmation Sessions is over, the FST team is working on the end-to-end tenant build. This build will be   completed by the end of August, and then testing will start in September of   this year and will last through April of next year.

With this new project stage almost upon us, the FST team wanted to hire a person with extensive experience in testing system builds to lead the team focusing on this aspect of the implementation. Sunil Sah turned out to be the best person for the job. His experience includes serving in similar roles to what he will have here at UVA as Testing Lead for the project.

Sunil was immediately enthusiastic about joining the UVA FST Team. "I’ve wanted to be a part of implementing Workday Financials at a place of higher education for a while!” He says. “And I was excited by the chance to do so at a reputable University like UVA." Though he knows he will have to hit the ground running with testing coming up so soon.

But what will Sunil do as Testing Lead?

"I will be overseeing test preparation and will facilitate/coordinate testing sessions,” he explains. “I am also in charge of building and leading the team that will work on these activities. I will be collaborating with them and with other workstream leads, other members of the project team, and of course, with testers.”

Outside of work, Sunil stays quite busy. He loves to spend time with his family, especially his three-year-old son. He is also an outdoor enthusiast and travels often. When he has the time, he participates in varied athletic activities like cricket, badminton, volleyball, and bicycling, but he also enjoys  volunteering and giving back to his community.

UVA Chooses Workday's Customer Portal to Enhance Customer Service Experience

At this month's Fiscal Administrators Meeting, the FST team announced the decision to adopt Workday's Customer Portal. This platform is a restricted view of Workday that will allow self-service capabilities for the University's external customers. 

Once a customer is added in Workday, they will be given access to the portal where they can do the following: 

• View invoices, statements, and payment information
• Print and download their invoices and statements as PDFs
• View delivered reports (e.g. open invoices, recent payments)
• View Customer Portal Invoice Aging worklet
• Access the "My Invoices and Payments" Dashboard

However, customers will not be able to make credit card or e-check payments through the portal, as UVA decided not to use a third-party payment processor. 

The decision to use Workday's Customer Portal has been shared with billing specialists and units. Also, the security process has been analyzed by specialists in ITS. Documentation should be signed soon.

Make sure to check out the FST Decision Log for updates. 

Whiteboard App Allows for Improved Collaboration in Virtual Meetings

Continuous Improvement is a big part of FST, something Jamie Wilson, as FST Project Administrator and Continuous Improvement Committee Member, knows very well. 

In an effort to promote Continuous Improvement across the University, Jamie gave a wonderfully informative demo of the Whiteboard App at the most recent Fiscal Administrators Meeting. 

The app gives you a virtual Whiteboard to use and share with others over Zoom. You can also invite others to edit the Whiteboard so you can collaborate with them in real-time. 

Some of the functionalities and tools available include: 

• free-drawing
• enhancement/correction
• text boxes
• templates for project management
• stickers
• annotations
• exporting options--you can save your Whiteboard for future reference!

A few features stood out during Jamie's presentation. One was the ability to select part of your Whiteboard with the lasso tool, and then move the selected text or image around the board. This feature could really help when making lists and organizing notes. 

Also, the templates include familiar options like kanban boards. As James Gorman commented, "it's a good way to approximate the conference room experience."

You can view Jamie's full Whiteboard demo here. The app is purchasable through the Microsoft store. To download it, follow the below steps. 

    

                                

Upcoming FDM Mapping Kickoff

On August 3, the FST team will host a session to kick off Foundation Data Model (FDM) mapping. FDM Mapping Exercise Leads and support teams will participate in the kickoff to gain a clearer understanding of the process. See the list of FDM Mapping Exercise Leads in the latest Advisory Group presentation (slides 21 and 22).  

While the session only includes those participants, a larger group of contributors in schools and units will be key to successful FDM mapping as we determine how our current chart of accounts will transform into our new FDM in Workday Financials. FDM Mapping Exercise Leads and their teams will manage the process in their areas and coordinate with the FST team. 

Part of the mapping process includes schools and units collaborating in pods with other areas that have similar operating styles. These pods will have a member of the FDM extended working group included in each one, and a representative of the FDM team will be available to them as well. The pods will come together to share progress, concerns, and tips among members as the iterative mapping process continues over time. See the current draft mapping exercise timeline below (click to enlarge). 

For more detail, see the Advisory Group meeting presentation mentioned above. For an overview of the FDM worktags UVA will use, watch this 17-minute video on the Community. The Community also has a centralized FDM Resource Page with detailed information; the page will continue to be updated as additional resources become available for mapping. 

