Procurement Services Blog

Need a quick answer? Want a fast refresher? Don’t have time for a full training session?

The Procurement Center of Excellence (PCOE) has launched a brand-new Microlearning Video Series designed to give you exactly what you need — in just 5–10 minutes.

Summary of what is changing: Workday is adding the ability to specify an order-from connection on non-catalog requests in the Requisitions Worklet. 

Impact: Requisition worklet users will see the order-from connection field when filling out details for non-catalog requisitions.

Impacted roles: Requisition Requestors

Due to the 2025 WA State Sales Tax Update (ESSB 5814), the reimbursement procedure for live presentation expenses within Washington State has been changed (See Conference Expenses). These expenses include registration, membership, and abstract fees for conferences, seminars, workshops, lectures, etc.

What’s New

Adding Use Tax to Card Verifications now requires an additional visual confirmation step. Users must visually confirm that the Tax Code is added by Workday to the Transaction Details, before submitting or approving verifications.

To ensure timely payment of customs fees and smooth clearance for your goods, a valid Purchase Order number must be provided before import shipments are initiated with Expeditors. 

If you do not provide a purchase order to Expeditors, the invoice will be sent to your department for processing. 

The UW is contractually obligated to pay invoices Net 30 days from receipt. Failure to pay invoices promptly may result in the UW being put on credit hold.

To help avoid delays processing your requisition, please take extra care to ensure your justification clearly addresses why competition is not feasible, what makes the supplier uniquely qualified, and what steps you took in determining the sole source.

Please refer to the Sole Source Job aid (link at the top of the form) for examples and more detail. Sole source should be a justification for an exception to competition, rather than a default option.

In mid-February, the process for suppliers onboarding into UW Workday systems will be changing.

Suppliers will create accounts and onboard in a different area of Workday, called Workday Strategic Sourcing (WSS). The login requires all new suppliers to use a Multi-Factor Authentication app, keeping their information and attachments secure, such as required IRS W-9 and W-8 documents.

We are pleased to announce an upcoming Workday enhancement that introduces an improved Activity Note functionality for Supplier Invoices and Supplier Invoice Adjustments.

Current Status:

Workday does not allow users to add notes or comments when a Supplier Invoice or Supplier Invoice Adjustment is:

Workday’s Requisition approval workflow continues to function as designed; however, some submitters are expecting faster turnaround times than the system is intended to deliver.  To reduce confusion and ease pressure on individual team members, we are providing a refresher on the correct approval process.

Is a Supplier performing service or a repair on a piece of equipment? Using spend category SC1056 will flag your requisition as an exception item and possibly delay processing.

Instead, use Spend Category SC1264 Maintenance Contracts for equipment service/maintenance agreements or SC2128 Repair and Maintenance for one-off repairs and service calls. For more information visit the Special Items section of the Exception Items web page.