UVAFinance

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Resources and Information During the Coronavirus Response

All Zoomed Out? Mark Anderson shared this great article about Zoom fatigue that might come in handy.

UBI Update to find COVID-related transactions and POs: The UBI team has created a new field in GA_Analysis_Actuals and PO_Reporting modules to help identify COVID related transactions - it does this by looking for wildcard matches to "*COVID*" and "*Corona*" in Comments field, Project Name, Award Name, and Task Name. It will not be 100% accurate and may pick up some false positives (especially “*Corona*”) but if you are looking for directional indicators of spending related to the current crisis we hope this helps.

Mindfulness: 1% Challenge (sign up 4/13 – 5/11) Dedicate 14 minutes of your day in live or on-demand mindfulness sessions, plus earn rewards Sign up between 4/13 – 5/11

UVAFinance COVID-19 FAQ: Updated consistently for your convenience: https://vpfinance.virginia.edu/covid-19-faqs

UVAFinance resources on working remotely in the crisis: http://uvafinance.blogspot.com/2020/04/working-remotely-in-pandemic.html

All Zoomed Out? Mark Anderson shared this great article about Zoom fatigue that might come in handy.
UBI Update to find COVID-related transactions and POs: The UBI team has created a new field in GA_Analysis_Actuals and PO_Reporting modules to help identify COVID related transactions - it does this by looking for wildcard matches to "*COVID*" and "*Corona*" in Comments field, Project Name, Award Name, and Task Name. It will not be 100% accurate and may pick up some false positives (especially “*Corona*”) but if you are looking for directional indicators of spending related to the current crisis we hope this helps.
Mindfulness: 1% Challenge (sign up 4/13 – 5/11) Dedicate 14 minutes of your day in live or on-demand mindfulness sessions, plus earn rewards Sign up between 4/13 – 5/11
UVAFinance COVID-19 FAQ: Updated consistently for your convenience: https://vpfinance.virginia.edu/covid-19-faqs
UVAFinance resources on working remotely in the crisis: http://uvafinance.blogspot.com/2020/04/working-remotely-in-pandemic.html

Looks about right except for how clean her house is

We all got thrown into the world of remote work over a month ago with little to no preparation. Although many of us have no doubt been in a phase of ongoing adjustment, what we're going through is not just acclimating to telecommuting, it's telecommuting in a time of crisis.

We tapped three of UVAFinance's long-term remote workers for discussions about telecommuting and the larger implications of the COVID-19 crisis on all of us as remote workers.

RESOURCES:

Check out this piece by Matt Bonham, UVAFinance Communications Team, and our latest episode of Finance Matters, featuring Jessica Rafter of Finance Strategic Transformation and JT Peifer of Student Financial Services.

Looks about right except for how clean her house is

We tapped three of UVAFinance's long-term remote workers for discussions about telecommuting and the larger implications of the COVID-19 crisis on all of us as remote workers.

Andrew Sallans

from Andrew Sallans, Finance Engagement Manager

Scott Adams (Director of Business Services) and I (Finance Engagement Manager) joined UVAFinance on March 30 with the goal of developing a future, integrated UVAFinance service model.

In our first few weeks, we've been holding information gathering calls with people throughout UVAFinance to understand the current state of services, experience with Salesforce as a tool for managing services, and goals for a future state. In the future, we will expand out to conversations with external stakeholders to capture more information about their needs.

Our Relationship with our Customers

From our conversations, we have a few common threads to share about current state:

Customers often need to know exactly who or what unit does something in order to efficiently get a problem resolved.

Each UVAFinance unit has its own approach to customer management and therefore its own customer relationship. Variability in how support requests come in, use of shared email boxes and lists, how support requests are managed, sharing of process/guidance documentation for self-help, and a mix of centralized and decentralized communications.

It's difficult for leadership to see the status of customer engagement real-time or at scale. Requests for numbers on how many requests for X over a period of time broken out by Y can be a very laborious effort by multiple people, and may result in varied answers. Sometimes the question can't even be answered.

Problems that cut across HR/Finance/ITS are a big pain point internally and for the customer.

A central challenge in our current state is a siloed approach to service. When the customer finds the right person to answer their question, this approach offers quality, personalized customer service that places the person first, with a strong human connection. When the customer doesn't know who can answer their question, it can be a very frustrating experience of being bounced around the organization. It is also difficult to maintain quality service as staff transition in and out and as service volume scales. From a customer's perspective, each service area of the organization appears to operate independently, and in many ways does.

