Derrick Carter: Business Analyst Extraordinaire

If Derrick Carter could describe his role as a Business Analyst, he would say that he’s like a “Swiss army knife.” He does a variety of things, for a variety of people, and for a variety of reasons.

Carter was originally brought on for the FST Workday project, but now he’s continuing his role as a Business Analyst in a slightly new position with the Change Enablement and Continuous Improvement (CE/CI) team.

Mainly, he looks at processes. Between the start and end, Carter highlights the potential deficiencies. He analyzes this data and works with people to determine what training or systematical change is needed to make things better. After he finds problems, he helps teams fix them.

One of Carter’s favorite parts about his role is the variety of it all: “I like being able to jump and move to different things and see things from a different perspective, inside and outside of finance.” Previously, he worked a lot with the School of Medicine and Facilities Management, but for now, his focus is going to be on our UVAFinance teams and processes.

Within the CE/CI team, Carter collaborates with the training and development team to get data and point out specific points of need. He is also involved in several other projects to help the UVAFinance as a whole, including work on documenting workflow and approvals for various business processes and working with teams to develop standard operating procedures.

He reflects that he has, “the mindset to take on different challenges,” which contributed to this particular role. Overall, we’re excited he’s moving forward as a Business Analyst in UVAFinance! Best wishes as you continue your work, Derrick!

UVAFinance Welcomes Justin Green

The Green Family

This July, UVAFinance’s Financial Accounting Department welcomed Justin Green as its newest member. Green takes on the role of Director of Financial Reporting, a position for which he’s well prepared, given a 20+ year career that includes a plethora of experience with corporate accounting, international accounting, auditing, financial projects, and much more.

Green comes to UVA most recently from FedEx, where he moved up the ranks steadily over the years from 2005 until he recently decided to make the change from Memphis, Tennessee, to Virginia. Why the change from the big city and corporate accounting to a smaller city and academia? The answer lies with his family.

Green and his wife Sara, a pediatrician, decided they wanted a less urban environment in which to raise their two children (Abigail, 7, and Andrew, 5). While they enjoyed hiking and riding bikes in Memphis, they were attracted by the possibilities afforded by a slower pace of life, and since they had family who lived in the Crozet area, they thought Virginia would be a good fit.

When you add UVA’s reputation to the mix, says Green, his choice of employment was an easy one. “Once I started to investigate the opportunities at UVA, I could see that there was a good culture, and opportunities for advancement within the organization,” says Green.

The Greens will be transitioning from their home in Memphis to a recently purchased 28-acre farm in Virginia. While they do some renovations on the farmhouse (complete with a cottage from Green’s mother), they’ll rent a home (and, says Green, maybe contemplate some cows or sheep to graze his acreage instead of mowing it). When they’re not out exploring the outdoors, the Greens enjoy traveling and have recently visited France and the United Kingdom.

We wish them well during their big move – welcome to UVA, Justin!

New Endowment Resources

UVA's endowment is an essential source of permanent support.  For the last 15 fiscal years, spending from the endowment has increased, providing a reliable income stream that we can count on to support excellence and affordability.

If you've ever wondered why UVA can't use its endowment to fill budget gaps or had someone ask you why we have to raise tuition when we have such a healthy endowment,  you're not alone.  

We've produced two new resources to help internal and external audiences alike understand better how our endowment works.  You'll find these resources on the UVAFinance website: 

How Does the Endowment Work? (video resource)

How Does the Endowment Work? (print resource)

New Spend Category Allows UVA to Better Support Faculty Publishing

A new spend category in Workday Finance will allow UVA to collect high-quality data on publishing charges, which are expected to increase due to a 2022 federal ruling requiring the open flow of federally-funded scientific information.

The government mandate will require agencies using federal research dollars to make any research findings available to the public in a free and open format by the end of 2025.  For UVA faculty and researchers, this could mean significant increases in "article processing charges" or APCs, from many publishers.

Donna Tolson, Associate Dean for Administration at the University of Virginia Library, championed the creation of the new spend category, in order to track the new fees.  After consulting with budget's Katie Walker and a group of associate deans for administration, Tolson submitted her request to Ask Finance and worked with Jacob Mair's group to set up the new spend category.

"Being able to track processing charges will show us which publishers we're paying, whether APCs are increasing, and where the money is coming from, whether it's grants, start-ups, or operations.  That will put us in a stronger position to support faculty and to negotiate with publishers if APC rates increase as a result of this new ruling," says Tolson.

