FAQ

For phase one, employees requesting service will either fill out a simple form or email LinkUW with their request. More information will be added to the website soon.

We expect improved process efficiency and reduced time to complete transactions. By moving operational work to LinkUW, schools, colleges, and divisions will be able to focus more time, effort, and resources on strategic and mission-centered work.

The LinkUW project team is focused on ensuring quality customer service. The mission of LinkUW is to deliver timely and customer-centered support. There will also be service-level agreements between LinkUW and participating units to clearly define expectations regarding service delivery.

The project leaders are committed to providing communicating information and updates shared governance bodies. Additionally, the team is committed to communicating, collaborating, and considering the perspectives of impacted staff members in participating units.

Through a variety of mechanisms – advisory council(s), service-level agreements, and data-driven business process improvement – LinkUW will remain accountable to the units it serves.

Employees who transition into LinkUW will become familiar with the departments they typically work with. The employees will also have greater support, training, and resources needed to provide even higher levels of service.

For Phase One, units will have a primary liaison who will serve as their primary point of contact but will also be served by the entire LinkUW team.  This will provide back-up support if the primary liaison is out of the office.

For Phase One, with implementation in December 2025, LinkUW employees will be participating in onboarding and training starting in November. If we do not have LinkUW employees with academic unit experience, we can train them during this time.

By including a mix of academic, administrative, and auxiliary units in the Phase One pilot, we aim to understand how best to change the way services are provided at UW–Madison, gather feedback throughout the process, and refine our practices and processes to meet unit needs and create smoother transitions during each new phase.

The LinkUW project team has actively partnered and collaborated with Phase One participating units from the start of the initiative. The project team has taken time to understand each unit’s culture, operations, and needs. For HR and finance, this meant working closely with HR Leads and finance directors to learn about current business processes and how they function. Additionally, an HR Working Group and Finance Design team played a key role in shaping the pilot service catalog and designing processes for LinkUW.

The goal of this transition is to standardize the service offerings delivered by LinkUW. Units will not be able to pick and choose which services are included/they participate in.

The project team engaged with Phase One units to determine which services were the right fit for LinkUW. This list is likely to expand as employees within LinkUW gain expertise and additional units join.

To find the full list of services, please review the HR Services and Finance Services webpages.

Yes, there will be professional training offered. The team is still determining what this will look like due to the potential funding needed to provide to employees. Examples include customer service training and additional Workday trainings.

Employees who transition into LinkUW will not have a decrease in salary, will keep their current SJD, although business titles may change.

We recognize that salary parity concerns may arise as we transition employees into LinkUW. We are continuously evaluating our campus compensation practices, resources, and systems to ensure they align with the evolving needs of employees, supervisors, and, staff.

Some of the work you are currently doing will transfer with you, if it is part of the service catalog. The work that is outside of the service catalog will remain with the unit and will be redistributed among the employees. You will also likely take some of the tasks from the other employees. We are hoping that no employees feel like they are taking on more work than they can do during this transition.

Your work will now be centered around the HR and finance service catalogs. More information will be shared with you during the individual transition conversations.

Employees who join LinkUW will likely move to office space at 21 North Park. They will also likely work a hybrid schedule, but conversations with the units, transitioning employees, and LinkUW managers will determine the final hybrid-office ratio.

You will report to either the HR Operations Team manager, Nicole Mootz, or Finance Operations Team manager, Tegan Maier.

LinkUW is not a layoff process, it is a redistribution of work. We will help realign and reorganize HR and finance functions with participating units in order to best leverage Workday, improve the customer experience, and return resources, including time, to the university’s mission.