Can you elaborate on all the opportunities the campus community will have to work on the Knight Vision Program?

Workday Adaptive Planning will provide leadership and managers business modeling, analytics, management, and board reporting, and allows for collaboration. Workday HCM/Finance provides the ability for users to easily generate HR and Finance reports and gain visibility into budget data. Workday utilizes many delivered reports and we will be reviewing the need for custom reports as well. All data access is managed by security groups. Key benefits include the ability to drill down and filter data, make more informed decisions, create reports and analytics using real-time transaction data, analyze across finance, HR, and payroll, and bring all data in to one system.

Throughout the project, people will have opportunities to get involved. Some examples include:

• Many full-time positions with the project have been filled by internal candidates and any subsequent openings will be posted to the UCF jobs site.
• The Campus Community Advisory Group (CCAG) will ensure that people who will use new Knight Vision processes and applications on a day-to-day basis have a means of sharing their  perspectives.
• Subject matter experts in functional and unit areas will be asked to participate in customer review sessions, provide feedback and also provide specific input to the project team during the architecture phase.
• People from across the university will have opportunities to be change agents, ensuring people understand the changes and are prepared to adopt them.
• Training will be provided in a “train the trainer” model that will allow people in each functional area to train their colleagues.
• Staff will have opportunities to test functionality by running through scenarios they typically have in their respective units or functional areas.
• There will also be multiple opportunities to participate in open labs and open forums to get information, ask questions, and provide input.

Learn more at our Get Involved page.

The Knight Vision SET project directly aligns with two of the President Cartwright’s goals:

1. Build a strong leadership team with a focus on improving administrative infrastructure and systems that drive operational excellence, efficiency and effectiveness.

Through organizational alignment, process improvements and a focus on efficiency and effectiveness, we can ensure we are maximizing our investment in our institutional missions of education, research, student development and public service, and moving toward becoming a leading public metropolitan research university.

2. Build a culture of trust, engagement and accountability that also makes UCF one of the best places to work for our faculty and staff.

The SET Project will enable: “clear and consistent administrative structure; streamlined use of administrative systems; operational effectiveness, efficiency, and excellence; opportunities for engagement in operational transformation; transparency that can help establish trust; structures and metrics for accountability; enhanced employee experience for functional and support staff and improved services for administrators and faculty.”

Both the SET project and the Workday ERP Implementation project are part of the broader Knight Vision program.

The SET project defines the roles, responsibilities and organizational structure that will inform the final configuration of the new Workday ERP system for HR and finance. Similarly, features available in the new Workday system require changes in the way we currently conduct certain university processes, which require a streamlined organizational structure. By coordinating each project with one another, our university will be able to cohesively address HR and finance service opportunities across people, processes and technology.

The divisions and departments will be asked for input and information as the project progresses. Current state processes will be assessed, and future state processes will be designed based on Workday functionality and industry best practices. The Campus Community Advisory Group (CCAG) and subject matter experts will work with the project team to assess impacts of process changes and make adjustments to ensure processes are effective, efficient and decisions are made in the best interests of the entire university. 

The Human Capital Management (HCM) and Finance PeopleSoft (UCF Financials) systems will be replaced with the Workday product. The Campus Solutions PeopleSoft system will remain until after HCM and finance systems are live. The transition from PeopleSoft Campus Solutions to Workday will require a project separate from Knight Vision.

The SET project will enhance the quality and consistency of HR and finance service delivery, eliminating inefficiencies and clarifying and streamlining complex processes. These changes will improve the customer experience and reduce the amount of time that students, faculty and staff must dedicate to administrative activities, thus enabling them to focus their time on supporting or engaging in mission-centered activities such as learning, teaching, research and service.

Benefits to our People:

• Creating defined, uniform roles, responsibilities and competencies for staff and supervisors.
• Providing staff with more effective training opportunities.
• Providing service coverage so staff have specialist backup in their absence.
• Reducing duplicative work by simplifying and standardizing processes.

