Summer 2023 Content Manager Update

Hello IT Connect Content Managers,

Welcome to the Spring 2023 edition of the quarterly IT Connect Content Manager Update.

New style and formatting guide for IT Connect
Google Analytics 4 Update
Web content best practices: Use links effectively

WHAT’S NEW?

New style and formatting guide for IT Connect

A new style and formatting guide for IT Connect content is published on IT Connect. The new style guide provides updated guidance for writing IT Connect content. The guide is more robust and more prescriptive, providing advice on writing style and formatting guidelines for IT Connect content.
The new style guide goes into depth on how to:

Write for the web using plain language that avoids jargon and acronyms
Choose the best words for both user comprehension and search engine optimization
Ensure users know if the page has the information they need using audience tagging and describing a pages purpose at the top
What formatting options to use to enhance your page’s scannability and ensure consistency across the site.

The new guide is supplemented by a template that allows you to copy and paste some formatting options directly into your content.

Please reference and follow this guide when writing IT Connect content. If you have any questions about the guide, please fill out this form.

Read the style guide

Google Analytics 4 Update

Google Analytics 4 (GA4), the major update to web-based analytics from Google, launched last year, and Google has been busy enhancing the platform and getting analytics users ready to switch over to GA4 for their web properties. IT Connect switched to using Google Analytics this Spring, while concurrently collecting data from the legacy Universal Analytics system as well.

Last month a major milestone was reached in the worldwide switchover to GA4, when Google started turning off data collection for the legacy Universal Analytics platform. This means that the legacy system that IT Connect used to collect analytics information for nearly two decades is no longer gathering analytics data.

The next milestone is slated for the end of this year: access to all analytics data on the legacy Universal Analytics platform will be turned off for users of the service. When that happens, you will no longer be able to access any legacy analytics data through the Universal Analytics platform.

The IT Connect team has been working to save high-level platform usage data from the system before it goes away, but there are actions you must take if you want to save metrics specific to your content on IT Connect. Read more about what actions you can take from a message sent to all content editors in June:

Learn more about these changes and actions you must take to save data.

Web content best practices: Use links effectively

Linking is a powerful tool in the web content toolkit. Linking lets you easily and effectively share information with readers and can help reduce both reader frustration at finding information, and keep pages concise while still providing helpful information.

For example, if you mention a UW policy or a technology tool is documented elsewhere on IT Connect, link to it. Don’t make readers have to go searching for something you mention if it already has content somewhere and you can provide a link.

For example, if a public transportation website said to check the bus timetable for arrival times, it would create a positive user experience if the words “bus timetable” linked directly to that information, rather than the reader having to find that information on their own.

Links should be descriptive to the information they take users to. Using words like “click here” or “read more” don’t make contextual information for that link apparent with minimal thought. This is especially important for screen readers users, who often need to navigate the links on a page without the context of the surrounding text.

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 the documentation process that will benefit your end users.
- Training: One-on-one training for managing content on IT Connect is available from the IT Connect service manager, Nick Rohde, over Zoom or in person. Get tips on correctly formatting content using the tools in IT Connect or learn how to organize your content. To arrange training, fill out this intake form.

Consultation: Consultation sessions for individuals or teams are available from the IT Connect product manager, Nick Rohde. To schedule a consultation, fill out this intake form.

New Version of FWS Deployed for Finance Transformation

We recently deployed Financial Web Service (FWS) v2 to Production (PROD) to support UW Finance Transformation (UWFT) and the implementation of Workday Finance!

Check out our new customer portal!

We’ve updated the Financial Web Service | FWS customer portal to reflect the current status of the service:

Removed v1 content to streamline the customer experience.
Updated the Memorandum of Understanding to communicate key resources, environment considerations, and release policies.
Migrated FWS Inbound to a new (and separate) customer portal: Secure Workday Integration for Transactions | SWIFT. To learn more about this change, refer to Secure Workday Integration for Transactions (SWIFT) Launches to Support Finance Transformation.

Please watch this space for updates. To do so, display the portal, click Watch in the upper right corner, and then select Watch all content in this space to be notified of updates related to SWIFT.

Engage with us!

