Streamlining Operations: A Deep Dive into the University of Rochester's Workday Implementation

The University of Rochester (UR) and URMC embarked on a significant journey to modernize their technology infrastructure, aiming to enhance administrative services for students, faculty, and medical professionals. This transformation involved the implementation of Workday Human Capital Management (HCM), Workday Payroll, and Effort Reporting, designed to streamline operations, improve user experience, and drive long-term value. Uniquely, UR first deployed Workday Financial Management and Workday Student before implementing Workday HCM and Workday Payroll. This article explores the University of Rochester's Workday implementation.

Modernizing a Legacy System

UR and URMC faced the challenge of modernizing their disparate, aging technology. The initiative began with a comprehensive analysis of current processes and system architecture. Recognizing the extensive customization within the legacy environment, the implementation team collaborated closely with stakeholders across the university to identify gaps between current functionality and Workday capabilities.

Collaborative Implementation Approach

The implementation team maintained close collaboration across all key project workstreams, including project management, functional and technical design, change management, and training. Rigorous oversight and weekly touchpoints with university executives were maintained.

A strong emphasis was placed on leveraging Workday Extend to build custom solutions that didn’t exist out of the box. Examples include integrating tuition reimbursement processing between Workday Student and Workday HCM, and launching “Ask Mel,” an AI-enabled chatbot connected to the university’s knowledge base, to answer HR questions in real time.

To ensure a smooth integration with Workday Financial Management and Workday Student, the team prioritized frequent and thorough collaboration with stakeholders across the provost’s office, financial operations, and HR for precise go-live planning.

Successful Transformation and Go-Live

UR successfully implemented the most significant technology transformation in the institution’s 174-year history, achieving a seamless go-live and successfully executing payroll for 35,000 employees. The transition also marked the full retirement of the university’s long-standing legacy system. Change at this scale takes leadership, communication, and trust.

Unified Enterprise Application Landscape

With the implementation complete, the UR has modernized its technology environment, delivered efficiency to its operations, and unified its enterprise application landscape across Finance, HR, Payroll, and Student.

Understanding UR Workday Modules

UR Workday encompasses four services modules: UR Financials, UR Procurement, MyHR (Highland HCM), and UR Student.

MyHR (Highland Hospital and Long Term Care)

The MyHR (Workday) HCM service is the human resource system for employees at Highland Hospital, Highlands at Pittsford, Highlands Living Center, and Highlands at Brighton. Employees can manage personal information, tax, and payroll elections, while managers perform everyday HR tasks for their teams, all using a PC or mobile device.

myURHR Workday

myURHR Workday is used for personal information, payslips, staff recruiting, hiring, onboarding, benefits, compensation, and job changes. myURHR UKG/UKG (formerly Dimensions) is used for timekeeping, time entry, time off requests, and scheduling for those who schedule in UKG currently.

Read also: History of the Block 'M'

UR Financials (Workday)

UR Financials (Workday) manages the University's financial and accounting activities. It currently supports chart of accounts, general accounting and reporting, fund accounting, post-award grant management, and accounts payable. Future developments will include billing and accounts receivable, budget development and forecasting, treasury, and encumbrance of expense.

UR Student (Workday)

UR Student (Workday) is the University's primary student administration system and supports the processes associated with a student's progression from admission through graduation, including student records, registration, course rosters, grading, advising, and transcripts.

UR Procurement

UR Procurement manages the University’s procurement and payment (P2P) activities. The UR Procurement (P2P) System is used to order and pay external suppliers and supports requisitioning, Pcard, and Supplier Invoice Requests.

Frequently Asked Questions about myURHR Workday

Here are some frequently asked questions regarding myURHR Workday:

Where can I find all Quick Reference Guides (QRCs) for myURHR Workday?

Quick Reference Guides (QRCs) are available to assist users with various tasks in myURHR Workday.

Read also: Legacy of Fordham University

Where do I find my 6-digit Employee ID and UR ID numbers in myURHR Workday?

In Workday, when you select your employee profile, you will see your 6-digit Employee ID number under the Job Details section of the Worker Profile landing page. You can find your UR ID under Personal, then click the ID tab.

How do I view my payslip/paystub in myURHR Workday?

A quick reference card is available with instructions on how to access your payslip.

As a manager, what will be visible in my supervisory organization within my department?

To find a supervisory organization, go to the Search bar at the top of the page and enter “Sup:” and the number of the HR department (for example, Sup: 500300). You can also look to see if someone is a manager of a supervisory organization. In the person’s Profile, click Job, then Organizations. Scroll to the bottom to see the heading “Manager/Leader of These Organizations”.

How can I compare the business processes that are in myURHR Workday vs?

Employees should follow their department’s guidelines for HR-related functions and for when/how they are performed.

Where should graduate student coordinators submit stipend, tuition, and health waivers?

Stipend information will be carried over to myURHR. Tuition and health waivers for fall 2024 and spring 2025 will have been processed by the time myURHR is live on December 16. Tuition and health waivers for summer 2025 will be processed through myURHR.

Will I receive notifications that someone has applied to a position?

All unreviewed or new applications will show up as “Action Items” on the recruiting dashboard in Workday.

(For those who manage grants with salary cap) In myURHR Workday, is there a separate section to include salary caps when changing or editing distributions, and do calculations occur automatically if a salary cap is indicated?

Yes, salary cap functionality is built into myURHR Workday. Additional fields will appear in the costing allocation section when a salary cap grant is entered, allowing the user to input details such as the non-grant account to be used when the cap is exceeded. This information is then used in calculations that occur automatically as part of payroll processing.

Additional Information and Functionality

Access to Personal Information

Access to personal information in myURHR Workday is limited. The employee as well as HR, Payroll, and Benefits departments will have access. If managers or coordinators have a specific business reason for needing the home contact information of an employee, please reach out to the employee or connect with your HR Business Partner.

Mobile App Usage

It is recommended that users leverage the primary web platform for accessing the system to submit and review transactions. While a mobile app is available for Workday, the mobile app is managed and updated by outside vendors and the myURHR support team can only provide best-effort assistance with mobile app troubleshooting and escalating to vendors. The team provides priority support for non-mobile applications.

Delegation of Tasks

Yes, the delegation process in myURHR allows managers to temporarily assign their tasks and responsibilities to another person, typically during periods when they are unavailable.

Salary Allocations

Yes, in myURHR two decimal places will be allowed in salary allocations.

Manager Changes

When a manager changes positions, their old manager position will be vacant, and they will no longer be the manager of the original supervisory organization.

Transferring Employees

This is accomplished by using the Change Job/Transfer business process. If you are only transferring someone to a new manager with no other changes needed, be sure to click on the reason: UR-Transfer > Report to Another Manager. Then, when you see the next question that asks, “What do you want to do with the opening left on your team?”, choose “Move this headcount to the new manager” and click the checkmark.

Benefits Enrollment

Access to and the enrollment process for optional life insurance, retirement accounts, and/or YOUR Benefits Extras will remain the same.

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