How does Workday choose what to include in a release? 

Workday sources input from their customer base for upcoming releases via the online Workday Community. Every Workday customer, including Georgia Tech, is a part of the Community and has the ability to raise and vote on enhancement requests.  

Each release varies. One release may contain many enhancements that impact the user experience while the next may be more focused on backend updates that helps the Institute to better configure processes. 

How does Georgia Tech choose what to implement? 

There are many factors to consider when the Georgia Tech Workday team evaluates the release items to choose what will be implemented. For example, some release items are only applicable if also using other Workday products such as Workday HCM or Workday Inventory, would not fit the way security is configured at Georgia Tech, or are related to financial concepts not applicable to higher-ed such as corporate credit cards. 

There are two types of release items: 

• Automatically Available – Cannot opt out and may still require some configuration  

• Setup Required – Optional functionality, requires additional configuration 

The Workday team works together with the Central Offices to identify which of these items to uptake. Some will go live on the day of the release while others may be postponed in the event additional configuration or changes are needed. 

What is included in the 2020R2 release? 

The 2020R2 release includes a mix of user interface updates as well as some backend enhancements. Key campus impacts include a new My Shortcuts feature to improve navigation, some UI changes to expense reports, and a new line memo feature for accounting adjustments. 2020R2 consists of many optional and behind-the-scene features scheduled for future implementation. 

The Workday team hosted a 2020R2 release webinar prior to the release. During this webinar you can learn more about the applicable changes coming to campus along with demos of the key campus-facing updates. Download the slides to see an appendix of all the available release items for the Institute and access the webinar recording.

As employees, all of us will need to learn new ways of interacting with the system and with each other. For example, the way we recruit, hire, and onboard employees will change, and many will transition to new timekeeping systems. Managers will be given the tools and resources to better view and manage information to support their direct reports.

“Currently, managers will ask someone (a member of the HR community) to initiate a transaction for them,” said Kim Harrington, associate vice president for Human Resources. “This system will now enable managers to enter the system themselves and begin to initiate actions on behalf of their employees. So managers are empowered to do much more in the system than they ever have been before.”

Employees will be offered training based on their specific job functions. To maximize time efficiency and ensure that employees are trained in critical areas, some courses will be required and others will be strongly recommended based on their future use of the system. Employees will be able to complete most required courses as either part of an instructor-led training (in-person or webinar) or through self-paced, web-based trainings, depending on preference and learning style.

Training will launch on March 2, in a variety of formats:

• Instructor-Led Training: Live, face-to-face session in a classroom setting
  with opportunities to ask questions and complete hands-on activities.

• Webinar: Live, virtual session with opportunities to ask questions via chat.

• Seminar: Live, face-to-face session in an auditorium or large classroom with opportunities to ask questions.

• Web-Based Training: Prerecorded, narrated presentation that may include demonstrations and hands-on exercises.

• Job Aids: Step-by-step instructions on how to complete specific transactions.

Getting Started with Training

The course catalog is the hub for training details, providing a list of the training topics and available formats. To view the full course catalog and training schedule, visit transformation.gatech.edu/oneusg-connect-training. Additional resources are available to help you determine which courses will be appropriate as you transition to OneUSG Connect.
Training registration will open this week.  

If you have any questions about training or OneUSG Connect, you can reach out to the team at erp.readiness@gatech.edu.

Utilizing this Services Portal will help expedite supplier inquiries and allows suppliers to easily share attachments with the Accounts Payable team through the attachments feature. Once the inquiry is submitted, suppliers will receive updates via email and can directly respond via email. There is no registration required to access or submit inquiries via the portal.

This Services Portal is a new supplier resource in addition to the Supplier Registration Portal which launched in July 2019. Learn more about how suppliers and prospective suppliers can use both tools to manage their business with Georgia Tech below.

