UVAFinance

Friday, December 16, 2022

The UVA President's Local Economy Working Group

Strengthening the relationship between the University of Virginia and the surrounding Charlottesville/Albemarle County community is one of UVA President Jim Ryan's top priorities. As such, several UVA-Community partnerships have been formed, featuring working groups with goals to make our community as strong and equitable as possible.

The President's Working Group on the Local Economy has a well-defined plan to increase local spending with local minority-owned firms by 10%, along with doubling University spending with local minority-owned firms.

The Working Group is made up of a variety of UVA and local business leaders. The scope of the group's work includes but is not limited to:

identifying opportunities across the University for increased vendor relationships with SWaM business
reviewing the existing vendor selection process, including advertisement, requirements and guidelines, and identifying barriers to access
surveying UVA purchasing managers to understand how purchasing decisions are made
consulting with existing and potential vendors to understand barriers
identifying ways to expand the number of local businesses certified as SWaM

For more information on the President's Council on UVA-Community Partnerships, visit their website.

______________________________________________________________________________

UVA Supplier Diversity recently partnered with SupplierGATEWAY with the goal of reaching an ever-increasing group of local small and diverse businesses.

SupplierGATEWAY enables buyers across UVA schools and units to become more familiar with the firms capable of providing products and services in the fields they're searching.

SupplierGATEWAY is a platform used by hundreds of organizations across the United States, including hospital systems, professional sports leagues, Fortune 500 firms, and municipalities. When businesses register their business in the University of Virginia's instance of SupplierGATEWAY, their data is stored securely and becomes visible to buyers who are looking to buy what those suppliers provide. Additionally, those suppliers can leverage the existing relationships they have with existing clients so that prospective buyers see those relationships and positive reviews.

For more information about SupplierGATEWAY and to learn if your business should register, contact Mark Cartwright, Director of Supplier Diversity at UVA.

Five Things to Know about Finance: December 13, 2022

1. Procurement will operate under an altered schedule during Winter break.

Procurement has altered its payment schedule to accommodate the Winter Break. On December 21st the Accounts Payable team will make all payments scheduled through January 6th. Payments suitable for processing must be fully approved and ready for settlement by 9 am on the 21st. The normal payment schedule will reconvene on January 2nd.
Procurement will operate at a limited capacity during the break. If you have an urgent request with operational impacts, please send a request marked Urgent to askfinance@virginia.edu and copy Alita Salley. For Travel and T&E card-related matters, please use travel@virginia.edu and card@virginia.edu. Procurement will check these boxes Monday – Friday at 10 am and 2 pm.

2. Account Certification News & Resources: The Deadline for November Account Certification is COB January 20. New Account Certification Resources have been posted on the training webpage, along with a new FAQ and a new Workday Account Certification Dashboard in UBI.

3. Match Exceptions are improving, and we have new resources for avoiding them and correcting them. Get the links to resources on the blog.

4. The Reporting & Analytics Team has posted release notes for December 2, including significant new reports and modifications for the month of November. See the release notes here.

5. Finance Strategic Transformation is officially over as of the end of 2022, but support and engagement are ongoing in 2023, including Time with a Trainer and sessions like Fiscal Administrators and Business Officers Council.

This is the last Finance Strategic Transformation Update of 2022 . . . and, if you can believe, it, EVER!

Want to listen instead of reading? Tune in to WFST Radio.

Engagement is Ongoing in 2023

Thank you for the meetings you’ve attended, the WFST broadcasts you’ve listened to, the blog digests you’ve read, the emails you’ve tried to keep up with, the effort you’ve given to the project, the questions you’ve asked, the time you’ve taken: thank you. Sincerely.

The spirit of collaboration forged during the project will carry forward into 2023 and beyond. Fiscal Administrators will continue to meet monthly, along with regular meetings of the Business Officers Council, continuous improvement focus groups, and All Pods Groups. See more detail in the blog.

Help is Available

In addition, the UVAFinance Trainers will soon release a new slate of one on one Time with a Trainer time slots that you can slide into if you need help with Workday Financials. Although FST is officially ending, the support and collaboration from the finance team aren’t ending, and neither is the individual and collective change journey that you and your team will experience. See more resources in this edition of the blog: Match Exceptions, Reporting & Analytics Release Notes, New Account Certification Resources, Update on Non-Catalog Requisitions

Listening Tours in the New Year

When we’re all back from the holiday break, the Change Enablement & Continuous Improvement will engage in Listening Tours, gathering info on what UVA schools and units need in terms of support as they move forward with our new systems and processes.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Amanda Lockhart Davis

Recently, Augie Maurelli announced that Amanda Lockhart Davis is UVAFinance’s new Director of Accounts Payable.

