FAQ

LinkUW is a new campus-wide initiative that consolidates certain HR and finance services to improve consistency, simplify processes, and improve better support. It’s part of a broader effort to streamline administrative work so units can focus more time on their core mission.

For phase one, employees in one of the participating units can request services in the following ways:

• Complete the LinkUW Request Form Note: the first time you make a request you will need to create an account. More information can be found on the Request Services page.
• Email your request to help.linkuw@wisc.edu, please use your wisc.edu email
• Walk-in hours at 21 North Park Street, Floor 5, Suite 5301. Click to view map
  • HR Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
  • Finance Hours: Tuesdays only from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Call LinkUW at 608-262-8100

LinkUW and Cultural Linguistic Services (CLS) are partnering to ensure employees across all shifts have access to LinkUW for their Benefits, Payroll, Leave, and financial services questions while receiving interpretation and translation support from CLS. 

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.

The types of services you can request include:

• HR: open enrollment, new hire setup/benefit changes, retirement counseling, general support, time & absence, payroll corrections, and leave coordination. Specific information on the HR services can be found here.
• Finance: p-card, travel & expense, purchasing, payments, general support, event support, and non-salary cost transfers. Specific information on the finance services can be found here.

Some units are only receiving either finance or HR services at this time. Please check the list below to see what services your unit receives.

Any employee in one of the following participating units can request services. Some units are only receiving either finance or HR services at this time. Please check the list below to see what services your unit receives.

There are currently four ways to submit a service request.

1. Complete the LinkUW Request Form (recommended method)
   • This document can help you fill out the form
   • Note: To submit a request for the first time, you’ll need to create an account. If you need assistance, follow this step by step guide or reach out to LinkUW using one of the contact options below.
2. Email your request to help.linkuw@wisc.edu. Please use your wisc.edu email address.
3. Visit LinkUW in person during their walk-in hours. They are located at 21 North Park Street, Suite 5301
   • HR: Tuesdays and Thursdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
   • Finance: Tuesdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
4. Call LinkUW at 608-262-8100

For all requests, it is helpful to include if it is an HR or finance request, the service (open enrollment, new hire setup/benefit changes, retirement counseling, general support, time & absence, payroll corrections, leave coordination, p-card, travel & expense, purchasing, payments, general support, event support, or non-salary cost transfers), the name of your school/college/division, and a description of what you need help with.

More information is being added to the website that will include the necessary information for each request type.

The normal turnaround time is between 3 and 10 business days, depending on the request. For more specific information, please review the HR and finance service pages linked below.

Finance

• Buying and receiving goods and services
• Policy and procedure support
• Non-salary cost transfers

HR

• Benefits
• Payroll
• Audits (other than payroll)

LinkUW employees work Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

If you are unsure if your request is HR or finance, just take your best guess. The LinkUW Operations Team members will review your request and route it to the correct team.

If you are unsure of the service you are requesting (open enrollment, new hire setup/benefit changes, retirement counseling, general support, time & absence, payroll corrections, leave coordination, p-card, travel & expense, purchasing, payments, general support, event support, or non-salary cost transfers), select Unknown.

The best way to ask questions is to email LinkUW at help.linkuw@wisc.edu. This will send your question to the Operations Team and someone there will be able to answer.

The two documents below will help you set up your account and request services from LinkUW.

• How to set up an account
• How to complete a LinkUW Request Form

If you are having trouble with either of these, please reach out to LinkUW through email (help.linkuw@wisc.edu), phone (608-262-8100), or in-person during the walk-in hours listed below:

• HR: Tuesdays and Thursdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Finance: Tuesdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Requests are prioritized by the LinkUW Operations Team as critical to standard priority. Critical priority would include campus-wide impacts or major issues, while standard priority includes request that can be resolved in the standard business days listed on the finance or HR services website.

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.

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.