UVAFinance Welcomes Ann Paxton

 Many UVAFinance folks may already know Ann Paxton, since she came onboard to help out at the front desk in Carruthers Hall at the end of last September. As one of several of our colleagues to join the team during the pandemic, Paxton has had the odd experience of getting to know most of her teammates electronically before ever meeting them.

Hanging out with TJ, who came by his name
because Paxton found him on the 4th of July

We’re pleased to announce that starting this July, UVAFinance teammates will be interacting with Paxton in a different (now permanent!) role as an administrative assistant to Financial Planning & Analysis, Payroll, and the Business Services Group.

Paxton is well prepared for the mix of duties she’ll encounter working with these three groups, as her background includes what she calls a “mishmash” of experiences.

Before coming to UVA, Paxton, a Randolph-Macon Woman’s College alum, worked in law firms and in the newspaper industry, working at several publications in circulation and advertising. That would be a fun enough mix of career experiences, but Paxton also spent some time in the brewing industry.

Paxton began at Devils Backbone Brewing Company in the taproom, which she eventually managed, then moved up the ranks into a marketing position for the DC/Maryland/Northern Virginia territory. During her time at Devil’s Backbone, she also designed promotional products and developed her beer palate.

After the acquisition by Anheuser-Busch, Paxton saw a perfect opportunity to follow her family’s love of UVA.

“Everyone in my family went to UVA except me,” she says, adding “I was excited to finally get to be a Hoo by working here!”

Paxton says she looks forward to getting to work with more UVAFinance team members in her new role, as she has already found this community to be energizing and welcoming.

When she isn’t being a generally sunny presence at Carruthers Hall, Paxton loves swimming (both at the pool and in local swimming holes) and spending time with family, friends, and her cats TJ (short for Thomas Jefferson) and Kit.

Summer Book Club: Caste discussion continues (please join us!)

We're continuing our review and discussion of Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson this afternoon (July 15). The section to focus on for this discussion is Part Two.

Visit the VP Finance site for the full schedule of our discussions and suggested questions: https://vpfinance.virginia.edu/resources-dei

If you are unable to read the book (or haven’t started), please still join us. You will still be able to contribute to and learn from the discussions without reading it. We really hope you will join us for this discussion, and please share the invitation with other UVA colleagues. These sessions are open to anyone who is interested!

The zoom link for all of the discussions is: https://virginia.zoom.us/j/95163051737?pwd=TlZ0WVF4VUl4cnpyZ3dTRVl6U2w3dz09. If you have any questions regarding the Sprint discussions, please contact Patty Marbury or ToShun Campbell.

See this afternoon's discussion questions after the jump!

UFM 2.0: Changes on the Horizon

While news about the implementation of Workday Financials and Adaptive Insights has been at the forefront of our collective minds lately, work to revise the University Financial Model (UFM) has been chugging along in the background and is prospectively set to take off soon.

The UFM 2.0 Implementation Committee, chaired by Eduardo Lorente, Associate Vice Provost for Budget and Financial Planning,  and Katie Walker, Executive Director in Financial Planning & Analysis, and a small group of representatives from across UVA, has been assembled and is charged with ensuring a smooth transition to UFM 2.0.

Revisions to UFM are focused on improving planning and reducing the administrative burden that comes from managing the current model.  Although University executive leadership approval of proposed changes to UFM is pending, the committee recognizes that the FY23 budget development process is rapidly approaching and we need to prepare now for a fall launch.

Through July, August, and September, the committee will work to scope out implementation needs and partner with stakeholders across Grounds in order to make the revised UFM serviceable for all, both pre- and post-go-live of Workday Financials.

Watch the UVAFinance blog for more updates from this group as work ramps up!

New UVAFinance Website Presence: Phased Rollout

 In our last blog update, we shared that UVAFinance is in the process of transforming the content of its 14 separate websites into one focused, cross-functional site (did you miss it?  Here it is!)  The driving force behind the redesign is making it easier for our stakeholders to find the information they need without hopping from site to site. 

The Finance Engagement Team and CACS are working hard on the redesign, and if you're in central finance, you may be wondering when you're going to hear something about how this project impacts your content.  

Here's what you can expect: 

• This is an agile rollout.  We'll go live with a version of the new site in mid-to-late August and keep adding departmental content until we're done.  Everything should be moved over the spring before we go live with Workday Financials. 
• We'll be starting with moving the content on the VP Finance site, Finance Outreach & Compliance, Finance Strategic Transformation, and even this blog.
• We'll reach out to departments individually to work with your team on migrating and integrating your content.  You can expect lots of support from the Engagement & CACS team as you move through the process. We're looking forward to showing you the site in development and working with you and your team!
• We'll keep an integration timeline on the homepage of the new site so all will know what departments will come online next.