With experience in several ERP, customer service, financial management platforms, and multiple procure-to-pay systems, Lockhart Davis’ most recent position was Senior Accounting Manager and Accounts Payable Manager for Maximus in McLean, Virginia. Before Maximus, Lockhart Davis was Accounts Payable Manager at Cvent. She also has worked in accounting and payables positions at Inova Health Systems and PM Hotel Group.

When asked what drew her to her new position at UVAFinance, Lockhart Davis had this to say:

“First of all, it was a chance to work at UVA! I was also interested in working with people like Augie Maurelli who I could tell is the kind of leader I’d been looking for. He clearly understands both the work and people aspect of UVAFinance. I knew we would work well together because I believe in leadership that has the entire group’s interest at heart.”

As the leader of Accounts Payable, Lockhart Davis will primarily work with the Procurement team to get payments out the door.

“I also want to help streamline some of the current processes,” she said. “And I want to focus on bringing up staff morale as best as I can. This will boost productivity and efficiency, and it’s something I thrive on.”

Outside of work, Lockhart Davis is a huge fan of the Golden Girls and loves comic books. She also loves to travel and take trips with her friends while trying activities like archery and pottery and going to wineries. However, her family and faith are the most important things to her. She enjoys spending time with her husband (whom she’s known since they were in 2nd grade together!) and her three sons.

UVAFinance Team focuses on Expanding Opportunities, Not Risk

One of the last places on Grounds you may expect to find UVAFinance team members is at the Radioactive Safety Committee meeting, but that is just where you can find Gretchen Kriebel, Director of Property and Liability Risk Management.

Kriebel and Kristin Dinwiddie, senior manager of Risk Control, are often involved in working groups and committees, such as the Radioactive Safety Committee, across Grounds so they can proactively stay engaged in activities and help groups mitigate risks in their work.

UVAFinance’s Property and Liability Risk Management identifies, eliminates, and reduces the conditions and practices which cause financial loss and cause unnecessary risk. The team maintains a comprehensive risk financing program to protect the University against losses that could impede its academic mission.

With inherent risks in any large academic, research, or outreach program, the University involves UVAFinance in decision-making. When a significant risk is identified, Kriebel and the Property and Liability Risk Management team aim to find a solution rather than thwarting an initiative.

Aside from Kriebel and Dinwiddie, the team includes Miranda Bransom, who as the Administrative Assistant keeps the team on track and manages the insurance portfolio premium payments and recoveries. This is not limited to July when the fiscal year begins. The University purchases property year-round and it must be cataloged and paid for with precision. Cameron Beasley provides data and reporting to both Risk Management and Treasury, which Risk Management uses for managing its self-insured retention, claims data, and dashboard reports. In September 2022, Todd Hite joined Risk from outside UVA, as a Claims Adjuster, and is responsible for insurance claim intake, investigating, negotiating, and settling claims for the University.

“Nothing is risk-free, but we have strategies for reducing risk and transferring it outside of the University,” Kriebel says.

“Being involved in University committees gives us an opportunity to learn about and review specific activities and we review them because, in a lot of instances, we can see some areas of risk that the University program may not immediately realize.”

“We work a lot with International Studies and review how specific trips or programs could affect safety, health, or security,” Kriebel shares.

“For instance, a student program wanted to be involved in some exciting work that was just outside of a war zone. While outside of the immediate area of danger, security, flights, and infrastructure in the neighboring country were going to be potentially affected.”

When a significant risk is identified, Kriebel and the team aim to find a solution rather than thwarting an initiative.

“Often, programs worry that we’ll just say ‘no’ but we don’t – we just find a different way and engage the University programs as our partners in that,” she says.

If travel to a specific country is deemed a safety risk, Kriebel and Dinwiddie work with faculty and students to determine how academic and outreach goals can be achieved in another region or how specific activities can be altered to decrease risk.

“Students have great ideas, and we never want to dampen their enthusiasm,” Kriebel shares.

“We partner to help develop solutions, alternate plans that meet the same goals, and provide the logistical support such as the liability paperwork needed to ensure we are good stewards of our university resources and protect all involved.”

When students aimed to have dogs as part of an event on Grounds, Kriebel and the team identified potential risks involved. Animals are fun to be around but there is a lot of unpredictability associated with pets that may not be caught up on their vaccinations or may have behavioral issues interacting with students and community members. Instead of canceling the event, Kriebel suggested partnering with the ASCPA, allowing animal experts to manage the pets ensuring that those animals with updated vaccinations participated. Additionally, the ASPCA-trained volunteers could manage the pets’ potential behavioral issues and choose those best suited for the activity.

“It also gave the students the opportunity to partner with a nonprofit and potentially get some of the shelter dogs adopted,” Kriebel says. “There is a lot of potential in acknowledging risks and then coming up with alternatives.”

The team not only identifies physical and financial risks but reputational ones as well. Keeping the University’s risk lowered provides the institution to continue succeeding and recruiting the best students, faculty, and staff.