When Workday Financials goes live in about 15 months, the customer will experience a shared HR and Finance storefront for most services. The customer should not need to know how the back office is organized in order to get their problem resolved. In order to make the transition to this new state, we need to move away from a siloed service mindset and embrace the concept of a "one company, one customer" relationship.

We will seek ways to maintain a human connection in our approach while adding deeper connections between our services to provide the customer with a more connected experience across all the services we provide. With this, we aim to make it easier for our customers to get their problems solved accurately and quickly, and with less work on the backend. Our vision is to use Salesforce (a customer relationship management platform) as a way of relating engagement activities so that we can see all of our engagement with a given customer (or group of customers, such as an org, department, or school). As the Workday experience will span both HR and Finance, we are also currently working with HR partners to figure out how best to coordinate the customer experience with HR (they also use Salesforce).

Read the rest of this post (and share your thoughts or questions) in the Online Community!

Andrew Sallans

Customers often need to know exactly who or what unit does something in order to efficiently get a problem resolved.
Each UVAFinance unit has its own approach to customer management and therefore its own customer relationship. Variability in how support requests come in, use of shared email boxes and lists, how support requests are managed, sharing of process/guidance documentation for self-help, and a mix of centralized and decentralized communications.
It's difficult for leadership to see the status of customer engagement real-time or at scale. Requests for numbers on how many requests for X over a period of time broken out by Y can be a very laborious effort by multiple people, and may result in varied answers. Sometimes the question can't even be answered.
Problems that cut across HR/Finance/ITS are a big pain point internally and for the customer.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will not hold the UVA Forward 2020 conference this year. However, in keeping with the mission of the conference, we’ve redesigned our website to provide on-demand resources for professional development, remote working, and supporting our community.

We’ve already started curating a list of useful and inspiring opportunities and will continue to add more resources periodically, so please check back often!

Professional development resources include links to:

motivating Ted Talks / Videos

informative LinkedIn Learning classes

Interesting and helpful training offerings from UVA organizations

Self-discovery online skill tests

There are also links to many resources to help you adjust to remote working and maintain your wellbeing during this crisis as well as information for supporting our local community and staff at UVA Health.

Visit the UVAForward site!

motivating Ted Talks / Videos
informative LinkedIn Learning classes
Interesting and helpful training offerings from UVA organizations
Self-discovery online skill tests

Visit the UVAForward site!

Read more about FST at financetransformation.virginia.edu

Want to listen to this update instead of reading it? Click here to listen to WFST Radio!

The
Fiscal Administrators group got a look at Workday Expenses last week, and they
had quite a lot of feedback and questions to share. Read more in an update from Augie Maurelli. We
collected all of the questions we couldn’t immediately answer and as we get
answers, we’ll keep everyone updated.

Workday also has a supplier management tool
that the team is considering in comparison to our current tool, Jaegger. Jonathan Agop and Addie
Coe of Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services are on the FST Project team,
and they have a post in the Community that will walk you through what’s on
their minds as we consider this choice.

Future Support Model: It may seem far in the future, but we're thinking about how we'll support stakeholders once Workday Financials goes live. Read more about this from Andrew Sallans in the online community.

Continuous Improvement is the foundation of our transformative
effort with FST. We’re not just lifting and shifting our
current processes into Workday Financials, we’re looking hard at our processes
end to end to discover better ways of doing things. In the Continuous Improvement space in the online community, you’ll find tools, videos, and really practical ways to
build a CI mindset into your team.

If you’re not sure how to log in to Community
Hub, or how to navigate it once you’re in there, we’ve developed a reallyquick, one-page get started guide to get you started. It’s also no problem if you want a one-on-one walkthrough or a session for
your team. Just reach out to bv8h@virginia.edu

The Community is
only one way you can interact with FST – there’s also our website at
financetransformation.virginia.edu for high-level updates, this blog, and of course, we’re happy to visit with you and your team (we'll Zoom on in at your invitation!). You can also
reach out to team members directly, or use the FST email, financetransformation@virginia.edu.

If there’s a way that your team likes to get
information that we should use to share the updates they want, please let us
know. We want you and
your team to have the information you need, and we want to hear your questions
and concerns, so please don’t hesitate to let us know how we can get the word
out better.

