Month: August 2025

^{Jenny Wirtz is Business Manager in the Honors College. She also serves as a Workday@Clemson Campus User Group Lead, representing the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Honors College and Undergraduate Learning.}

Reporting is one of the most important parts of moving to a new ERP system—after all, it’s how we turn data into information we can use. As we implement Workday@Clemson, we’re making sure reports are clear, consistent and easy to access.

To help make that happen, we’ve tapped Reporting Super Users to work alongside the University’s business intelligence (BI) team, led by Zack Flathmann, director of business intelligence. These experts are helping us get ready for Workday’s powerful reporting tools.

We caught up with one of them—Jenny Wirtz, Workday@Clemson Reporting Super User and Campus User Group Lead—to hear her take on what’s ahead.

Being a Reporting Super User

Q: Tell me about your experience as a Reporting Super User.

A:  As a reporting super user, I have been actively involved with the BI team. In the first stage of Workday reporting development, we worked with Deloitte to review standard reports and identify Clemson-specific business needs, and then map those needs to appropriate Workday business processes. Monthly update sessions and stages make sure we stay organize and continue forward progress.

As the next stage begins, Super Users are moving into advanced reporting training in either finance or HR, paired with hands-on learning labs. In these labs, we address real Clemson reporting needs by:

• Mapping them to an existing standard report in Workday,
• Modifying a Workday standard report, or
• Creating a custom report, if needed.

This hands-on involvement helps reduce anxiety by building confidence in the system and ensuring that critical reporting needs are addressed before go-live.

The Learning Experience

Q: What has your experience been like learning to run or build reports in Workday?

A: As of the end of August 2025, we have completed approximately 40 hours of Workday training and are scheduled for another 28 hours in the coming months. Training has included exposure to both standard and custom reports, giving us a solid foundation in how Workday reporting works.

Q: How would you describe the learning curve compared to current tools?

A: The learning curve is different, rather than harder, because Workday is designed around business processes and real-time reporting, rather than static data pulls like our current systems. Once you understand how Workday ties reporting to workflow, it becomes much more intuitive.

Report Focus Areas

Q: What types of reports has the team been focusing on first, and why?

A. The BI team has prioritized report development in three stages:

• Priority 1: Day-one critical reports to support major business processes
• Priority 2: Reports that enable key processes but are not immediately critical
• Priority 3: “Nice-to-have” reports that enhance functionality but are not essential at go-live

This staged approach ensures that mission-critical reports are ready first, and it has given me a clearer understanding of Workday’s reporting capabilities and how they align with Clemson’s operational needs.

Q: What happens if we need a new report after go-live?

A: All new report requests after Workday goes live will be routed for review and prioritization to ensure they align with business needs and maintain consistency across the University.”

The Future of Data Use at Clemson

Q: How has learning about Workday reporting changed your perspective on how the university will use data?

A: Workday reporting will transform how we interact with data. Instead of extracting messy raw data and manually manipulating it, Workday provides standardized and cleaner reporting with real-time dashboards, reducing the need for time-consuming manual processes.

What’s Exciting

Q: You’ve had more exposure than most to Workday at this point. What about this transition has you most excited?

A: Having had more exposure to Workday than many on campus, I am most excited about the fully cloud-based, all-in-one system that:

• Enhances the user experience,
• Provides real-time, self-service reporting, and
• Supports data-driven decision-making.

Workday will give Clemson a modern, integrated platform that simplifies reporting and provides greater transparency and efficiency across both financial and HR processes.

Understanding Workday: Building a Foundation of Knowledge

Workday is a powerful, cloud-based tool that will help Clemson manage payroll, time, budgets, expenses, and more. If the terminology seems overwhelming, you are not alone. Throughout the next year we’ll be posting Workday Words of the Week (about every 2 weeks) to help you build your Workday vocabulary.

