January 2025 - What's brewing up in the new year?

January 2025 Newsletter Content Overview

• General
  • Winter and Spring 2025 Noontime Workshop Schedule
  • Reminder: Adaptive Plans will be locked February 7
  • Embedded Workday Reports in Worktags
• Academic Services
  • Academic Services in now in UW Connect
  • Administrative Gateway – Updates coming soon!
  • Affiliate and Annual-Appointed Clinical Faculty Title Changes
• Accounting and Grants
  • Prepping for fiscal year end close
• Payments and Procurement
  • Closing out a Purchase Order and Encumbrance
  • 2025 Mileage update
  • Reminders of ride share receipts
• HR/Payroll
  • Spring 2025 Roster Report
• Foreign National Services
  • Update on staff visa sponsorship for Research Scientist/Engineers

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GENERAL

Winter and Spring 2025 Noontime Workshop Schedule

The Tuesday Noontime Staff Workshop schedule for winter and spring 2025 is now available! Running from February through June, we’ve arranged the workshops into the following series:

1. The “Grantsters” series will focus on grant-specific topics.
2. The “Know How” series will focus on skills training and new tools.
3. The “Open Forum with the Experts” series welcomes discussion between your units and our subject matter experts on related topics.

We will also be trying something different going forward! Starting this winter, we will be hosting some key Noontime Workshop sessions in person. It will be nice to see everyone and be able to share questions and ideas in company. More details, along with calendar invites and zoom links, to follow.

Reminder: Adaptive Plans will be locked on February 7

Adaptive Planners: Don’t forget that your Adaptive Plans will be locked on Friday, February 7, 2025. The CAS Adaptive Planning Manual is an available resource and comprehensive guide to planning and entering your FY26-FY30 Adaptive Financial Plan.

Have any questions? We invite you to attend our Adaptive Planning Noontime Workshop on February 4, 2025, where Robert Young will be hosting a Q&A session on all things Adaptive. Calendar invites will be coming soon.

Happy Planning!

Embedded Workday Reports in Worktags

Embedded reports are now available directly within Award, Grant, Cost Center, and Gift worktags! Rather than running separate reports in Workday, you now have instant access to balances, activities, and budget-to-actuals data within relevant worktags, all in one place. Try it out with your own worktags!

For additional information, check out UW Information Technology’s Enhancing Workday Worktags with Embedded Reports page.

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ACADEMIC SERVICES

Academic Services is now in UW Connect

Academic Services will now be fielding questions via UW Connect! Please fill out the Academic Services Inquiry form (preferred) or email cas-personnel@uw.edu to get started.

This form will be posted on the Administrative Gateway soon, along with several other site updates.

Administrative Gateway - Updates coming soon!

Speaking of the Administrative Gateway, the Academic Personnel section of the website is undergoing a major overhaul. Stay tuned for updates rolling out in the next two weeks. We hope that these changes will clarify a number of the academic processes that have become increasingly complex in recent years.

We will also discuss some of these changes, including updates to the promotion process, at the next HR Managers’ Forum on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.

Affiliate and Annually-Appointed Clinical Faculty Title Changes

Effective July 2024, faculty holding clinical non-salaried, clinical salaried, and affiliate titles will no longer undergo promotion reviews by the Provost. Instead, rank changes will be determined at the local College level as part of the annual reappointment process.

For clinical and affiliate appointees receiving compensation from the University of Washington, salary adjustments may occur in conjunction with reappointment. The traditional 10% salary increase previously associated with successful promotions will still be available when a change in rank occurs during reappointment.

• Faculty holding a professorial position at another academic institution should have their rank adjusted to align with that institution.
• Faculty not holding a professorial position elsewhere will have their rank determined by the department in accordance with the qualifications outlined in the UW Faculty Code Section 24-34.

If a rank adjustment is necessary, the change should be submitted to the College via Interfolio AND noted as part of the annual reappointment process. The Interfolio case and spreadsheet will be due to the College on February 18, 2025.

For the Interfolio case, create the case using the Affiliate/Clinical Title Change template and assigning to the appropriate candidate. Once the case is created:

1. Either send the case to the candidate to upload a current CV OR do not include the candidate and upload the CV on their behalf.
2. Edit the case steps to add the department chair/director or Interfolio administrator to step 1 and the appropriate Divisional Dean to step 3.
3. Upload a chair/director letter and send the case forward to the College for review.
4. Ensure that the title change is reflected in the annual reappointment spreadsheet that is submitted to the College.