New FST Team Members:

Phil Hamlett

Andrew Sallans

Addie Coe

Read more about FST at financetransformation.virginia.edu

Want to listen to this update instead of reading it? Click here to listen to WFST Radio!

The Fiscal Administrators group got a look at Workday Expenses last week, and they had quite a lot of feedback and questions to share. Read more in an update from Augie Maurelli. We collected all of the questions we couldn’t immediately answer and as we get answers, we’ll keep everyone updated.
Workday also has a supplier management tool that the team is considering in comparison to our current tool, Jaegger. Jonathan Agop and Addie Coe of Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services are on the FST Project team, and they have a post in the Community that will walk you through what’s on their minds as we consider this choice.
Future Support Model: It may seem far in the future, but we're thinking about how we'll support stakeholders once Workday Financials goes live. Read more about this from Andrew Sallans in the online community.
Continuous Improvement is the foundation of our transformative effort with FST. We’re not just lifting and shifting our current processes into Workday Financials, we’re looking hard at our processes end to end to discover better ways of doing things. In the Continuous Improvement space in the online community, you’ll find tools, videos, and really practical ways to build a CI mindset into your team.
If you’re not sure how to log in to Community Hub, or how to navigate it once you’re in there, we’ve developed a reallyquick, one-page get started guide to get you started. It’s also no problem if you want a one-on-one walkthrough or a session for your team. Just reach out to bv8h@virginia.edu
The Community is only one way you can interact with FST – there’s also our website at financetransformation.virginia.edu for high-level updates, this blog, and of course, we’re happy to visit with you and your team (we'll Zoom on in at your invitation!). You can also reach out to team members directly, or use the FST email, financetransformation@virginia.edu.
If there’s a way that your team likes to get information that we should use to share the updates they want, please let us know. We want you and your team to have the information you need, and we want to hear your questions and concerns, so please don’t hesitate to let us know how we can get the word out better.

New FST Team Members:

Phil Hamlett

Andrew Sallans

Addie Coe

Barker and family

Along with fellow new hires Leslie Williams and Mohammed AlKaisy, Chelsea Barker recently joined UVAFinance’s Accounts Payable department. She will be working closely with Linda Mayo and the rest of her team on various projects.

Before starting in her new position, Barker worked as Deputy Clerk for the Albemarle County Circuit Court. “I thought that [working in UVAFinance] would be a great way to transfer some of the skills I acquired in the court system,” she says.

“It has been an interesting transition,” Barker continues. “During my first week, we were told that we would be working remotely due to COVID-19. I must say that the team has been great and the training went off without a hitch!”

Barker is also a new mom to her seven-month-old daughter, Maya. She enjoys spending time with her husband and their daughter, as well as socializing with friends at local vineyards. She also loves animals and has owned several snakes throughout her life.

Barker and family

Managers are required to review and approve all time entries prior to payroll processing. Effective this pay period, we have extended the approval deadline for Managers to 3pm of the Monday following the end of the pay period; this gives you 3 hours after the submission deadline for your employees.

You will start to see Workday alerts regarding timekeeping deadlines soon.

Workday Expenses and our partnership with Fiscal Adminstrators’ Group

by Augie Maurelli, Associate Vice President for Financial Operations

I had the pleasure of speaking to the Fiscal Administrators’ Group last week at their April meeting. The group had just seen a demonstration of Workday Expenses and was carefully considering it in comparison to our current solution, Chrome River.

I was impressed by the amount of insight and critique the group provided at the meeting. We were able to answer some of the questions posed, but there were too many to get to in the meeting, and those have been collected to be addressed soon.

I wanted to give a condensed version of my remarks during that meeting here so that those of you who weren’t able to attend could catch up and get involved. We appreciate your comments and questions in CommunityHub, or you can email them directly to me, or anyone on the project team.

The current Finance Strategic Transformation project plan is for Workday Expenses to roll out as a part of Workday financials during July of 2021. That sounds like a long way away but it is right around the corner.

Obviously a new system would be a huge change: 8,000 across Grounds use Chrome River. It’s imperative that we continue to engage our fiscal administrators on all aspects of FST, especially travel and expense. Our April 15 exercise is only the beginning of the expense journey. The Fiscal Admin group can fully expect to be invited to participate in that as we continue in the transition.