The new spend category has been set up as Services Article Processing Charges (SC0792).   

UVAFinance in Action

Ryan Balber,  the Director of the Virginia Higher Education Procurement Consortium, recently had an article published in University Business.  Check out his piece, 3 ways cooperative purchasing agreements support student success, on the UB site.

James Gorman, joined by retired VP for Finance Melody Bianchetto and Deloitte representatives, was a presenter at the NACUBO 2023 Annual Meeting on July 17.  The subject of the session was "Transforming Finance and strengthening partnerships at the University of Virginia."

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Related Content:  Walker Receives NACUBO's 2023 Rising Star Award

Common Reasons Requisitions Don't Convert to a PO

Ever find yourself with a stubborn requisition that won't convert to a purchase order? 

There are a number of common reasons why a Workday requisition (RQ) does not convert to a purchase order (PO).  When you contact Ask Finance with this problem these are the top five issues they'll look at first.  While you're always welcome to contact the Solution Center team, we share these common reasons with you in the hope they'll alleviate some frustration:

• One or more lines have a $0.00 line item
• Solution: The line should be corrected. If you're claiming free products or samples, you should edit the requisition to note the free item(s) in the "memo to supplier" field. (See this post about Requisitions with Zero Dollar Lines)
• Solution #2: If the supplier requires the $0.00 line item on the PO, send this to the Ask Finance team with a request that it be escalated to the Sourcing team for action (include the requisition number!). The team will manually grab the requisition to convert it to a PO.
• One or more lines have a negative line item (credit amount)
• Solution: Send this to the Ask Finance team with a request that it be escalated to the Sourcing team for support. Requisitions and purchase orders cannot include a negative value line.
• The requisitioner does not have the appropriate security role (Workday Procurement Shopper)
• Solution: Look at the business process to be sure that you don't have a cart assigned to a PO shopper with a business process awaiting action. Ensure that you have requested the appropriate security role for your position.
• No cost center P2P approver 
• Solution: Search the cost center in Workday. Select "roles" and see if the P2P Approver role is missing. If so, email AskFinance noting that the BP is hung up due to an unassigned approver and that a P2P approver needs to be identified for the cost center.
• Wrong cost center in the Worktag string
• Solution: Verify the worktag entered into the requisition.  Do you have the right security role to work with that cost center?

Again, we don't share these common issues to dissuade you from seeking Solution Center help, because we're definitely happy to assist.  We do know, however, that taking time out to stop what you're doing and involve someone else can be a bit trying, so we hope these tips help!  

Did You See This? Reporting & Analytics Updates

A new set of Finance Reporting & Analytics Release notes were posted on July 13. 

Did you miss them? You can see the whole release online here.

Here are just a few noteworthy highlights:

• Activity Stream has been added to the Details for Account Certifications report to streamline the review of account certifications – see Activity Stream | UVA Finance (virginia.edu) for more information about this new feature.
• New Open Purchase Orders – Fully Invoice and Fully Paid report to quickly identify candidates for closing out open purchase orders which are complete.
• New & Improved Track Purchase Order with Line Splits report which provides greater detail and improved usability over the existing Track Purchase Order report (includes line splits). Various
• Grant/Award Budget vs Actuals reports have been updated so that Transfers and Interest Income transactions are included
• Reminder: The Budget & Fund Balance reports in Workday generally default to the current fiscal period/year so be sure to update the prompts if you need to look backward.

See the full Release Notes on the UVAFinance website.

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Related Content: Workday's Activity Stream: A new functionality to move things along

2024 Payroll Calendars are Posted

Every new year comes with fresh new calendars, and fiscal new years are no different.  

Payroll calendars for FY2024 are posted on the UVAFinance website for the Academic Division, Med Center, and Physicians Group.

Access the calendars here.  (Click on Academic Division, Med Center, or UPG; Payroll Calendars are at the top of the list on each area's page)

Workday's Activity Stream: A new functionality to move things along

The Workday Support Team has made a new functionality available in Workday Financials.  Activity Stream might be just the thing for some users out there who have wished for an in-system way to nudge processes along among colleagues.

Using the "@" symbol, you can tag one or more people in a comment on objects such as purchase orders, requisitions, and supplier invoices, and those tagged individuals will receive a notification.  The stream is the same on all tabs/sub-tabs within the same object (see the resource linked below for a comprehensive listing of objects on which activity stream may be used).

In what kind of instances would an activity stream comment be helpful?

