They Don't Call It the Foundation Data Model for Nothing

You've told us that the the Foundation Data Model (FDM) is important to you—that decisions made with it and the granular details of how it will work have far-reaching impacts. We've heard you. 

It fits that the word "foundation" is in the name of Workday Financials phrase for the Chart of Accounts. The project team is committed to building a strong foundation with the FDM that is shaped by stakeholder feedback. The FDM team is wrapping up work to map common UVA business practices and how they're completed in Oracle; their goal is provide stakeholders with some concrete examples soon of what the transition from COA to FDM will look like. 

Below are the FDM-related activities that you can anticipate occurring for the first Configure & Prototype (C&P) tenant between November 2020 and March 2021.

FDM team members consistently reiterate their commitment to collaborating with stakeholders across Grounds. They are and will continue to gather stakeholder feedback and use it to inform decisions as we see how things actually shake out in our first round of testing the FDM with UVA data. More information will follow as we near C&P about how stakeholders can see the FDM in action in our first tenant and share their thoughts. 

If you're looking for some more info about what will happen with the FDM in the longer term, check out the table below with information about key FDM milestones between now and Workday Financials go-live in 2022. 

FDM Milestone	Description		Draft Target Date
Finalize Initial FDM Structure	•        Map top 10 activity scenarios to determine worktag usage •        Finalize worktag formats (field lengths and naming conventions) •        Determine driver worktags	•        Determine required worktags •        Update worktag definitions •        Determine usage of Balancing Unit worktag •        Updated Cost Center review	8/31/2020
Finalize FDM Worktag Format	Length, naming convention		8/31/2020
Finalize Cost Center Hierarchy Structure (levels)	Grouping of leaf-level Cost Centers and hierarchy for managerial and institutional reporting		8/31/2020
Develop COA to FDM Conversion Rules	Mapping rules from Oracle GL/GA chart string to Workday FDM worktags		9/15/2020
Develop process for COA to FDM mapping by Units	Process and instructions to be communicated to the units for their completion or review of the mapping of their Oracle GL/GA charts strings to Workday FDM worktags		9/15/2022
Frost COA to FDM Mapping	Only critical changes will be made in the mapping rules of the Oracle GL/GA chart string to Workday FDM worktags after this date		3/15/2022
COA to FDM Mapping by Units (Begins Sept 2020)	Completion of mapping of the legacy Oracle GL/GA chart strings to Workday FDM worktags		3/16/2022
COA Segment Clean-Up in Oracle	Activity to review inactive values and small dollar balances to reduce conversion activities		4/1/2022
Freeze COA to FDM Mapping	When critical changes in the mapping rules of the Oracle GL/GA chart string to Workday FDM worktags will no longer be accepted		5/13/2022

For three ways to stay informed, check out this recent FDM blog post.