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August 2025 Newsletter Content Overview
- Help Team
- Coming soon: AST form updates and rebranded FDM module
- Accounting and Grants
- EIBs and the persnickety-ness of the mandatory excel form
- Effort and Project Certification: A new cycle has begun
- Payments and Procurement
- Supplier Invoices: Updates to match exceptions
- Why can’t the UW make a payment in advance?
- HR/Payroll
- Autumn I-9 drop-in schedule is now available
- SDB Award Reminders
- Workday Restricted Entry Period
- Foreign National Services
- J-1 VISER program is ending
- ISO visa request fee updates
HELP TEAM
Coming soon: AST form updates and rebranded FDM module
AST has been working hard to standardize the language, look and feel of our forms. One major update within our forms is how we collect funding details using our FDM module. To summarize the changes:
- We have renamed the section to “Transaction Worktag Details” and moved it to the first page; all information will be collected on a single page now.
- We have simplified how we collect the worktag details by reducing guiding questions.
- Resource worktag information will no longer be collected if using a Program, Grant, or Gift driver worktag, as Workday automatically populates the Resource worktags associated with these driver worktags.
- If you are using a Program, Grant, or Gift driver worktag, there will be a checkbox option to change the default Cost Center or Resource worktags.
Changes are expected to go live at the end of September. You can preview these changes by exploring our Demo Transaction Worktag Details form. Please note that we are still working on updates and final live changes may look different.
Due to the nature of these changes, all draft submissions will be removed once the updates go live. If you have any form drafts you would like to submit, please do so before the end of September.
Lastly, thank you to everyone who has provided feedback or participated in our user feedback sessions! If you have any further feedback or suggestions, please share them with us via our General Inquiry Form or by emailing teamcas@uw.edu.
ACCOUNTING AND GRANTS
EIBs and the persnickety-ness of the mandatory excel form
More departments are taking advantage of the EIB option when making a mass update to multiple transactions. The EIB is not hard; however, it is not intuitive. If you are new to using EIBs or are interested in a refresher, AST’s Accounting Team is happy to provide one-on-one training for you and your team. Schedule a quick training session with us by selecting “Request Training for a Bulk Upload (EIB) Submission” via our Correct Entries form to get started.
The EIB form is static and rigid—for good reason! Workday “reads” the data in the form which means all human-centric formatting causes error. To reduce processing time, prior to submitting an EIB, keep in mind the following:
- Clean, stripped-down data is the only “format” accepted by Workday
- Remove all color coding of cells
- Remove all formatting (including hard returns in the note fields)
- Remove all special characters ($$, commas, etc.)
- Remove all formulas in each field; input alpha or numeric data only (think “clean data”)
- Dates must be in the format YYYY-MM-DD
For redistribution of a transaction, or split FDMs, create a line for the current location of the transaction and as many lines to redistribute it (split). For example, if redistributing a $200 transaction, the lines in the EIB will be as follows:
| Accounting Date | Journal Line Memo | Ledger Account | Debit Amount | Credit Amount | Grant | Gift | Program |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-08-05 | Correcting: MP-0000XXXXX | 60230 | 100.00 | GF123456 | PG654321 | ||
| 2025-08-05 | Correcting: MP-0000XXXXX | 60230 | 100.00 | GR023456 | |||
| 2025-08-05 | Correcting: MP-0000XXXXX | 60230 | 200.00 | GR098765 |
Effort and Project Certification: A news cycle has begun
Prereview for the first half of 2025 (FY2025) has opened. Please prereview both Effort and Project Statements for the following time periods:
| Performance Period | Certification Start Date | Due Date |
|---|---|---|
|
August 20, 2025 | October 24, 2025 |
A reminder: Effort Statements are certified bi-annually, and Project Statements are certified quarterly. If you need to prereview earlier periods, please do so now.
To access statements, log in to the ECC system. If AST if your effort coordinator, we will be reaching out for confirmation of the data prior to completing the prereview.
PAYMENTS AND PROCUREMENT
Supplier Invoices: Updates to match exceptions
New and updated match exceptions have been added in Workday for supplier invoices on purchase orders. A new exception has been added for goods lines when they exceed the total amount remaining on the PO. Additionally, the thresholds have been updated and separated for several other exceptions. See the full details in the August 12, 2025, Procurement Services News Flash.
Why can't the UW make a payment in advance?
