Workday TouchPoints: Cleaning up empty and unused HCM or Finance data sets
The management of personnel and financial data in Workday involves not only the timely entry and upkeep of current data, but also the regular review and cleaning of unused and empty data sets. Reasons for this regular maintenance of Workday data include impacts to WSU’s business operations, state and federal compliance, and strategic initiatives.
This TouchPoints post will dive into the types of unused and empty data sets currently most prevalent in Workday, including:
- HCM data: Positions, Supervisory Organizations (Sup Orgs), and incomplete Onboarding Events
- Finance data: Draft transactions and unused programs
- Grants data: Termed grants
We’ll provide guidance on how to remove this unused data from Workday, and discuss the benefits of doing so.
Background: Data cleanup and Workday for WSU
Prior to the launch of Workday, a university-wide effort was led by Modernization, ITS, HRS, and the central Finance units to perform significant data cleanup efforts to remove thousands of unused or outdated personnel (HCM) and financial records and data sets, and prepare this data for conversion into Workday.
Before Workday, limited visibility into data and lack of standardized processes and systems contributed to an excess of duplicate and dormant financial accounts and records. Pre-launch data cleanup efforts helped streamline and consolidate the data to be loaded into Workday, enabling a smooth transition, and ensuring that the data in the system on the day of go-live was accurate and functional.
Why is data cleanup important?
While we’ve seen drastic improvements in many areas of data management since launch, there remain areas where improved maintenance and upkeep are requested. The presence of unused data and empty data sets in Workday can impact the accuracy of reporting at the departmental, area, campus, and university levels. For example, it can affect the tools we use to perform reporting such as Adaptive Planning for University Budgets or Grant Forecasting.
As Workday is the source of truth for most HCM, Finance, and Grants data, it’s important that departments regularly review and perform the necessary tasks to clean up unused and empty data sets. These actions help keep the data in Workday current, accurate, easily accessible, and reduce the risk of error.
Below, we’ll highlight several types of unused data across functional areas and provide guidance on how to properly remove it from the system.
HCM data
Along with being essential to HR processes, HCM data connects with finance, payroll, and other data across the WSU system for comprehensive reporting, planning, and other business activities. As of June 2024, the most prevalent unused and empty data sets for HCM include open positions, empty supervisory organizations, and incomplete onboarding events:
- Positions
- 7,956 open positions.
- 4,341 instances of positions with end dates that have passed, with workers that have not yet been terminated, or their assignment ended.
Departments may use the report CR HCM Positions to identify unused, vacant positions that may need to be closed. To close these positions, Managers, HR Partners, and Appointing Authorities should complete the instructions provided in the Create or Close Position reference guide.
HR Partners, Appointing Authorities, and Compensation Partners may also initiate a separation for employees who have left WSU due to termination, resignation, or retirement by following the instructions in the Manage Separation reference guide.
- Supervisory Organizations (Sup Orgs)
- 350 active Supervisory Organizations that contain only vacant positions with no active workers.
Departments may use the report CR HCM Supervisory Organizations with No Active Workers to be Inactivated to identify Sup Orgs that should be inactivated. To request an unused Sup Org be inactivated, a submit a Modify an Existing Supervisory Organization ticket via the Workday Service Desk.
- Incomplete Onboarding events
- 4,937 incomplete onboarding events currently awaiting action in Workday.
Individual employees are encouraged to review their outstanding tasks and cancel or complete any onboarding tasks that are past due or no longer needed.
Managers may also cancel incomplete onboarding events assigned to employees who have left their positions by completing the Business Process Cancellation Request task received during the termination process.
Finance data
Finance data in Workday is the basis for all levels of financial planning and decision making across WSU. Policy regarding the maintenance and cleanup of specific types of financial data in Workday is determined and directed by the Office of the Controller. However, Departments can take action to help maintain a cleaner Foundation Data Model, and to prevent the buildup of unneeded data and transactions, by addressing unused or unneeded programs and unused or unneeded draft transactions in Workday:
- Unused or unneeded programs
- Departments can inactivate programs that are no longer used or needed, allowing them to prevent erroneous posting to programs that should not be used. Additionally, inactivating unused programs helps maintain a cleaner Foundation Data Model.
Area Finance Officers (AFOs), Cost Center Managers, and Program Managers can initiate the inactivation of unused programs by following the steps in the How to Inactive a Program reference guide. Here
- Draft transactions
- Unused or unneeded draft transactions contribute to excess data in Workday. The following numbers of finance transactions in draft status have accumulated since the launch of Workday:
- 1,704 Expense Reports
- 889 Accounting Journals
- 438 Spend Authorizations
- 293 Requisitions
- 202 Purchase Orders
- 143 Budget Amendments
- Unused or unneeded draft transactions contribute to excess data in Workday. The following numbers of finance transactions in draft status have accumulated since the launch of Workday:
Modernization encourages the cancellation of draft finance transactions that individuals do not intend to complete. To locate transactions in draft status, employees may run the report Find x (business process name), and filter Status as “Draft/Created,” and Initiator as themselves.
Grants data
The process of closing out inactive and termed grants data is essential to accurate, streamlined reporting for users. Closing out termed grants allows SPS to complete the steps needed to inactivate the associated Grant worktag when the project is over, which removes the data from reports, preventing the buildup of unused data and ensuring actively-used data is easy to access and accurate.
As of June 30, 2024:
- SPS has closed and inactivated 1085 awards using the new closeout check sheet and create request option in Workday.
- 2,627 Sponsored Agreements termed 6/30/24 and older are still active in Workday.
- SPS has yet to receive a Closeout Request for 2,555 of the above termed grants.
For recently termed awards, departments are encouraged to complete the closeout checklist and submit closeout requests in a timely manner by submitting a Sponsored Programs Closeout Request (SPS – Request To Final Bill/Closeout Award) request in Workday.
For older termed awards, SPS will provide an alternative closeout checklist, however, still require the request be submitted via Create Request in Workday once the termed award has been fully reviewed.
For information on how to access the Requests app in Workday, or add it to your main menu, review the Use The Global Navigation to Access Apps and Shortcuts section in the Tools and Navigation reference guide.
Grant Managers and Principal Investigators (PIs) also receive Workday notifications prior to the term date for their awards, which include the Award Closeout Checklist and Closeout Timeline.
Moving forward
Prior to the implementation of Workday, the accumulation of unused, duplicate, or unneeded data in our legacy systems contributed to issues with accuracy, efficiency, and transparency across all functional areas. To help prevent a similar accumulation of unused data in Workday, departments are encouraged to establish consistent and timely data cleanup practices.
By following the guidance above to reduce certain types of unused data in Workday, departments can make a positive impact toward the goal of maintaining easily accessible, transparent, and up-to-date data. This, in turn, supports better planning and decision making and smoother business processes university-wide.
Departments or individuals with questions or concerns about data cleanup are encouraged to reach out to Modernization via the Workday Service Desk.
This post is part of the Workday TouchPoints series, which focuses on the ways Workday connects systems, information, and people across WSU.