EDW Databases and Resources Available to Support Finance Transformation

The Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) is a secure central repository that integrates data from many sources across the University. It stores current and historical data that are used to support operational reporting and strategic analysis. The goal of the EDW is to support better and faster data-informed decision making. For more information about the EDW and how it fits within the Enterprise Data Platform, refer to Enterprise Data Platform.

EDW and UW Finance Transformation (UWFT)

UW Finance Transformation (UWFT) is much more than a system update – it is a redesign of our finance-related policies and processes, with the help of new technology. The EDW is supporting UWFT with the introduction of two new databases: UWODS and WDFinDataMart. These databases, which are under development and provision data from Workday, are currently available to help users prepare for UWFT go live.

For more information on how the EDW is supporting Finance Transformation, including planned dispositions for affected databases, refer to EDW for Finance Transformation.

New UWODS Database

When UWFT goes live, the EDW’s current state Operational Data Store (ODS) will freeze, and the new UW Operational Data Store (UWODS) will be introduced. This new database reflects the Foundation Data Model (FDM), which is the technical framework that organizes financial data in Workday. This new database will support reporting for the following:

Workday Foundation Data Model (FDM) and Financial Reference Data
Remediated HR/Payroll Data

To learn more about UWODS, request access, or get support, refer to the UWODS Customer Portal.

New WDFinDataMart Database

When UWFT goes live, the EDW’s current state FinancialSumMart will freeze, and the new Workday Financial Data Mart (WDFinDataMart) will be introduced. This new database will support reporting for the following:

Accounting & Operational Journal Transactions
Grant & Financial Budgets
Current Budget Balances
Payroll Journal Line Detail

To learn more about WDFinDataMart, request access, or get support, refer to the WDFinDataMart Customer Portal.

Additional Resources for Support

In addition to the customer portals noted above, there are a number of resources available to help users stay informed, ask questions, and get support with these new databases.

Reach Out to UWFT

Reach out to your FT Unit Readiness Lead or submit a request to uwftask@uw.edu for guidance.

Tip: To identify your Unit Readiness Lead, go to the UWFT System Remediation & Retirement Portal, locate your unit, and then click the information icon next to the unit name. For example,

An Information/Overview page displays for your unit, which includes the name of your assigned Unit Readiness Lead.

Join Us for Office Hours

EDW Subject Matter Experts are now available during the Enterprise Reporting and Analytics (ERA) Office Hours every Friday from 9 to 10. Please drop in to ask your UWODS and WDFinDataMart questions.

You can either sign up ahead of time or drop by during the session:

Drop by – Zoom (During session only)

Subscribe to Our Email Lists

When you request access to UWODS or WDFinDataMart, you are automatically added to the respective mailman list(s) to receive periodic communications related to these databases.

If you are not ready to get access, but want to stay in the loop, we encourage you to sign up for the following lists today:

Email Us

If you have questions or would like to provide feedback, please write to edw-help@uw.edu with “UWODS” or “WDFinDataMart” in the subject line.

How To: URM Status SQL Function in the EDW

Do you get tired of maintaining the same business logic in many data products and spending too much time updating the logic in all those products?

Are you looking for one version of the truth across all your academic reports, data cubes, and dashboards?

The BI Team has great news for you. The EDW supports the first academic data-related SQL function, URM (Underrepresented Minority) Status, to help you reduce business logic maintenance, improve code readability, and keep one version of the truth for Underrepresented Minority students. Imagine that instead of spending time on updating, let’s say, 12 academic reports with the new URM logic, the EDW team can apply the URM Status SQL function logic just once and this modification will propagate to all 12 academic reports at the same time.

This function is most helpful to SQL developers working on academic reports, cubes, and dashboards that use students’ demographic data.

Context:

In SQL or any other programming language, a function is a program that takes some input and generates an output value. SQL has many built-in functions that you get out of the box. For example, one of the built-in system functions is REPLACE(), which expects to have three inputs:

The expression you want to search (i.e. column or field),
what you are searching for, and
what you want to replace it with.

The EDW team has recently added the first academic data-related scalar SQL function called [dbo].[URMStatus] to the UWSDBDataStore] database in the EDW. A scalar SQL function returns a single value as opposed to a table of values.