Supplier Services Portal

Access Today- https://gatech.service-now.com/guest

This portal includes a series of forms that will allow suppliers to inquire about the following:

• Check Payment of My Invoice
• Inquire about Past Due Invoices
• Submit a Statement
• Submit Changes to Vendor Information
• Register for ACH Electronic Payments via Bank of America Paymode

The services portal will help Georgia Tech Accounts Payable to better track and route vendor inquiries and provide helpful metrics that will be used to improve processes for suppliers.

This portal is designed to replace email correspondence with vendor.help@business.gatech.edu and ap.ask@business.gatech.edu which will both be decommissioned on February 27, 2020. While you can still use the email as a method of inquiry until then, the form is encouraged, and questions submitted via the portal will be responded to with priority.

Supplier Registration Portal

Link provided upon request to new suppliers not yet registered with Georgia Tech.

All New US trade suppliers, consultants, service providers, and honoraria recipients must register as a supplier using the Supplier Registration Portal.  Registration through the Supplier Portal is by invitation only and will prompt the user to create an account with the system.

You are invited to attend the Transformation Expo — an information fair designed to help employees understand each of Georgia Tech's current campuswide transformations: Workday, OneUSG Connect, LITE, and ServiceNow. The expo will take place on September 5 from noon to 3 p.m. in the Student Center Ballroom.  

Here is a recap of the current Georgia Tech transformations that representatives will be on hand to lead activities on and answer questions about:  

• Workday – We updated Georgia Tech’s legacy financial system to a cloud-based program.   
• OneUSG Connect – We are streamlining the Institute’s human resources system with the University System of Georgia OneUSG Connect initiative.  
• LITE Enterprise Reporting – We are providing trusted, consistent, and accurate data and reports for decision-making.  
• ServiceNow – We are introducing a central hub where employees can access step-by-step instructions (job aids) for various campus systems including information technology, financials, Coda building support, and human resources. Employees will use ServiceNow to submit service tickets for help and may call to speak to a program representative for support.  

Register today to attend the Transformation Expo! 

Remember, these transformations will impact every employee at every level within Georgia Tech including faculty, staff, student employees, affiliates, Tech Temps, and contracted workers. For instance, all financial processes — from grants, to expenses, to financial accounting — are now managed through Workday. Similarly, when fully realized, all human resource transactions — from recruiting and onboarding to retirements and terminations — will be managed through OneUSG Connect. 

Join us at the Transformation Expo to learn from the teams helping the Institute Create the Next business platforms for Georgia Tech. 

“In light of the recent security incident involving our student information system, it is important that we take steps to secure this system and others that connect to our business critical systems,” said Jimmy Lummis, Georgia Tech’s chief information security officer.

Students, faculty, and staff can currently access TechWorks and TimeOut from any computer network. This change would require individuals who are not connected to a Georgia Tech campus network to first connect to the campus VPN before attempting to open web applications. The remote, secure VPN connection ensures that users maintain the privacy and confidentiality of their data regardless of their location by adding an extra layer of security for off-campus users as they leverage web-based services to send and receive data.

Georgia Tech offers VPN service through the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client, which is available for Windows, OS X, and Linux operating systems. It is also available for mobile Apple iOS and Android devices. To get started with the campus VPN, visit faq.oit.gatech.edu/content/how-do-i-get-started-campus-vpn.

A video demo and additional information regarding the transition can be found at b.gatech.edu/vpninfo.

You must log into the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) system before navigating to the open session below. Log in at https://training.osp.gatech.edu.

• Open Lab- Any Topic: Includes all process areas including financial accounting and supplier accounts
• Open Lab- Expenses
• Open Lab- Procurement
• Open Lab- Grants
• Open Lab- Expenses & Procurement

Registration is required for open labs, but the users may come and go any time during the 2 hour block.

Open Labs are just one of many support resources available to campus users for the Workday Launch. Learn more on the Transformation website.

If you have any questions, please reach out to the team at erp.readiness@gatech.edu.

