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Posted Jun 19, 2014 • Updated Sep 27, 2021 • Retirement date: Mar 25, 2022 • Read 9108 times Share Your Feedback

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Tool Type Tool / Template
Subscribed
Deployment Stage Deploy

Product Financial Accounting

Release 2021R2

Audience Data Conversion Consultant, Principal Consultant, Product Lead, Project

Manager/Engagement Manager

Services Product Lead Financials

Area

Contents:

General Ledger Conversion

General Ledger Conversion-Initial Customer Discussion

Span of Data Conversion

Summarized vs Detailed Journals

Worktags to Convert

Multi Currency Approach

Non Controlling Interest (NCI)

Preparing for General Ledger Conversion

Prepare and Deliver Journal and Beginning Balance EIB Templates to Customer

Verify Conversion Periods are open for Journals

Consider Custom Validations for Accounting Journals

After General Ledger Conversion is run

General Ledger Data Conversion Tips

Historical Ledgers 

Web Service Considerations

Transaction Matching Considerations

General Ledger Conversion

This document describes a proven approach for converting legacy General Ledger data in Workday.  While there may be
other options for doing the conversion, this method have been tested and is known to work.

While a "simplest path" approach is described in many cases, this in no way is meant to reflect the ONLY method possible.
 In all cases, the requirements of the customer must be paramount and could obviously supercede any approach
described in this document.

General Ledger Conversion-Initial Customer Discussion

Before you commence with General Ledger Conversion, you need to first discuss and agree on an approach with your
client.  The areas for discussion are:

Span of Data Conversion

Summarized vs Detailed Journals

Worktags to Convert

Multi Currency Approach

Non Controlling Interest (NCI)

Span of Data Conversion

How many years of Journal Line data does the customer require?

Simplest path is to convert beginning balance for Fiscal Year of Go Live and monthly activity for all periods up to Go Live
Fiscal Period.  For example:

You may be forced to deviate from the simplest path following reasons:

1. Customer would like to be able to do Year over Year reporting on go live date. This would require one additional year
of data to be converted
2. Customer does not have access to reporting data from their legacy system. In this case, the customer would need
to use Workday for as many historical years as they deem necessary for external or statutory reporting.

Summarized vs Detailed Journals 

1. Summarized: Single journal for each period/company summarized by worktag (Simplest Path)
1. In this approach, the client summarizes their legacy data to create a single Accounting Journal for each fiscal
period/company/ledger account/spend or rev category/worktag combination they are converting to a single
"Conversion" journal source.
2.  Detailed Journals from the customer’s legacy system.
1. In this approach, the customer converts journals directly on a one to one basis from their legacy system.

You may be forced to deviate from the simplest path where the customers must be able to use Workday for detail journal
analysis on historical data.  Due to the volume of Journal Line conversion that this would likely require, this approach is
not recommended.

Worktags to Convert
Finally, the customer must decide which worktags they would like to include in their Journal Line Conversion data from
both a Beginning Balance and Monthly activity perspective.

Some simplest path recommendations:

1. Convert Balance Sheet accounts without Worktag Detail and P&L Data at Spend Category, Revenue Category, and
Cost Center detail level. 
2. For all account types, convert prior year and beginning balances with a lower level of Worktag detail and current
year at a more detailed level. 
3. Be sure to take into consideration the delivered manner in which Workday will default worktags on operational
journal lines after go live. For example, considering that, as delivered, only the Supplier worktag is carried to the
Accounts Payable Operational Journal lines, it doesn't make sense for your customer to convert their Accounts
Payable Journal Line history to addtional worktags, such as Cost Center or Spend Category.
4. Some other factors to consider include ability to map from Legacy to Workday, reporting requirements, and
availability of legacy system to report on history.

Note that sub-system reconciliation as of Go Live date should NOT be a factor to consider as the detail required for sub-
system reconciliation will be a product of the sub-system specific data conversion process.

Cash – No Worktags  in General Ledger Activity (Ledger Account Only)

Accounts Receivable Trade – No Worktags  in General Ledger Activity  (Ledger Account Only)
Accounts Payable Trade– No Worktags  in General Ledger Activity  (Ledger Account Only)
Fixed Assets  – Include all agreed-upon worktags  in General Ledger Activity  (Spend Category, Ledger Account
minimum)
 Accumulated Depreciation - Include all agreed-upon worktags  in General Ledger Activity  (Spend Category, Ledger
Account minimum)
Work in Progress - Include all agreed-upon worktags in General Ledger Activity (Capital Project, Ledger Account
minimum)
Intercompany - Include Intercompany Affiliates to facilitate any Elimination needs

Multi Currency Approach

Multi currency general ledger conversion is defined as any conversion in which either:

1. Historical data includes foreign denominated transactions. For example, a USD company that has activity in CAD.
2. There is a requirement to historically report in a currency other than base (ledger) currency.  This might be on a
standalone or consolidated basis.  Examples include
1. A UK company who has a ledger (functional) currency of GBP but has a regulatory requirement to create a
balance sheet or income statement in EUR. 
2. A Hong Kong company who has a ledger currency in HKD but rolls into an Asia Pac consolidation point that
reports in AUD.
3. A Hong Kong company who has a ledger currency in HKD but rolls into a worldwide consolidation point that
reports in USD.