By definition, a SQL scalar function takes one or more parameters in a SELECT statement and returns a single value, which in our case is one of the following: “International,” “URM” or “Not URM.”

How To Use the New Function:

The [dbo].[URMStatus] function takes four parameters:

@underrepflag – an integer value of 9 represents that a student belongs a URM group
@hispaniccode – an integer value of 7xx indicates a hispanic student
@ethnicity – a string value that could be one of the following: AFRO-AM, AMER-IND, ASIAN, CAUCASN, HAW/PAC, NOT IND
@residency – an integer value ranging from 0 – 6. If a value is 5 or 6, a function is going to return a value of “International”

The SQL code below provides an example of how ethnicity/race data is staged and then used in the [dbo].[URMStatus] function:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
-- Race/Ethnicity temporary table 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
USE [UWSDBDataStore];
SELECT DISTINCT t.system_key,
    Race_Ethnicity = CASE 
        WHEN s1.resident IN (5, 6) THEN 'INTERNATIONAL'
        WHEN COUNT(DISTINCT et2.ethnic_group) >= 2 THEN 'TWO OR MORE'
        WHEN s1.hispanic_code <> 999 THEN 'HISPANIC'
        ELSE RTRIM(et.ethnic_desc)
        END
     , MAX(et2.ethnic_under_rep) AS ethnic_under_rep
    , MAX(sh.hispanic) AS Hispanic_Ethnic_Code
    , s1.resident
    , RTRIM(et.ethnic_desc) AS ethnic_desc
    , CAST(NULL AS CHAR(255)) AS  Hispanic 
    , CAST(NULL AS  CHAR(20)) AS Underrepresented
    , CAST(NULL AS CHAR(255)) AS Ethnic_Long_Description
INTO  #teth
FROM #t t  -- this your temp table with you an initial students’ population
INNER JOIN sec.student_1 s1 ON s1.system_key = t.system_key
LEFT JOIN sec.student_1_ethnic et1 ON et1.system_key = t.system_key
LEFT JOIN sec.sys_tbl_21_ethnic et2 ON et2.table_key = et1.ethnic
LEFT JOIN sec.sys_tbl_21_ethnic et ON et.table_key = s1.ethnic_code
LEFT JOIN sec.student_1_hispanic sh ON sh.system_key = t.system_key-- AND sh.hispanic &lt;&gt; 999
GROUP BY t.system_key
    , s1.resident
    , s1.hispanic_code
    , et.ethnic_desc   
    , s1.resident

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- dbo.[URMStatus]  function call with parameters passed to this function
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
;WITH UnderCTE AS
(
SELECT system_key
, Underrepresented = [UWSDBDataStore].[dbo].[URMStatus] 
    (
     REPLACE(ethnic_under_rep,0,99)     /* @underrepflag - a function validation outputs an error if an input value is 0 which is unexpected.
                                              so I replace 0 with 99 to pass a function validation for @underrepflag */
  , ISNULL(Hispanic_Ethnic_Code,999)    /* @hispaniccode - there are some NULL values in hispanic data source so we are passing 999 value that 
                                              is ignored in the function "WHEN @hispaniccode is 999" */
  , ethnic_desc                        /* @ethnicity */  
  , resident                           /* @residency */  
    )
FROM #teth
)

UPDATE t
SET t.Underrepresented = f.Underrepresented
FROM #teth t INNER JOIN UnderCTE f
ON t.system_key = f.system_key

Please Note:

The [dbo].[URMStatus] function has been implemented in 12 academic reports so far. Please check a SQL tab in the BI Portal for almost any academic report to see the function implementation.

Questions:

If you have questions about this function or how to use it in your solutions, please write to help@uw.edu and put “EDW Feature: URM Status Function” in the subject line.

EWS EVAL Release 14 is Now Available

Enterprise Web Services (EWS) has just released an update in EVAL for multiple web services in support of UW Finance Transformation (UWFT). For an overview of how EWS is adapting to support UWFT, refer to EWS for Finance Transformation.