When you navigate to LITE, locate the FDM Crosswalk Tool.  There are multiple reports cross-walking PeopleSoft Fund, Account and Project ID to their Workday equivalent values including: 

• PeopleSoft Project ID to FDM Values
• PeopleSoft Project ID to FDM Award Values
• PeopleSoft Account to FDM Values
• PeopleSoft Fund ID to FDM Values
• Driver Related Worktags
• Spend Revenue Ledger

At the bottom of the crosswalk landing page, you will see that the raw data for Account, Fund and Project ID can be downloaded.  Please watch this instructional video first to learn how to navigate and search in the crosswalk. 

Questions 

If you have any questions, please reach out to the team at erp.ask@gatech.edu. 

There are many support and training resources available to campus in order to help with the transition to Workday. These resources are designed to meet the needs of campus users from simple navigation questions, to advanced service requests. Take the time to review these resources.

Workday Peers: A community of users who are trained in one or two particular business process areas, including expenses, grants, procurement, PCard, or financial accounting. Workday Peers can provide peer support to end users through approximately six months beyond go live. Workday Peers are embedded all across campus and can assist with basic process and navigation questions. Beginning July 1, Workday Peer contact details will be available on transformation.gatech.edu/financials-launch-resources.

Open Labs: Open labs provide space where end users can come in person to get support when completing transactions or working through new tasks in the system. Some labs will focus on particular business processes, while others will be generally focused. Registration is required and will be available on transformation.gatech.edu/financials-launch-resources.

ServiceNow Financials Service Desk: A central hub where end users can access step-by-step instructions (job aids) for specific processes in Workday, review frequently asked questions, call to speak to program representatives who can assist with support, or submit a service ticket for help.

The Financials Services page on ServiceNow can be accessed through services.gatech.edu, or call 404-385-5555 directly.

Rapid Response Alerts: The program team will utilize emails, memos, and other alerts that will be sent to all campus users when needed.

Get Prepared with Workday Training

Workday Financials training is available to all financial users – including faculty and researchers. Training will be available for the life of Workday Financials, providing all future new hires as well as current employees the opportunity to review training content at any time. Materials will be continuously improved to reflect twice-per-year Workday releases as well as any Georgia Tech configuration changes.

 There are multiple types of training available, including:

• Web-Based Training (WBT): On demand, independent learning hosted online
• Seminars: The SAME content as the WBT, presented in-person with Q&A time
• Job-Aids/ Quick Reference Guides: On demand, process walkthroughs
• Instructor-led Training (ILT): Classroom training for central office users and financial managers

Campus is encouraged to consult the Training Get Started Guide for an overview of what training methods are available, how to determine what training is needed for their role, and helpful tips for registering. All training registration as well as the Get Started Guide can be accessed through the Financials Course Catalog.

Please reach out to your unit’s financial team if you have any questions about your Workday roles.

Have Questions?

If you have any questions about go live or any of the resources referenced, please contact the program team at erp.ask@gatech.edu.

Important deadlines include:

• Thursday, June 27 – Last day employees with an Accountant Role can take the required instructor-led training.  As a reminder, a passing score on the FDM web-based training is a required prerequisite. 

• Friday June 28 – Last day (through 5 pm ET) employees can take the required PCard web-based training to ensure access to Workday on July 1.

For more information on Workday training sessions, visit transformation.gatech.edu/training/workday-financials-course-catalog.

• Where to find training materials and how to register for relevant courses
• Detail on support materials available for Go Live, including a demo of ServiceNow
• Details on important dates for deployment and cutover

Register today: https://gatech.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_41GQsUjnDaX911r

The Workday Financials Transformation will impact thousands of users across campus. Georgia Tech is adopting Workday Financials to transform the Institute’s financial systems with leading cloud-based technology. Workday provides an intuitive, user-friendly, and modern experience. And enhanced reporting capabilities will enhance financial decision making.

Campus-wide events such as the Go Live webinar give financial users a chance to hear about the functionality and progress of the Financials Transformation first-hand from the program team. The Program Team has delivered over 25 info sessions covering 6 different topics since August 2018. All of the recordings of the sessions are available on the Financials Transformation website’s resources page.

