July 2024 Newsletter Table of Contents
- General
- Year-End Close Kudos!
- Help Team
- New Fiscal Year, New You!
- Accounting and Grants
- New Gift Fund Requests
- Payments and Procurement
- Relocation Incentives & Moving Expenses
- Travel Advances
- Invoice Match Exceptions – Definitions and Job Aid
- HR/Payroll
- Autumn Quarter Roster Reports due August 15
- Staff Hire Spotlight: Personnel Checks
- Form I-9 Verifications at Autumn Department Orientations
- AST HR/P Units: How to Request Relocation Incentives & Moving Expenses
GENERAL
Year-End Close Kudos!
July 12, 2024, 1:59 P.M.: A cheer went up in our offices as AST completed – ahead of the University’s final remaining 2:00 P.M. deadline – the last of nearly 350 funding transfers, correcting entries, and payroll accounting adjustment requests that had arrived since June 1, 2024, for FY2024 close! Kudos and heartfelt thanks to Cara, donna, Marian, Josh, and Jenny for their indomitable patience and good cheer. You are amazing!
Huge thanks also to our Pay/Pro group for managing the hundreds of reimbursement and miscellaneous payment requests that flooded in during Spring quarter, and to Jason, Lauren, Josh, and Cara for guiding us all through CTA and ProCard verifications. Here’s to hoping that FY2025 is a little bit easier.
Bravo and thank you,
Heidi Tilghman
HELP TEAM
New Fiscal Year, New You!
Congratulations, you made it through the first fiscal year with Workday Finance! Now that we’re past the FY2024 stretch, it’s time to reflect on the past year so that we can better prepare for the next fiscal year.
We may sound like a broken record at this point, but be sure to update your Workday filters. During the final days of fiscal year-end close, we found that certain transactions weren’t getting approved in a timely manner. This is especially true for ProCard transactions AST submitted on your units’ behalf that were not getting approved by the unit funding managers (CCMs or GMs). These transactions will route to you for funding manager approval, so be sure you have a Workday filter for both cost center manager AND grant manager approvals.
Review our ProCard Approval in Workday webpage for guidance on how to set up ProCard filters for:
- Procurement Data Entry Specialists
- Funding Manager (Cost Center Managers AND Grant Managers)
As per Procurement Services, verification of transactions should be a daily, or at minimum weekly, task for all cardholders, reviewers, and approvers.
ACCOUNTING AND GRANTS
New Gift Fund Requests
Need to request a new Gift Fund within the College of Arts & Sciences? Use our updated New Gift Fund Request template! Copy the template questions and answer them in an email to casadser@uw.edu. Emailing CAS Advancement is the best way to ensure that information is completed accurately. CAS Advancement will confirm details with you, get Dean’s Office approval, and put in the request to Gift Services on your behalf. Please DO NOT submit your own request for new Gift Funds on the UW Connect Finance New/Modify Gift Request form.
Basic modification requests (e.g., cost center updates, superficial description edits, etc.) can still be submitted through the UW Connect Finance form without CAS Advancement’s review. Note that any substantive changes to how the Gift Fund will be used may require further approvals; reach out to casadser@uw.edu for these.
PAYMENTS AND PROCUREMENT
Relocation Incentives & Moving Expenses
At this time of year, there is an increase in relocation and moving activities for new staff and faculty. It is CAS best practice to offer these funds as a Relocation Incentive payment rather than moving expenses. All relocation incentives and moving expenses are now managed via Workday payroll transactions as a one-time payment through either a ‘Relocation Incentive,’ ‘Lump Sum Moving Allowance,’ or ‘Moving Expense Payment.’ If your unit’s HR/Payroll is supported by AST, please submit your request via our Compensation form and select ‘One-Time Payment’ to begin this process.
Expenses related to relocation and moves are NOT allowed for reimbursement, as per IRS tax codes. This includes activities such as prospective staff or faculty employees visiting Seattle to find housing, childcare, or sightseeing. Expenses for a prospective employee’s family members are also not allowed for reimbursement.