Learn more about risk management and the associated policies and procedures here: uvafinance.virginia.edu.

Procurement schedule during Winter break

Procurement has altered its payment schedule to accommodate the Winter Break. On December 21st the Accounts Payable team will make all payments scheduled through January 6th. Payments suitable for processing must be fully approved and ready for settlement by 9 am on the 21st. The normal payment schedule will reconvene on January 2nd.

Procurement will operate at a limited capacity during the break. If you have an urgent request with operational impacts, please send a request marked Urgent to askfinance@virginia.edu and copy Alita Salley.

For Travel and T&E card-related matters, please use travel@virginia.edu and card@virginia.edu. Procurement will check these boxes Monday – Friday at 10 am and 2 pm.

Ongoing Engagement in 2023

A positive outcome of the Finance Strategic Transformation project was the collaboration between schools, units, and central finance that grew during the time we worked on the implementation together. Although the project itself is drawing to a close, that collaboration will not.

In 2023, members of a diverse array of the finance community across Grounds will continue to meet for conversations around the ongoing improvement of Workday Financials adoption and enhancement of the system. Some of these groups will look familiar. Most scheduling will occur in 2023; however, you can see the 2023 Fiscal Administrators meeting schedule posted on the UVAFinance website (click under "For Fiscal Administrators").

All Pods

Meets every other week
Topics are driven by representatives from Workday Support, the Change Team, Ask Finance, etc.
The purpose of the meeting is to learn what issues are top of mind for stakeholders across schools and units.

Fiscal Administrators

Meets Monthly
Operational focus
The purpose of this meeting is to discuss issues & their implications, as well as possible strategies to address these issues

Business Officers Council

Meets quarterly
The focus is high-level updates and getting everyone on the same page
The purpose of this meeting is to answer questions and understand school and unit needs

Continuous Improvement Focus Groups

Meets as needed
The focus is on improving business processes
The purpose is to do a deep dive into issues, identify opportunities for improvement, and brainstorm solutions with a representative subset of the finance community.

Recently developed account certification resources are waiting for you on the UVAFinance webpage. Besides a full list of account cert quick reference guides on the training webpage, you can also now see the following:

Account Certification Frequently Asked Questions: Provides answers to common questions and links to relevant resources

Workday Account Certification Dashboard in UBI: Allows for robust filtering and views of account certification statuses, including a cost center filter that includes projects and grants. Also allows users to view the next person or persons in the workflow, regardless of status, as well as account certification volumes by unit, preparer, and approver, and monthly trends on volume and on-time performance.

Reminder: November Account Certification deadline has been moved to January 20, as the multi-funding source (MFS) engine is not running properly and is not expected to deliver correct accounting information until December. We are waiting on a fix from Workday, and expect to distribute Account Certifications by December 15. The deadline for November Account Certification is COB on January 20.

To avoid match exceptions, we recommend the following best practices:

ensure that the PO and invoice details (full name of supplier, price, and quantity) match
submit invoices in PDF format
encourage suppliers to pay attention to response emails to invoice submissions, in case more information is needed

If you have a match exception, you will need to determine the cause of the exception and initiate the correction for the match exception.

To determine the cause of the exception:

From viewing the supplier invoice in Workday, you can see the reason for the match exception on the Invoice Lines tab in the Line Match Exception field
Drill into the invoice lines (e.g., click the PO number to identify the quantity and/or price difference, review business documentation to view the original invoice) to better determine the cause of the variance.

To initiate the correction of the exception:

Initiate Change Order: If you need to increase the quantity of the Purchase Order, you can submit a Change Order request.

Initiate Invoice Correction: If you need to make significant changes such as changing the structure of the invoice or Purchase Order (needing to add or
delete lines or adjust the price), you will need to submit an Invoice Correction Form

Learning Resources:

Match Exception Investigation and Correction Quick Reference Guide

Match Exceptions Frequently Asked Questions

As of November 21, we have begun utilizing Workday’s non-catalog order process for both Goods and Service lines, and Jaggaer for catalog orders. The launch was widely successful and has resulted in a significant decrease in match exceptions over the last few weeks.

We have noticed an uncommon issue to be aware of: if an end user does not have an account in Jaggaer, the newly created purchase order will not successfully integrate into Jaggaer and be distributed. The solution is for the end user to do their initial punchout into Jaggaer to create their account, which will allow the successful transmission of the purchase order.

There are also a few changes from the previous process to note:

Assign Cart function is no longer available
Any favorites saved in Jaggaer cannot be used in Workday to create requisitions. The team is developing QRGs on processes that can replace or mimic the behavior of
favorites

Review the Create a Non-Catalog Purchase Request QRG for step-by-step instructions on the noncatalog order process.
_______________________________________________________________________________

See the original announcement of the Non-Catalog form change on the blog.