Monthly Scheduled Releases

EVAL: Updates to EVAL environments for all EWS services are now released on the same monthly schedule. This allows us to better synchronize with Enterprise Data Platform’s release schedule for Finance Transformation. For more information, refer to the Data Availability Timeline.
PROD: Updates to PROD environments for all EWS services now reflect changes from the previous month’s EVAL release (for example, if EVAL reflects Release R14, then PROD will reflect Release R13).

What’s New in EWS Release 14

Web Service	Overview of Release
FWS v2 (Outbound)	Introduced Breaking Changes by adding, renaming, or updating fields (including changes to some XML or JSON paths) in the following resources: /Award /BillingSchedule /Customer /CustomerPayment /FacilitiesAndAdministrationRateAgreement /Gift /Grant /InternalServiceProvider /Journal /LedgerAccountSummary /PayrollJournal /Plan /Project /ProjectHierarchy /Supplier /SupplierContract Introduced Breaking Changes by removing the following resources: /ReferenceType/{ReferenceIDType} /Resource/{RefID\|WID}/ResourceHierarchy /ResourceHierarchy/{RefID\|WID}/Resource /Gift/{RefID\|WID}/GiftHierarchy Added or updated fields in multiple resources in addition to those listed under breaking changes above. Added HREFs to multiple resources. Updated the formatting of Swagger metadata for multiple resources. Fixed bugs that impact fields and search parameters for multiple resources. For more information, refer to FWS Reference Data (Outbound) – Release 14. For support, refer to Support \| FWS.
FWS v2 (Inbound)	There were no customer-facing changes for FWS v2 (Inbound) introduced in this release.
HRPWS v3	Introduced a Breaking Change, which impacts fields for the /JobProfile resource. Added and updated fields in multiple resources. Updated multiple resources to display Active values by default. Removed the /PayrollResult by Name search parameter. Fixed bugs related to HREFs for multiple resources. For more information, refer to HRPWS v3 – Release 14. For support, refer to Support \| HRPWS. Reminder for HRPWS v2 users: HRPWS v2 is scheduled to retire at the end of 2022. For more information, refer to Transitioning from HRPWS v2 to v3.

Check Out Knowledge Navigator!

Knowledge Navigator is a web-based application that allows UW enterprise data users to explore key concepts from subject areas including Student, Finance, HR/Payroll, and Research Administration. The tool also visually demonstrates how key concepts are linked to physical data objects like reports, databases, and APIs.

FWS v2 has been available in Knowledge Navigator for a while, but now HRPWS v3 is available as well. You can access links to applicable sections of Knowledge Navigator from the customer support portals:

EWS Release Schedule for the Holidays

The November EWS releases will occur the week after Thanksgiving:

11/29/22 – EWS Production Release (includes updates from EWS EVAL Release R14)
12/1/22 – EWS R15 EVAL Release

The December EWS releases will occur the week between Christmas and the New Year:

12/27/22 – EWS Production Release (includes updates from EWS EVAL Release R15)
12/29/22 – EWS R16 EVAL Release

Support Available for SpaceWS v1 to v2 Transition

We are making some changes to the Space Web Service (SpaceWS). Current users must take action before SpaceWS v1 retires—scheduled for the end of 2022.

The purpose of these changes is to align better with the new InVision source system and remove some legacy financial elements in preparation to support UW Finance Transformation (UWFT).

These changes will mainly involve a direct mapping relationship from one resource to another or field mapping changes within the same resource.

We have also introduced a new ‘Floor’ Resource, plus HREFs for Space and FloorID. We encourage you to explore RESTful API Documentation v2 | SpaceWS to learn more about these new resources.

Transition Support is Available!

Documentation is available to support this transition work. Refer to the following pages to get started:

Transitioning from SpaceWS v1 to v2 – This resource guides users through the transition from v1 to v2, which includes:

Key Concepts
Search parameter mapping
Search results mapping
HREF results mapping

We want to hear your questions, comments, and solutions! Please engage with us via the following channels:

SpaceWS for Finance Transformation – We’re always looking to improve our documentation. Please use the page comment feature to provide feedback on any page within this space.
Support | SpaceWS – Refer to this page for guidance on who to contact for various support scenarios.

