Finance Strategic Transformation Project Timeline Extended (and more updates from FST!)

Read more on financetransformation.virginia.edu

                                                                            Want to listen to this update instead of reading it?  Tune in to WFST's Broadcast for May 7!

For several weeks the FST team has closely analyzed detailed scenarios for the project timeline that would allow some breathing room as the University community as a whole makes adjustments necessitated by the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Based on this analysis, the project’s executive sponsors have extended the timeline by six months. This extension will give the project team more confidence that they can deliver a successful transformative experience for stakeholders.

The six-month timeline deferment announced by executive sponsors on April 27 (see the message on the FST website) reflects a commitment to making space to do this transformation well during this challenging and unpredictable time. It is not a definitive go-live date for Workday Financials implementation. 

Much will depend on how the fall semester and the University’s financial situation shapes up as we know more about the pandemic. The team is aware of the concerns about going live with Workday Financials outside of the fiscal year cycle.

For now, the project team will proceed with a six-month timeline extension as a goal. As greater clarity of how the extension will impact project work becomes apparent, subsequent decisions will be made openly with input from stakeholders and communicated clearly and directly.

QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS?  WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! 

 EMAIL US AT FINANCETRANSFORMATION@VIRGINIA.EDU OR REACH OUT TO US IN THE ONLINE COMMUNITY!

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Other updates from the world of FST: 

• Check out this piece by Mark Anderson in the online Community about our road map for Reporting & Analytics – which is one of the four main areas that make up FST.  (The other 3 are the Workday Financials implementation, Continuous Improvement, and the Adaptive Insights Budget Pilot.)  In this piece, Anderson talks about how we’re using the project and the Workday implementation as a catalyst to design and plan an enterprise-wide reporting and analytics plan that will provide the trustworthy and up to the minute data that you need do your jobs well.  Read it here.  
• Architect sessions continue to take place, though on a less compressed schedule than before, given the extension.  We’ve begun posting the slides to all architect sessions in the Online Community, and we’re compiling a master list of all the attendees of the architect sessions to be posted there as well.  These postings are in response to requests from stakeholders; we heard that you wanted to know who in your area was representing you at these meetings so that you could have offline discussions, so we’re posting the slides and (by next week) the attendee list to give you that clarity.
• On the FST website:  We're adding resources like a “Workday Words” glossary that will help us start to understand what some of the new terminology we are hearing means, and how it may or may not connect to similar terms we’ve used in the past. Two things about that resource:  one, it will be constantly updated, so what you see on the site today is not complete – we’ll keep discovering new things that need to be explained, and new terms that need clarification.  And two, we really need you all to share with us the words that you think need more clarification.  The website is undergoing constant updates at this point, so please check back frequently!