FST Decision: GL Balance Conversion Approach

With Workday Financials going live in just a little over six months, people are wondering how different balances will be converted to Workday. The FST Team is completing GL Balance Conversion by following these guiding principles: 

• Meet External Audit Requirements: The General Ledger is the source of truth--it must balance by Company and Fund. 
• Timing: We need "correct" balances in FDM for departments and units as early as possible after the start of the fiscal year.
• School and MBU Balances: We need to match Settlement amounts provided by FP&A within a reasonable degree of materiality.
• Department/Unit Balances: Departments are best positioned to know what balances they are expecting in specific FDM strings.
• Gift & Endowment Balances: Balances need to reconcile to ending Oracle balances for individual gifts/endowments.
• Fund Balances: Balances need to reconcile in aggregate by Company
• Assignee/Program/Activity Balances: Schools/units need the ability to capture balances down to a level lower than MBU or cost center. 
• Complexity: Minimize rework and effort given the complexity of the task. 

With these guiding principles in mind, the FST Team looked at three potential conversion approach options:

•  The first of these options is to convert Oracle GL Balances to Workday "as is." However, while this option would work for Central Finance, the team determined this was not the best option for schools and units because they would be responsible for any reconciliation of Cash Balances to GL Balances. 
• The second option, converting UBI Cash Balances to Workday Fund Balances based on the UBI Cash Balance Report, was also rejected because converted Cash Balances do not agree with GL Balances from UVA's financial system of record. 
• The third option is to convert the GL Balance "as is" at a high level, then realign balances across units' FDM worktags in Workday. This option is what the team has determined as the best option for UVA. With this option, converted GL Balances will be accurate from an external reporting and compliance perspective. 

You can read more about this decision here. For the latest information on all decisions, check out the FST Decision Log here.