Reporting in Workday will enable campus to make informed business decisions. With real-time data and drill down functionality, Workday reporting works with users to proactively identify anomalies and trends. Workday provides an easy to use interface with functionality including: 

• Auditable workflow and tracking 
• Inbox with status and prompts 
• Drilldown within the application to investigate detail behind transactions, reports, and dashboards
• Ability to save frequent prompts as filters for screens and/or reports 
• Flexibility and ease of navigation 

Attendees can expect to learn the advantages that come with this new way of reporting, see the interface of Workday Reports, and a demo of the reporting functionality.

There are three sessions to choose from and attendees must complete this survey to reserve a spot. 

• May 15 from 9:00 – 10:30 a.m. in EBB Krone CHOA Seminar Room 
• May 21 from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. in EBB Krone CHOA Seminar Room 
• May 29 from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. (BlueJeans webinar) 

More than 1,600 financials users across campus have attended the past 4 series of sessions to learn more about the Workday Go Live.  

“The presentation was concise and explained what, where, when and why the system would be changing and how it would affect the end user's daily activity.” - Procurement Session Participant 

As you know, we are rapidly approaching our Workday go live which is slated to launch on July 1, 2019. In preparation for go live, program leadership held the first of four go/no-go discussions earlier this week. In these discussions, we evaluate status, assess risks, and develop effective strategies to alleviate obstacles in our path. The goal of these sessions is to use metrics to review evaluation criteria and make determination our readiness for go live. We will send a communication following each of these checkpoints with our current status and highlighting areas that need focus between now and July.

After this first check point, we believe that we are on track to launch Workday on July 1^st. We recognize that there is still a lot of work to be done between now and then, and that there are several areas of particular focus, including:

• Data Conversion & FDM Mapping – additional validation needed to ensure data effectively converts over to Workday. We are developing and will communicate a schedule to continue FDM validation with campus units between now and go live (to be released the week of April 15^th).
• End to End Testing – We are adding an additional End to End Cycle (April 15 to May 17^th) to test any remaining functionality, integrations, robust scenarios and reports. In this cycle, it is critical to that ensure Extended Systems can properly integrate with Workday.
• Reporting – Reports still need to be built and tested (700 delivered reports will be available and 64 custom reports).

Leadership will review status again in mid-May, and we will send an additional communication shortly afterwards.

Looking back over the last two years, we have come a long way in our Workday knowledge, identification and building of a team, and the design and building of our future Finance system.  I want to extend sincerest thanks to the Georgia Tech community for supporting this program and ask that you continue to dedicate the necessary time and effort that is needed in order for the launch phase to run smoothly. I also want to remind you to continue visiting the Transformation website (www.transformation.gatech.edu) and sending your questions to the ERP helpdesk (erp.ask@gatech.edu). These resources are in place to support our end users and ensure Georgia Tech is ready for go live.

Jennifer Hubert

Associate Vice President, Institute Planning & Resource Management

Katie Crawford
Financial Transformation project lead

Apart from helping the financial community prepare for the transition this summer, these testing activities are helping the training team develop future training materials and other supporting documentation that will be needed as planned system updates are implemented. Being a cloud-based solution, financial system updates are anticipated throughout the year, making proactive training and learning vital to the success of the financial community.

“Administration and Finance is excited to embrace this move to the cloud,” said Jim Fortner, interim executive vice president for Administration and Finance. “Georgia Tech financials will always be on the most up-to-date version of the system. This financial transformation will help us improve efficiencies and overcome workarounds that come with using overly customized and legacy software.“

Campuswide Workday training is set to launch in May, and the learning approach will utilize multiple learning styles, which involve structured learning, social learning, and experiential learning.

• Structured learning follows a more traditional approach, providing financial users with web-based and instructor-led trainings.
• Social learning consists of open lab sessions and utilizing a network of system experts to create a culture of peer-to-peer support.
• Experiential learning is focused on self-help and on-demand learning. Users will be able to access interactive tutorials, job aids, and videos as needed for their tasks. This training model encourages financial users to be self-sufficient and learn to access the resources available to them.