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

Financial Web Service | FWS customer portal – We’re always looking to improve our documentation. Please use the page comment feature to provide feedback on any page within this space.
fws-users Mailman List – Subscribe to receive important communications and maintenance notices for FWS. Note: The fws-ft-users and fws-client-app-dev mailman lists are now retired—all users have been migrated to the new list.
EWS Office Hours – Enterprise Web Service (EWS) Subject Matter Experts are available every Friday from 10:00am to 11:00am to answer your questions. If possible, please submit questions ahead of time to ews-support@uw.edu.
Support – Refer to this page for guidance on who to contact for various support scenarios.

Secure Workday Integration for Transactions (SWIFT) Launches to Support Finance Transformation

Secure Workday Integration for Transactions (SWIFT) is a secure Application Programming Interface (API) that enables business units from across the University to post Accounting Journals and Internal Service Deliveries (ISD) to Workday via either REST API or Secure File Transfer Protocol (sFTP). This service was developed to support UW Finance Transformation (UWFT) and the implementation of Workday Finance.

Check out our new customer portal!

SWIFT documentation was previously embedded within the Financial Web Service customer portal. We’ve since created a new (and separate) Secure Workday Integration for Transactions | SWIFT customer portal, including an updated Getting Started guide, to reflect this standalone service.

Please watch this space for updates. To do so, navigate to the portal, click Watch in the upper right corner, and then select Watch all content in this space to be notified of updates related to SWIFT.

Engage with us!

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

Secure Workday Integration for Transactions | SWIFT customer portal – We’re always looking to improve our documentation. Please use the page comment feature to provide feedback on any page within this space.
swift-users Mailman List – Subscribe to receive important communications and maintenance notices for SWIFT. Note: We have migrated users who had previously subscribed to the fws-inbound-ft-users mailman list to this list.
EWS Office Hours – Enterprise Web Service (EWS) Subject Matter Experts are available every Friday from 10:00am to 11:00am to answer your questions. If possible, please submit questions ahead of time to ews-support@uw.edu.
Support – Refer to this page for guidance on who to contact for various support scenarios.

Workday Update 2023 R2 Test Environments Now Available

Workday releases a major update twice a year. The next update (R2023 R2) will be in production 09 Sep 2023. A special Workday Sandbox Preview tenant is now available that contains the upcoming changes and is available for testing. We have an FWS and HRPWS environment pointing to this tenant to support testing. We will run our own internal regression testing and do not anticipate any need for our web service users to test or adapt to these changes. If you have been asked to participate in Workday Update 2023 R2 testing or would like to run some testing on your own, please use the following environments:

https://wseval.s.uw.edu/hrp_preview/

https://wseval.s.uw.edu/financial_preview/

**NEW OFFER: eSignatures Service Office Hours

eSignatures Service team is happy to announce that beginning 8/18/2023, we will be opening eSignatures Service Office Hours session every first and third Friday of each month from 11:00am to 12:00pm to answer your questions about DocuSign at the University of Washington.

The information on how to join this session is posted on eSignatures Service Office Hours and will be regularly updated with upcoming sessions’ dates and times in the Support section.

If you already have specific questions you would like to ask, please submit them ahead of time to eSignatures Help with the subject line “eSignatures Office Hours”.

We look forward to talking to you then!

ACTION REQUIRED: Use of UW Google with Shared UW NetIDs ends August 29, 2023 (Reminder #6)

A version of this reminder message was sent to owners and administrators of Shared UW NetIDs with a UW Google account on August 8, 2023. Messages included a customized list of Shared UW NetIDs, owned or administered by the recipient, and associated with UW Google services.

What is happening?

Due to changes to the UW Google service, UW Google will be removed from all Shared UW NetIDs, effective August 29, 2023. Shared UW NetID owners—recipients of this message—must migrate UW Google content or delete data that is no longer needed (according to the UW Records Retention schedule and the UW Medicine Records and Information Governance).

Any data that is not removed from these services will be deleted after August 29, 2023.

Please note that Shared UW NetIDs are not being deleted; only UW Google accounts and services for Shared UW NetIDs are being deleted.

What is affected by this change?