Additional information can be found in the following resources:
- UWHR – Employee relocation incentive
- Academic Personnel – Relocation payment
- Travel Services – Types of Travelers
- Procurement Services – Moving Expenses
Travel Advances
If your traveling faculty or staff member needs funds to cover meals prior to their trip, AST can process a travel advance for them. This is separate from ‘meal per diems’ which are only allowed after the trip has ended. Contact AST if your traveler has unique circumstances.
Guidelines and parameters for a travel advance include:
- Issued within 30 days prior to travel start date
- Covers only lodging and/or meals
- Travel length is 90 days or less
- Amount requested is more than $300
- Must be issued on GOF/DOF funds and cannot be on grant funds
- Must be reconciled within 60 days from the travel end date
To receive a travel advance, follow these steps:
- Submit a request to AST via the UW Travel form, and select ‘I need to request an advance for myself’ (or on behalf of someone else).
- Once the traveler has returned, submit a travel reimbursement request via the same UW Travel form and select ‘I need to request a reimbursement for myself’ (or on behalf of someone else) to reconcile the advance.
Note: Include the Spend Authorization number (SA) or previous REF ticket number when submitting the post-trip reimbursement.
Additional information can be found on Travel Services’ Advances & Pre-Trip Reimbursements webpage.
Invoice Match Exceptions - Definitions and Job Aid
Procurement recently published a new Invoice Match Exceptions Job Aid. In the Job Aid, you will learn:
- Invoice Match Exceptions: what are they, and why are they critical to my department and the UW?
- How do I know if I have a match exception?
- What do the match exception terms mean?
- How do I correct them?
Check it out!
HR/PAYROLL
Autumn Quarter Roster Reports due August 15
Somehow, it’s already time to start thinking about Autumn Quarter, so on Monday, July 22, AST emailed the Autumn Quarter Roster Report to departments whose HR/Payroll transactions are handled through AST. The completed report is due to AST on August 15 by 5:00 P.M.
When filling out the report, fill out all required cells so AST can quickly and effectively make the necessary changes for employees in your department.
Please take special care to determine if an employee’s FTE% needs to be updated for the start of Autumn Quarter. Many employees’ FTE percentages change over the summer, so confirming Autumn Quarter FTE% will help avoid potential errors when processing updates.
Staff Hire Spotlight: Personnel Checks
Remember, when hiring new staff, reference checks are a critical step. The UW has a policy that we must speak with the current or most recent supervisor prior to making an offer. Additionally, if the candidate is a current or former UW employee, we must request a review of the official personnel record from central HR.* These steps are critical when conducting new hires.
For more information on the reference check process, please see the Total Talent Management Reference Check page.
*Note: The HR website says to send this form to our HR Consultant, but guidance has recently updated that we are to send the form to campushr@uw.edu instead.
Form I-9 Verifications at Autumn Department Orientations
Does your department expect to welcome more than 10 new hires this autumn for the start of 2024-2025 academic year? Does your department also host an orientation event for new hires?
If you answered yes to both questions, then AST is interested in facilitating a Form I-9 verification session for your new hires at your departmental orientation! Please contact teamcas-i9@uw.edu if your department would like to learn more or take part in this service.*
Additionally, keep an eye out for our autumn quarter I-9 drop-in schedule in the upcoming August newsletter.
*Note: If AST’s I-9 team has previously facilitated a Form I-9 verification session at your departmental orientation, we will reach out in early August regarding the orientation process.
AST HR/P Units: How to Request Relocation Incentives & Moving Expenses
As mentioned in the above Payments and Procurement section, all relocation incentives and moving expenses are now managed as Workday payroll transactions.
AST HR/Payroll supported units: if you need to request moving expenses or relocation incentives for your new staff and faculty, please submit your request through our Compensation form and select ‘One-Time Payment’ to begin this process. Reach out to teamcas@uw.edu if you have any questions.
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, July 24, 2024