• If you want to call a colleague's attention to a PO number about which you've been discussing.  The activity stream notification will contain a link right to the PO.
• When you create a requisition and it's sitting in approval for a little too long, you can tag the approver and remind them to approve it.
• When you're not sure what worktags to use on a requisition you're creating,  you can save the requisition for later and tag a colleague to ask them to advise you on the worktags.
• You can use the activity stream field to make notes to yourself on supplier invoices so that you can work ahead on account certification.
• The activity stream field is a great option to add clarifying information later on if you forgot to put it in the memo field.

See this handy resource for a quick rundown of the activity stream feature.  Note especially that activity stream is not available on all objects, and that it should not be used in the place of an AskFinance ticket or in the place of a step in the approval process.

Walker Receives NACUBO's 2023 Rising Star Award

Walker receives her honor at NACUBO on July 17.
We always knew she was a star.

UVAFinance's Executive Director for Financial Planning and Analysis Katie Walker is the 2023 winner of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) Rising Star Award.  

The Rising Star Award recognizes an emerging leader in higher education finance and business whose record reflects ongoing and exceptional growth in contribution to the professional increased levels of leadership, responsibility, and sphere of impact.  Awardees are nominated by their peers, must have reference letters, and are judged against strict criteria by a selection committee.

Walker was among seven awardees honored for their outstanding contributions to higher education at NACUBO's 2023 Annual Meeting in Orlando.  

Congratulations, Katie!

Analyzing Success: Ben Tolson’s New Business Analyst Role

Previously a User Success Agent with Tier 1, Tolson is moving on to be a Business Systems Analyst. He started in his new role on Monday, July 17th. Tolson expressed that he is very excited about this new position.

As his career has progressed, Tolson reflected, “I’ve found myself being drawn to process improvement.” In his new role, he will get to focus on that more. He’s looking forward to working on projects and continuing to improve processes that benefit both UVAFinance and the greater UVA community.

Looking back, he appreciated his year in Tier 1 because it has allowed him to learn a lot about UVAFinance through stakeholders and internal interconnected departments. However, this knowledge will not go to waste. Tolson is enthusiastic: “I will be able to leverage [that] in my new role.”

Overall, Tolson will go on to do great things in his new role. Congratulations again Ben!

Onward and Upward: UVA Temps Moving On To New Full-Time Positions

 

From left to right, top to bottom: Jim Stoltz and family, Nika Vest and her fiancé,
 Jarod Verkleeren, and Niranga Subasinghe and family.

The Clean-Up Squad, a talented team of temps, has been an enormous help in closing out the fiscal year. They ensured that thousands of financial transactions were fixed and finalized to guarantee a smooth close to the first fiscal year with Workday.

We are proud to announce that four of the temps--Jim Stoltz, Niranga Subasinghe, Jarod Verkleeren, and Nika Vest--on the Clean-Up Squad will be moving on to full-time positions throughout UVA! All of them expressed their gratitude toward Katie Walker and Myron Ballard for their help and support through the process of moving from temp to full-time.

Nika Vest:

Vest has moved on to be a Grants and Contracts Specialist at the Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics Department at the School of Medicine (SOM). She started in her new role on July 10th. Although she was excited, it wasn’t an easy path to get there. During the job search process, Vest had a hard time dealing with her fiancé’s worsening epilepsy. Adding a job search on top of this made it so much harder. Still, Vest persevered along with the support from Katie Walker and Myron Ballard. She reflects, “I found that the right support group accompanied by people who are determined to guide you in the job search makes it so much easier and bearable.” She thanks Walker and Ballard for their understanding and encouragement. Vest will go on to do great things at the SOM. Best wishes Nika!

Niranga Subasinghe:

Niranga will move on to be an Intermediate Administrative Coordinator for the School of Nursing. She will start in her new role on July 17th. She is excited to have the opportunity to grow her career with the School of Nursing. She’s accumulated great accounting experience at UVAFinance. She’s incredibly thankful for Katie Walker, and the team members of the Clean-Up Squad for their training, preparation, and support which led her to this new opportunity. Niranga is also grateful to the team at the School of Nursing for being “very helpful throughout the interview process and for their warm welcome.” She will go on to do great things in her new position, along with the support from her husband Indika (who also works at UVA as a Biostatistician in the SOM), and her two toddlers Devin and Shevon. Best wishes Niranga!