Reminder: When maintaining currency conversion rates, the inverse rate and cross rate options should be used for the
most accurate results between currencies and to help with triangulation between multiple currencies.

There are two approaches for Multi Currency Conversions:

1. Simplest Path for Multicurrency Conversion:  ( please note:   this approach is not recommended if historical
transactions within the ledger require revaluation for periods other than year end.  Examples include bank accounts
in a foreign currency,  or accounts payable revaluation on a monthly or quarterly basis)
2. More Detailed Path for Multicurrency  Conversion:  (use this approach whenever revaluations of multi-currency
balances are required for historical data on a monthly or quarterly basis).

Reminder: Accounts translated with a translation method using the Historic Translation Amounts will require
Translated Beginning Balance Amounts via either the Maintain Beginning Balance Translation Amounts task, Put
Beginning Balance Translated Amounts web service, or by rolling forward a prior year's translated amounts with the
Roll Forward Translated Beginning Balance task.

Steps for the Simplest Path Approach:

1. For all periods EXCEPT the last legacy period, the recommendation is to load beginning balances and monthly
activity in company ledger (functional) currency only. (Note:  this approach precludes the customer from doing any
historical reporting on these periods by currency).  For example, if your customer went live in May 2014 and
followed this approach and wanted visibility into their accounts payable revaluation amounts for February 2014,
they would be unable to report on this in Workday.
2. Using the simplest path approach for the last legacy period, the recommendation is:
1. For all amounts related to operational conversion, you simply will need to:
1. Reverse the base currency balance in the last legacy period date with the offset going to the appropriate
conversion Conversion account as described in more detail below in the product specific data
conversion sections.
2. Load your operational transactions in transaction currency via the methods described below in the
product specific data conversion sections. This would include Accounts Payable Trade, Accounts
Receivable Trade, and Cash.  
2. For all amounts NOT related to operational conversion but for which your customer carries in foreign
currencies (and will need to revalue in Workday), you will need to:
1. Reverse the base currency balance in the last legacy period date with the offset going to the same
account/worktag combination by foreign currency.  This will allow you to revalue these amounts in
Workday during first month end close.  Examples include Intercompany AR/AP, Investments, Long Term
Debt, etc
3. For the beginning balance amounts, the recommendation is that, for any accounts that require historical conversion
amounts (such as Retained Earinings) , use the delivered Get Beginning Balance Translation Amounts and Put
Beginning Balance Translation Amounts web services to establish beginning balance amounts for each fiscal year
that spans your conversion. Note that this will need to be done in cases where you have loaded beginning balances
in ledger currency AND in cases where your conversion spans more than one fiscal year and for which you used the
delivered Roll Forward process in Workday to establish beginning balances. (There is also a task, Maintain
Beginning Balance Translation Amounts, that can be used for this operation)
4. For accounts translating at historic, load in the activity by accounting date starting with the beginning balance and
onwards. For this, ensure that the daily currency conversion rates have been loaded into the tenant for all the years
of historical data. 

Steps for the More Detailed Approach to Multi Currency Conversion:

