Starting on July 7, 2025, schools, colleges, divisions, and departments (S/C/D/D) will need to determine an option for identifying and tracking operational areas that will best fit their needs.
What is changing
- Beginning July 7, schools, colleges, divisions, and departments will need to determine which option best fits their needs to identify operational areas in the Workday system.
- Layoff and nonrenewal CODES will be changing in the transition from HRS to Workday. As a reminder, operational areas help determine layoff and nonrenewal decisions.
What stays the same 
- The policy reasons for layoffs and nonrenewals are NOT changing. Operational areas continue to be crucial in making decisions around layoffs or nonrenewals for academic staff, as well as layoffs for university staff.
- Operational areas continue to be REQUIRED in an employee’s appointment letter.
- Any changes to the employee’s operational area are REQUIRED to be documented, and the employee MUST be notified.
- Documents containing operational area information must be maintained in the employee’s personnel file, as required by UW-5081 Employee Personnel Files.
Current state/schedule/how to prepare 
- It is recommended that HR departments within S/C/D/D’s audit their respective personnel files to ensure each individual’s operational area is identified and documented.
New schedule/future state
- Schools, colleges, divisions, and departments will need to determine which option best fits their needs to identify operational areas in the Workday system.
- Option 1: Cost Center Hierarchy – a group of cost centers in a tree structure within a controlling area that represents specific areas of cost incurrence from a controlling perspective. This serves as the replacement for UDDS.
- Option 2: Supervisory Organization – groups employees into a hierarchy based on reporting relationships
- Option 3: Laboratory Name – identifies employees in a specific laboratory
- Any changes to employees’ operational areas as a result of this process must be communicated in writing to the employees and maintained in their personnel file.
- Operational areas impact layoff/nonrenewal decisions, so it is important to note that the termination reasons in Workday for layoffs and nonrenewals may differ, as shown in the tables below. Additionally, some termination codes may not apply to all employment categories.
| HRS Nonrenewal/Layoff Codes | Workday Nonrenewal/Layoff Codes   |
|---|---|
| Layoff – Funding Loss |
Layoff – Budget Change    Layoff – Funding Change |
| Layoff – Involuntary |
Layoff – Org Change   Layoff – Shortage of Work |
| Layoff – Program Redirect  | Layoff – Program Redirect |
| Layoff – Voluntary |   |
| Nonrenewal – Funding Reduction | Nonrenewal – Funding |
| Nonrenewal – Performance | Nonrenewal - Performance |
| Nonrenewal – Prog Redirect | Nonrenewal – Program Redirect |
| VSIP (Voluntary Separation Incentive Program) | VSIP |
Additional Resources
- Understanding operational areas
- Action/action reason codes used in HRS
- Layoff job aid - This will be updated to reflect the appropriate Workday Change Job and Termination reasons that align with current policies.
Questions?
If employees, managers or supervisors have questions about their specific situation(s), contact your local HR professionals. For general inquiries contact wr@ohr.wisc.edu.