Training content has been organized by the process areas in scope for Georgia Tech’s Workday implementation. The full course catalog can be viewed at transformation.gatech.edu/training. Web-based training will be available on demand to the entire financial community, while seminars and classroom (instructor-led) training will be targeted toward specific security roles in Workday. Registration details will be communicated later this spring.

In the meantime, information sessions have been taking place on campus to give financial users a preview of the Workday process areas and to lay the foundation for training. Over the past year, sessions have included Workday Overview and the FDM, Expenses in Workday, and Grants Management in Workday. All sessions have been recorded and can be accessed from the Transformation website’s resources page.

Beginning in March, financial users can attend a Workday Procurement information session. During the Workday Procurement sessions, attendees will learn about procurement terminology changes, get an overview of Workday Procurement, and see live demonstrations on creating requisitions and using a PCard with Workday. Learn more about the sessions and register at bit.ly/workday-procurement today.

If you have any questions about the Financials Transformation, you can reach out to the team at erp.ask@gatech.edu.

There are four sessions to choose from located at various venues across campus:  

• March 13, 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.; Student Success Center Press Room A&B 

• March 21, 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.; Marcus Nanotech Room 1116-1118  

• March 27, 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.; EBB Krone-CHOA Room  

• April 3, 2:00 p.m. – 3:30.p.m.; Webinar   

More than 1,000 financial users attended the past three series of info sessions, and you can view the recordings from the Workday Overview & FDM session, Expenses in Workday, and Grants in Workday session on the website.  

"I really appreciate how much effort has been demonstrated to ensure we are getting a beneficial and helpful system." 

-  Session Participant 

Complete the registration survey to secure your spot in a session and learn more about the topics and event details.

“The Institute is transforming its financial systems to increase efficiencies and streamline financial processes across all units on campus,” said Jim Fortner, interim executive vice president for Administration and Finance. “The configured workflows and improved reporting capabilities will allow for checks and balances throughout a transaction’s lifecycle and will help align our administrative processes with Georgia Tech’s priorities.”

During this comprehensive testing phase, a variety of business transactions and integrations will be tested for functionality, compatibility, and reporting capabilities using the new cloud-based system. In parallel, user acceptance testing (UAT) will validate that integrations have been built to the business requirements while identifying underlying issues and/or required adjustments. UAT will also give Georgia Tech financial users the knowledge and experience needed to own and maintain each integration after the new system is live.

Of the many improvements the Financials Transformation project aims to provide, a critical component is enhanced transparency across all of Tech’s financial transactions. Once the new system is in place, campus financial users will be able to easily see workflows and determine where a task is within a process. Moving to a single platform and reducing systems will allow units to work more collaboratively and will improve transparency between decentralized and centralized units on campus. And since Workday is a cloud-based solution, Georgia Tech will always be on the latest version with access to new features.

Get Informed, Get Involved

To help ensure a two-way dialogue with the campus community, the Financials Transformation team is conducting a variety of information sessions to help build awareness and an understanding of the new system as well as to collect feedback and input from faculty, researchers, and staff.

In the past five months, the team has covered topics including the Financial Data Model (FDM), which is replacing the PeopleSoft Chart of Accounts, and expenses using Workday. More than 800 campus members attended these sessions. Recordings of these sessions are available on the Enterprise  Transformation website.

The next series of info sessions begin in January and will cover grants management in Workday. These sessions are especially relevant for campus financial users who oversee, manage, and support grants and awards. Click here, to register for this event.

Community members are also encouraged to subscribe to The Workday Buzz, a bimonthly publication that provides an overview of the financial transformation progress and a digest of upcoming events. Complete the signup box at the bottom of the Transformation website homepage, or via this link.

Lastly, keep an eye out for communication from your unit’s change agent. There are more than 100 change agents representing more than 140 units on campus that can help answer questions about Workday and point you to helpful resources.