Fiscal Administrators should be better able to do their jobs if we get the configuration right. As long as this group pays attention and shares feedback on how to apply the tools, we should be on the pathway to success. I’ve been through two prior rollouts of a travel and expense platform, and the interaction at last week’s meeting made me incredibly appreciative.

Although I’m relatively new and still learning all the nuances of UVA, I can assure you that we already recognize the details we’ll need to cover during this transition. We’ll have to address the details of per diem, mileage, accountable plan rules, and questions around policy and travel booking as we configure the system. We need to have appropriate controls around the chart of accounts and budget so we can tie those things into expense. Having details such as book to grants, the one/two car discussion, duty of care, and managed travel integrated into the system of record will give us visibility at a transactional level. Higher education has a habit of delegating all authority down, and that puts us at risk. We definitely need your direction in order to succeed.

You’ll be hearing from the project team and finance leadership throughout the project. We want you fully engaged and aware of the decision processes. Things like controls, receipt thresholds, workflow, policy, ownership, and many other questions the group brought up last Wednesday will require further future dialogue so that we can fully unpack them. With this close partnership, we won’t have any surprises when we reach go-live.

Workday Expenses and our partnership with Fiscal Adminstrators’ Group

by Augie Maurelli, Associate Vice President for Financial Operations

Williams and family

“It’s important to me to work for an institution with
integrity and a drive to be innovative.”

Leslie Williams provided the above statement as one of the
main reasons she wanted to join UVAFinance. A position on the Accounts Payable
team particularly interested her because it aligned with her experience and
values.

In her new position, Williams’ primary responsibility is
processing invoices. She is also working alongside Paula Chapman, Chelsea Barker,
and the rest of Linda Mayo’s team on various Accounts Payable projects.

“I am enjoying the role and learning a lot, but it’s very
different from the last Accounts Payable position I held,” Williams says.

“Because of the situation we’re in, it’s been a very unique way to start a new
job. Thankfully, my teammates have been very helpful, kind, and patient along
the way.”

Outside of work, Williams
is a wife to Nick, and a mother to twelve-year-old twin girls, Sadie and
Caylin. She loves spending time outdoors with family and friends, baking,
crafting, reading, and dancing. She is also a huge fan of all things Disney,
after living in Florida for 20 years and working her first job at Walt Disney
World.

Williams and family

“It’s important to me to work for an institution with integrity and a drive to be innovative.”

Leslie Williams provided the above statement as one of the main reasons she wanted to join UVAFinance. A position on the Accounts Payable team particularly interested her because it aligned with her experience and values.

In her new position, Williams’ primary responsibility is processing invoices. She is also working alongside Paula Chapman, Chelsea Barker, and the rest of Linda Mayo’s team on various Accounts Payable projects.

“I am enjoying the role and learning a lot, but it’s very different from the last Accounts Payable position I held,” Williams says.

“Because of the situation we’re in, it’s been a very unique way to start a new job. Thankfully, my teammates have been very helpful, kind, and patient along the way.”

Outside of work, Williams is a wife to Nick, and a mother to twelve-year-old twin girls, Sadie and Caylin. She loves spending time outdoors with family and friends, baking, crafting, reading, and dancing. She is also a huge fan of all things Disney, after living in Florida for 20 years and working her first job at Walt Disney World.

Jenn Glassman

Jenn Glassman has joined UVAFinance as Director of Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services.

Glassman comes to UVA most recently from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, where she led the Procure-to-Pay/Travel & Expense business technology strategy as the organization adopted Workday Financials.

Before that, she served in several Procurement leadership roles at the University of California, San Diego, often times supporting state-wide initiatives across the ten UC campuses. She has an extensive background in managing procure-to-pay strategy and operations and leading process improvement efforts that deliver results organization-wide.

Glassman, her husband Gabriel, and their two sons Henry, age 11, and Charles, age 9, are looking forward to finding a home in Charlottesville that has plenty of room to garden (and perhaps room enough for a few chickens). The family is an intense board game playing family, tackling extensive, multiplayer games that require both short-term/long term resource planning and strategic thinking. “Once the boys started beating us at chess, we knew we needed to spice things up,” Glassman says about their deep dive into board games.

Almost as soon as Jenn Glassman became the new Director of PSDS, the COVID-19 response shifted all UVA staff into a remote-work environment. Luckily, Glassman has abundant past experience working in semi-remote and full-remote situations. Although she hasn’t been on the job a full month yet, she has already had one on one conversations with every PSDS team member via Zoom; and, presenting via Zoom on her second day on the job at a PSDS all-staff meeting.