In summary, what do your units need to do?

• All CAS units need to send their reappointment spreadsheets to cas-personnel@uw.edu by February 18, 2025.
• If a rank change is needed, you must also create and submit an Interfolio case for your affiliate/clinical appointee by February 18, 2025.

Please note that if your unit does not have any rank changes and is only reappointing, we ask that you mark this in your reappointment spreadsheet.

If you need assistance with the Interfolio process, please review the Interfolio RPT help documents or reach out to the CAS Personnel Team at cas-personnel@uw.edu.

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ACCOUNTING AND GRANTS

Prepping for fiscal year end close

We are at the mid-point of fiscal year 2025. Now is a good time to review all posted transactions and, if needed, send in correction requests. This will help you, your units, and AST avoid the year-end rush in May and June 2025. Reviewing transactions monthly, via month-end close, will also help in managing this task.

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PAYMENTS AND PROCUREMENT

Closing out a Purchase Order and Encumbrance

Have a purchase order (PO) that you want to close? There is a form for that! Closing is a manual process and performed only by UW Procurement. Simply submit the Purchase Order – Change or Close form and Procurement will complete this step on your behalf. This form can also be used for changing, extending or cancelling POs.

Note: You can close a PO when it has a zero balance, or if there is still a balance but there is no longer a need for the PO. If the latter, please also request Procurement to close the associated encumbrance in the “Additional Comments” field. This is a two-step process, so we recommend calling out the need to close the encumbrance.

For more information about closing or changing a purchase order, see the Procurement Services’ Changing or Closing Orders page.

2025 Mileage Update

UW Travel has updated the mileage reimbursement rate from $0.67 per mile to $0.70 per mile in 2025.

If a mileage reimbursement was submitted for January 1, 2025, onwards and the ­­transaction has been fully approved in Workday, please submit another reimbursement request to be reimbursed the difference. Please also reference the previous ER number in the “Additional Information” field of the form so we can cross-reference the two transactions. 

Reminders on ride share receipts

UW Travel Services requires complete itemized receipts for all car services (such as Uber, Lyft, and taxis) for both UW and non-UW travelers.

Car service class upgrades, such as Uber Comfort and Lyft X (while these are the two most popular, there are many others), also require a signed administrative approval letter. Wait time fees and car service comparisons continue to be non-reimbursable.

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HR/PAYROLL

Spring 2025 Roster Report

The Spring 2025 Roster Report was sent out on January 15, 2025, to departments using AST HR/Payroll services. Completed reports are due back to AST on February 18, 2025.

Additionally, we sent invites to AST HR/Payroll-supported units for an online information session on the Spring 2025 Roster Report. Please drop by with any questions you have about your department’s roster report.

• Date: Wednesday, February 5, 2025
• Time: 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
• Zoom Link: https://washington.zoom.us/my/jballew 

Contact Jim Ballew (jballew@uw.edu) for more information.

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FOREIGN NATIONAL SERVICES

Update on staff visa sponsorship for Research Scientist/Engineers

Research Scientist/Engineer (RSE) positions eligible for H-1B sponsorship will no longer require documentation of UWHR’s approval when submitting the visa request to International Scholars Operations (ISO). This includes the following titles:

• Research Scientist/Engineer 1-4
• Research Scientist Senior
• Research Scientist Principal
• Research Scientist Senior Principal positions – including IHME and APL Research Scientists

Please note that UWHR approval remains required for all other staff titles.

Hiring units should continue to email their UWHR recruitment partner if they are interested in H-1B or E-3 visa sponsorship for a vacant RSE position. Please copy Jack Hamrick (hamrickj@uw.edu) on these messages. Requests to provide H-1B sponsorship for a current RSE working at the UW on a different visa type may be submitted directly to AST. This includes current employees who have an F-1 visa (i.e. they are in an Optional Practical Training or Curricular Practical Training period).

Visit UWHR’s Staff visa sponsorship page for additional information, or reach out to AST’s Foreign National Services team at teamcas@uw.edu with any questions you may have.

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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