Jarod Verkleeren:

Verkleeren will move on to be a Finance Generalist for the School of Architecture. He will start in his new role on July 31st. He reflected that his current temp role has been amazing, allowing him to learn a lot in such a short amount of time. He anticipates that the skills he’s gained from UVAFinance will make the transition a lot less stressful. Verkleeren appreciates all the people who have helped him thus far: “I’m grateful I had people around me helping me know the ins and outs of the university and help me think deeper on what position would be best for my skills and my goals, which is something I don’t take for granted.” He says that Walker and Ballard have been great mentors and made the transition easy. Verkleeren recommends the UVA temp experience to anyone looking for a job or trying to figure out their path because it’s a great opportunity to get your foot in the door. Best wishes Jarod!

Jim Stoltz:

Stoltz will move on to be a Finance Generalist for Facilities Management. He will start in his new role on August 28th. He has had to push back the starting date due to his daughter’s wedding on the 19th (congratulations!). Overall, he reflects that moving from temp to full-time was a bit daunting. Changing careers after 20+ years ended up being more difficult than he expected, but it allowed him to change his approach. In the end, he expressed that it was, “good for me.” He also wants to thank Walker, Ballard, and the rest of the Clean-Up Squad for their help, shared knowledge, friendship, and tolerance of his “really bad” jokes. Stoltz will go on to do great things at Facilities Management. Best wishes Jim!

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Related Content:  Check out the Clean Up Squad's Achievements Prior to Year-End Close / Meet the Clean Up Squad Part One / Meet the Clean Up Squad Part Two

Wampler Presents at NAEP

Procurement's Shannon Wampler represented UVA as a featured presenter this spring at the annual meeting of the National Association of Educational Procurement in Orlando, Florida.  

Wampler shared how UVA planned and launched its local procurement initiative and how we leveraged Supplier GATEWAY to empower decentralized buyers across grounds.  Wampler especially focused on how smaller schools could get such initiatives off the ground, even if they didn't have data skills or dedicated personnel.  

While at the meeting, Wampler also led a Supplier Perspectives Panel featuring a variety of supplier representatives engaging the audience with authentic discussion about their side of the purchasing transaction. 

Way to go, Shannon!

Finance Reporting and Analytics Release Notes for July 13th

Finance Reporting & Analytics Release notes for July 13 have been posted to the UVAFinance website.

This update includes significant new reports and modifications that have been released between May 22nd and June 30th as well as known issues that we are investigating or working on currently.

Thank you all for your patience as we worked through a few unexpected glitches as we rolled over fiscal years for the first time in Workday and the data warehouse. The data warehouse team, UBI team, and the Finance BI team reacted quickly to resolve the data load errors that occurred during the first couple of days of the new year. We will apply the lessons learned to strengthen the processes for next year.

For those interested, our Journal Lines table in the warehouse currently has 64,000,000 rows of data. Over the coming weeks and months, we will be evaluating the UBI applications to optimize performance where necessary which may require some changes to manage the data volumes. We will keep everyone posted as we make those decisions.

For those who use Budget or Fund Balance reports in Workday, please make note of the Period, Time Period, Plan Structure, Plan Name, and Budget Date prompts you are using based on your need to either look back at FY23 or forward to FY24. Most reports are set to prepopulate those prompts for the current period/fiscal year.

FY24 Working and Original Budgets are now available in both Workday and UBI Budget vs Actuals.

A friendly reminder that you always find this information and more reporting resources at:
Business Intelligence & Analytics | UVA Finance (virginia.edu)

Here are just a few noteworthy highlights: 

• Activity Stream has been added to the Details for Account Certifications report to streamline the review of account certifications – see Activity Stream | UVA Finance (virginia.edu) for more information about this new feature.
• New Open Purchase Orders – Fully Invoice and Fully Paid report to quickly identify candidates for closing out open purchase orders which are complete.
• New & Improved Track Purchase Order with Line Splits report which provides greater detail and improved usability over the existing Track Purchase Order report (includes line splits). Various
• Grant/Award Budget vs Actuals reports have been updated so that Transfers and Interest Income transactions are included
• Reminder: The Budget & Fund Balance reports in Workday generally default to the current fiscal period/year so be sure to update the prompts if you need to look backward.

See the full Release Notes on the UVAFinance website.

Kevin Crabtree Celebrates New Role

We are excited to announce that Kevin Crabtree has moved on to be a Strategic Sourcing Director in Procurement. Previously, Crabtree was the Category Manager for Services and Athletics.

He started in his new role on ­­July 10. He says he's most excited about stabilizing and improving the purchasing experience for departments by listening to University-wide feedback on what's working and what's not working.

"Procurement is here to help departments buy the goods and services they need in order for those departments to be successful in supporting larger University goals," says Crabtree.