Glassman and her family are aficionados of
strategy games; she recommends Agricola
for those new to the genre.

While Glassman acknowledges Zoom has been a lifesaver, she looks forward to making connections in person, with her team, colleagues, and stakeholders.

“When things are settled, I’m eager to meet with our partners face to face, understand their focus and priorities, and hear their thoughts on how procurement can best support them,” she says.

Her passion to align the procurement function with the core mission at a pivotal time in an organization’s evolution is what excited her about joining UVA.

“FST’s commitment to not only implement Workday Financials technology, but also take the time to refactor our processes, offers up a chance to increase our operational efficiency in Procurement, which in turn, enables us to take on more strategic initiatives targeted towards generating cost savings for the University and pursuing value-add programs.”

Intelligent business process design is at the core of Glassman’s philosophy on what it takes to build an effective operational unit. But, the secret ingredient, she believes, is how well a team collaborates.

“Collaboration is often misunderstood as cooperation. We all like the sound of collaborating until we disagree. But, that’s a defining moment for a team – how we behave when we disagree. Our ability to listen and take in a set of diverse opinions and thoughts, to view a situation from multiple vantage points. Our willingness to tackle complex issues and workshop ideas, and above all to communicate honestly and authentically – that’s collaboration. Done well, it elevates the performance of the team and the organization at large. And it can be quite fun!”

Click the image for a larger view

Jenn Glassman

Glassman and her family are aficionados of
strategy games; she recommends Agricola
for those new to the genre.

Click the image for a larger view

How do I use CommunityHub?

If you haven't yet checked out the online community, there's no time like the present! Log in today and enjoy the wealth of information about Finance Strategic Transformation and so much more.

The online community (often referred to as "CommunityHub" or "the Hub") space for all finance professionals at the University. Hosted on the Jive platform used for the UBI Community, the Finance Community is a place where you can get all the latest on Finance Strategic Transformation, ask questions about the project, suggest ideas, and much more. There's also a new space dedicated to Continuous Improvement!

Log on at https://communityhub.virginia.edu/community/uva-finance-transformation

If you have any trouble logging in, please contact the UVAFinance Communications Manager at bv8h@virginia.edu.

CommunityHub is organized differently than the websites you're used to using. You may find it helpful to check out this simple reference guide for using the space:

Click the image for a larger view

How do I use CommunityHub?

Click the image for a larger view

Finance Welcomes Scott Adams as Director of Business Services

With just over a week under his belt, Scott Adams is
settling into his new role in UVAFinance as the Director of Business Services. Adams
comes to Finance from the Batten School. He served as the Director of IT there
for eight years.

Scott Adams

What attracted Adams to join the UVAFinance team? According
to Adams, it was the vision for change and the commitment to make our customers
the center of business services. With the Finance Strategic Transformation
(FST) project now in Phase 3: Implementation, the transition also seemed
timely. Over the past several years in Batten, Adams led efforts to transform
the service experience for students, faculty, and staff. The aim was to fulfill
the needs and wants of those in Batten as well as having the school’s systems
continue to integrate well with systems across UVA.

“The emphasis was on providing service first and then having
strong data analytics behind it,” says Adams.

As part of this transformative experience, Adams oversaw
implementation of Salesforce, a platform that assists with case management.
UVAFinance plans to use the system as well, so Adams’ familiarity will be a
great asset.

His new role is an evolution of the Senior Director Finance and
Administration position, and Adams will oversee the Finance Local Support
Partner (LSP) group, administrative staff, and the development team. He will
also collaborate with Andrew Sallans, the new Finance Engagement Manager, on
the Salesforce implementation. Adams explains that continuous improvement is
always part if implementation of new systems, such as Salesforce and Workday.

Scott and his wife Grace ready to race.

“The focus,” he says, “is creating good architecture. The
building process happens in layers once a strong foundation has been
established. There’s testing with small groups and working with key
stakeholders to gather feedback to inform potential changes. It’s important to
have the right champions in the room—people with broad institutional knowledge
who will ask challenging questions.”

Adams’ first priority will be the service model project and
Salesforce implementation to relieve pressure on Finance’s current ticketing
system. A benefit of Salesforce is that it’s more than just a case management
system.

“The system offers customers a connection to a knowledge
bank and FAQs to help them self-support,” Adams explains. “We get to determine
how training is attached to that and how information will flow in Salesforce.”