 1. For all periods, the recommendation is to load beginning balances and monthly activity in transaction currency and
ledger currency for those accounts that require revaluation. For accounts that are not in the revaluation rules,
those accounts can be loaded in ledger currency only.  For ledger accounts that are not yet settled, such as
Accounts Payable or Accounts Receivable,  these should be loaded in both transaction and ledger currency.  The
standard "Import Journal" EIB allows for both transaction amounts and ledger amounts in the same file at the same
time.  (Note:  each line that you load must be unique - you cannot load two amounts that have the same accounting
date and worktag combinations.  Ensure that you summarize your transactions in order to load only unique lines).
1. When the operational transactions are loaded (e.g. open invoices), they should done using the override
currency rate on the transaction used in the legacy system for the transaction. By doing so, this will ensure
that the realized gain or loss upon settlement will be correct. After completing the conversion of those
operational transactions, you do not need to run revaluation on the converted GL balances. Workday includes
the impacts of revaluation in the data that loads for conversions. Any conversion ledger accounts created for
these operational transactions can be included in the revaluation rule to ensure the correct offsetting entry
with no impact to unrealized gain or loss as a result of running this process. 
2. Daily currency rates need to be loaded into Workday for each fiscal year that spans your conversion.
3. For the beginning balance amounts, the recommendation is that, for any accounts that require historical conversion
amounts (such as Retained Earinings) , use the delivered Get Beginning Balance Translation Amounts and Put
Beginning Balance Translation Amounts web services to establish beginning balance amounts for each fiscal year
that spans your conversion. Note that this will need to be done in cases where you have loaded beginning balances
in ledger currency AND in cases where your conversion spans more than one fiscal year and for which you used the
delivered Roll Forward process in Workday to establish beginning balances. (There is also a task, Maintain
Beginning Balance Translation Amounts, that can be used for this operation)
4. For accounts translating at historic, load in the activity by accounting date starting with the beginning balance and
onwards. For this, ensure that the daily currency conversion rates have been loaded into the tenant for all the years
of historical data. 
5. In the event that the daily currency rates do not match the translations needed on the monthly balances (due to
currency rate overrides for example), you can use the 'Create Translation Adjustment' task to adjust these monthly
balances.
6. In situations where there are large volumes of Translation Adjustments, you can use a Journal EIB to upload those
adjustments.

For conversion tips specific to Multi Currency Intercompany Accounts, click on the following
link:  https://community.workday.com/articles/414725

For tips specific to Translation Amounts and Translation Adjustments, click on the following
link: https://community.workday.com/articles/487327

Non Controlling Interest (NCI)

For conversion tips specific to NCI or Equity Pickup, click on the following link:  https://community.workday.com/pro-
services/tools/238103

Preparing for General Ledger Conversion

The following steps below will help you to prepare for General Ledger Conversion:

Prepare and Deliver Journal and Beginning Balance EIB Templates to Customer

Verify Conversion Periods are open for Journals

Consider Custom Validations for Accounting Journals

Verify all Ledger Accounts used for conversion are not retired

Prepare and Deliver Journal and Beg Balance EIB Templates to Customer
For Beginning Balances, it is recommended that you use an EIB template generated from the Put Beginning Balance
Journal Web Service.  For Monthly Activity, it is recommended that you use an EIB template generated from the Import
Accounting Journal WS Background Process.

Tailor these spreadsheet templates to whatever level of Worktag Detail to which you and the customer have agreed.

For Multicurrency Implementations only:

For Currency Rates, it is recommended that you use an EIB template generated from the Put Currency Conversion Rate
Web Service. 

Depending on the volume of Beginning Balance Translation Amounts in need of converting, you can enter these Translated
Beginning Balances manually via the Maintain Beginning Balance Translation Amounts task or load these via EIB template
generated from the Put Beginning Balance Translation Amounts Web Service.

Verify Conversion Periods are open for Journals

1.Open

2. Close in Progress  with Journals NOT included in Closed Activity.

Consider Custom Validations for Accounting Journals
Note that it is very likely that your customer may have Custom Validations in place for Journals that your customer does
NOT want enforced for Conversion Journals. An example would be Custom Validations that requires a certain Worktag
that your customer has chosen not to convert.  Consequently, you likely will need to temporarily remove one or more
custom validations during Journal Line data conversion. (Note: Custom Validations do NOT need to be de-activated for
the Beginning  Balance Web Service/EIB as this transaction does not run through the Accountings Journal Custom
Validations)

Verify all Ledger Accounts used for conversion are not retired
Especially if your Workday implementation is a phase 2 implemenation (e.g. Payroll or Expenses were implemented first),
you may want to verify that all accounts that are to be used for General Ledger are NOT retired.  After conversion is
completed, you can re-retire these accounts if necessary

After General Ledger Conversion is run

1. Ensure that all of the Journals you have loaded are in Posted status and there are not any custom validation errors.
2. For conversions that span fiscal years: run the Roll Forward process as required to establish Beginning Balance
amounts.
3. (For Mutlticurency Implemenations only): Ensure that, for any beginning balance amounts that are translated at
Historical Rates, use the use the delivered “Maintain Beginning Balance Translation Amounts” task to establish
beginning balance amounts for each fiscal year that spans your conversion. Note that this will need to be done in
cases where you have loaded beginning balances in Base Currency AND in cases where your conversion spans more
than one fiscal year and for which you used the delivered Roll Forward process in Workday to establish beginning
balances.(There is also a web service, Put Beginning Balance Translation Amounts, that can be used for this
operation)
4. Reports to use for Journal Line reconciliation:
Trial Balance

Customer-specific Financial Statements that have been created

Full “data-extract” from the tenant that shows monthly activity and/or YTD balances by Company, Period, Ledger,
Account, and Conversion Worktags. This will need to be created as a matrix or custom report.
5. Once a Fiscal Year is fully reconciled, run the Close Ledger Year process in Workday.  After you close a ledger year it
is no longer available for processing but remains available for reporting. To make changes to one of its ledger
periods, you must reopen a ledger year using the Reopen Ledger Year task. You can then reopen the ledger period.