Final 2023 CVC Update

Here's where UVA's Commonwealth of Virginia (CVC) 2022 giving stands as of December 6. Since the last update in early November, many at UVA may have chosen to support the UVA Strong Fund to honor the families of the victims of the November 13 shooting as well as the survivors. If you would still like to support the good work local charities do in our region, CVC 2023 runs through the end of the year.

The last day to make a donation by payroll deduction is December 18.

To participate in this year’s CVC, use the pledge form at cvc.virginia.edu. If you have questions about the CVC, email uvacvc@virginia.edu.

______________________________________

Total Amount Raised by UVA: $495,577 (61.95% of the $800,000 goal)

Top 15 UVA Areas by % of Employees Participating in CVC Giving

1. Communications - 62.8%
2. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Community Partnerships - 50.0%
3. Miller Center - 42.6%
4. Audit & Compliance - 33.3%
5. Advancement - 33 %
6. Operations - 31.6%
7. EVP/COO Office - 20.8%
8. EVP/Provost Office - 17.3%
9. School of Data Science - 14.3%
10. University Counsel - 13.3%
11. President's Office - 11.1%
12. UVAFinance - 8.1%
13. Information Technology Services - 7%
14. Student Affairs - 6.9%
15. Academic Outreach - 5.6%

Top 15 UVA Areas by $ Amount Raised

1. School of Medicine - $1119,668
2. UVA Medical Center - $77,481
3. College of Arts & Sciences - $31,930
4. Information Technology Services - $28,591
5. Advancement - $25,120
6. Batten School - $11,500
7. School of Engineering - $14,270
8. School of Law - $13,358
9. Darden School of Business - $12,545
10. Operations - $12,189
11. EVP / COO - $10,575
12. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Community Partnerships - $9,223
13. Facilities Management - $9,857
14. Communications - $9, 223
15. UVAFinance - $7,029

Our Trainers have Time for You!

Are you struggling with a Workday Financials topic? Have a question about a transaction?

Sign up for a one-on-one Time with a Trainer session, during which UVAFinance training team members can answer specific questions and provide live demonstrations.

Schedule a meeting today using the links below (also found on the Workday Finance Training page).

Account Certification, Accounting Journals, Accounting Adjustments, Customer Accounts, or Ad Hoc Bank Transactions: https://calendly.com/workdayfinancehelp4/danielle-hancock
Purchase Requisitions, Purchase Orders, Supplier Invoice Requests, or Invoices: https://calendly.com/workdayfinancehelp1/jack-jensen
Payroll Costing Allocations, Payroll Accounting Adjustments, or HCM Subtasks for Payroll Costing: https://calendly.com/workdayfinancehelp2/erika-priddy
Expense Reports or Gift Requests: https://calendly.com/workdayfinancehelp3/linda-leshowitz

Visit the Records & Information Management webpage to register for their next RIM Basics Training on December 14 at noon. While you're there, you can also see the spring training schedule.

Take advantage of Cavalier Computers' employee purchase program, which works via payroll deduction.

Take a look at their website to learn more!

Ready to browse? Shop online.

From Hoos Well

New Social Well-Being Doman: Hoos Wells recently added a new Social Well-Being domain which includes a variety of resources to help you build your social well-being.

Research shows that building social well-being can reduce stress and enhance health and longevity, and that healthy relationships may be the single most important determinant of happiness.

From FEAP

Have you been unable to attend a FEAP webinar that sounded interesting? No worries, you can view recordings of previous events on the FEAP for You website. A variety of topics are available including:

Fostering the Mental Well-Being of College Age Students
Sustaining Personal Resilience in Challenging Times
Train Your Mind, Change Your Life
Manage Anxious Thoughts & Negative Thinking
And many more!

Finance Reporting and Analytics Release Notes are posted on the UVAFinance website for December 2nd. This update includes significant new reports and modifications that have been released in the month of November as well as known issues that we are investigating or working on currently.
See the release notes for December 2

A friendly reminder that you can always find this information and more reporting resources at:

Reporting Resources | UVA Finance (virginia.edu)
Business Intelligence & Analytics | UVA Finance (virginia.edu)

2023 Fiscal Administrators Meeting Schedule Posted

The 2023 Schedule for Fiscal Administrators Meetings has been posted online.

These meetings will remain virtual to encourage the pattern of solid attendance. A Zoom link will be distributed closer to the meeting date.

See the 2023 meeting schedule on the UVAFinance site (under "For Fiscal Administrators).

Add the meetings to your calendar now so you don't miss out!

November Account Certification Deadline Moved to January 20

As you may have noted on the Workday Finance Known Issues page, the multi-funding source (MFS) engine is not running properly and is not expected to deliver correct accounting information until mid-December.

As we await a promised fix from our Workday partners, we will not be generating November account certifications on December 1st. We hope to have account certifications distributed by December 15th and are extending the deadline for November Account Certification to close of business on Friday, January 20th. We do not anticipate a change in the timeline for December account certifications.

