Welcome to the Office of Academic Personnel (OAP) eDigest — a great resource for UW administrators who support academic personnel populations. Not finding what you need in this issue? Check out the OAP website for additional information and resources.

Implementation of Workday Finance this July will coincide with preparation for FY24 merit. When UW shifts to Workday Finance — commonly referred to as ‘cut-over’ — select Workday processes will be temporarily limited or restricted. Specific cut-over details are still being worked out by the Finance Transformation (UWFT) team and the Integrated Service Center (ISC), but they will likely impact unit ability and/or the timeframe to correct Workday data in preparation for merit. It is, therefore, important to audit and begin correcting data now.

While merit specifics (e.g., merit percentage) have not yet been officially authorized by the provost and approved by the Board of Regents, UW plans to release the FY24 Merit Process Guide in early March 2023. When released, the guide will be available on the Office of Planning and Budgeting website. The guide will have “TBD” placeholders that will be updated as information becomes available; however, general guidance related to data clean-up should not be affected. The expedited release of the FY24 Merit Process Guide is intended to support units in preparing for merit now instead of waiting until late spring quarter.

The conversion to Workday Finance this summer will require all cost center data to be updated to reflect the new Financial Data Model values. How cost center data is represented in Workday starting July 1 will be different from how it looks now. This change means that a transaction involving cost center data that is processed after July 1, but has an effective date retroactive to July 1 or earlier, may have to be remediated or otherwise processed through special handling. Because cost center data is associated with many business processes, this has the potential to create extra work for units and the ISC during what is anticipated to be a very busy time.

In order to avoid retroactive effective dates, OAP strongly encourages units to make a plan now to initiate and complete July 1-effective Workday transactions well in advance of the Workday Finance cut-over.

The Office of Academic Personnel (OAP) is pleased to announce the launch of a new form intended to help streamline the data request process and shorten response times. The new Data Request Form helps our reporting staff zero in on your specific data needs at the point of request, instead of relying on a less efficient back-and-forth communication via email. Please start using this form for all future requests for academic personnel data and check out OAP’s Working with Academic Personnel Data webpage for more information and resources related to academic personnel data.

OAP has been working to provide units with a more automated and streamlined process for completing the sexual misconduct disclosure process for academic personnel. Many of you suggested that we consider using Ideal-Logic, the vendor used by UWHR for the student employee sexual misconduct disclosure process. We listened! Over the last few months, we partnered with Ideal-Logic to explore and develop a new workflow for academic personnel. The new workflow provides a more efficient approach to complying with Washington state law and reduces the amount of time and effort required to complete the sexual misconduct disclosure process. We are working with Ideal-Logic to put the finishing touches on the new workflow, which we hope to launch very soon. Stay tuned for more information!

USCIS recently proposed a rule to increase certain immigration and naturalization fees. Should this rule go into effect, it may affect visa filing fees for some employment-based visas that ISO processes, such as H-1Bs. ISO will provide further updates, including how the rule might impact pending visa requests, as soon as more information is available.

The University recently updated Administrative Policy Statement (APS) 34.2: Lump Sum Relocation Payment. Prior to the update, recipients of relocation incentive payments had to repay the entire amount if they voluntarily separated within one year of their appointment/transfer effective date. The updated policy allows units to request provost approval to expand the recipient’s repayment period to greater than one year when the relocation incentive exceeds $100,000. In such cases, the repayment period should never exceed the recipient’s initial period of appointment. A reminder that units always have an obligation to clarify the repayment period — regardless of amount — in the recipient’s appointment letter. For more information and to access the revised request form, please visit OAP’s Relocation Payment webpage.

UW Finance Transformation (FT) project recently held another installment of their ‘roadshow’ series — quarterly education sessions geared to increase knowledge and awareness of UW’s planned implementation of Workday Finance in July 2023. Roadshow #5 includes information about necessary remediation to select HR/Payroll processes in Workday. Related content starts at about minute 17 of the Roadshow #5 recording.

The mandatory promotion review is a key milestone for faculty on the tenure, research, and without tenure by reason of funding (WOT) tracks. When requesting a change to the mandatory review deadline through a clock waiver, it is important to document the support of both the chair/director/campus dean and the dean/chancellor. A complete clock waiver request submitted in Workday will include a single PDF containing:

• The faculty member’s request for a clock waiver
• Chair/director/campus dean written recommendation and rationale
• Written concurrence of the dean/chancellor

Workday transactions that lack any of the above will need to be corrected before Academic HR can complete its review.

UW must report “substantial increases in funding” for J-1 exchange visitors in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). This reporting requirement does not apply to H-1Bs or other employment-based visas.

For those postdoctoral scholars who recently received a retention increase, ISO will manage DS-2019 changes as follows:

• Work with our OAP colleagues to identify J-1 scholars who will receive salary increases,
• issue updated DS-2019s for affected scholars, and
• mail them to sponsoring units.

Units should send the original, updated DS-2019s to the scholars for their records.

Any other salary increases for J-1s should be reported through established channels, by sending an e-mail to acadvisa@uw.edu. See J-1 reporting requirements for more information on what changes require reporting.

UW limits time in the postdoctoral scholar and postdoctoral scholar-fellow titles to five years, inclusive of postdoctoral experience at other institutions. As part of the hire process, units calculate a candidate’s previous postdoc experience and report it in Section F of the Postdoctoral Scholar Data Sheet. We’ve noticed some units are incorrectly including anticipated time in title in the total calculation. Section F should only reflect prior experience. For example, if a postdoctoral scholar is being appointed/reappointed for the coming year, those months should not be factored into the grand total of prior experience. See example below.

Section F: Postdoctoral Scholar Experience (continued)

Institution/Employer Name	Job Title	Start Date	End Date	Total Months
UC Berkeley	Postdoctoral Scholar	07/19	06/21	24
University of Chicago	Postdoctoral Scholar	07/21	06/23	24
University of Washington	Postdoctoral Scholar	07/23	06/24	12
Grand Total of Months				60 48

Mar 1: Prepare for Spring Quarter and academic reviews by running March audit reports
Mar 1: Deadline for submission of clinical and affiliate promotion records
Mar 13: Join us for a J-1 Exchange Visitor Basics training
Mar 15: Join us for the quarterly Administrators Forum
Mar 15: In Workday, return faculty from sabbaticals with a March 15 end date
Mar 16: In Workday, enter sabbaticals with a March 16 start date before the end of the pay period
Mar 17: Join us for an Orientation for Scholars in H-1B, TN, E-3 and O-1 Status
Apr 1: Conduct mid-academic quarter audits and prepare for end of Spring Quarter by running April audit reports
Apr 10: Join us for a Green Card Basics training
Apr 17: Appointments starting before June 7 and requiring Board of Regents approval due in AHR queue
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Thanks to everyone who worked to bring active academic personnel job postings into compliance with Washington’s new salary disclosure law. A recent audit suggests the overwhelming majority of academic units were successful in updating their job postings. As compliance is an ongoing expectation, be sure to review OAP’s Salary Disclosure in UW Academic Job Postings and reach out to Academic HR if you need additional guidance.