ALL Google and third-party products and services associated with a Shared UW NetID are affected. The following is a short list of critical services and/or uses that are impacted by the change:

YouTube channels

ALL YouTube channels set up using a Shared UW NetID are affected.
To save the channel, including all stats (views, likes, comments, etc.), you must convert to a YouTube Brand account.
The YouTube Brand account conversion process requires ten (10) days to complete, do not wait until the day before the shutdown to start this process!

UW Google email (Gmail)
Google Drive content
3rd party apps, websites, and services that the Shared UW NetID is used to log into

What do I need to do?

At the end of this message, review the list of Shared UW NetIDs that you own.

Create a migration plan for email, files and business processes that must be retained.

Review alternatives to UW Google for Shared UW NetIDs.

If the UW Google account is no longer needed, the owner should revoke access to UW Google services for the account using the Provisioning Request Tool (PRT). This will delete the UW Google account and data.

An important note about email:

If the Shared UW NetID account is used for communicating via email, the mail forwarding needs to be changed prior to August 29, 2023. Otherwise, the mail forwarding will be set to the owner’s personal UW email address on August 29,2023. Learn how to change the email forwarding from UW Google to UW O365.

Is it possible to pay to keep services associated with Shared UW NetIDs?

No, it is not possible. The removal of Shared UW NetIDs from use with Google services is driven by the requirement to comply with Google’s new terms of service, which define the use of Shared UW NetIDs as a violation of Google’s acceptable use policy.

When do I need to migrate my data?

All data that needs to be preserved in UW Google accounts for Shared UW NetIDs must be moved to a new location by August 29, 2023. All UW Google accounts and data for Shared UW NetIDs will be deleted after that date.

WARNING: YouTube channels must be converted to a YouTube Brand account which requires ten (10) days minimum to complete. This process should be started no later than August 12, 2023.

Can UW-IT help me migrate my data?

Unfortunately, due to limited resources, UW-IT is unable to offer individualized data migration consulting or assistance. Your department’s IT group is your best resource for assistance and recommendations.

Review alternatives to UW Google for Shared UW NetIDs and data migration guides.

Can I stop receiving these reminders?

You will receive periodic reminders about moving content from the affected UW Google accounts. If you prefer not to receive these messages, the owner of a Shared UW NetID can delete the UW Google account for a Shared UW NetID using the Provisioning Request Tool (PRT) by clicking “Revoke” next to the service. This will delete the UW Google account and all data.

Please note that only an owner of a Shared UW NetID will see it listed in the PRT and can act; Shared UW NetID administrators will not see the Shared UW NetID listed in the PRT and cannot perform this action.

ACTION REQUIRED: Use of UW Google with Shared UW NetID ends August 29, 2023 (Reminder #5)

A version of this reminder message was sent to owners and administrators of Shared UW NetIDs with a UW Google account on July 25, 2023. Messages included a customized list of Shared UW NetIDs, owned or administered by the recipient, and associated with UW Google services.

What is happening?

Due to changes to the UW Google service, the use of UW Google with Shared UW NetIDs will be eliminated, effective August 29, 2023. Owners and administrators of Shared UW NetIDs must migrate UW Google content or delete data that is no longer needed (according to the UW Records Retention schedule and the UW Medicine Records Retention schedule).
Any data that is not removed from these services will be deleted after August 29, 2023.
Please note that Shared UW NetIDs are not being deleted; only UW Google accounts and services for Shared UW NetIDs are being deleted.

What is affected by this change?

ALL Google and third-party products and services associated with a Shared UW NetID are affected. The following is a short list of critical services and/or uses that are impacted by the change:
YouTube channels

ALL YouTube channels that were set up using a Shared UW NetID are affected.
- To save the channel, including all stats (views, likes, comments, etc.), you must convert to a YouTube Brand account.
- The YouTube Brand account conversion process requires ten (10) days to complete. Do not wait until the day before the shutdown to start this process!
  UW email.
Google Drive content.
Third-party apps, websites and services that the Shared UW NetID is used to log into.

What do I need to do?

Review the lists of Shared UW NetIDs that you administer at the end of this message.

Create a migration plan for email, files and business processes that must be retained.

Review alternatives to UW Google for Shared UW NetIDs.

Contact the owner of the Shared UW NetID(s) to complete any retention work that you cannot do as an administrator.