Benefits to our University:

• Increasing service speed, quality and consistency.
• Reducing risk from non-compliant processes and practices.
• Using modern, state-of-the-art technology to improve upon outdated processes, providing a uniform, high-quality customer experience.
• Aligning with Workday to simplify processes, reducing approvals and oversight.

Why Shift to SET?

We have come a long way from our origins and many of you have witnessed our impressive growth! In fact, we grew so fast, that our organization’s structure did not keep pace. Currently, there is inconsistency in processes based on college/division level, leading to a lack of specialization, and often duplication in efforts across many different units. With the implementation of Workday, all processes will be changed and simplified, which will lead to consistency in processes through the university, as well as consistency in roles and responsibilities across campus.

The Service Enhancement Transformation (SET) project is a method which will redefine, streamline and optimize the ways in which human resources, payroll, finance, unit-based post-award and procurement operations are provided at an institutional level. Efficiency and effectiveness are achieved by realigning roles and responsibilities and improving processes.

The SET project has established a Project Champions team and Advisory Committee responsible for evaluating options and making decisions. The SET project has three executive sponsors, Interim Provost and VP for Academic Affairs Michael Johnson, VP for Information Technology and CIO, and Senior VP for Administration and Finance Gerald Hector, who are accountable for making decisions and confirming alignment with the  Knight Vision Governance Structure. 

Workday is the secure, cloud-hosted enterprise software platform that will be replacing PeopleSoft (UCF Financials). Workday is equipped to evolve to meet the needs of higher education and has been implemented at dozens of institutions. The platform provides 24/7 access to data and information in an intuitive, web-based interface that is easy to navigate from mobile or desktop devices.

The Workday Student project will start after finance and human resources (HR) go-live and the current project ends. The duration of the Workday Student project will be at least 20-24 months. The preliminary estimate for completion of the Student System is June 2025. As we learn more, we will refine this estimate.

The end-users for the new Workday Foundation Data Model are all UCF employees who will be using the new Workday ERP system.

Carry forward funds may only be used for non-recurring expenses by Board of Governors Regulation. Faculty and staff promotions are paid for from recurring dollars and therefore would be ineligible for use of carry forward funds. The Knight Vision project is eligible for non-recurring funding because it is a time-limited project. 

 Article 14 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for the United Faculty of Florida (UFF), requires the university to have a promotion process for all in-unit faculty. Tenure-earning faculty are generally promoted from assistant to associate professor when they receive tenure. They have one other opportunity for promotion, from associate to full professor, but the standards are rigorous, and many faculty members remain associate professors their entire careers. Additionally, non-tenure earning faculty at UCF only have two promotion opportunities with their own specific requirements.  

A&P and USPS employees are not constrained or limited in the number of promotions or reclassifications they can receive in their career at UCF. Promotions or reclassifications are based on the employee meeting the requirements of the position based on their experience, skills, prior performance, knowledge, education and competencies, and may require certifications or licenses.  

Yes. At various stages in the project, units from across the university, including colleges and Direct Support Organizations (DSOs) will be asked to participate.

We are leaning towards enabling Geofencing (location), which will only allow employees to check-in when they are within the perimeter of the building. If the employee is outside that perimeter, Workday will disable the check-in/-out button on their mobile device.

Many custom applications built on the PeopleSoft platform will not transfer directly to Workday and will need to be replaced over the course of the Knight Vision implementation. Some of these applications will need to be replaced or addressed prior to the Workday HR and finance modules going live. Others will remain in place and be addressed during the Workday Student implementation project. The Knight Vision team will work with the owners of these applications to understand their functional needs and make plans to ensure solutions are in place before the respective PeopleSoft applications are turned off. These plans will address the budgetary, technical and project resources needed to implement appropriate solutions.

Yes, UCF data will be encrypted and stored on secure servers in state-of-the-art data centers.

Learn more about Security and Trust with Workday.