WorkCyte story archive
New to ISU or need to catch up on the WorkCyte project? Visit Inside's archive of stories following project developments since Iowa State chose the Workday system in 2016.
It may seem like a leap of faith to send Workday questions to the general finance and human resources service emails we're being asked to use, but it helps the improved service delivery (ISD) teams quickly learn and respond.
"The service teams are prioritizing that work," said Kyle Briese, finance manager in operations and finance. "We are not trying to take away relationships, but we don't want someone to guess at the triaging and get lost at the front end of the process."
"In this short term [during the Workday launch], it helps us manage the volume of questions and work we're receiving," said Dwaine Heppler, associate vice president for human resources services and strategy.
Where does the service request go?
Emails sent to the general HR (HR_delivery@iastate.edu) and finance service (finance_delivery@iastate.edu) addresses are automatically routed to the HR or finance service delivery team assigned to the sender's unit. For example, an email from someone in the College of Design would land in the juniper team's inbox.
All team members monitor the service inbox, where incoming emails generate service tickets in the ServiceNow system used to manage workflow. From there, ISD specialists assign the service ticket to themselves or others, if appropriate.
Senders receive instant acknowledgment of their email submissions, followed by progress notifications. Continued communication can happen through the system or outside it -- phone, email or in person -- to accommodate the sender or the urgency of the service request.
Briese said the ServiceNow system logs how long service tickets are open, who has worked on the request and work notes made along the way. Specialists add information to the work notes to keep everyone up to speed -- including the initial sender -- on the resolution of the question or issue.
"Everything can be tracked in the system: time, progress and who's participated," Briese said. "We're also able to see if specialists might be working on a large number of service requests and reassign tickets to others who have some capacity to take more on."
Future finance requests
Briese recommends that employees continue to use the finance service email instead of sending initial requests directly to an individual service team specialist. A mutual inbox allows the team to cover gaps when specialists are out of the office or unavailable.
"These are the paths we've set up for people to be served well. Service requests are more easily integrated and distributed to get the answers you need," Briese said.
The team inbox streamlines service work for specialists, who also need to manage transactions within Workday and monitor their personal email inboxes. Briese said as faculty and staff gain experience with Workday, it's likely some of the initial service emails they're receiving will taper off.
"This is a bridge for users who aren't yet comfortable with Workday or just need to pass something into a work queue," he said.
HR gets personal for personnel
Heppler said the volume of requests sent to the HR email has leveled off but likely will increase during the first payroll period in Workday. He said requests sent to specific HR specialists are expected because HR work differs from finance transactions, requiring more individual conversations to address personnel matters.
"Our work is less transactional. We are encouraging as much direct connection with the specialists as possible," he said.
Heppler advised users to submit just one issue per email when sending inquiries to the HR service delivery address. Multiple emails on the same issue also slow the process, he said.
"If you haven’t heard back right away, please be patient as we make sure the issue is routed to the right person and they are in a position to respond," he said. "If an acknowledgement email from ServiceNow is received, the issue has been logged and will be processed."
Finance fast lane
A resource for common finance questions was added to the WorkCyte website ("How Do I" under the ISD dropdown menu). One click launches an email to the finance service address with an identifying subject line and a template of information needed to initiate the transaction. For example, how to book and reimburse travel.
"This is trying to further that service point -- you're trying to go through the fast lane, and we want to help you through the fast lane. If you give us these things, we can move this very quickly through the system," Briese said.
Heppler and Briese ask for continued patience while finance and HR teams learn, manage their workflow and shift to ongoing support.
