OSPS News ~ Planning Release Items for 2026 and 2027

[LOWRY Timothy * DAS]

On behalf of Renee Royston, Enterprise Workday System Director
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Colleagues,

As we prepare to launch the Statewide Payroll Transformation Project in January 2026, we want to ensure we are planning our operations with the project in mind. The project will modernize outdated pay practices, improve payroll-related business processes, and enhance services delivered through the Workday payroll system for the state of Oregon. These updates include:

  *   Transitioning to pay based on actual hours worked (i.e., in arrears) by implementing a standard lag period to process payroll, eliminating forecasted hours
  *   Paying overtime eligible employees on an hourly basis rather than a monthly salary
  *   Moving from monthly to biweekly pay periods

Changes will have impacts on the payroll lifecycle, from employee time entry and manager approvals to agency payroll oversight and central processing and reporting as well as compensation and leave accruals. The transformation applies to all agencies using the Workday payroll system and will result in a fully tested, accurately calculated, and consistently communicated payroll process.

Starting in April, every change we make to system configuration will need to be made in both the production and project environments. Our goal is to minimize these changes as much as possible to reduce risk to the Statewide Payroll Transformation Project.

It is essential we minimize the amount of change we make to the Workday production system for the duration of the Statewide Payroll Transformation Project, which is our number one priority. We are sharing this information ahead of launching the project to set expectations for how we will support the system during the project.

The Workday Oregon Division will freeze release item scheduling beginning Quarter 1 (Q1) 2026 (January - March).

Operations work will continue.

We will continue to support:

  *   Workday Feature Release (next scheduled release is February - March 2026)
  *   Workday Weekly Releases (scheduled for every Friday)
  *   Help Desk operations
  *   Training and documentation
  *   Mandatory release items, including:
     *   Statutorily required changes
     *   Collective bargaining agreement (CBA) required changes
     *   Tax reporting
     *   Public records requests
     *   Secretary of State (SOS) audit requirements
     *   Fixes for critical bugs that prevent or disrupt work

Release item scheduling.

  *   No new release items will be scheduled during Q1 2026 unless they are mandatory
  *   Release items will be evaluated for future quarters to minimize changes within the Workday production system during the Statewide Payroll Transformation Project
  *   The release management process will continue

Please continue to submit help cases as needed. If you have questions about the planning of release items for Q1 2026 or need support, please submit a Workday General Support case.

Thank you for your continued partnership and commitment to the success of the Statewide Payroll Transformation Project.

Best,
Renee

Renee Royston
Enterprise Workday System Director
Workday Oregon, Department of Administrative Services
Cell: 971-208-2251
Pronouns: she, her, hers


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