You can listen to the podcast conversation here.
Augie Maurelli, Associate Vice President for Financial Operations, presented at the Southern Association of College and University Business Officers Annual Meeting in Texas this May. Maurelli discussed endowment spending policy, administrative feeds, and required investment return.
Reach out to Brandi Van Ormer if you or someone on your team should be featured in UVAFinance in Action.
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Oracle to Workday Financials Cutover
On July 5, when Workday Financials replaces Oracle as the
University’s financial system of record, we’ll not only be using the same
system for all of our operational needs – both finance and human resources –
but also, we’ll finally have a modern, cloud-based financial system that allows
the kind of flexibility and strategic planning that we’ve long-needed.
We’re now in the cutover phase of the project, where some types of transactions are temporarily paused so that we can make the switch from Oracle to Workday – this affects things like travel and expense, purchases and payments, budgeting research awards, and even some HR-related transactions. If you haven’t already, we encourage you to visit the Cutover Resources page on the UVAFinance FST website to see what deadlines affect you and your area.
Cutover Considerations from the blog: Chrome River Cut-Off Dates, Payroll Deadlines
Workday Financials Training
Training users of the Workday Financials system continues to go well, both in terms of the number of people who’ve completed training relevant to the roles they have within Workday Financials and also in terms of how they feel about the training. Remember that you can refresh your knowledge from instructor-led courses by taking the on-demand web-based courses, too.
Read the Training Update in the blog. / New training and support information for Faculty & PIs
Finance Solution Center Call Center Launches
Since it launched in March, the user success team has logged more than 3700 email requests. They’ve been learning on the job and doing great. Today they add a key feature to their support: A phone number! You can always reach out via email, but as of Monday, June 13, the team will also be taking your calls from 8 am to 5pm. You can speak to a live agent by calling 434-924-3400.
Read the full FSC update in the blog.
Fund Balance Ownership
Schools and units are also working on fund balance ownership and how budgets and actuals will be different in the future state. Our Budget Process redesign group has developed some resources that will help folks view their expendable fund balances and navigate the change in some types of transactions in Workday.
Read the update and access the resources for fund ownership.
Adaptive Planning
Adaptive 3.0 goes live on July 28. This is the version of Adaptive Planning that integrates with Workday Financials. Schools and units have several things they can be doing now to prepare for the launch date, even before Workday Financials goes live (when many other things will need their attention).
Read the full update on the blog and learn how to get help planning for Adaptive 3.0.
GL Balance Conversion
After Workday Financials goes live, fund balances in the new system will require adjustment because we are transitioning from a two-ledger system to a flat ledger system. Schools and Units are planning for this effort to last a couple of months after the system launches.
Read more about how fund balances will change and how to see funds in the transition time.
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| David and his family |
I was interested in this role at UVA for a number of reasons,” David Nelson said when asked what attracted him to his new role as Assistant Director of Payables.
“From a career perspective, this was an opportunity to step further into a leadership role and have increasing levels of responsibility.”
Nelson’s previous position was at the non-profit Simons Foundation in New York, NY. At SF, he performed technically focused initiatives as a Senior Accountant and Systems Administrator. In his current position in UVAFinance, he wants to shift to a more strategic approach with an advocacy mindset for his fellow team members and what will make them successful:
“I always like to keep in mind the mantra ‘when you shine, we shine.’ From a Payables perspective, my vision for the future is to create cohesion so that the team can better communicate and collaborate with other departments in UVAFinance so that we all benefit. I am excited to see what contributions I can make to this great organization and to partner with people to ensure that everyone has a chance to share their knowledge and ideas, and have their voices heard.”
As Assistant Director of Payables, Nelson currently works most closely with Jenn Glassman, Addie Coe, Alita Salley, and the rest of the Procurement and Supplier Diversity Leadership Team. Though he has a strong vision for the future of Payables at UVA, he acknowledges that he still has much to learn from Jenn, Addie, Alita, and others.
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| David's children, Frankie and Reuben |
In
his free time, Nelson makes the most out of living in Virginia. First and
foremost, he loves spending time with his family. He also enjoys getting
outdoors and hiking the numerous trails near Charlottesville. When possible,
he enjoys traveling with his family and has a spoon and magnet collection
from all the places he has visited.
Yvonne Metheny has been with UVAFinance for her entire 14 years at the University. She's gained experience and functional knowledge in positions including Accounting & Financial Analyst, Cost Analyst, and Manager of Debt.