For more informaiton, visit transformation.gatech.edu.

There are 4 sessions to choose from located at various venues across campus:  

• January 10, 1:30 – 3:00 pm.; Marcus Nanotech Room 1116-1118  

• January 16, 9:30 – 11:00 am; Marcus Nanotech Room 1116-1118  

• January 23, 1:00 – 2:30 pm; EBB Krone-CHOA Room  

• January 30, 1:30 – 3:00 pm; Webinar   

 More than 800 financial users attended the past two series of info sessions, and you can view the recordings from the Workday Overview & FDM session and the Expenses in Workday session on the website.  

"I really appreciate how much effort has been demonstrated to ensure we are getting a beneficial system. Several of the changes for the positive will be most helpful." - Session Participant

Complete the registration survey to secure your spot in a session and learn more about the event details.

• Champions: Campus leaders who advocate for and represent the transformation.
• Change Agents: Financial users who will share program communications and updates and represent their unit’s interests to the Program Team. There is at least one Change Agent for each academic, research, and administrative unit on campus.
• Gurus: Workday super users that are embedded across campus to help financial users troubleshoot and transition to the new system after go-live.

The Change Network launch started with the Champions Workshop. During this workshop, Champions learned about resources available for Program outreach and discussed ideas on how to leverage existing tools on campus to advocate for the Program. Associate VP of Institute Planning and Resource Management, Jennifer Hubert is looking forward to representing the transformation as a Champion.

“This Transformation will help the Institute better use resources through a common system and set of processes, helping financial processes at Georgia Tech become more efficient.”

Jennifer Hubert, the Associate VP of Institute Planning and Resource Management (Interim)

Visit transformation.gatech.edu for more information on the Change Network and for an update on Change Agent Activities.

Attendees will receive an overview of Workday’s expenses terminology and functionality including a live demonstration of processes. The 90-minute info session lays the groundwork for training that will begin in the spring of 2019. 

There are 4 sessions to choose from located at various venues across campus: 

• October 17th, 9:30am-11am, Student Success Center Press Room A&B 

• October 24th, 1:30pm-3:00pm, Student Center Theatre 

• November 1st, 2:00pm-3:30pm, Marcus Nanotechnology Conference Rooms 1116-1118 

• November 6th, 2:00pm-3:30pm, BlueJeans Webinar 

Over 400 financial users attended the Workday Overview & FDM series of info sessions, and an even larger audience is anticipated for Expenses in Workday. 

Complete the registration survey to secure your spot in a session and learn more about the topics and event details.

“Georgia Tech financial users, across all units, are very excited about transforming Georgia Tech’s financial systems,” said Alan Katz, assistant dean for Finance and Administration at the College of Computing. “The Workday Financials solution offers next generation cloud computing that will evolve with the Institute — all with a user-friendly interface. It has the potential to replace or augment all of our disparate accounting, budgeting, purchasing, T&E, and grants management systems.”

Katz added that the significant process and policy improvements are already being identified. One initial win is automating non-employee payments for more timely and accurate tracking of project balances.  

During the Architect Phase this spring, the Financials Transformation Program conducted several Customer Review Sessions to share the newly defined business processes with an expanded Georgia Tech population. Customer Confirmation Sessions will be held this summer, targeting an even larger audience in an effort to ensure the campus community has an opportunity to provide feedback and is engaged throughout the design process.

Additionally, headway continues on the development of the Foundational Data Model (FDM), which will replace the current Chart of Accounts (COA). One of the primary goals of the FDM is to ensure alignment with the University System of Georgia. The new FDM will also provide additional details and dimensions that are expected to improve reporting and enhance decision-making.

Developing the FDM is an iterative process, but the socialization of the new structure has already begun with presentations made at the Year End Town Hall and A&F Speaks. Additional outreach will continue throughout the summer with information sessions. More information on the Financial Transformation project at Georgia Tech, including details on the FDM, can be found at transformation.gatech.edu.