As always, if you have questions or concerns (whether you're in central finance or are one of our finance partners across Grounds), we're happy to hear from you.  Reach out to Scott Adams or Brandi Van Ormer with questions. 

LSP Tip: Reminder to restart/shutdown to apply updates

Submitted by your friendly neighborhood LSP Team

As we continue to fine-tune our Windows update policies so that we follow the security standards set forth by ITS, we wanted to share a subtle change to update delivery that should make receiving and applying Windows updates much easier and convenient. 

Every 3rd Tuesday of each month (or your first login after that), Windows updates will run automatically in the background to apply required system updates/patches. This WILL NOT restart your machine and you will not be prompted when they are installed/installing. However, due to the nature of some updates, you may be prompted with a very subdued notification in your task tray. 

If you see the following notification, it means that you have an update that has been installed that requires a restart.

You could right-click the icon and restart, or you could shut down and restart normally (just make sure you choose "update and restart" or "update and shutdown").

Thank you for doing your part to make sure our systems remained patched and secure!

Travel Registry Requirement for International Travel

On June 16, the University lifted international travel restrictions and instituted a new policy requiring employees to register all such travel on the University’s International Travel Registry no later than 7 days before departure. The intent of registration is to keep University travelers safe in case of an emergency.  Registration automatically enrolls travelers in our travel insurance, as well.

Travelers should consider making it a practice to register as soon as travel is booked.  Expenses will not be reimbursed or funded if employees are not registered.

In addition, University employees are required to abide by Center for Disease Control guidelines for international travel during COVID-19 before, during, and after such travel, including by being fully vaccinated before undertaking travel.

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Related:  Save the date for UVA's Back to Travel Webinar on August 5

Save the Date: Back to Travel Webinar on August 5

 

As life inches back to some kind of "normal," people are also easing back into travel.  

The Travel Team in Procurement is planning a "Back to Travel" webinar on August 5 at 2pm.  

More details are coming soon, so watch your email and the blog!

New Finance Transformation Resource: UVA FST Glossary

You already know Workday Words, the online dictionary of Workday Financials terminology compared with our legacy terms.  Workday terms aren't the only new words we need to learn during Finance Transformation, however.

Because finance at UVA involves more than just the system we use, we've begun compiling the UVA FST Glossary, a compilation of terms that describe key components of UVA's financial workings.  Having a shared understanding of the common terms we use will keep us all on the same page going forward so that we can make the best out of Workday Financials, Adaptive Planning, and all of the other process improvements that come with Finance Transformation.

Access the glossary here.

Visit Workday Words.

Have a question, concern, or idea about a glossary term?  Reach out to financetransformation@virginia.edu 

A New Way to Reach OFP&A

The Office of Financial Planning and Analysis (OFP&A) has made the transition to Salesforce!  

We've been reporting in the blog how UVAFinance has steadily been implementing Salesforce in an effort to deliver more timely, consistent service to our stakeholders.  OFP&A is one of the newest departments to join the fold, and they're glad to add Salesforce to the mix of new and exciting recent developments in their department. 

When you need assistance from the OFP&A team, contact budget@virginia.edu .  We're making changes internally on our team to best serve you, but you don't have to remember who to contact for what, because the whole team will have insight into your needs and will collaborate to provide the best help possible -- quickly!  And don't worry:  we'll still have consistent assignments of analysts to units.  Salesforce allows us more flexibility, and your primary analyst will still be the first to pick up your inquiry when you send it to budget@virginia.edu. 

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Read about Katie Walker, the new Executive Director of OFP&A

Visit the OFP&A website to see who's who on the team

A Warm Handoff: Anders Coe Joins PSDS as the Customer Experience Lead

Anders Coe

After a decade in the service industry, Anders Coe brings his talents and passion for providing high-quality customer service to UVA. Coe recently joined Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services (PSDS) as the Customer Experience Lead—a new role. In the job now for roughly six weeks, Coe has only kind words for his colleagues, saying they have been very welcoming and helpful getting him acquainted with department’s work.

“Coming in, I think that it’s really about being able to put a friendly and inviting spin on the procurement process,” Coe says. “With people having questions about what’s going on, we want to invite them to inquire about their problems and make it a smoother process. I like to solve problems, so that was one thing that attracted me to the job.”

