Georgia Tech is preparing to go live in July with its new cloud-based financial system by Workday. As such, financial users across campus have been coming together to test various scenarios. During these testing sessions, the program team has been thoroughly testing and validating Workday business processes from beginning to end. In addition, the team has been confirming the integration with Georgia Tech’s extended systems and ensuring the integrity of data conversions.

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.