Graduate Assistants
When an HR partner submits a change request on an existing graudate (GRA to GTA), it routes to the supervisor for approval before we can enter compensation details - is that correct?
| Yes. The request routes to the supervisor for approval before compensation details can be entered. |
For new GA assignments, does the request route to the Graduate School before a background check can be initiated?
| Yes. The Graduate School must approve compensation details before the HR Partner can begin the background check. |
If a 9‑month NSH ended before 12/31/25 and the individual is now eligible for rehire, will they exist in Workday?
If they were suspended in Oracle → they were migrated into Workday. If they were terminated in Oracle → they were not migrated. |
How do you find a student whose faculty is in another department—especially if that faculty member doesn’t have a -JM assignment?
| Use Find External Student. You may need to submit a help case to create the appropriate supervisory organization. Be ready to provide a clear name for the supervisory org. |
When should you terminate a GA?
| Terminate the GA only when their primary job is ending. |
When should you end a GA job (versus terminating the worker)?
| If the GA has multiple jobs, end only the relevant job—do not terminate the worker. |
If the GA type is changing (GTA -> GRA) is it best to use end job/add job OR change job?
| change job – Note: request transfer can kick off a process to move a GA between depts |
What’s the SOP for hiring a GA from another department or college?
| Submit a Transfer Request. |
How do you update FTE?
| Use the Change Job task. |
How do you do a quick pay for a GA?
| quick pay – check with payroll – cadence 1x week |
What happens if an action is approved but the background check later fails?
| “The HR team will rescind the hire. “ |
Can HR Partners view historical costing accounts and percentages?
| Yes — but only changes going forward in Workday will appear. Costing Allocations include start/end dates, so you can view full history from go‑live onward. |
How is cross-college salary funding handled in Workday?
| “Use Costing Allocation. Accounts are not restricted by department, so you can split funding across colleges (e.g., 50% Biology / 50% Engineering).” |
Assistantship contracts are issued per semester, but Workday requires a 9‑ or 12‑month period. Should we enter the full annual amount and manually end the job?
| Yes, that’s correct. So if I’m a 20 hour/week employee and my full-time equivalent salary is $50,000/year, the salary entered would be $25,000. If my Annual Distribution Period is 9-Month Mid, I would get a half month’s pay in May and August and nothing for June or July, no matter when I’m hired. |
Creating a Financial Partner security role is on your to-do list. Once this role is created, it could potentially be added to the workflow to verify funding before the request reaches Graduate School for approval.
| Potentially, yes. |
Costing allocation tasks can be skipped when a GA is paid 100% from a single account.
| Correct, and there is no harm in having a Costing Allocation that is 100% from a single account, but it might create confusion if one of those changes and the other doesn’t. The Costing Allocation will always take precedence for payments, but it might be confusing to look at. |
When setting up a new GA, the account initially entered becomes the default account if an error occurs; however, it does not carry over to Cost Allocation.
| Correct. |
Summer appointments should be entered as Period Activity Pay unless the individual is on a 12-month contract.
| Correct. |
Salary changes require Update Salary → Add Plan Assignment.
| To change the salary of an existing employee (and no other job details), you would run the Request Compensation Change task. |
What will happen with current appointments that are on suspend status through May 2026? We do not want them to change to active as they should not be paid.
| Suspended Grad Assistant assignments will not be migrated to Workday. |
If grads can only have one appointment in Workday, how will split assignments work? e.g. if they have a 10 hour GTA and a 10 hour GRA, is that acceptable even though it is two separate assignments?
| Grads can have multiple “jobs” in Workday. This is equivalent to Oracle’s multiple assignments. |
Will we be able to reappoint grads that are not currently extended through May 2026 in Workday? How will that work if they are currently an employee in oracle (with a 12/31/25 end date), but not in Workday?
| If they have an end date of 12/31/2025, they won’t be migrated to Workday. The end date can be extended after 10/24 through the emergency assignment change process or they can be hired in again in Workday in January. |