Issue 9

Welcome to Workday Watch—a resource designed to keep you informed with timely updates and helpful insights. Each edition is shaped by the questions and feedback we receive through the Workday Support Portal. Whether you’re navigating new processes or seeking clarity on recent changes, Workday Watch aims to provide the guidance you need, when you need it most. 

To access these reports in Workday, simply go to the search bar and type in the report name.  

WM Payroll Accounting with Adjustments - This report enables Administrators to review Payroll Accounting Adjustments (PAA) and regular Payroll Journal Lines. WM Payroll Accounting with Adjustments is available to users assigned to the Cost Center Manager and Cost Center Financial Analyst roles. 

WM Expenditure Details - This report provides details on expenditures including Line Memo, Expense Report Memo, Business Purpose, and BuyWM Description fields. WM Expenditure Details is available to users with company-level roles such as Accountant or Expense Data Entry Specialist. 

WM Find Purchase Order Lines for Organizations - This report provides Purchase Order details including BuyWM Description and Line Memo fields. WM Find Purchase Order Lines for Organizations is available to users with a Designated Manager role and users with company-level roles such as Accountant or Expense Data Entry Specialist. 

While the Change Management team is actively conducting roundtables across campus, they also want to hear directly from the broader campus community regarding potential Workday enhancements. If you have feedback or suggestions that could improve your experience, please submit the Workday Enhancement Form and let the team know your thoughts! 

One of the common themes in the roundtables is that processes are taking longer than they used to. To help us quantify the extra time you are spending on certain processes, please fill out the Workday Process Time Analysis Form. Select a process and provide information about how often you complete it, as well as the average time it takes in Workday and how long it used to take in Banner. Your feedback helps us identify areas for improvement and support changes to make your experience easier.  

We are excited to spotlight colleagues from across campus who are going above and beyond to learn Workday and generously share their expertise with others. During a recent roundtable discussion with the Student Affairs team, several members of the team praised Jen Barham for her outstanding support and guidance throughout the Workday rollout, specifically around hiring and recruiting. Jen’s willingness to help and her proactive approach have made a significant difference for the Student Affairs staff, ensuring a smoother transition and greater confidence in using Workday.  

Thank you, Jen!  

Did you know that Workday offers an improved application process for internal applicants? Workday’s job hub for current employees offers several strategic and practical advantages for current employees:  

Streamlined Application Process - Internal candidates benefit from a simplified application flow that auto-fills personal and professional details from their Workday profile.  

Personalized Job Discovery - The internal job hub offers tailored job recommendations, alerts, and easy navigation through postings, helping employees find roles that align with their skills and career goals.  

Transparency and Tracking - Employees can view all active applications, track their status, and manage related tasks on their Workday dashboard.  

Please look for your next career opportunity by visiting the UHR website and selecting “Job Hub for Current Employees.”   

The project team is committed to maintaining an accurate and up-to-date issue log, regularly reviewing reported challenges and tracking their progress toward resolution. Recent updates to the log include successfully addressing instances of overpayments and underpayments, ensuring that payroll discrepancies are resolved promptly. Additionally, the team has resolved issues related to the creation of custom security groups, further enhancing user access management and security within the system.  

In Workday, the recommended best practice is for employees to enter their own time, which ensures their timesheet routes directly to their manager for approval. However, when an employee holds more than one hourly position, additional steps are necessary to avoid routing issues. Individuals with the Department Admin role can enter and approve time for all positions—regardless of supervisory organization access.  

This includes: 

- Time entered by the Department Admin on behalf of the employee 

- Time entered by the employee for their other position(s) 

To ensure proper approval routing, it’s important for the Department Admin to coordinate with the employee’s manager. The manager should approve the hours submitted by the employee before the Department Admin enters time for the other position. If this step is skipped, Workday will route all hours—regardless of position—to the Department Admin, bypassing the manager’s approval.

Employees are encouraged to review their current remote work agreements and submit a new request in Workday prior to January 5, 2026, if they wish to continue or modify their flexible work arrangement. This process replaces the previous remote work agreement that was submitted via DocuSign.  

To access the request, type “Request Flexible Work Arrangement” into the Workday search bar. Be sure to review the help text before filling out the fields and submitting your request. 

Workday’s Flexible Work Arrangement process allows employees to request telework and alternate schedules by submitting a formal request through the Workday system. This request is reviewed and approved by the employee’s manager and University Human Resources to ensure alignment with business needs and policy compliance.  

Key elements of the Workday Flexible Work Agreement include:  

Telework: Employees may request to work remotely on a full-time or hybrid basis based on position description and job requirement.  

Alternate Schedules: Employees may propose flexible hours, compressed workweeks, or staggered shifts to better accommodate personal and professional responsibilities.  

Approval Workflow: All requests are routed to the employee’s manager and University Human Resources for review. Approval is contingent on position description, job responsibilities, team coverage, and operational requirements.  

Documentation: The approved arrangement is recorded in Workday and serves as the official record of the employee’s work schedule and location expectations.  

Welcome, Anna Olds!  
Anna Olds has joined the Travel Office as a part-time Travel Accounts Specialist.  Anna is currently in training and quickly becoming a great asset to the team.  Please join us in giving her a warm welcome as she settles into her new role! We appreciate your patience as she continues to learn our processes, systems and policies.    

Covington Travel Reminder  
Covington requires a fully approved Spend Authorization for all bookings. Please ensure that you provide the PDF version of the approved Spend Authorization, as this document confirms both approval status and includes the worktag/index used to fund the airfare or rail expenses. Covington will not accept any other format or document in place of this PDF.  
 
Graduate Students – Travel Reimbursements  
When Workday first launched on July 1, there was some confusion around how to process travel for graduate students.  We appreciate your patience as we learned the new system.   

For W&M Graduate Students who need reimbursements for travel-related expenses, please remember:  

Spend Authorizations and Expense Reports must be submitted as ECM – student, not as an employee.    

Although graduate students appear in Workday as employees due to payroll, their travel must be processed under the student designation.   

An Expense Data Entry Specialist must submit these items on behalf of the student.  

VIMS: No changes are needed. Your graduate students should continue submitting travel as employees, following your current standard practice. 

Reassigning tasks in Workday should be avoided as it permanently transfers responsibility from the original employee to another, removing the task from all inboxes in that role. 

For example, if you and a colleague both have the Department Admin role and receive a task for a staff bonus payment, but your office assigns staff to your colleague and students/faculty to you, simply leave the task in your inbox for your colleague. There is no need to reassign since both of you can see and act on the task.