Note that it is likely that such a report will be very large and may take some time to generate.  Encourage your customer to
run this report for a company or period at a time.  You may also be able to take advantage of Report Groups to generate
several versions in one report run.
General Ledger Data Conversion Tips

Tips for  Beginning Balance  Conversion

Open Ledger Periods do not affect ability to load Beginning Balances
Not a Business Process (no autocomplete, submit column in EIB)
Custom Validations are not enforced
If a Beginning Balance file is loaded and one already exists for that Company/Fiscal Year, old amounts will be
overridden
Note that running the delivered Roll Forward process will overwrite the Beginning Balance that was loaded.
If an Alternate Account Set is defined for a company, beginning  balances must be defined for both the
corporate and alternate ledger accounts.
Tips for Monthly Journal Line Conversion
Open Ledger Periods DO affect ability to load (will receive load error if period is closed)
There is a Business Process associated with creating Journals, it is recommended that, for conversion, you
set autocomplete and submit columns in EIB file to Y

Unlike Beginning Balances, each EIB load creates a NEW journal.  Therefore if you want to fix a journal, you must
unpost old journal and reload new file unless the change is very small. If small, simply unpost old journal, change in
UI and repost. (note that, online, this journal will go through Accounting Journal BP)
If your data conversion fiscal period scope spans more than one year, don’t forget to run the delivered Workday Roll
Forward process to carry year end balances to the next fiscal year.  In addition, if new journals are loaded or
previously loaded journals corrected for these prior years, the Roll Forward process needs to be re-run.  Re-running
the roll forward process will clear out previously amounts rolled forward and creates new roll forward amounts
based on the new ending balances.
Revaluation will not revalue manual entries to Realized and Unrealized Gain/Loss accounts. To overcome this, an
adjustment account can be used. 

Historical Ledgers 

When Financials are implemented as a second phase, the current ledgers in the Production tenant can be converted to
Historical Ledgers. The Convert Ledger Types  task will allow implementers to convert ledger types to Historical Ledgers
while creating new Ledger Types that will be used for transactions going forward. 

Reconciliation between operational transactions and the ledger balances should be completed prior to running the convert
historical ledger task.  Note that the Historic Ledger is moving ledger balances only.  Once the new ledgers are created,
the Accounting data from the current financial system can then be imported into Workday without double counting the
transactions that exist in the Workday ledgers from the first phase transactions.  After the financial conversion, reporting
is easily available from either the Historic Ledger or the new Actual Ledger (and any additional ledgers) created during the
Financials second phase implementation. 

The creation of the Historical Ledgers is a one-time only conversion task and cannot be undone once created. 

Tips and considerations for creating Historical Ledgers 

Past, current and future ledger periods must be in Closed status before the  Convert Ledger Types  task can be
generated and configured. If some ledgers are in Open status, you will get a warning with a list of non-closed
Ledgers that will need to be Closed
When selecting the Current Ledger Types that need to be converted, the Actuals ledger type is the only ledger
type that will be available for selection.  If Commitment and Obligation ledgers exist, they will automatically
be converted to Historic along with the Actuals ledger
Once the new Actuals ledger has been created, you will need to create the ledger years and periods for
Companies
Users can edit Ledger Type Names but cannot create additional Historic Ledger Types
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All future periods that had to be closed in order to run Historic Ledger need to be updated to Not Available
status.  This will ensure that future reversal journals can be created (reversal period must be in Created or Not
Available status)
If enabling Journal Sequencing, the logic will check for all journals for a company in all ledgers (including
Historical Ledgers) and sequencing will not begin until the first period with no journals in any ledger.

Web Service Considerations

For the data load process, follow the guidance listed out within the Import Accounting Journal WWS and Inbound Journal
Performance articles. Both articles provide addition detail on how to choose between the Submit, Import, and Journal
Connector as part of the conversion process and any performance related considerations.  

Transaction Matching Considerations

It's recommended to mark the historic journal lines from the General Ledger conversion as unavailable  for matching
through the Mass Update Journal Lines as Unavailable for Matching task. For any open balances that need to be matched
with transactions following go-live, you can then mark them as available   through the Select Journal Lines as Available for
Matching task. Those journal lines can then be included as part of future transaction matching processes. Additional
information on this process can be found within the Next Level: Automate Your Account Reconciliation Process with
Transaction Matching. As of the current functionality, the transaction matching process will not include Beginning
Balances, but will only include journal lines. Additional information on a workaround for this can be found within this
Contributed Solution for Beginning Balances for Transaction Matching.

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