Crabtree will do great things in this new position.

Best wishes, Kevin!

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Related Content:  Procurement has overhauled the Goods & Services Guide!

This Just In: Goods and Services Guide Overhaul

Buying at UVA just became a little easier due to the overhaul of the Goods & Services Guide, which finished just this week after four months of intensive collaborative work by Procurement, as well as the Business Systems Team.

What Changed?

• Updated goods/services descriptions with clearer language
• One preferred method of payment (two at the most)
• Ability to search on title with auto-population
• Updates to sync with Workday Financials terminology and fields

The overhaul process began in March, with the Sourcing, Disbursement, Travel, and Business Solutions Teams meeting weekly and doing the necessary research to update the content relative to the commodities for which they were responsible. The teams truly thought through their policies and procedures with the aim to ensure that the descriptions were concise, accurate, and informative to users, and then worked with the Business Systems Team to upload 111 rows of data in a way that was easy to view and sort.

The team is pleased to deliver this final product to everyone, hoping that it minimizes confusion and helps to get work done with more ease. Please let us know via askfinance@virginia.edu if you have questions or concerns.

Check out the brand new Goods & Services Guide on the UVAFinance webpage!

Wellness Resources: July 2023

 Upcoming Wellness Webinars

• Beyond Speaking and Listening: Transforming our Habits of Communication by Deepening Self-Understanding and Connection. 

Tune in on July 26 at 12:00 pm. Click HERE to register.

• Turn Your Savings Into Retirement Income.

Tune in on July 12 at 2:00 pm or 8:00 pm. Click HERE to register.

• Invest For Success: Five Principles You Need To Know.

Tune in on July 19 at 10:00 am or 12:00 pm. Click HERE to register.

Don't Forget: Free Virginia Recreation Classes 

Join Virginia Recreation (formerly IM-Rec) Hoos Well fitness class this summer. Classes include Cycling, Yoga, Body Bump, and Pilates. All classes are free to UVA employees and spouses.

Classes run through July 28. Click HERE to view the schedule.

Celebrate the Summer with New Healthy Recipes

Although the Fourth of July has already passed, there are tons of ways to celebrate the summer with food. Whether you're having people over or just staying in, these recipes are for you. The Forks Over Knives website includes a variety of delicious recipes to share with family and friends that are both satisfying and nutritious. Check it out!

Best Practices in Payroll Costing: Worker Position & Worker Position Earning

The payroll costing allocation categories "Worker Position" and "Worker Position Earning" are very different and not interchangeable.  In general, "Worker Position" is the category most of us will use most often.  "Worker Position" represents the standard pay, benefits, etc. that are applied to most regular positions.

Assigning a "Worker Position Earning" costing allocation should only be done for pay categories that will be accounted for on a different worktag string than their "Worker Position" costing allocation (such as Short-Term Disability, Long-Term Disability, Retention Bonuses, etc.). If the accounting falls on the same worktag string as was set up on the "Worker Position" costing allocation, there is no need to add it into a "Working Position Earning" costing allocation.

See this Quick Reference Guide for more details

Questions?  Please let the Payroll Team know via askfinance@virginia.edu

Settlement Run Schedule Change

Starting this week, Accounts Payable has changed the settlement run from daily back to its pre-Workday-go-live schedule of three times per week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday).  

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us via askfinance@virginia.edu.

Don't Wait: RSVP for the Fourth Annual Travel & Expense Expo

We are about three weeks out from the Fourth Annual Travel & Expense Expo, and we can't wait to see you there! If you haven't already, please RSVP as soon as possible at this link.

The Expo will be held August 3, from 10 am to 2 pm at Newcomb Hall. We'll have over 35 travel-related vendor exhibits, Passport Services, Real ID processing, great seminars, plus lots of giveaways and raffles! Prizes you can enter to win this year include free airline tickets, hotel stays, and a wine tour.

Check out all the details on the Travel & Expense Expo flyer we've linked on the UVAFinance website, and while you're there, please send the flyer to anyone in your area who travels, books travel for others, or works with Workday Expense. Spread the word!

See you in August!

Product Recall Alerts in Marketplace

Click image for a larger view

Last week, PSDS was alerted by Sedgwick regarding a product correction for Cholostech LDX Cassettes.  You can see this notice here (behind NetBadge).

Know that in the future, product recalls and other similar notices are shared as a banner announcement in the UVAMarketplace.  (See an example of the UVAMarketplace announcements, visible upon logging into the system, to the left.)