Though Coe is new to UVAFinance, he’s no stranger. He learned about the opening from his sister Addie Coe, who also works in PSDS. In addition, he may be familiar to a lot of us, as he bartended at Zin Burger in Barrack’s Road for some time. Most recently, he worked at Lowe’s, a role he pivoted to when restaurants shut down because of the pandemic. He began in hardware but quickly moved to leading the internet sales unit, which has been booming. While hesitant to leave the team he led at Lowe’s, the opportunity at UVA felt too good to pass up.

Coe will be working primarily with Connie Alexander, Danae Polemi, and Raegan Harouff Gaye, to whom he reports, but will also collaborate with the rest of the procurement team. He fields incoming inquiries, an Anders-of-all-trades if you will, addressing those he can and passing along those he can’t to the appropriate person.

“My role is about being able to help out as much as I can and to be able to give a warm handoff rather than a cold open for customers who need assistance from someone else on the team. Not just being like, ‘You have to go talk to this person,’ but being like, ‘I found out this much; let me prime this person before they hop into fixing this issue for you.’” 

The timing of his joining the team, with UVA COVID-related restrictions easing, enabled him to meet many of his colleagues in person early on, which has helped him settle in. He reiterates just how welcoming and kind the team has been.

Coe sums up the goal of his new position as “being able to make the whole process of finding information and learning how to do things for customers, whether they’re our vendors or staff and faculty at UVA, a whole lot easier and feel a little better.”

Coe’s passions include playing music and acting. He loves to perform. His first musical performance since COVID hit is coming up in September. He’s also excited that Four County Players is resuming theater productions and looks forward to future opportunities on the stage. 

Joel Kreider joins Procurement

Joel and his wife Janine

Everything about his new role in UVAFinance has been a great fit for Procurement’s newest category manager Joel Kreider. Kreider, who joined the team over a month ago, had been working in Texas for the past seven years as a supply chain professional, in a variety of roles at the Hess Corporation. Not only did the new position in UVAFinance offer a great professional fit for him, but also, relocation to Charlottesville meant that he and his wife would now be much closer to their family in Pennsylvania.

click image for a larger view

Kreider says he’s excited about the energy and momentum he sees within Procurement, as well as the focus on process improvement. He recognizes this environment as the perfect place for him to focus on delivering solutions and demonstrating value from the procurement team.

“It’s a great time for me to join UVAFinance,” he says. “Finance Strategic Transformation means there’s a focus on streamlining workflows and making processes more transparent to stakeholders. It’s great to be on a team where we have a strategic focus so that in my role, I can anticipate major negotiations and opportunities for cost savings.”

Kreider’s focus on the procurement team will be category management, but he’s also pleased that he’ll be able to support the transformation initiative.

“I like being part of supporting an initiative where you can look back and see the value it had to the University as a whole,” he says.

Kreider, his wife Janine, and their dog Moose will relocate to Charlottesville this July. They look forward to checking out the local vineyards, going hiking, and enjoying a less challenging summer, heat-wise.

Wellness Resources

Classes

Guide to Tackling Stress Eating webinar
July 8, 12 PM - Presented by WW (formerly Weight Watchers) You don’t need to be a WW member

Rewire Your Brain for Better Focus, Mood & Resilience
July 20, 12 – 1 PM - Presented by FEAP

Paying Yourself: Income Options in Retirement
July 12, 11 AM & 2 PM - Presented by TIAA

Your College Planning Choices
July 14, 2 PM & 8 PM - Presented by Fidelity

Reboot Your Health and Well-Being (offered by FEAP)

This highly engaging, 6-week class will use the best strategies from Health Coaching and Positive Psychology to help you identify and meet your personal goals.
As a bonus, you will also receive a free individual health coaching session plus free give-aways!.
Classes will be held once per week via Zoom from July 13 – Aug 20.
Find more info and register HERE.

More Hoos Well Opportunities

• Join WW (Weight Watchers Reimagined) through UVA at a discounted rate. Sign up by July 31 and get a FREE WW Insider’s Box with your purchase.
• Exercise classes for employees and spouses on a UVA health plan, courtesy of IM-REC. Drop-in classes include Zumba, yoga, Barre, and Pilates; the small-group training courses include Couch to 5k, beginner weight training, and TRX Fusion, among others.
• One complimentary nutrition counseling session and up to (6) annually for those covered by a UVA health plan through the UVA Nutrition Counseling Center.
• Wellbeats provides access to hundreds of virtual exercise classes, fitness instruction & nutrition education for employees on the UVA Health Plan. Learn how to schedule a Wellbeats Class and invite a friend.