Reeves, who has been responsible for media relations at Johns Hopkins for the last decade, was selected for the Georgia Tech appointment after a national search. As assistant vice president, she will lead the department responsible for managing the Institute’s news production, media relations activities, campus communications and special events, social media channels, economic development and research communications, as well as leadership communications programs. She succeeds Lisa Grovenstein, who retired earlier this spring after a 34-year career of service to the state of Georgia, with more than 12 years at the Institute.

Reeves will assume her new role at Georgia Tech Sept. 1.

Reeves has been with Johns Hopkins in her current role since 2008. Prior to higher education, she was at The Washington Post serving as a staff writer, chief of the Anne Arundel and Prince George's bureaus, and assistant Maryland editor. Previously, she was a national and regional reporter for Knight-Ridder Newspapers, and a reporter for the Providence Journal and New Bedford (Mass.) Standard-Times.

She has been a Casey Journalism Center Fellow and a Knight Center for Specialized Journalism Fellow and, as a Knight-Ridder reporter, covered the U.S. Congress, federal agencies, transportation, and the military. While with Knight-Ridder, she traveled the country extensively to write about health care and children and family issues for publication in a number of Knight-Ridder newspapers. She was part of an award-winning team for Knight-Ridder that produced a series about the perils of health care among African Americans and other ethnic minorities nationwide. Reeves shared in the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service awarded to the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald in 1998 for its coverage of the Red River Flood.

Reeves is a graduate of Illinois State University, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications/Journalism. She is a member of the executive committee of the Association of American Universities Public Affairs Network, Council for Advancement and Support of Education, Public Relations Society of America, and the National Association of Black Journalists. 

She and her husband, Ben, currently reside in Columbia, Maryland, with their twin sons, Cameron and Matthew.

This transition to Workday is expected to help Georgia Tech reduce its administrative burden by increasing effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity. With a more user-friendly interface, Workday is expected to provide a simplified and streamlined experience for submitting transactions and accessing information. In addition, improved reporting, self-service tools, and real-time status updates will more effectively support decision-making and planning.

The key to achieving these objectives is understanding the Institute’s campuswide requirements as the team designs and configures the new system. The project team consists of representatives from academic, research, and administrative units and is led by the Office of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in collaboration with Accenture – a consulting firm. A phased approach is being used to support the Workday implementation:

Phase and Scheduled Start Date

• Plan: August 2017
• Architect: March 2018
• Configure and Prototype: July 2018
• Test: December 2018
• Deploy: May 2019
• Support: July 2019

These phases are iterative and will allow the team to refine, define, and fine-tune the application. The project team has recently completed the Plan phase which defined the scope and approach. It is currently working through the Architect phase, defining Workday's core data structures and setting the foundation for the new application. A series of business process design sessions are currently being conducted. As the team progresses through the Architect phase, more and more financial system users will be engaged to review plans and provide feedback to the team.

Building a solid foundation

At the heart of this new financial ecosystem is the Foundation Data Model (FDM) which will replace Georgia Tech's current Chart of Accounts. The new FDM will provide reporting features that currently do not exist within PeopleSoft. An advisory council has been created to assist the team with the design of the FDM. This team consists of Carol Gibson (Controller), Lisa Godfrey (Director - Budget Development & Capital Budgets), and Sandy Mason (Senior Director – Grants and Contracts Accounting).

The team is following a four-step process to design and build the FDM:

1. Gather and Learn
2. Analyze and Design
3. Socialize and Refine
4. Iterate and Test

They are currently focused on defining the FDM dimensions (e.g. funding source, account, class, etc.) and each dimension’s length; the first iteration should be completed by the end of the Architect phase. The team will begin campus outreach in the form of in-person discussions and website updates this coming July.

The Workday solution will impact more than 8,000 campus users and create the next financial system platform for the Institute. The team is excited to help develop a solution which effectively and efficiently supports our business needs across the enterprise and looks forward to engaging campus users in this process.