UW GL Cube undergoes redesign

We’re happy to announce the release of the newly redesigned UW GL (General Ledger) Cube. Kicked off in February 2021, the project is now completed and ready for use. Thanks to all the hard work of our developers from the DATAGroup and UW-IT ERA (Enterprise Reporting and Analytics), we updated the cube’s schema, making it easier to maintain, and making it more intuitive for finance users at all levels.

Why was the UW GL Cube redesigned?

To attain increased cost efficiency
To facilitate UW Finance Transformation
To make general ledger data accessible across the UW

Users can expect the redesigned UW GL Cube and its predecessor to run in parallel until October 30 2022, at which point we will retire the older cube. Users can expect to find the same data elements and will have the same levels of access as in the previous version, but will need to rebuild their existing workbooks using new dimensions and renamed attributes.

What will it take to switch from the old cube to the new?

To support flexibility and ease of maintenance, we’ve worked very hard with users to update the schema making it more intuitive.

But you’re not on your own. We have support documentation, and in addition, every Friday at 9am the BI team hosts BI Office Hours where you can ask questions and get answers.

Please drop by using this link: https://washington.zoom.us/my/busintel
Or register for Trumba Event Series using this link: Enterprise Reporting Analytics Office Hours

Additional resources

To learn more about the new design, how to connect to the cube, and what changed and how, please visit our UW GL Cube Resources wiki page.

To learn more about the new schema and attributes, please visit Knowledge Navigator: UW GL Cube.

UW-IT’s Enterprise Reporting and Analytics (ERA) will continue supporting users as needed. We’re here to help:

Email us at help@uw.edu with “reports, cubes and dashboards” in the subject line.

Thank you!

We also want to express our gratitude to all of you who contributed your time, expertise, and feedback during our design and requirements sessions, as well as performed User Acceptance Testing (UAT). This release could not have been possible or on time without your dedication. We really appreciate all of your help and enjoyed working with you!

If you have any questions, any trouble connecting, or any input, please don’t hesitate to write to us at help@uw.edu with “UW GL Cube” in the subject line.

RPG New Dashboard Release: Time Schedule Course Enrollment Trends and Details

The Enterprise Reporting and Analytics team with the collaboration of the Report Prioritization Group released the newest addition to the BI Portal: Time Schedule Course Enrollment Trends

What is the Time Schedule?

The UW Time Schedule application lists credit classes offered at the University of Washington. The UW Time Schedule is updated daily and includes the following information and more:

Status of courses
Times, days, or locations of courses
Instructors for all courses
Section types (Lecture; Lab; Quiz; etc.)
Learning types (Hybrid; All On-Line; No On-Line Learning)

The Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) imports data from the UW Time Schedule system into the [UWSDBDataStore] database. From here the data is used to support the Time Schedule Information report, Time Schedule Enrollment by Day and Time dashboard, and this most recent dashboard, Time Schedule Course Enrollment Trends, on the BI Portal. All data is refreshed daily.

How-To:

First, use the Select Measure: filter to choose a statistic that you want to analyze:

When selecting data in any of the multi-select filters, select a value(s) of your choice and click the Apply button to execute the filter:

For additional information visit the Interpretation tab for the Time Schedule Course Enrollment Trends dashboard.

Optimization hint: To improve page load time, pre-select the lower level filters (Campus, College, Department, etc.) first before selecting the (All) value under the Year Quarter filter.

Users and Use Cases:

The primary users of Time Schedule data are the Registrar’s Office, Time Schedule “Constructors,” the academic advising community, Program Coordinators, and department administrators working on faculties’ tenure reviews. The Time Schedule dashboards facilitate answering many business questions. Following are real business questions from our data user community:

Student Enrollment / Credit Hours:

For any course section, what do the current student enrollment / student credit hours counts look like for x number of years?
For any course section, what do the census enrollment / student credit hours counts look like for x number of years?

