A1: Workday is a unified (integrated) administrative information system for financial management, human resources and related business functions.  The University has chosen to implement the financial management components of Workday; providing the UR Financials project an excellent tool to replace the current Financial Reports System (FRS).  It is a cloud-based SaaS (Software as a Service) solution.  This means that the system is operated off-site Workday while University of Rochester users utilize the service over a standard and secure internet connection.

The University of Rochester chose Workday as a form of risk mitigation which will carry on the business requirements provided by the current FRS system.  The legacy system, in place for over 40 years, is becoming increasingly vulnerable to functional and technical obsolescence with rising costs for upkeep and integration maintenance.  Because it is a cloud-based solution, it is easier, quicker and less-costly to implement and operate than traditional enterprise systems.

A2: No.  Because of the changes in terminology as well as the connection of the interfaces into Workday, it is not feasible to run both systems in parallel.

A3: In general, Workday provides an interactive and intuitive software tool to complete current business transactions and improve process and workflow.  Specifically, changes will be dependent upon an individual’s roles, customized to the business needs of job activities and the relationships to business functions.

A4: Phase I of the Workday project will begin with four main sections: General Ledger, a new Chart of Accounts (COA), Accounts Payable, and Grants Accounting.  These will be part of the July 1, 2014 Go-Live.  Phase II will include additional finance business processes still to be determined and is tentatively scheduled for a release prior to July 1, 2015.

A5: Yes.  FRS has been in operation at the University of Rochester for over 40 years and is based on aged technology.  The skills to run and manage the application are scarce.  It is also becoming more and more distant to what is needed as the University and Medical Center move forward.  Workday offers an efficient, manageable and modern method to replace and improve the functions of FRS.

A6: Yes.  Workday has different fields for the Chart of Accounts than what users experienced with FRS.  Enhancing the Chart of Accounts and using native Workday fields provides additional flexibility and renders improved reporting and analytic results.

A7: Regular updates will be posted to this website.  A schedule of upcoming events, training opportunities and announcements will be posted as the project progresses. If you require more information, feel free to reach out to the project team through the Contacts link of this website.

A8: Yes.  As a matter of fact, the University of Rochester is a member of the Workday University Advisory group with other universities, namely Brown University and Georgetown University.  The advisory group collectively works with Workday to provide enhancement requirements for needed functionality.

A9: Yes.  We invite members of the University and Medical Center community to make suggestions, share ideas and voice their concerns to the project team.  All feedback will be given careful consideration; however, there should not be an expectation and there is no guarantee that any given suggestion or comment will be adopted into production of Workday.  Throughout the implementation and operation of Workday, the project team will be holding business process design reviews.  These will be a series of working sessions with functional representatives to design future processes.  As a starting point, the team will leverage existing “current state” information, where available, to highlight pain points in the process and key improvement opportunities.  During the working sessions, the project team will present drafted “future state” process flows to attendees.  All participants will have the opportunity to ask questions, challenge ideas and make suggestions on how the draft flows can be improved.  Outputs from the design review sessions will provide the basis of working documents needed for the system configuration workshops.

A10: Representatives from University divisions and affiliates are participating in the business process workshops.  These attendees will be providing input into the design of each “future state” process flow.  Additional subject matter experts will be involved in the process providing valuable suggestions/recommendations for the creation of Workday processes.

A11: You can always reach out to the project team for assistance via the “Contact Us” section of this site.  Additionally, the Workday website (http://workday.com) has numerous demonstrations and various types of information depending upon your needs or the nature of your question.

A12: Yes.  Over the coming year, documentation and training applications will be created that cover all of Workday’s business processes.  The overall goal is to develop and publish thorough yet efficient documentation with online, on-demand, step-by-step instructions readily available.

A13: Yes.  Business processes that require attachments will be designed to allow the uploading of documentation.

A14: These fields will be accompanied by a red asterisk.  If the user attempts to proceed without entering the required data, a window will appear that details the necessary data fields.

A15: A limited amount of FRS data will be converted into Workday.  Data beyond the initial implementation will still be available through the Data Warehouse.  The intent is to convert the following data at Go-Live:

• Journal Entries -  anticipated to be available for one year (FY14)
• A/P Invoices – for open items at the time of Go-Live
• Grants, Awards and Funds – from the beginning of the project to the Go-Live for open projects

A16: Many of the data fields of FRS do not map directly to those in Workday.  Additionally, the approach to data calculation and maintenance differs significantly between the two systems, making the complete migration of data from FRS to Workday impractical.  After reviewing expressed needs from users, it was deemed appropriate to rely on the current business intelligence tool (COGNOS) to allow users to look into pre-migration data.  On a going-forward basis, more data points will be available on Workday.

A17: There will be a wide variety of training forums for all levels of users.  Communications from the project team will detail the methods of training and all users will be informed of the availability and delivery of training.

A18: Demo Days are presentations given by the UR Financials project team where University and Medical Center community members are given live demonstrations of Workday.  This event allows for real-time feedback with the project team and a peek at the functionality of Workday as shown by team members.

A19: The UR Financials project team has scheduled WebEx (video conferencing) for the Demo Days.  If you’d like more information on attending these presentations via WebEx, please submit your request using the “Contact Us” tab.

If you cannot attend personally or cannot view the WebEx, feel free to ask questions via the “Contact Us” tab and/or check back to the site for news and announcements.  Any PowerPoint presentations shown at the Demo Days will be posted in the “Resources” portion of this site.

A20: Workday is the financial replacement system for FRS.  This will affect all FRS users by utilizing one platform with uniform account numbers and terminology across the system.

A21: The University of Rochester is dedicated to keeping current with technological advances and opportunities with sustainability and risk mitigation a stabilizing factors of growth.  The eRecords implementation successfully upgraded the medical information practices of the University Community while ICD-10 will assist with medical coding and definitions.  Those two initiatives are examples of the University’s commitment to quality service.  Workday is another step forward by the University to install forward-thinking technology while retaining business effectiveness.  It’s a great example of the University caring about its entire community: internal employees and external suppliers, vendors and business partners.