UW Research

April 17, 2023

Finance Transformation: An Overview for Principal Investigators

In preparation for UWFT, the following message was sent from Vice Provost for Research Mari Ostendorf to Principal Investigators on April 17, 2023.

Dear Colleagues,As you may know, UW will be transitioning to a new finance system in early July. Replacing a decades old system has been a major effort, and it involved a redesign of our finance-related policies and processes. It will eventually make it easier to plan and manage finances, but the transition process will be a lot of work and require both faculty and staff to learn how to use new systems and tools.Over the next three months, you will be getting a series of communications related to the transition to the new Workday Finance system designed to address specific needs of Principal Investigators (PIs) and co-investigators. The goal is to inform you about the specific changes that directly affect sponsored research from proposal submission through award close-out. In particular, there will be changes in the systems that you use for managing awards, effort reporting, purchasing, etc. (i.e., many systems that are important for sponsored research). Research administrators are getting communications before PIs so that they will be able to answer many of your questions.You already have or will soon get email from UW Finance Transformation about being assigned a Workday “security role.” Active PIs are automatically assigned the security role Principal Investigator (Grants), which simply means that you have the authority to see and approve spending on your awards. Some PIs who do not have administrative support will also receive the Grant Manager role and should expect additional training. If this applies to you, check with your unit administrator to make sure you have had the Grant Manager role assigned to you on your behalf.What is most important for you to understand right now is that the process of switching over to the new system will involve a period from June through July (referred to as “cutover” and “catch-up”) where many transactions are limited or need to be processed manually. More details will come in subsequent emails, but a few important things for you to plan for in the next month.

  • No new awards will be set up after 6/09, and there will be a manual process that delays award set-up through July. If you are expecting an award with an anticipated start date between 6/09 and 8/01, you should consider submitting an Advance Budget Request by 5/31 (or by 6/07 at the latest). As always, you accept responsibility for charges if the award does not come in.
  • 6/07 is the last day to submit Advance Extension Requests and No-Cost Extension or Temporary Budget Extension Requests for awards that end between 6/09 and 8/01.
  • For purchases that you need to make in this fiscal year, you are advised to submit requests in the first week of June.

We know that these disruptions will pose challenges for many PIs. The staff in the Office of Research and UW Finance are, and will be, working hard to minimize the disruption. It is important that we all plan ahead to manage this challenging period and recognize the challenges we all will be facing together.Sincerely, Mari Ostendorf, Vice Provost for Research