Core Workday Terms for Everyday Users

1. Company – A company is an organization in Workday that represents a business entity within our Clemson enterprise. Companies that fall under the Clemson enterprise within Workday include but are not limited to:
   • Clemson University (CLEMU)
   • Clemson University Foundation (CUFDN)
   • Clemson Alumni Association (ALUMN)
2. Tenant – A Tenant is simply Clemson’s version of Workday. A tenant is where all your data lives. Users will access Clemson’s Workday tenant by visiting a specific URL. Most users will only use the “Production Tenant,” which is the live, real system. During the implementation, several temporary tenants are used including a Testing Tenant and Training Tenant. These will be decommissioned after go-live.
3. Foundation Data Model (FDM) – In Workday, the FDM is the core framework for how financial and organizational data is structured, organized, and connected across the system. The FDM will replace the complex 23-digit account string currently used in PeopleSoft system.  Find out more about the Foundation Data Model. The FDM impacts reporting, security, and workflow.
4. Worktag – A label you select within Workday to attach to a transaction—like an expense, purchase, or journal entry—to identify and categorize it for budgeting, reporting, and accounting. Instead of using long account codes, you pick plain-language tags so transactions can be tracked and reported on. For most transactions at least one Worktag is required. Some examples of Worktags include:
   • Funds:
     • FD001 Tuition and Fees
     • FD007 State Sponsored Research
   • Grants:
     • GR03545 2016509-Consortium for Nuclear Forensics
     • GR03540 2026385-Clemson University Battery Works
   • Gifts:
     • GF08706 CLEMU | Johnson Controls Operating Fund | GF04237
     • GF08709 CLEMU | Taco Bell Foundation Community Grant | GF04240
   • Projects:
     • PJ00316 CAMP | Lightsey Bridge 23B Structural Repair 
     • PJ00327 CAMP | Sirrine Hall, Room 270, Renovations
   • Spend Categories:
     • Registration Feeds
     • Office Supplies
5. Organizations – Organizations are a type of worktag! Workday groups data into organizations, or hierarchies.  There are three primary types of organizations.
   • Supervisory Organization – This is how Workday groups employees and managers. Think of it as your “team” or the people in your department.
   • Cost Center – For Clemson this most logically translates to “department” or business unit but is specifically used to organize financial data and transactions. Example of cost centers include:
     • CC0484 SCI | Chemistry,
     • CC0573 ATH | Football Athletic Training
     • CC0509 STUD | Dean of Students Office
     • CC0179 CAFLS | Dean’s Office
   • Academic Unit – In Workday academic colleges, departments, and other organizations within which individuals hold academic. This can get confused with Supervisory Organizations, as their membership is often similar, but the Academic Unit and Supervisory Organizations have different purposes.

Making Workday Work for You

Workday is designed to help you manage your work life with ease—from updating your info and requesting time off to reviewing your pay. Understanding these core terms is not just for HR, Financial staff, or managers; it empowers every users to make the most of the system. Stay on the lookout for a full glossary and more Workday Words of the Week in this blog and soon you will be speaking “Workday” like a pro.

One of the most common themes we heard during the Customer Confirmation Sessions was excitement about moving to one unified system. Across campus, people are eager to leave behind a patchwork of disconnected tools and processes.

Here’s what your colleagues had to say:

• “I love that it will eliminate some of the other applications we currently use.”
• “Love how streamlined the process will be within the same system.”
• “This runs circles around our current systems!!”
• “Excited about integrated systems.”
• “Because everything is in one place. I feel like it will allow me to point people to one place instead of multiple systems. My constituents get so confused as to where things are in the process.”
• “Streamlined and all in one system.”
• “The system will integrate disparate systems we have today.”
• “It is wonderful to have everything in one user-friendly system.”

What’s Changing:
Workday is designed to manage a broad range of processes and store comprehensive Human Resources and Financial data—all in one place. This means:

• We’re saying goodbye to PeopleSoft (CUBS HR and CUBS Financials)
• And phasing out 8+ additional systems currently used across the University

You can view the full list of primary systems impacted by the move to Workday—and those staying in place— on the Workday@Clemson Fast Facts website.

As we transition to Workday, the shift to a unified, integrated platform is one of the most exciting changes—and one that’s expected to bring immediate improvements to your day-to-day work.

Get ready! At the end of August, the Workday@Clemson program enters the Test stage. Several important activities are planned during this stage (which ends in June 2026 including):

• End-to-End Testing
  The Program Team will employ a “User Story*” approach to test Workday processes from start to finish, confirming they function as designed and that data is stored and secured properly. This activity will not only include the program team, but others across campus will be involved in testing Workday (*see the blog post on User Stories to find out more about this approach).
• “What’s Up with Workday” Series
  This series of informational and demonstration sessions will be open to the entire Clemson University community. Participants will get a preview of Workday and an introduction to its core features. These sessions will be conducted on Zoom and will be recorded. Be on the lookout for more information coming in Our Clemson, the events calendar, and the Workday@Clemson website for more information.
• User Experience Review
  Additional selected stakeholders will be invited to explore the system from an end-user perspective. Participants will also preview and provide feedback on prototype step-by-step guides and built-in help features.
• Training Design and Development
  The Training Team will be hard at work developing step-by-step guides, training sessions and videos to support a full training rollout to campus in Spring 2026. We are planning a curriculum and sessions that will be practical, emphasize hands on where practical and align with individuals’ positions at Clemson.

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