Course:

For any course section, can you display its School / Department / Curriculum (Responsible Curriculum Dept.) / Course Title / Course Section and Course Credits data elements?
What is the section type for a given course section e.g. ‘Lecture” , “Independent Study” etc.?
Is the course section instruction delivered on-line? If so, does it belong to one of the categories such as: ‘All Online’, ‘Hybrid’, ‘Enhanced’, ‘No Online Learning’?
Is the course section instruction delivered as distant learning? If so, does it belong to one of the categories such as: ‘Pre-Recorded (not Internet courses)’, ‘Correspondence (Print)’, ‘Internet’ ,’Interactive Television Technologies (not Internet courses) ‘, ‘Broadcast (not Internet courses)’ , ‘No Distance Learning’?
Is there a course fee required for a given course section, and what type it is?
What is a course’s enrollment status? Is it ‘Open, ‘Closed, ‘Withdrawn’, ‘Suspended’?

Space:

For any course section, what is its time schedule limit estimated enrollment?
For any course section, what is its space availability (the difference between joint enrollment limit and current enrollment)?
For any course section, what is its space availability (ratio: current enrollment / joint enrollment limit)?
What is the unmet course section request, meaning, how many students are denied registration entry into the course section due to space availability or for any other reason?

Instruction Time:

When does a course section occur during a week (for instance: ‘Monday’, ‘Wednesday’)?
At what time does a course section start and end, and at what location?

Questions?

If you have questions about the meaning of any of the business terms in these questions, or other business terms, you can explore these terms and get more information in Knowledge Navigator.

As always, if you have any questions, please write to help@uw.edu with “BI Portal: Time Schedule Trends and Details Dashboards” in the subject line.

Thank you

Thank you to all those with the ERA team and the RPG who made this release possible. In particular, the following UAT (user acceptance testing) users from the RPG contributed their valuable feedback and Time Schedule expertise.

Nell Gross – Geography department academic adviser
Joe Kobayashi – Marine Biology department academic adviser
Dori Bloom – analyst in the College of Arts and Sciences, Dean: Business Office
Matt Winslow – Sr. Associate Registrar in the University Registrar Office

Knowledge Navigator: Summer Quarter 2022 Metadata Update

UW Metadata Manager, Keith A. Van Eaton, from Information Management’s Enterprise Reporting & Analytics team, has added or updated metadata objects in Knowledge Navigator.

In their ongoing partnership, the UW’s data domain stewards, subject matter experts, and metadata manager ensure metadata objects are vetted and approved so that UW data users have a common understanding around UW data.

New terms added

13 UW Workday Terms
5 Academic Terms

New structured objects or reports added

1 Enterprise Report
2 Enterprise Dashboards
1 HRP Web Service
1 table & 18 columns UWSDBDataStore database
48 tables & 614 columns UWODS database
5 tables & 219 columns WDFinDataMart database

UW Metadata Objects

The Tableau visualization below shows, over time, all objects brought into Knowledge Navigator. Hover over any graphic element to get more info. https://bitools.uw.edu/t/Transitional/views/UWMetadataObjects/UWMetadataObjects?:showAppBanner=false&:display_count=n&:showVizHome=n&:origin=viz_share_link

UW Metadata Engagement

The Tableau visualization below shows, over time, the Subject Matter Expert who drafted a business definition and the Data Steward who approved the definition for any given data. Hover over any graphic element to get more information. https://bitools.uw.edu/t/Transitional/views/UWMetadataEngagement/UWMetadataEngagement?:showAppBanner=false&:display_count=n&:showVizHome=n&:origin=viz_share_link

To access these links from an off-site location, please do one of the following:

Remote into your work computer.
Use the F5/Big VPN (not UW MWS VPN) with your personal computer.

Knowledge Navigator is the UW’s metadata repository which contains information about the following collections and object types:

Glossaries of business terms
Database tables and columns
Web Service resources and fields
Cube dimensions and measures
Enterprise reports and dashboards

Terms and objects are updated regularly. To learn more about Knowledge Navigator, where terms come from, and how they get included in Knowledge Navigator, visit the information page at https://it.uw.edu/work/data/understand-data/data-definitions/.

If you’d like a demo of Knowledge navigator for your department, or if you have questions, please contact help@uw.edu with “Knowledge Navigator” in the subject line.

UWSDBDataStore Reorgs on October 22, 2022 and December 21, 2022

UWSDBDataStore Reorgs on October 22, 2022 & December 21, 2022

The student database (SDB) will go through a reorganization on October 22, 2022 which will cause changes in the Enterprise Data Warehouse database, UWSDBDataStore. These changes to the objects will be available in the UWSDBDataStore on October 24, 2022.
However, data on the new objects will be available as soon as the Data Custodians submit the security role definitions and the SIS team loads the data.