IMPORTANT: Many Shared UW NetIDs were set up by an owner who is not actively using the account, relying instead on administrators to maintain. Please do no assume that the owner of a Shared UW NetID has taken necessary action for the upcoming changes. Contact the owner to confirm a plan of action for Shared UW NetID(s) before August 29, 2023.

An important note about email

If the Shared UW NetID account is used for communicating via email, the mail forwarding needs to be changed prior to August 29, 2023. Otherwise, any emails sent to the Shared UW NetID email address will bounce back to the sender as undeliverable after the UW Google services are removed on August 29, 2023. Learn how to change the email forwarding from UW Google to UW O365.

Is it possible to pay to keep services associated with Shared UW NetIDs?

When do I need to migrate my data?

All data that needs to be preserved in UW Google accounts for Shared UW NetIDs must be moved to a new location by August 29, 2023. All UW Google accounts and data for Shared UW NetIDs will be deleted after that date.

WARNING: YouTube channels must be converted to a YouTube Brand account which requires ten (10) days minimum to complete. This process should be started no later than August 12, 2023.

Can UW-IT help me migrate my data?

Review alternatives to UW Google for Shared UW NetIDs and data migration guides

Can I stop receiving these reminders?

You will receive periodic reminders about moving content from the affected UW Google accounts. If you prefer not to receive these messages, the owner of a Shared UW NetID can delete the UW Google account for a Shared UW NetID using the Provisioning Request Tool (PRT) by clicking “Revoke” next to the service. This will delete the UW Google account and all data.

Please note that only an owner of a Shared UW NetID will see it listed in the PRT and can act; Shared UW NetID administrators will not see the Shared UW NetID listed in the PRT and cannot perform this action.

UWODS and WDFinDataMart Databases now offering Workday HR/Payroll and Finance data

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.

Introducing Workday Finance data to the EDW

The EDW is now providing Finance and HR/Payroll data from Workday with the introduction of two new databases: UWODS and WDFinDataMart. These databases went live in Production on 7/6/2023 as part of UW Finance Transformation (UWFT), and are now available for your reporting needs! For more information on how the EDW has been supporting UWFT, including dispositions of affected databases, refer to EDW for Finance Transformation.

New WDFinDataMart Database

The EDW’s FinancialSumMart will no longer be updated after the completion of FY2023 biennium. The new Workday Financial Data Mart (WDFinDataMart) is now providing the following data from Workday:

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.

New UWODS Database

The EDW’s Operational Data Store (ODS) will no longer be updated after the completion of FY2023 biennium. The new UW Operational Data Store (UWODS) is now providing the following data from Workday:

Financial Reference Data
HR/Payroll Data

To learn more about UWODS, request access, or get support, refer to the UWODS 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 and the data they provide.

Join Us for Office Hours

Subject matter experts are available to answer any questions you may have about about the EDW and BI Portal every Friday from 9 am to 10 am.

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

Join our email lists to receive periodic updates for these new databases.

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.

Reimagining Reporting: The BI Portal and Workday Finance

To support UW Finance Transformation and the implementation of Workday Finance, the BI Portal report catalog has expanded to include Workday Finance and My Financial Desktop (MyFD) reports, providing a one-stop shop for users across the UW Academy.

These updates deployed to the BI Portal on 7/18/23.

Setting the Stage: The New UW Reporting Landscape

Workday Finance, which went live on 7/6/23, offers various financial reports, which users can access from within the Workday application. While these reports provide valuable insights into important data, there are some caveats.

Workday reports:

Reflect data from limited subject areas: human resources/payroll and finance.
Limit access by security role. If a user’s role does not allow access to a report, they are not able to find that report in Workday.
Do not capture other enterprise reports that exist outside of the Workday ecosystem. If a user only looks for a report in Workday, they may miss out on other useful resources, like the Enterprise Data Warehouse, to explore enterprise data.

The BI Portal, which initially launched in 2013, offers reports, cubes, and dashboards to explore institutional data available in the Enterprise Data Warehouse and other enterprise data sources.

BI Portal reports, cubes, and dashboards:

Reflect data from various subject areas: academics, advancement and alumni relations, core data, finance, human resources, property and space management, and research.
Include historical data.
Allow users to discover any report in the catalog. While a user’s security role determines which reports they can run, the BI Portal allows users to discover all available reports and view security information regardless of role.