When not running major implementations at work, Adams also
enjoys running marathons, and previously ultramarathons, with his wife.

“We use them to explore,” he says. “Our plan is to run a
marathon in Berlin in September.”

He typically runs four or five marathons a year, having
completed about 120 so far.

Finance Welcomes Scott Adams as Director of Business Services

With just over a week under his belt, Scott Adams is settling into his new role in UVAFinance as the Director of Business Services. Adams comes to Finance from the Batten School. He served as the Director of IT there for eight years.

Scott Adams

What attracted Adams to join the UVAFinance team? According to Adams, it was the vision for change and the commitment to make our customers the center of business services. With the Finance Strategic Transformation (FST) project now in Phase 3: Implementation, the transition also seemed timely. Over the past several years in Batten, Adams led efforts to transform the service experience for students, faculty, and staff. The aim was to fulfill the needs and wants of those in Batten as well as having the school’s systems continue to integrate well with systems across UVA.

“The emphasis was on providing service first and then having strong data analytics behind it,” says Adams.

As part of this transformative experience, Adams oversaw implementation of Salesforce, a platform that assists with case management. UVAFinance plans to use the system as well, so Adams’ familiarity will be a great asset.

His new role is an evolution of the Senior Director Finance and Administration position, and Adams will oversee the Finance Local Support Partner (LSP) group, administrative staff, and the development team. He will also collaborate with Andrew Sallans, the new Finance Engagement Manager, on the Salesforce implementation. Adams explains that continuous improvement is always part if implementation of new systems, such as Salesforce and Workday.

Scott and his wife Grace ready to race.

“The focus,” he says, “is creating good architecture. The building process happens in layers once a strong foundation has been established. There’s testing with small groups and working with key stakeholders to gather feedback to inform potential changes. It’s important to have the right champions in the room—people with broad institutional knowledge who will ask challenging questions.”

Adams’ first priority will be the service model project and Salesforce implementation to relieve pressure on Finance’s current ticketing system. A benefit of Salesforce is that it’s more than just a case management system.

“The system offers customers a connection to a knowledge bank and FAQs to help them self-support,” Adams explains. “We get to determine how training is attached to that and how information will flow in Salesforce.”

When not running major implementations at work, Adams also enjoys running marathons, and previously ultramarathons, with his wife.

“We use them to explore,” he says. “Our plan is to run a marathon in Berlin in September.”

He typically runs four or five marathons a year, having completed about 120 so far.

Mohammed AlKaisy

Accounts Payable recently welcomed several new faces to
their department. One of those new faces is Mohammed AlKaisy.

His position in Accounts Payable has
him working with Andrew Clark and Jonathan Agop to provide support for ongoing projects within the department. So far, he is really enjoying all the new challenges
and new things to learn.

AlKaisy says he made the decision to join Accounts Payable
because he “liked the work culture and the leadership style within the
UVAFinance team. A positive culture is the foundation of any organization.”

Outside of work, AlKaisy enjoys hiking, cooking, and
spending time with friends. He also enjoys making new friends and learning
about different cultures.

Mohammed AlKaisy

Accounts Payable recently welcomed several new faces to their department. One of those new faces is Mohammed AlKaisy.

His position in Accounts Payable has him working with Andrew Clark and Jonathan Agop to provide support for ongoing projects within the department. So far, he is really enjoying all the new challenges and new things to learn.

AlKaisy says he made the decision to join Accounts Payable because he “liked the work culture and the leadership style within the UVAFinance team. A positive culture is the foundation of any organization.”

Outside of work, AlKaisy enjoys hiking, cooking, and spending time with friends. He also enjoys making new friends and learning about different cultures.

Phil Hamlett

The Finance Strategic Transformation (FST) team welcomes Phil Hamlett, a career professional in information technology and project management with 30+ years of experience. Hamlett is part of the FST project management office (PMO) group.

No stranger to higher education, Hamlett teaches as adjunct faculty at the Central Virginia Community College in Lynchburg. He’s done so for 22 years, teaching IT classes initially and then solely project management (PM) classes in the past 15 years. Hamlett explains that he had long hoped to have an opportunity to work in the academic environment as a project manager, so the opportunity to work at an esteemed university such as UVA was a natural choice.