The monthly close is still Wednesday, November 30

November Monthly Close Deadlines have been posted

Find important monthly close deadlines that impact your work on the UVAFinance website: https://uvafinance.virginia.edu/workday-financials/monthly-close-activities

Five Things to Know about Finance: November 17, 2022

1. Instead of holding Office Hours this November, UVAFinance trainers offer one-on-one time you can that can be scheduled individually. Visit the Workday Finance Training page if you'd like to schedule some Time with a Trainer; just look for the area you need help with!

2. Procurement has altered its payment schedule on November 23-25 to accommodate the Thanksgiving holidays. on the 22nd the AP team will make all payments scheduled through December 2nd. Payments suitable for processing must be fully approved and ready for settlement by 9 am on November 22nd. The daily stabilization payment schedule will reconvene on November 28th.

3. The FST & UVAFinance Team are updating resources and processes related to spend, match exception, old purchase orders, and more on the UVAFinance website.

4. The process for submitting a non-catalog form changes on November 21, moving from Marketplace to Workday. This should help decrease match exceptions and increase prompt payment. Here's a quick reference guide that outlines the new process.

5. VP for Finance Melody Bianchetto announced her retirement effective February 3, 2023. A search committee is being convened to find her successor. We will miss her deeply!

Time with a Trainer for One-on-One Workday Finance Assistance

We’ve had almost two dozen individual Time with Trainer sessions so far in November. If you find yourself needing some help with Workday and it’s the kind of thing you’d normally have come to Office Hours to sort out, go to the Workday FinanceTraining page and sign up for one on one time with our finance trainers – you can choose the area you need help in, from account certification, to purchase requisitions, to expense reports, and so forth, and get on a trainer’s schedule who has expertise in that.

Multiple FST Resources / Updates

Spend Issues: We continue to track and report on Spend issues caused by the conversion from Oracle to Workday Financials on the UVAFinance website (match exceptions, old purchase orders, etc.).
Change to Non-Catalog Form: UVA Procurement is making a change to the process used to submit a non-catalog form by moving the process from UVAMarketplace to Workday. This new form will go into effect on 21 November 2022. This change to the non-catalog form is an integral component of improving our Payables operation. Read more on the blog.
Fund Balances: During FST, many schools and units participated in optional Fund Balance Realignment activities facilitated by central finance and the project team. Inaccurate fund balances can result in some cases if schools and units didn't participate in the exercise. Users can access the Day in the Life of a Fiscal Administrator (Reporting FAQ) resource to find guidance on which reports can be used to find fund balances.
Account Certification: We will continue to track issues with Account certification on the UVAFinance website.To help our colleagues with Account Certification while we work on enhancements, we have collected resources and guidance for your convenience. See all the resources listed here on the blog.
Deferred Items (Updated November 15): The project team is in the process of addressing 51 items that were deferred at go-live. These items represent pre-existing requirements that the team was aware of at go live, as opposed to opportunities for enhancements. You can see the full listing of deferred items, their status, and their impact, on the FST portion of the UVAFinance website (just click on "Full Listing of Deferred Items").
See also this handy FAQ from the November Fiscal Administrators' meeting, addressing several questions our attendees had about purchase orders, fund balances, reporting, account certification, and more.

Joyce Gredler of Business Assets & Cost Recovery coordinated both the Department of Army and Office of Naval Research yearly reviews for the first time this year, efforts which represent a tremendous amount of work, with successful outcomes and commendations.

Congratulations, Joyce!

Procurement Holiday Payment Schedule

Procurement will alter its payment schedule on November 23rd – 25th to accommodate the Thanksgiving holidays.

On November 22nd the Accounts Payable team will make all payments scheduled through December 2nd. Payments suitable for processing must be fully approved and ready for settlement by 9AM on November 22nd. The daily stabilization payment schedule will reconvene on November 28th.

This schedule is made available to help you prepare in advance for the handling of your payments. To review the status of a payment, please search Find Supplier Invoices and Find Payments in Workday.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding, and have an enjoyable holiday!

The UVAFinance Compliance Calendar was migrated from Sharepoint to Salesforce this summer and went live last week. Everything from policy review cycles, UAO Certifications, and other compliance tasks can be assigned, tracked, and "reminded" within Salesforce.

Instructions for accessing the Compliance Calendar tasks in Salesforce can be found in the Quick Links in the bottom left corner of Salesforce.

During the Finance Strategic Transformation project, many schools and units participated in optional Fund Balance Realignment activities facilitated by central finance and the project team. Inaccurate fund balances can result in some cases if schools and units didn't participate in the exercise.

To help with this, we're in the process of developing a fund balance mini-course, and users can also access the Day in the Life of a Fiscal Administrator (Reporting FAQ) resource, which includes guidance around which reports to use to view fund balances.

