Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The Workday Financials project has been kicked off in March 2025.

The Workday Financial modules are scheduled to go live in the Summer of 2026 (FY 2027).

Workday is currently the primary focus of NEIU’s strategic initiative to improve our technological infrastructure and increase operational efficiency. As the University continues to improve technology and business processes across campus, Workday is a critical component to meeting the institution’s mission and goals. 

Workday is a cloud-based ERP system for HR, Finance, Planning and Student Services. ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning and refers to business process management software.

Workday will be the new tool the University uses to store and organize information and data so that we can conduct business. Workday is a modern, integrated system that will help us do our work quickly and efficiently.

Ease of purchasing - Improved and streamlined purchasing process leading to user-friendly procurement experience. As I mentioned before, Workday will allow purchasers to streamline the purchasing process by offering them a single point of entry to the purchasing system with a more intuitive interface.

Ease of monitoring and tracking - Workday offers an improved ability to monitor spending and track purchased and received goods and services. Workday means better visibility into spending through robust reporting.

Fewer human errors – Workday allows for automation of many processes currently performed manually. Automating many manual operations reduces the probability of human error in many financial processes. This allows us to address one of the key concerns: the lack of staff to support some business areas. As a result, this will allow the University to improve their resource utilization leading to better employee satisfaction. Which, in turn, leads to improved staff retention. All leadership and management can appreciate the significance of that impact.

Better decision making – Workday will allow access to robust reporting that will result in improved personal decisions. This will enable management and leadership to make more informed decisions quicker. Workday reporting provides real-time, data-driven insights that empower leaders to make faster, more informed decisions. Its customizable dashboards and reports offer transparency and visibility across financial and operational activities, supporting strategic planning and improved personal accountability.

Time savings - Workday streamlines financial and administrative processes through automation, reducing the need for manual data entry and repetitive tasks. Its intuitive interface and self-service capabilities enable users to quickly access and manage information without relying on support teams. By consolidating systems and improving workflow efficiency, Workday significantly saves time across departments. Employees will experience significant time savings across all operations. 

Finally, Workday makes it easier for the University to pass audits by maintaining a single source of truth with real-time, auditable financial data. Its built-in controls, automated workflows, and detailed reporting ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and institutional policies. The system also simplifies document tracking and retrieval, making it easy to provide accurate information to auditors when needed.

Training for Workday is a very high priority, and we are currently refining our training programs and plan for introducing Workday to campus. Employees will be trained in how to use Workday Financial modules. The training program will provide you with a real-world experience of how to effectively use Workday and you will have access to training materials as we get closer to Workday go-live. The project team will communicate the start of the training program in the Spring of 2026.

Typically, a pilot means that a project team is planning on releasing a new program to a limited employee group or a few departments before releasing them to the entire community. The project team is not planning on conducting a pilot. Both the Workday Financial module and the new business processes will be released to all project stakeholders on the Go-Live date (currently, Summer on 2026/FY 2027). The project team will ensure the Workday Financial module is functioning as designed before releasing it to the University community.

When the Workday Financial module goes live in the Summer 2026/FY 2027, Banner will be disbanded. Please note that Banner Student will continue to be used. The University community will use Workday for all its HCM and financial needs. Having said that, the Workday Financial module will go live only when the project team is confident the Workday functionality is functioning properly.

First, the Banner platform NEIU is currently supported by many 3rd party systems that the University is paying for. NEIU will see significant savings from migrating to a single Workday platform. The new unified system will eliminate the need to continue paying the suppliers of the 3rd party software that will be decommissioned along with Banner. 

Second, other systems currently used to support the business process, such as ESM and Chrome River, will also be decommissioned and replaced with Workday as a uniform platform that will support the purchasing process. Decommissioning these systems will make the purchasing process more effective and cost-efficient which will allow the University to realize significant savings.

Third, transitioning to Workday has less tangible yet significant financial benefits. Migrating to Workday as a unified system will make NEIU's overall business operations more efficient and therefore cost-effective. 

Finally, business process modernization and Workday will allow NEIU to stay competitive in the Higher Education market which will positively reflect on the University's financial stability.

NEIU Leadership considers business process modernization and transition to the unified Workday platform a good investment in NEIU employees and their experience. The new unified Workday platform will allow University employees to become more competitive in their jobs. By implementing the unified Workday system, the University is investing in improving marketability of its employees. This project is an opportunity for NEIU to develop its talent for employees to become more successful and improve their job satisfaction.

