UWFT for the Research Community
Updated May 23, 2023
Looking for PI-specific information? Visit UWFT for Principal Investigators
Contents
What is UW Finance Transformation?
UWFT is a redesign of our finance-related policies, processes, and systems, working collaboratively toward a single financial system of record in Workday for all of the UW. This transformation enables teams to reduce risk through predictable, real-time, and informed decisions. For more information refer to the UWFT website.
How is the Office of Research Involved in UWFT?
With sponsorship from Vice Provost for Research Mari Ostendorf, the Office of Research and our campus partners (forming the Research Administration Pillar) are actively involved in UWFT. A top priority of ours is to support you through the upcoming award process transformations, and ensure your work in the research community continues as seamlessly as possible.
What’s Transforming for the Research Community?
Read our interview with Kathryn Hovick, Senior Grants & Contracts Manager in the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) as she shares her thoughts on some of the upcoming changes and what she and her colleagues are doing to prepare.
Read our Grant Award to Close
Grant Award to Close (GA2C) refers to the business processes involved from the time an award is received through close‐out. You are likely familiar with many of the GA2C activities as they are performed throughout the MyResearch Project Lifecycle.
UWFT automates, streamlines, and provides transparency into GA2C processes.
Sponsor Updates
UW is implementing a centralized approach to tracking sponsors and donors. SAGE and Finance systems will be updated to make use of this new central Funding Entity Core Data Management (FECDM) solution, which provides streamlined donor data and better reporting capabilities.
SAGE Budget Requirement
With UWFT, campus units are required to use SAGE Budget for award setup. SAGE Budget communicates budget information to Grant and Contract Accounting (GCA), provides a consistent format for reviewing budget details, and facilitates a direct flow of data between SAGE and Workday.
Get started using SAGE Budget today! Attend a SAGE Budget class, and review our job aid and user guides.
Clinical Trials Office (CTO) Budgets: SAGE Budget will be required on all Award Setup requests, including budgets that will run through CTO review and Oncore billing. To help with Award Line and Award Period setup in Workday Finance, you will enter the following minimum information in a single SAGE budget worksheet with $0 amount. This setup should only take a few minutes:
- Budget Settings
- Budget Title
- Budget Start Date
- Total number of periods (defaults to 1)
- Worksheet Settings
- Primary Worksheet Title
- Cost Center
- Activity Location
- Sponsored Program Activity Category
- Sponsored Program Activity Type
- Base Type (F&A need)
- Budget Entry
- Add a Principal Investigator in personnel section for each worksheet, PI salary=$0
- only one worksheet is needed for CTO budgets
- No other line item entry required in the budget
- Add a Principal Investigator in personnel section for each worksheet, PI salary=$0
For more information, including screenshots, visit the SAGE Awards page.
Award Setup and Modifications
UWFT streamlines the award setup and modification process through a new SAGE Award feature that’s integrated with Workday. For more details, visit SAGE Awards.
Effort Reporting
A new effort reporting solution, Employee Compensation Compliance (ECC), is being implemented with UWFT. ECC will go-live in July 2023, with initial certifications occurring soon after to align with the reporting period. Learn more and get involved in design discussions, focus groups, and User Acceptance Testing (UAT): The Future of Effort Reporting at the UW.
When Are These Changes Happening?
You can expect most of the new UWFT features and processes to launch in July 2023; the new SAGE Award Modification process will be released soon after go-live.
Prepare for Changes Coming to SAGE
Award Setup and Tracking in SAGE eLearning
In depth instruction on SAGE Awards usage, including:
- Creating Award Setup Requests
- Monitoring Award Requests
Award Setup and Tracking in SAGE eLearning
SAGE Award Setup Workflow Video
An overview of the SAGE Award Setup workflow.
SAGE Award Setup Workflow Video
What’s Changing in SAGE? Video
A high-level overview of changes coming to SAGE, including SAGE Award Setup Requests, Cost Centers, SAGE Budget and Award Lines, and more!
What’s Changing in SAGE? Video
SAGE Budget Classes
SAGE Budget ClassesWith UWFT, campus units are required to use SAGE Budget for award setup. The SAGE Budget class provides an overview of how to establish budget settings, add personnel and costs, create sub budgets, and link budgets to an eGC1. Learn more and register.
Upcoming SAGE Budget Classes:
- June 13, 2023: Register to Attend
SAGE Office Hours
SAGE Office HoursIn response to requests for advanced SAGE Budget resources, we’ll be offering virtual SAGE Budget office hours twice a month. Drop in and ask our SAGE experts any questions you might have, get help setting up your complex budgets, and learn how SAGE Budget can work for you.
Expand for Each Month’s Office Hours:
November
SAGE Budget eLearning
A new self-paced SAGE Budget eLearning resource is now available for your exploration. This companion piece to the live SAGE Budget course allows you to learn/reference all aspects of SAGE Budget via lectures with demonstrations. Content covered is similar to that in the live class but highly flexible in that you can search for and view specific content as you need it.
NOTE: This resource is not a substitution for the live course and does not count toward fulfilling certificate requirements.
Additional SAGE Budget Training Resources
Additional SAGE Budget Training Resources- SAGE Budget User Guide: In-depth documentation on all aspects of SAGE Budget.
- SAGE Budget Job Aid: A step-by-step guide on creating and managing budgets in SAGE.
- SAGE Budget Training Site: The SAGE Budget training site offers a “sandbox” for you to explore and experiment with SAGE Budget without affecting production data. Once you are ready to create a real SAGE Budget for routing, visit the production site.
NOTE: SAGE Budget requires a UW NetID to log in and at least one authorized role. If you are new to using SAGE and need access, visit Accessing SAGE for more information.
Mailing Lists
- Subscribe to the MRAM mailing list to stay informed of timely and relevant research administration information. Keep an eye out for our quarterly “Research Community Guide to UWFT” that compiles information and resources you need now to help prepare for the changes coming with UWFT.
- Subscribe to the ORIS mailing list for information on SAGE maintenance, feature releases, and system availability.
Monthly Research Administration Meeting (MRAM)
Monthly Research Administration Meeting (MRAM)MRAM is open to staff interested in research award administration at the UW. In addition to other research administration topics, we share relevant UWFT information at MRAM. Visit the MRAM website for more information.
Prepare for Changes Coming to Workday
Nanolearning Videos
The UWFT nanolearning videos include an overview of financial literacy and Workday topics including:
Demo & Details: Grant Award to Close
The UWFT Grant Award to Close Demo and Details presentations and Q&As provide an overview of what a day in the life of a grants manager will look like in Workday.
Future State Focus Video: Subawards in Workday
This UWFT Future State Focus video details how post-award fiscal compliance and subawards will be handled in Workday.
Terminology
Refer to the Research Administration Terms on Knowledge Navigator for usage and reference of commonly used terms like Proposal, Award, Sponsor Type, and more.
Questions & Answers
- Frequently Asked Questions
- UWFT Grant Award to Close Demo & Details Q&A
- February 2023 MRAM Q&A
- SAGE Award Demo
- October 2022 MRAM Q&A
- June 2022 MRAM Q&A
- April 2022 MRAM Q&A