Due to specific laws and financial regulations that govern how public funds can be spent, the UW cannot make a payment in advance of receiving goods or services – or an invoice, whichever comes later. The following conditions must both be met in order for payment to be processed:
- The goods or services have been received and accepted.
- A valid invoice has been received.
See the full details in the August 14, 2025, Procurement Services News & Information, which also shares other pertinent updates, reminders and best practice guidance.
HR/PAYROLL
Autumn I-9 drop-in schedule is now available
Autumn quarter is our busiest hiring season, and AST is here to assist your incoming hires with their in-person Form I-9 verifications so that their UW employment is authorized.
We will be hosting I-9 drop-in hours from September 24 to October 1 in AST’s Office, Communications Building, B042 (located on the basement level). Please view the autumn 2025 drop-in calendar (PDF) for the full schedule and share it with your incoming hires.
Additionally, we encourage you to share the following resources with your new hires:
- I-9 Journey Map: This resource helps guide new-to-the-university employees through the process of filling out Section 1, Employee Information and Attestation, of their Form I-9 in Workday.
- I-9 Appointment Scheduling Link: If your incoming hires are unable to attend our I-9 drop-in hours, have them schedule an appointment to verify their original, unexpired document(s) with our team. The earlier the appointment, the better! We highly recommend this process be done within three business days of their hire date, as required by USCIS.
Please contact teamcas-i9@uw.edu if you or your incoming hires have any questions or concerns.
SDB Award Reminders
Speaking of the upcoming academic year, AST typically sees a high volume of SDB award requests during the beginning of autumn quarter. If AST processes your unit’s SDB awards, here are some action items your unit can do to prepare beforehand:
- Encourage your students to set up direct deposit and update their address information in MyUW. Signing up for direct deposit is strongly encouraged so that students can receive their funds quickly and securely. If your student cannot set up direct deposit, any aid checks they receive will be sent to their local (not permanent) address on file.
- If you have not already done so, submit your Requests for SDB Fund Number Setup for aid year 2025-2026. One of the most common delays for SDB award requests is not having your 6-digit fund numbers set up.
Reach out to Student Fiscal Services at sfshelp@uw.edu if you have any general questions or would like to confirm whether your funds are set up.
Workday Restricted Entry Period
Please keep in mind that the Workday Restricted Entry Period is now in effect and extends through September 11. During this restricted entry period, a number of transactions are prohibited, including:
- Compensation Changes (e.g., Base Pay Change, etc.)
- Change Jobs (e.g., Promotion, Lateral Move, etc.)
- Change Job Data Change (e.g., FTE Change, Reappointment, etc.)
Some of these transactions are prohibited for all effective dates, and some are prohibited for effective dates 9/1/2025 and later. See the FY26 Merit Process Guide for the full list of transactions affected by the restricted entry period.
For AST HR/Payroll supported units: Please note that any requests we receive prior to Friday, September 5, for these restricted business processes will be sent back with instructions to resubmit on or after September 5, as our team cannot take any action during this period. Requests received between September 5-11 will be acknowledged and placed on hold until the blackout is lifted. Once these transactions are no longer prohibited starting September 12, we will prioritize processing transactions for the 9/1-9/15 pay period.
FOREIGN NATIONAL SERVICES
J-1 VISER program is ending
Due to declining engagement, the UW International & English Language Programs (IELP) team has announced the phasing out of the J-1 VISER program. Current VISER fellows will see their programs to completion, but effective immediately no new VISER applications will be accepted for processing. The J-1 VISIT program will remain unchanged, so unit can continue to sponsor students from foreign universities to participate in full-time supervised research and work-based learning at the UW.
Review the IELP’s full VISER program announcement (PDF). AST’s webpages and forms have been updated to reflect these changes. Please reach out to the AST Foreign National Services team at teamcas@uw.edu with any questions regarding this change.
ISO visa request fee updates
As of August 1, 2025, the following fee changes are in effect:
- Visa request fees for J-1s, H-1Bs, TNs, and E-3s will decrease to $519 (from $580)
- Amendment fees for J-1 documents (DS-2019s) will decrease to $99 (from $107)
- O-1 and EB-1B hourly visa case management fees will decrease to $102 (from $117)
Please consult ISO’s Visa Fees page for more information.
As always, please fill out our General Inquiry Form (preferred) or email teamcas@uw.edu if you have any questions or concerns.
Administrative Support Team
Last Updated: Wednesday, September 10, 2025