Change to Non-Catalog Form Effective November 21

UVA Procurement is making a change to the process used to submit a non-catalog form by moving the process from UVAMarketplace to Workday.

This decision comes after much research and discussion. We piloted the change with a focus group of super-users across UVA grounds and the feedback was very positive.

This new form will go into effect on 21 November 2022. This change to the non-catalog form is an integral component of improving our Payables operation. We understand that this transition has the potential to affect each department's daily operations greatly and are committed to supporting you through the transition.

Why are we making this change?

Moving the non-catalog form from UVAMarketplace to Workday will allow us to use the service line functionality in Workday. This means that if you are purchasing a service, you can create a service line instead of a goods line. The service line allows for an unlimited number of invoices to be matched against the line until the funds run out.

By using service lines, we will be able to decrease our match exceptions by 25% which will improve prompt payment to suppliers and decrease the administrative burden on both central and department employees who resolve match exceptions.

What is the change impact?

The foremost change impact on end users is the assign cart functionality is no longer available for non-catalog orders.  If you or members of your department use the non-catalog form to assign the cart to a fiscal administrator, this will not be possible for non-catalog forms after November 21st.  This functionality will remain for all catalog orders using a punchout or hosted catalog.

How can you make the transition successful?

Review this QRG that outlines the new process.
View this list of department individuals who were at the demo of this process to find your internal point of contact for this change.
If you or members of your department often assign non-catalog carts to fiscal administrators, your business operations may need to be adjusted.  End users may request the Procurement Shopper role using the Security-Based Access Request in Workday and completing the required training.  This will allow them to have access to the new non-catalog form in Workday and to submit their own carts.  
Communicate this change to affected end users in your organization so they are prepared for the transition

For any questions or concerns, please email askfinance@virginia.edu.

Procurement & Supplier Diversity Services continues to work toward the goals outlined in an ambitious three-phase plan that aims to double the percentage of local and minority-owned business partnering with UVA and raise University spending with local businesses by 10% by 2025.

The plan, which you can read more about in detail on UVAToday, was developed in partnership with the University of Virginia's Local Economy Working Group.

Mark Cartwright, Director of Supplier Diversity, explains that as a part of the plan, the approximately 300 local certified small, women, and minority-owned businesses with which UVA currently does not have a working relationship will be analyzed, surveyed, and triaged to determine the best path forward in the business relationship.

Says Cartwright, "it's a matter of determining whether they provide products or services that the university procures, whether they have interest in doing business with UVA and whether they have the capacity and scale to work with UVA. For those businesses with an interest in selling to the university but lacking current capacity, we’ll try to connect them to the appropriate resources to get them better prepared to service the university.”

Using the information collected during the early stage of the project, Supplier Diversity will then take some concrete steps with UVA's schools and business units to reach the goals set out in the plan. Cartwright and his team have plans for outreach across Grounds that include sharing data, making connections, and increasing visibility within the SWaM business community.

The UVA community can expect more useful developments resulting from this plan as 2022 draws to a close and 2023 begins.
_______________________________________________________________

Data Analysis, Funding Strategy Support Capital Project on Grounds

UVAFinance’s work across Grounds can often be behind-the-scenes but sometimes it is front and center, such as right at the Emmet-Ivy entrance corridor.

A new hotel and conference center and the School of Data Science will anchor the 15-acre area to serve as a central point to University Grounds, as well as an entrance corridor for visitors to the University.

With any University capital project, UVAFinance is involved in helping manage the identified funding sources, such as state funding, cash reserves, gifts from donors, and debt.

“This project is unique in that it is direct revenue generating,” says UVA Treasurer Julie Richardson. “The hotel and conference center, when fully operational, will provide income through overnight lodging, meeting and event facilities, and food and beverage.”

With revenue generating projects, UVA Treasury looks at the projected timing and availability of revenues to access debt sources, in a strategic manner. The strategy is in analyzing cash flow for the business, consider asset operating costs, reserves and revenue assumptions.

(Deborah Berke Partners/Hanbury Architects)

“This project took a lot of data analysis and evaluating a variety of loan structures,” Richardson says. “We carefully analyzed the type of debt we could access and calculated the projected revenue and timing to support the debt service.”Generally, UVAFinance is involved in identifying capital sources for building projects around the time that it is being developed to present to the Board of Visitors’ Building and Grounds Committee. Richardson and team run scenarios on sequencing and sizing of multiple funding sources. This information helps leadership make decisions on the financial structuring of projects.

In 2021, the Board of Visitors approved the designs for the state-of-the-art, 223,000-square-foot hotel and conference center.

“Construction timing of all capital projects is important, but it was even more so with the hotel and conference center building,” Richardson explains. “We developed a timeline on when we expect specific revenue and how the loans would be structured. Essentially, we are making an investment that we want to benefit the entire University Community.”