Please Note: The following column renames will be occurring in the SDB screens as of 10.22.22. The renames will be perpetuated to UWSDBDataStore and EDWPresentation December 21st 2022. There will be a mismatch in column names between UWSDBDataStore and SDB in the interim, but the data will be the same.

Last Updated – 12.20.2022

Column Renames – 12.21.22

Renames detailed below will occur end of day 12.21.2022. The data will be available Thursday 12.22.22, this data is typically available by 4am.

UWSDBDataStore Renames –

Table	Existing Column Name	New Column Name
time_schedule	natural_world	natural_science
	qsr	rsn
	indiv_society	social_science
	vis_lit_perf_arts	arts_hum
sr_transfer_crs	tfr_nw	tfr_nsc
	tfr_vlpa	tfr_ah
	tfr_is	tfr_ssc
	tfr_qsr	tfr_rsn
sr_course_titles	natural_world	natural_science
	qsr	rsn
	indiv_society	social_science
	vis_lit_perf_arts	arts_hum

EDWPresentation Renames:

Table	Existing Column Name	New Column Name
dimSectionAttributes	RqmtIndivSocInd	RqmtSocialScienceInd
	RqmtIndivSocIndDesc	RqmtSocialScienceIndDesc
	RqmtNaturalWorldInd	RqmtNaturalScienceInd
	RqmtNaturalWorldIndDesc	RqmtNaturalScienceIndDesc
	RqmtQuantSymInd	RqmtReasoningInd
	RqmtQuantSymIndDesc	RqmtReasoningIndDesc
	RqmtVisLitPerfArtInd	RqmtArtHumanitiesInd
	RqmtVisLitPerfArtIndDesc	RqmtArtHumanitiesIndDesc
dmSCH_dimCourseContentIndicators	RqmtIndivSocInd	RqmtSocialScienceInd
	RqmtIndivSocIndDesc	RqmtSocialScienceIndDesc
	RqmtNaturalWorldInd	RqmtNaturalScienceInd
	RqmtNaturalWorldIndDesc	RqmtNaturalScienceIndDesc
	RqmtQuantSymInd	RqmtReasoningInd
	RqmtQuantSymIndDesc	RqmtReasoningIndDesc
	RqmtVisLitPerfArtInd	RqmtArtHumanitiesInd
	RqmtVisLitPerfArtIndDesc	RqmtArtHumanitiesIndDesc
dmSCHLink_dimCourseContentIndicators	RqmtIndivSocInd	RqmtSocialScienceInd
	RqmtNaturalWorldInd	RqmtNaturalScienceInd
	RqmtQuantSymInd	RqmtReasoningInd
	RqmtVisLitPerfArtInd	RqmtArtHumanitiesInd

Columns to be Added – Completed 10.22.2022

Table	Column	DataType
sa_wd_det_trans	wd_det_interco	char(10)
sa_wd_det_trans	wd_det_aid_type	char(1)
sa_wd_sum_tran	wd_sum_interco	char(10)
sf_tuition	t_pt_13cred	integer
	t_pt_spare1	integer
	t_pt_spare2	integer
	t_pt_spare3	integer
	t_pt_spare4	char(3)
student_2	imm_consent	char(1)
	imm_con_dt	datetime
	imm_id	char(12)
	rn_ins_conf	char(1)
	rn_ins_conf_dt	datetime

EWS EVAL Release 13 is Now Available

Monthly Scheduled Releases

Updates to EVAL for all EWS services are released on the same monthly schedule. This allows us to better synchronize with Enterprise Data Platform’s release schedule for Finance Transformation. For more information, refer to the Data Availability Timeline.

