The following memo was sent to Professor Peter Schiffer, Vice Provost for Research on December 18, 2018.
Dear Peter,
I am writing to you with an update regarding financial reporting from Workday.
As you know, this fall a number of faculty and staff raised concerns about their continuing frustration and inconvenience related to financial reports for managing grants and other accounts. I have heard the concerns and want you to know that the issues raised are being addressed with the highest priority and urgency.
In early October I formed a project team to understand and address these issues. The team’s efforts are being guided by the Campus Financial Reporting Steering Committee, which was convened this fall by me together with John Barden, Yale’s Chief Information Officer. The committee is comprised of leaders from business operations, ITS, finance, and other central administrative units who are accountable for the processes, data, and systems that impact reporting and grants management. This group is committed to understanding and prioritizing the issues and guiding the work of the project team to deliver a significantly improved financial reporting environment at Yale.
At the end of this note please find additional information on specific progress achieved by the team this fall. The project team also continues to meet with faculty and business office staff to ensure we hear other concerns or issues related to financial reporting, grants management, or other related processes. Please know that I am committed to improving our financial reporting in a manner that is necessary to support the world class research, teaching and practice at Yale, and I am sorry for the frustration and inconvenience faculty and staff might be experiencing. I will continue to keep you updated on a regular basis to share progress and other information. Please feel free to share this with other faculty who would be interested in this update.
Please let me know if you have any comments or questions, and thank you for your support in addressing these important issues.
Sincerely,
Steve
Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer
Highlights of the progress achieved by the team this fall include the following:
- Through late October and early November, members of the project team visited with over a dozen individual faculty in the FAS, Medical School, and other schools to hear first-hand about their issues with grant financial reporting. Thank you for the faculty names you provided. The team would be happy to meet with other faculty if there is additional interest.
- The project team has catalogued over 75 individual issues or enhancements identified by faculty and staff. The team has been working with the steering committee to prioritize the list, and work began in November on the most important items.
- In November, the team fixed several issues related to GSPS (graduate student) and F&A (indirect cost) commitments data, which was identified as one of the most significant factors in the accuracy of financial reports.
- In November the project team began work on a data mart which will provide business office staff with easier, direct access to financial data from Workday, a capability that will help on both grant and non-grant financial reporting and analysis. A prototype with initial functionality is scheduled to become available to business offices in February, with additional functionality to be delivered in phases over the remainder of calendar year 2019.
- Working with your office, we approved the addition of several staff positions in both the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) as well as Faculty Research Management Services (FRMS) which should help those offices – which both play crucial roles in Yale’s grant financial management processes – with the increased volume and complexity of work.
cc: Campus Financial Reporting Steering Committee
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