The hotel construction is estimated to be completed by spring 2025 with an opening planned for later in the summer. The hotel and conference center will be open to the public and will facilitate University events and gatherings. The 214-room hotel also will offer approximately 25,000 square feet of conference center space and provide the University convenient, centrally located accommodations for visiting scholars and lecturers, prospective faculty members and students, returning alumni, career recruiters and other visitors.

Submit a Nomination for Sustainability Leadership Award

The UVA Office of Sustainability is excited to share that the 2022 Sustainability Leadership Award is now taking nominations! An initiative of UVA’s Committee on Sustainability, the award will honor those who exhibit a strong commitment to advancing sustainability practices and solutions at UVA and in our community.

Nominations are accepted in each of four categories: UVA students/groups; UVA staff/departments; UVA faculty/departments; and community members or groups. You may nominate yourself or your group, department, or organization, or you may nominate others.

The deadline is Nov. 27. Please consider submitting a nomination and/or helping spread the word!

Legislative Forum November 29

Please join the Office of State Government Relations for our annual Legislative Forum on Tuesday, November 29 from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. in the Alumni Hall Ballroom. The Legislative Forum is open to members of the University and local communities.

The Forum will feature delegates and senators from central Virginia who will share their perspectives about the 2023 General Assembly Session, including issues affecting higher education, healthcare, and the local community. Time will be reserved for questions.

Here's where UVA's Commonwealth of Virginia (CVC) 2022 giving stands as of November 9.

To participate in this year’s CVC, use the pledge form at cvc.virginia.edu. If you have questions about the CVC, email uvacvc@virginia.edu.

______________________________________

Total Amount Raised by UVA: $418,660 (52.33% of the $800,000 goal)

Top 15 UVA Areas by % of Employees Participating in CVC Giving

1. Communications - 34.9%
2. Audit & Compliance - 29.6%
3. Miller Center - 22.2%
4. Operations 21.2%
5. Advancement 20.8%
6. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Partnerships - 20.6%
7. EVP/COO Office - 16.7%
8. EVP/Provost Office - 9.6 %
9. President's Office - 9.6%
10. University Counsel - 6.7%
11. UVAFinance - 5.9%
12. School of Data Science - 5.3%
13. Information Technology Services -4.7%
14. Human Resources - 4.6%
15. School of Continuing and Professional Development - 3.7%

Top 15 UVA Areas by $ Amount Raised

1. School of Medicine - $167,694
2. UVA Medical Center - $45,636
3. College of Arts & Sciences - $24,280
4. Information Technology Services - $21,496
5. Advancement - $16,031
6. School of Engineering - $14,170
7. Batten School - $11,500
8. EVP/COO Office - $10,525
9. Operations - $9,885
10. Darden - $7,650
11. Communications - $7,250
12. UVAFinance - $7,029
13. Human Resources - $6,835
14. McIntire - $6,260
15. Law - $6,020

Vice President for Finance Melody Bianchetto recently announced her intention to retire from University Service effective February 3, 2023.

Bianchetto is a dedicated alumna, a UVA parent, and a longtime University employee. After graduating from the University with a B.S. in Commerce in 1988, she worked for Ernst & Young and two other firms before returning to UVA in 1996. She has brought technical expertise, institutional knowledge, and passion to her work for 26 years, and has risen through the ranks here at UVA.

Bianchetto began as a senior budget analyst in 1996, was promoted to budget manager in 1997, and then to director of budget in 1998. She earned an MBA from JMU while working full-time. In 2006, she was named assistant vice president for budget and financial planning; in 2013, she was promoted to associate vice president for finance. Finally, in 2015, she was named vice president for finance.

Bianchetto's legacy at the University is both broad and deep. She will be remembered for her collaboration on initiatives that include:

sponsoring technology solutions, including Finance Strategic Transformation, Adaptive Planning, University Business Intelligence, TravelUVA, and others
serving on the team that achieved three record-breaking bond issuances and overseeing the University’s $3.2 billion AAA-rated debt portfolio
establishing the financial model for and stewarding the financial management of the strategic investment fund
creating the financial plans to enable the stability of AccessUVA, the creation of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the School of Data Science, the construction of capital projects across Grounds from the John Paul Jones Arena to the South Lawn, the reduction the University’s deferred maintenance backlog, and financial self-sufficiency for the Law and Darden Schools
leading the annual budget process that established balanced budgets through significant state budget reductions, periods of strategic investments, and the COVID-19 pandemic
constructing the University’s management agreement with the Commonwealth that provides extensive decentralized authority in finance, procurement, human resources, information technology, and capital.

Bianchetto has partnered with colleagues across Grounds to support their strategic initiatives and set an example for others in her intentional work to develop her team. In addition, she has carefully led diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within UVAFinance and expanded the supplier diversity program for the entire University.