“What I bring to the University,” Hamlett says, “is a diversity of experience. I’ve been around a little bit. I have a great deal of experience across many industries and technologies. When you’ve seen a lot like that, you have a good sense of what works and what doesn’t.”

The Hamlett Clan at Walt Disney World:

Sons Noah and Christian, Phil, wife Martha, and Noah’s fiancée Abbey

According to Hamlett, in addition to his technical expertise, he’s good at collaborating with people, which is key to effective project management. He’ll be helping the PMO group ensure timely completion of key project deliverables.

There is one aspect of discord with Hamlett working on FST at UVA: he’s a Hokie. Hamlett is a big Virginia Tech fan and sports fan in general. He also enjoys music. He’s played the trumpet since childhood and even earned a Presidential Service Ribbon for playing for President Ronald Reagan with Tech’s Highty-Tighties, the Corps of Cadets' regimental band, in 1986.

Phil Hamlett

The Hamlett Clan at Walt Disney World:
Sons Noah and Christian, Phil, wife Martha, and Noah’s fiancée Abbey

New on FST: Working Remotely During a Crisis

We're joined this week by seasoned remote workers JT Peifer of Student Financial Services and Jessica Rafter from the FST project to talk not just about working remotely, but further, working remotely during a pandemic. JT and Jessica talk about how the unique challenges and rewards of telecommuting change shape during a crisis situation, the natural tension between work and home life, and how we can all "human" (yes, we're using it as a verb now) a little better during this time of upheaval.

LISTEN HERE!

Resources Mentioned:
Ed Hess: https://ideas.darden.virginia.edu/leading-virtually-is-emotional

NYT article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/smarter-living/coronavirus-emotional-support.html

https://remoteyear.com/blog/top-8-remote-work-tips
https://time.com/5801725/work-from-home-remote-tips/

A note from Lynne Schwar as she retires

We'll miss you, Lynne!

A note from Lynne Schwar as she retires

We'll miss you, Lynne!

Virtual Shout Out Board

From: Danielle Hancock

To: Erika Priddy

I would like to give a Shout Out to Erika Priddy for helping me figure out why my online course wouldn’t work outside of Workday. This will allow FST consultants to get onboarded faster.

From: Jessie McGann

To: James Cobb

I would like to give a big shout out to James Cobb for helping me set up my printer doing this time of need while we are working remotely. He was such a helpful person and so pleasant to work with customer service **excellence**.

From: Brandi Van Ormer

To: Sarah Doran

Thanks for getting me in touch with JT Peifer for the last episode of Finance Matters. His special interest in the subject we were working with made the episode even more useful, and I would have never known to contact him without your connection!

Want to give a colleague a Shout Out? Email it to culturecrew@virginia.edu

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Resources and Information During the Coronavirus Response

Resources and Information During the Coronavirus Response

Working Remotely in a Pandemic

Working Remotely in a Pandemic

Creating an integrated UVAFinance service model

Creating an integrated UVAFinance service model

Check out the UVAForward website for on-demand resources

Check out the UVAForward website for on-demand resources

Finance Strategic Transformation Update

Finance Strategic Transformation Update

Former Deputy Clerk and New Mom, Chelsea Barker, Joins Accounts Payable

Former Deputy Clerk and New Mom, Chelsea Barker, Joins Accounts Payable

Time & Absence: Proper Timekeeping & Workday Notifications

Time & Absence: Proper Timekeeping & Workday Notifications

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Workday Expenses and our partnership with Fiscal Adminstrators’ Group

Workday Expenses and our partnership with Fiscal Adminstrators’ Group

Accounts Payable Welcomes Leslie Williams

Accounts Payable Welcomes Leslie Williams

Strategy, Service, and Process Improvement – Glassman joins PSDS

Strategy, Service, and Process Improvement – Glassman joins PSDS

How do I use CommunityHub?

How do I use CommunityHub?

Finance Welcomes Scott Adams as Director of Business Services

Finance Welcomes Scott Adams as Director of Business Services

Mohammed AlKaisy joins Accounts Payable

Mohammed AlKaisy joins Accounts Payable

Hokie Breaks Ranks, Joins FST Team

Hokie Breaks Ranks, Joins FST Team

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

New on FST: Working Remotely During a Crisis

New on FST: Working Remotely During a Crisis

A note from Lynne Schwar as she retires

A note from Lynne Schwar as she retires

Monday, April 20, 2020

Virtual Shout Out Board