Faculty Update on Workday

Published December 10, 2021

Dear Faculty and Staff,

As Workday rolled out here at WashU over the summer, many activities and transactions that impacted research slowed down, in part because there was a steep learning curve to use the new system both within the departments/schools and in the central offices, in part because problems were identified (and fixed or put in the queue to be fixed), in part because some transactions in Workday take longer to process, and in part due to challenges in hiring new administrators due to the national labor shortage. We know delays or roadblocks that impact your research program are extremely frustrating.

Please know the administrators across the institution have been working very hard to learn this new, complex system, identify problems and work towards fixing them. Some areas such as purchasing and invoicing are improving, and some areas, such as reporting and forecasting, will continue to be challenging in the near future. We ask for your continued patience as problematic areas are identified and addressed.

The admins in your department/school and in the central offices have been real heroes in trying to minimize the Workday impacts, and we thank them for their very hard work over the last many months.

Sincerely,