What’s New in EWS Release 13

Web Service	Overview of Release
FWS v2 (Outbound)	This is a large release with MANY changes, including SEVERAL breaking changes! Introduced Breaking Changes to the /ExpenseItem, /PurchaseItem, /GiftHierarchy, /FundHierarchy, /ProgramHierarchy, /GrantHierarchy, /CustomerInvoice, /CatalogItem, /LedgerAccount, /Gift, and /Supplier resources. Introduced Breaking Changes to many XML and JSON paths for FWS v2 resources. Introduced Breaking Changes to how the /Plan resource returns data. Added and removed entities on the FWS v2 Generic Search resource. Added the Appropriation entity to the /RelatedWorktags?Type={Entity} resource. Added data to the /Grant resource. Fixed bugs related to organization-based HREF links and the /Reference and /Manufacturer resources. For more information, refer to FWS Reference Data (Outbound) – Release 13. For support, refer to Support \| FWS. New Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) available! As mentioned above, this release includes changes to how the /Plan resource returns data. For more information, refer the following questions on the FAQ \| FWS page: Why does the query parameter search only return a summary of the data for certain resources? Why does GetByID only return JSON for certain resources?
FWS v2 (Inbound)	There were no customer-facing changes for FWS v2 (Inbound) introduced in this release.
HRPWS v3	Introduced Breaking Changes to the /AcademicAppointmentTrack, /CompensationPlan, /JobProfile, /Person, /Position, /SupervisoryOrganization, and /WorkerCompensationPlanAssignment resources. Added data to the /Position and /Person resources. Added and updated search parameters for multiple resources. Added the /SupervisoryOrganization/{refID\|WID}/Person resource. Updated the /SupervisoryOrganization/{RefID\|WID}/tree resource. Added a new field to the /WorkerPeriodAcitivityPayAssignment resource. Updated security for certain fields in the /SupervisoryOrganization, /Person, and /Position resources. Fixed bugs related to organization-based HREF links and some /Person search parameters. For more information, refer to HRPWS v3 – Release 13. For support, refer to Support \| HRPWS. Reminder for HRPWS v2 users: HRPWS v2 is scheduled to retire at the end of 2022. For more information, refer to our newly published guide for Transitioning from HRPWS v2 to v3.

Web Service

Overview of Release

FWS v2 (Outbound)

This is a large release with MANY changes, including SEVERAL breaking changes!

Introduced Breaking Changes to the /ExpenseItem, /PurchaseItem, /GiftHierarchy, /FundHierarchy, /ProgramHierarchy, /GrantHierarchy, /CustomerInvoice, /CatalogItem, /LedgerAccount, /Gift, and /Supplier resources.
Introduced Breaking Changes to many XML and JSON paths for FWS v2 resources.
Introduced Breaking Changes to how the /Plan resource returns data.
Added and removed entities on the FWS v2 Generic Search resource.
Added the Appropriation entity to the /RelatedWorktags?Type={Entity} resource.
Added data to the /Grant resource.
Fixed bugs related to organization-based HREF links and the /Reference and /Manufacturer resources.

For more information, refer to FWS Reference Data (Outbound) – Release 13. For support, refer to Support | FWS.

New Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) available! As mentioned above, this release includes changes to how the /Plan resource returns data. For more information, refer the following questions on the FAQ | FWS page:

Why does the query parameter search only return a summary of the data for certain resources?
Why does GetByID only return JSON for certain resources?

FWS v2 (Inbound)

There were no customer-facing changes for FWS v2 (Inbound) introduced in this release.

HRPWS v3

Introduced Breaking Changes to the /AcademicAppointmentTrack, /CompensationPlan, /JobProfile, /Person, /Position, /SupervisoryOrganization, and /WorkerCompensationPlanAssignment resources.
Added data to the /Position and /Person resources.
Added and updated search parameters for multiple resources.
Added the /SupervisoryOrganization/{refID|WID}/Person resource.
Updated the /SupervisoryOrganization/{RefID|WID}/tree resource.
Added a new field to the /WorkerPeriodAcitivityPayAssignment resource.
Updated security for certain fields in the /SupervisoryOrganization, /Person, and /Position resources.
Fixed bugs related to organization-based HREF links and some /Person search parameters.

For more information, refer to HRPWS v3 – Release 13. For support, refer to Support | HRPWS.

Reminder for HRPWS v2 users: HRPWS v2 is scheduled to retire at the end of 2022. For more information, refer to our newly published guide for Transitioning from HRPWS v2 to v3.