Pulling it All Together: BI Portal’s Consolidated Report Catalog

On 7/18/23, the BI Portal finance report catalog expanded to include:

Workday Finance reports (finance data from FY2024 and later)
MyFD reports (finance data from FY2015 – FY2023)

This expansion provides several benefits for reporting users:

Filtering new resources – Three new tags are now available to quickly drill-down to applicable reports: WORKDAY FINANCIAL, MYFD REPORTS, and LEGACY DATA. These tags are available as filters on the Catalog page and as tiles on the Home page.

Searching across all enterprise reports – A consolidated catalog of rich report metadata allows users to search across all Workday and UW Academy reports in one user interface.
Discovering available reports and associated security information – In Workday, reports are assigned by security role. The security role not only determines which reports the user can run, but which reports they can discover. In the BI Portal, a user can discover any report in the catalog. While a user’s security role determines which reports they can run, this visibility allows users to identify potentially useful reports, check the Security Information tab to determine which roles have access, and then request elevated access, if warranted.
Identifying reports with legacy data – Non-Workday finance reports in the BI Portal reflect legacy data following the close of FY2023. This is also the case for the new MyFD reports. Development of new non-Workday finance reports is underway now that Workday production data is available.

Questions?

Please submit questions as follows to ensure they reach the appropriate team and get a quicker response.

If you have questions that relate to…	Then…
The actual reports in Workday and associated data… Access to Workday Reports…	Use UW Connect Finance to search knowledge base articles and submit requests.
Reports in the BI Portal and associated data, excluding reports tagged with “Workday Financial”… Entries in the BI Portal Catalog (for example, information on the report detail pages, metadata, links, etc.), including catalog entries for reports tagged with “Workday Financial”…	Contact help@uw.edu with “BI Portal Finance Reports” in the subject line.

ACTION REQUIRED: Use of UW Google with Shared UW NetIDs ends August 29, 2023 (Reminder #4)

A version of this reminder message was sent to owners and administrators of Shared UW NetIDs with a UW Google account on June 27, 2023. Messages included a customized list of Shared UW NetIDs, owned or administered by the recipient, and associated with UW Google services.

What is happening?

Due to changes to the UW Google service, UW Google will be removed from all Shared UW NetIDs, effective August 29, 2023.

Owners of Shared UW NetIDs — recipients of this message — must migrate UW Google content or delete data that is no longer needed (according to the UW Records Retention schedule and UW Medicine Records and Information Governance).

Any data that is not removed from these services will be deleted after August 29, 2023.

Please note that Shared UW NetIDs are not being deleted; only UW Google accounts and services for Shared UW NetIDs are being deleted.

What is affected by this change?

ALL Google products and services associated with a Shared UW NetID are affected. The following is a short list of critical services and/or uses that are impacted by the change:

YouTube channels
- ALL YouTube channels that were set up using a Shared UW NetID are affected.
- To save the channel, including all stats (views, likes, comments, etc.), you must convert it to a YouTube Brand account.
- The YouTube Brand account conversion process requires ten (10) days to complete. Do not wait until the day before the shutdown to start this process!
Google Drive content.
Third-party apps, websites, and services that the Shared UW NetID is used to log into.

What do I need to do?

At the end of this message, review the list of Shared UW NetIDs that you own.
Create a migration plan for email, files and business processes that must be retained.
Review alternatives to UW Google for Shared UW NetIDs.
If the UW Google account is no longer needed, the owner should revoke access to UW Google services for the account using the Provisioning Request Tool (PRT). This will delete the UW Google account and data.

Is it possible to pay to keep services associated with Shared UW NetIDs?

When do I need to migrate my data?

WARNING: YouTube channels must be converted to a YouTube Brand account, which requires a minimum of ten (10) days to complete. This process should be started no later than August 12, 2023.

Can UW-IT help me migrate my data?

Review alternatives to UW Google for Shared UW NetIDs and data migration guides

Can I stop receiving these reminders?

Questions?

Please contact the UW-IT Technology Service Center at help@uw.edu or 206-221-5000 with questions about the UW Google Changes Project.