In December 2026, WSU will celebrate six years of using Workday. Since launch, our community of employees has gained experience, developed expertise, and helped further refine Workday and its related systems.
Elevating Cougs offers WSU employees the opportunity to engage deeply with one another to share this wealth of knowledge, helping one another harness the full power of the tools and systems we use every day.
At this year’s conference, our lineup of Workday sessions offers something for employees at every step of their Workday journey, from mastering core concepts to diving deep into advanced functionality.
Attend these sessions developed and led by fellow WSU Workday experts covering topics in finance, HCM, grants management, and payroll:
Workday Core Concepts:
- Time Entry to Payroll & Basic Time Entry
- Modernization’s Time & Leave team join Payroll Services to show you what happens between time entry in Workday and Payroll run.
- Workday Security & Delegation
- Learn about Security Roles in Workday, organizations, cost centers compared to supervisory organizations, and how to successfully manage security roles for the teams you support.
- Understanding Item Types
- Join the Bursar’s Office, Central Accounting, and Modernization’s Finance team as they explain Item Types and how to use them in Workday.
Advanced and New Functionality:
- Advanced Time Entry
- Join Modernization’s Time & Leave team for an informative and engaging session that helps you understand advanced time entry scenarios and processes in Workday.
- Navigating Grants Forecasting in Workday Adaptive Planning
- Did you know WSU pioneered the award-winning Grants Forecasting tool in Adaptive Planning? This tool is a university-wide grants forecasting tool enhancing support for research on a brand new level. It assists Grant Managers and Principal Investigators (PIs) across the WSU system in projecting future expenses and remaining balances on their grants. Learn more about this tool with Modernization’s Grants team as they demonstrate the Grants Forecasting tool in Adaptive Planning for Grant Managers, PIs, and AFOs.
- What’s New in Workday: HCM
- Join Modernization’s HCM team for an interactive and engaging run down of the latest HR related updates and optimizations in Workday. This 90-minute session includes plenty of time for Q&A. Modernization holds What’s New sessions every quarter, and October’s session is the third in this year’s series.
- Workday Accounting Center
- Learn about Workday’s Accounting Center, which consolidates accounting from external sources into Workday, supporting improved financial reporting and budget planning at WSU.
- Punchout Marketplace for Scientific Supplies
- Learn about the university’s new marketplace for scientific supplies in Workday, which simplifies how departments purchase commonly used scientific and research supplies.
- Google Mileage Calculations for Travel Expenses
- Join Payment and Card Services and Modernization for a demonstration of the new Google integration for Spend Authorizations and Expense Reports in Workday. This feature automatically calculates mileage based on origin and destination addresses and is available in November 2026. Along with the demonstration, learn about the benefits for the new integration, get best-practice guidance for common travel questions, and a list of resources to help attendees find more efficient ways to manage expense reimbursement practices in Workday.
- Modernizing Revenue Collection: The Role of Merchant Services in Higher Education
- Using TouchNet product examples, Treasury Services and Modernization share TouchNet highlights, as well as the basics of PCI compliance and strategies to reduce PCI scope while protecting credit card data. For those occasions where units need to use other merchant service providers, Treasury Services will share those providers who have University master agreements for e-commerce and card-present transactions.
Elevating Cougs evolves each year to reflect the real challenges facing WSU employees, but the goal remains the same: creating opportunities to learn from one another.
Register now to join us for another year of learning made for Cougs, by Cougs.
Questions about this year’s conference? Reach out at HRS.training@wsu.edu.