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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2024-03-08
Set Up Academic Calendar Policies

Set Up Academic Calendar Policies

Workday permits you to configure calendars only for use within the same institution. When you have multiple institutions in the same Workday tenant, you can't share the same calendar across the different institutions.
By default, academic units inherit calendar configurations from the superior academic unit designated as
Institution
. You can only configure academic calendars for academic units associated with an institution.
You can set up academic calendar policies for an academic unit and level or a program of study (POS). You can change your academic calendar over time and use multiple academic calendars across your institution.
You can update inherited calendar configurations by editing a calendar policy for a subordinate academic unit. To keep the calendars aligned, you can also restore inheritance for the subordinate academic unit at a future effective date. Maintaining a single calendar is easier and helps inherit changes from the superior academic calendar.
You can only reinherit a calendar policy from a superior academic unit if the policies are equivalent. Workday considers calendar policies equivalent if they have the same:
  • Academic calendars.
  • Typical attendance patterns.
  • Student unit types.
  1. Access the
    Configure Calendar Policy
     task.
  2. As you complete the task, consider:
    Option Description
    Choose What to Configure
    Select the level of the academic structure at which you want to assign the policy.
    When you select an academic unit and level, all their programs of study and the subordinate academic units inherit the policy.
    Select a POS when it uses a different calendar policy than its owning academic unit. The owning academic unit must be within the same institution.
    When a previous configuration is already in use, Workday:
    • Automatically integrates the existing configuration into the calendar policy.
    • Aligns effective dates.
    • Displays the applicable information in a grid.
    Although Workday validates changes to ensure that applicable transactional data is still accurate, be careful when changing the calendar policy.
    What would you like to do?
    Select either:
    • Inherit from Superior Academic Unit
      . Inherit the policy from the superior academic unit. Select the
      Academic Year
       for the inheritance.
    • Create New Policy or Edit Existing Policy
      . Create a new policy for the subordinate academic unit or edit the existing policy. By editing, you can make the policy equivalent to the superior calendar policy before inheriting the policy from the superior.
    If you select an Academic Unit and Academic Level that is already inheriting from a superior academic unit:
    • The option defaults to
      Create New Policy or Edit Existing Policy
      .
    • If you attempt to select the
      Inherit from Superior Academic Unit
       option, Workday displays the message that you’re already inheriting from the calendar policy.
    Academic Calendar
    Select a different calendar for the same effective date or a calendar for a different effective date. You can only select academic calendars not in use within other institutions.
    To protect transactional data already associated with the policy, Workday applies an
    Effective Date
     based on the
    Starting Academic Year
    .
    To ensure that the transition between calendars is continuous and isn't overlapping, change the start date on the first year of the new calendar to align with the end date of the previous calendar.
    Typical Attendance Pattern
    Select a typical attendance pattern that uses the
    Academic Calendar
     you selected. See Create Typical Attendance Patterns.
    Student Unit Type
    Select the unit type for the primary POS of the student. Workday:
    • Tracks academic progress, GPA, and financial aid for students in this unit type.
    • Converts course units to student units when they're different.
  • Workday:
    • Controls date-driven processes for a student's primary POS accurately.
    • Tracks student statistics in the correct unit type for their primary POS.
  • Students can change their POS across calendars easily.
  • When students change to a POS with a different calendar, Workday updates the new academic plan based on the new calendar.
  • Workday displays the
    Inherit from Superior Academic Unit
     page after you restore a policy inheritance. Ensure that you verify the calendar configuration for the superior and subordinate academic units before you select the
    Confirm
     check box.