Currently, the project team and Leadership are analyzing a potential impact.

The End-of-Year (EOY) closeout is a complex process. The project team includes dedicated subject matter experts (SME) who will lead the process called cutover planning. Cutover planning is the detailed process for transitioning from Banner to Workday involving a step-by-step plan for the final deployment and launch. The SME team is creating a detailed list of tasks, timelines, roles, and rollback procedures to ensure a smooth and successful Go-Live with minimal disruption. In partnership with the change team, the cutover team will lead the University business community through the EYO closeout.

Testing is an activity to exercise Workday and validate the entire business process flow, from start to finish, across different modules and integrations with other systems.

The purpose of E2E testing is to ensure that data flows and the system functions correctly for NEIU employees and other groups before the system goes live. E2E testing simulates user journeys, such as end-of-year closing and payment processing. It evaluates the entire business process for all Workday users.

Workday Financials Project E2E starts on January 5, 2026.

E2E will run for nine weeks and is planned to be completed by the end of March 2026.

E2E will be performed in two phases.

• In Phase 1, Functional leads and their teams will exercise Workday to ensure it meets employees’ needs.
• In Phase 2, the project team will engage NEIU employees (e.g., Facilities Management team members) to test Workday.

Workday Financials Project E2E will cover:

• Business Process Flow: Testing complete workflows such as creating a Purchase Order all the way to processing a payment to a supplier.
• Data Integrity: Verifying that data converted from Banner, ESM, and Chrome River works correctly within Workday and flows accurately between various pieces for functionality.
• Integrations: Ensuring data transfers seamlessly between Workday and external systems as well as between Workday Financials and Workday HCM.
• Security & Roles: Confirming that users (like leadership, staff, and faculty) have the correct access
  to tasks and reports.
• Unique Scenarios: Checking NEIU-specific Workday setup to ensure it can support unique University functions such as approval routing.
• Notifications: Validating that all communication templates display correct information.

We are also testing integration with HCM and ensuring that the WDF functionality does not negatively affect HCM functionality. Cross-over testing with HCM.

E2E is performed by both Functional leads and their teams as well as employees who will use Workday Finance after going live.

Sandy Vue, Director of Institutional Research and Assessment, is NEIU’s Workday Financials Project’s test lead. Sandy will coordinate testing with the Functional leads.

Also, Functional leads will lead the E2E testing effort within their respective workstreams.

The primary goal of E2E is to ensure Workday Financials can provide a positive and intuitive experience for employees.

E2E will confirm Workday Financials functions as designed and can support NEIU’s business operations.

The project team will be testing integrations with other Workday functionality (e.g., HCM) to ensure all cross-functional processes perform as planned.

Finally, E2E validates real-world business scenarios and reduces risks as this will be the final test before Workday is released to employees.

Data validation is a prerequisite for E2E. Currently, Functional leads and their teams are performing data
validation.

The existing purchase orders will not roll over to Workday. New purchase orders will need to be established by whoever establishes the purchase orders for the department or whoever initially established the purchase order.

All invoices will need to be processed in Workday as a PO after the fact. We will no longer follow non-PO Expense model. NEIU has not used DPV model for the past two years.

There is no such thing as a 2-point verification. In Workday, the match occurs as follows: PO, receipt from the requisitioner, and the invoice from Accounts Payable (AP).

Departments can get reimbursed for allowed purchases based on financial policy until June 30, 2026 for FY 2026 expenses.

Any invoice not paid by the cutoff date will be paid in Workday regardless of when the PO or order was placed. If there is PO made in FY 2026, the payment will be charged against the FY 2026 PO/funds. Any payments over the PO amount will be charged to FY 2027 funds.

If the PO is created in FY 2026 before the cut off, it will be charged to the FY 2026 PO/funds. If there is no PO, the payment will come out of FY 2027 funds.

All travel must have a spend authorization in Workday for travel up to June 30, 2026 and all reimbursement are created as expense report in Workday. Last day for an approved expense report must be submitted on June 15, 2026 for the June 18, 2026 pay date. For travel after June 30, 2026, create a spend authorization in Workday on July 1, 2026.

Prepays are only applicable to PO.