Recently promoted to a new position, Metheny is now the Director of General and State Accounting. Debt Management, State Accounting, Bank Reconciliation and Accounts Receivable all report to the Director of General and State Accounting.
Michelle Gregory, previously a Systems Analyst for the FST project’s Reporting & Analytics workstream, will serve as a member of this new team as Manager of Finance Data and Analytics. In this position, Gregory will be the lead Functional Analyst for Reporting & Analytics. Gregory says she will primarily “lead the Finance Business Intelligence Team and assist finance stakeholders across the University in finding, using, and best uses of our available data sets and tools to answer finance-related questions.”
Some of her other duties include managing the Finance BI reporting request backlog, assisting in developing Tier 1 support materials, resolving Tier 2 and 3 cases regarding Reporting & Analytics, providing input into the development of the R&A roadmap and the development and launch of new solutions, and ensuring all R&A platforms are consistently meeting requirements.
As Manager of Finance Data and Analytics, Gregory will collaborate most closely with fellow Finance Business Intelligence Team members. She will also work with other departments and teams to deliver finance-related data, reporting, and analytic solutions. The groups she will primarily work with are the department of Financial Planning & Analysis, Budget Managers, HR, Information Security, User Success, Change Management, the Finance Continuous Improvement and Training and Development Teams, and the UBI and EDW Teams.
Additionally, Gregory will lead the Report Developer Team. She says her primary goal for this team is “ensuring that we are practicing robust quality control and maintenance practices, and [that our team] will take the lead in evaluating impacts and opportunities with each new Workday release.”
Gregory is eager for the completion of the FST project and
all the opportunities her new role will bring. “I’m excited to continue
building my knowledge of all things UVAFinance and finance reporting solutions
to meet the objectives of the University,” she says. “I’m also looking
forward to working with various finance teams to understand and help drive
collaboration between all finance units regarding their financial reporting
solutions.”
Glassman's
remaining time will be focused on Workday as we prepare for go-live. Salley will handle all
day-to-day operations and compliance matters with the
support of Procurement leaders, managers, directors, and Associate Vice
President for Finance, Augie Maurelli. Glassman will be missed, but it’s good to
know that when she leaves, Procurement operations will stay in capable hands.
Salley joined the PSDS department in early 2021 as Director of Strategic Sourcing. She
has about 20 years of experience in contract analysis and execution,
acquisition and project management, and business development. She has helped
develop multi-billion-dollar contract strategies for organizations like the Marine
Corps, serving as a Department of Defense Contracting Officer, and in senior
leadership roles in for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.
Additional
interim positions may also be filled as needed to continue operations.
Decisions regarding the search for a permanent Director of PSDS will be made in
late summer or early fall of this year.
The launch date of Workday Financials is July 5, as we're sure you've been made aware. The launch date of the version of Adaptive that integrates with Workday Financials, Adaptive 3.0, goes live on July 28. It may sound like there's a generous amount of time between these two events, but we encourage you not to push preparing for the launch of Adaptive 3.0 too far down your To-Do list.
Remember that after the Workday Financials go-live, your time may be taken up by important tasks like loading fund transfers due to the differences in future state fund balance ownership, or working on your fund balance realignment. The time immediately after the launch of any big system can have many things crop up that we didn't expect!
Check out this blog post for details of Adaptive considerations to keep in mind now, plus a rundown of what's new in Adaptive 3.0, and a link to a preview of Adaptive 3.0 you can watch.
Questions or concerns? We encourage you to bring them to the June 21 Adaptive Budget Transformation Session at 11am. We'll be happy to assist. You can also reach out to us at askfinance@virginia.edu
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Note: the author of this blog post is a literature nerd and all puns can be taken at face value and should not be interpreted as implying impending beheadings.
If you've been keeping up with news from UVAFinance lately, you may have heard that the transition to Workday Financials from Oracle will bring changes to budgets vs. actuals as we've come to expect them to appear.
Read more about fund ownership visibility on the blog. This post details the difference between BUDGETS and ACTUALS.
Even though these changes bring benefits, they represent a departure from the traditional way we refer to "budgets." Knowing this, the Budget Process Redesign Group reconvened and helped the budget team refine the materials linked below to support stakeholders as they view expendable fund balances and navigate the change in some types of transactions.
Posted now on the Budget Management part of the UVAFinance website:
Your school or unit will communicate internally on how they will implement fund balance ownership. The UVAFinance budget team will be offering information sessions with units, as well as office hours to make this transition easier.
Please reach out to us with questions or concerns at askfinance@virginia.edu