EVP COO J.J. Davis will convene a search committee in the coming weeks for Bianchetto's successor. In the meantime, please join UVAFinance in congratulating Melody and thanking her for her excellent work and her lasting influence on the University!

W-4 Form Update Reminder

As the new year approaches, the Payroll Department reminds you to review your Federal tax withholding. You may need to submit a new W-4 form if you have experienced any changes in your filing situation this year (e.g., got married, have a secondary source of income, have new dependents, etc.).

You can update your W-4 Form any time in Workday by typing ‘Withholding Elections’ in the search bar at the top of your Workday home screen.

Please be aware that Payroll is not authorized to provide tax advice. For specific questions, you should contact your tax advisor.

FST Updates: November 3, 2022

Office Hours Wrap Up, Segue into Time with a Trainer

Since July 11^th, after the go-live of Workday Financials, around 3,000 people have participated in open office hours, but as people are getting more confident in many areas of the system, attendance is significantly tapering off, so we’re discontinuing office hours for November. But we know people still need support, so we’re pleased to announce Time with a Trainer. This is more of a one-on-one learning time, where people can book a time with a finance trainer to ask their questions and get help. Visit the Workday Finance Training page to schedule Time with a Trainer.

Tracking Issues During Stabilization

As we move through the stabilization period of the FST project, the team’s primary area of focus shifts to conducting knowledge transfer, making sure that we are ready to provide the best ongoing end-user support, that we’re ironing out known issues, and that the support team is prepared for the future state. To that end, we keep tracking and reporting on those areas that are on our colleagues’ minds – areas like
account certification, reporting, and of course, procurement.

You can follow along with these areas (and get resources and guidance) and all other deferred items on the UVAFinance website (click on "Items in Progress").

Reporting & Analytics Release (& RAD 2.0)

The Reporting and Analytics team has again provided us with a nice big update as of October 28 that includes, among other things, some great news about the release of RAD 2.0, which will provide a one-stop shop for all your grant and post-award financial needs. Don’t forget that the team also has a new resource called “Day in the Life of a Fiscal Administrator,” which recommends reports for common tasks and data needs. Find the updates and resources on the UVAFinance website.

1. Instead of holding Office Hours, UVAFinance trainers are offering one-on-one time you can that can be scheduled individually. Visit the Workday Finance Training page if you'd like to schedule some Time with a Trainer; just look for the area you need help with!

2. UVAFinance is tracking deferred items and areas experiencing challenges post-go-live of Workday Financials (spend, account certification, fund balances, etc.) on the UVAFinance website. Get resources and guidance, plus see the status of all deferred items on this page.

3. Reporting & Analytics has a new release, which includes RAD 2.0 and Fiscal Administrator Spotlight reports (all you have to do is search "Spotlight" in the Workday search bar). View the full release notes.

4. Budgeting Season has kicked off as of November 2! From here schools and units will work on tuition/fee proposals before the BOV meeting on December 8/9.

5. FST is in the Stabilization Phase and set to close in 2022. While the project officially ends in 2022, the continuous improvement focus will be ongoing.

Since the transition to Workday Financials, a few processes have been rockier than others, and one of the more difficult ones has been Account Certification.

We will continue to track issues with Account certification on the UVAFinance website.

When we talk with affected colleagues about Account Certification, here are the top pain points folks mention:

Omission of payroll, SIS details, and fund balance/budget vs. actuals in the Account Certification view.
Numerous manual processes, such as filtering to eliminate 0 ledger accounts and drilling into each line
Confusion around marking variances and filtering out 0 ledger account lines

With those pain points in mind, we're exploring a few key enhancements:

Hiding $0 balances
Pre-populating certain ledger accounts
Memos on journals
SIS detail, which would ideally be integrated via reporting

To help our colleagues with Account Certification while we work on those enhancements, here are some resources and guidance:

Account Certification View

Export the report to Excel but still keep the report up on Workday; this will help you drill into transactions you need more information on. The downloaded excel sheet can also help to “track” what lines you reviewed; for more details refer to this page

Dashboard Time Limit

To avoid losing your changes when reviewing Account Certification, click the “Save for Later” button

Account Certification Best Practices

Account Certification FAQ provides common questions related to Account Certification along with answers provided by subject matter experts.
You do not need to verify every line if it was approved beforehand. If you see revenue ledger accounts for Grants, you can ignore these
You will need to reconcile Projects and other worktags with funding source reclassification transactions; for guidance and details refer to this page
Review the Account Certification FAQ, Workday Corrections Decision Tree, and other Account Certification resources

Friday, December 16, 2022

Monday, December 12, 2022

Friday, December 9, 2022

Thursday, December 8, 2022

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Monday, December 5, 2022

Friday, December 2, 2022

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Monday, November 14, 2022

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Wednesday, November 2, 2022