WSU recognized nationally for groundbreaking use of Workday

WSU has received two prestigious industry recognitions for its visionary effort in creating the first-ever enterprise grant forecasting tool, Adaptive Grants Forecasting, which allows researchers and grants administrators to review and project future expenses and remaining balances on their grants.

WSU received Workday's Platform Rockstar Higher Education Innovation Award, which highlights WSU's exceptional use of Workday's tools to drive innovation in the higher education sector. The award was announced at the 2024 Workday Rising Higher Education Summit on Sept. 16 in Las Vegas.

The university was also a finalist for the 2024 Workday North America Customer Awards in the Powering Innovation category, recognizing groundbreaking innovation across all sectors. WSU was one of three finalists, alongside Lowe's Corporation and Thomson Reuters, recognized among Workday's 11,000 clients. The university received separate nominations from both Workday and Deloitte for the development of Adaptive Grants Forecasting.

"It was an incredible honor for WSU to be recognized in Workday's inaugural North American customer awards," said Gerik Kimble, director of Financial Systems Modernization. "This is a testament to the dedication and innovation of the WSU Modernization team in developing creative solutions. Our team is committed to making a difference each day, and we deeply value the feedback from our employees on how we can enhance our processes. The adaptive grants forecasting tool was inspired by a conversation with our college finance officers, and we are grateful for this kind of insightful feedback."

Sharing the story on a national level

In addition to the accolades, Christine Galbreath, lead analyst for Grants, and Kimble presented a session about the development of adaptive grants forecasting at Workday Rising, to an international audience of Workday customers in higher education and other industries.

Additionally, Galbreath and Kimble participated in a session about adaptive grants forecasting, alongside Alexander Carlson of Deloitte, as part of the NACUBO 2024 Planning, Budgeting, and Analytics Forum in Chicago on Sept. 24.

A community achievement

Adaptive grants forecasting was developed in partnership with Deloitte, which recognized the importance of this project, and provided consultants to support the creation of the forecasting model. Many members of the university community also provided essential input, examples, and subject matter expertise. These include representatives from CAHNRS, the College of Veterinary Medicine, and the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine.

Leading up to the development of adaptive grants forecasting, Modernization engaged with academic area financial officers and grants administrators who expressed the need for better tools to forecast their grant activities. While some departments had invested in building their own Excel-based tools, others lacked such support. Modernization and Deloitte then came together with CAHNRS, ESFCOM, and VetMed for feedback on the tool's requirements and functionality, before building and testing the forecasting tool.

The national recognition of WSU's achievements in innovation are a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Modernization team and the WSU employees dedicated to the improvement of business processes and systems for WSU.

The future of adaptive grants forecasting

Moving forward, Modernization will continue to enhance and refine adaptive grants forecasting for the WSU community. Adaptive grants forecasting is currently available to all grant administrators and principal investigators. Modernization will provide support to any individual or department interested in incorporating the tool into their grants management processes. Interested parties should reach out to the Modernization Grants team.

Modernization is dedicated to the constant improvement of Workday and related tools for grants, finance, HR, and payroll at WSU. The team continues to explore and develop innovative solutions to support staff and faculty performing business operations university-wide.

Individuals are encouraged to reach out with questions related to Workday and Workday-related projects at the Workday Service Desk.