Fall 2022 Content Manager Update

Hello IT Connect Content Managers,

This is the Summer 2022 edition of the quarterly IT Connect Content Manager Update.

In This Issue

IT Connect Launch
Web content best practices: consistency is key
Review content, submit any bugs you find
Page meta reviewed date is now updated date

WHAT’S NEW?

IT Connect Launch

On Wednesday, August 24th, the new IT Connect went live! The site has a completely reworked information architecture based on how customers use the site, a new design with emphasis on search, and a simplified and mobile-friendly design. These changes were based on extensive user studies with UW students, faculty and staff over the last year.

In addition, IT Connect subsumed UW-IT’s organizational site — that content is now under “IT at UW,” which is where you’ll find our ongoing news, stories and announcements. A single site also ensures people no longer experience a detour to the organizational site when they need content about tools and services.

Web content best practices: consistency is key

Content on IT Connect is managed by teams throughout UW-IT, but we can help all of our users parse the content on the site by using consistent formatting wherever possible. To that end, use the new features listed below for card sets, icon box grids, and audience tags, whenever it makes sense. Also follow the style guidelines and standing formatting options from the IT Connect guidelines for style and formatting.

Icon box grid for decision points

Icon boxes are an engaging and prominent way for you to link to different pages, topics or websites with a title and brief description of what is being linked. The boxes are formatted to produce a grid of choices to users that can easily be scanned, and a concise description allows you to give users a better idea of what to expect when clicking on the link.

Icon boxes include an icon from the IT Connect icon set, a concise headline, and an optional short description. Icon boxes create a grid of boxes on a page, similar to a category page. Icon boxes can easily be added to a page using a set of fields on the back end of an IT Connect page. Read more about icon box grids.

Card sets

Cards provide a way to add flare to your pages, using in image, headline, and short description to link to content in a way that engages users with a visually interesting and scannable set of cards. Cards can easily be added to a page using a set of fields on the back end of an IT Connect page. An example of a good use of cards is on the IT Connect homepage, where cards are used to feature content on IT Connect. Cards work best in sets of 2 or 3, and require an image, headline, description and link, and can optionally include a call to action button. Read more about card sets.

Audience tags

User research conducted about IT Connect documentation found that visitors to the site want to know who the page is intended for, so that they can more quickly determine if the page contains the information they are looking for. Because pages on IT Connect can be intended for specific audiences, identifying who the audience is can help clarify the level of detail required. Audience tags can be added to pages using checkboxes on the edit screen of a page, and those tags will appear at the top of the page in a meta information section. Read more about audience tagging.

Review content, submit any bugs you find

Please take some time to review your content on the new site. The project team has reviewed the content of the site, but content owners are more familiar with their own content. Let the project team know if you find anything awry with the site or your content. Submit any bugs you find to help@uw.edu with “IT Connect” in the subject line.

Updated date on page

Each page on IT Connect has a meta information section at the top, directly underneath the header. Previously, that section displayed the date that a page was last reviewed based on the reviewed date field on the edit screen for the page. This has been changed to reflect the date a page was last updated. Please continue to use the reviewed date field to track when the content as a whole was last looked over, but consider it an internal field now.

DOCUMENTATION, TRAINING & CONSULTATIONS

Do you need some help creating IT Connect content, another head to brainstorm content organization and layout, or want to learn how to use the features available in IT Connect? There are several ways to get help:

- Content Manager Documentation: Extensive documentation ranging from the basics of WordPress to advanced features for pages is available on the IT Connect Content Manager Documentation.
- Guide to writing documentation: Use the Getting started with documentation guide to help you start writing documentation. The guide breaks down a process you can use to help you get information to your end users in documentation.
- Training: One-on-one training for managing content on IT Connect is available from the IT Connect product manager, Nick Rohde, over Zoom or in person (once normal operations continue after the coronavirus pandemic). Get tips on correctly formatting content using the tools in IT Connect or learn how to organize your content. To arrange training, send an email to help@uw.edu with IT Connect Training in the subject line.

Consultation: Consultation sessions for individuals or teams are available from the IT Connect product manager, Nick Rohde. Send an email to help@uw.edu with IT Connect Consultation in the subject line to schedule a consultation.