A cost center is a department, center, institute, or major program. Cost centers represent a significant and ongoing business purpose that requires unique visibility. Cost centers have security roles assigned to them (e.g., Cost Center Manager, Cost Center Financial Analyst) which drive business process and task routing.

  • Cost centers must have employees, fixed assets, or projects that require ongoing tracking and monitoring.
  • Cost center is a required worktag on payroll costing allocation transactions.
  • The following security roles are assigned to all cost centers:
    • Cost Center Manager
    • Cost Center Asset Coordinator
    • Cost Center Financial Analyst
    • Finance Delivery Manager
    • Finance Delivery Supervisors
    • Finance Specialist
    • Grant Finance Specialist
    • Procurement and Expense Specialist
  • With the exception of Cost Center Manager, multiple role holders may be assigned to these security roles based on business need. 

Cost Centers have a default related business unit worktag. All cost centers roll up to a business unit. Cost centers are also a related worktag to all driver worktags (grant, gift, project, and program).

Cost centers follow these naming conventions:

  • Cost center ID codes begin with the prefix CC followed by four numeric digits (CC5570).
  • The cost center ID code must be included with the cost center name in Workday.
  • Examples of cost centers in Workday:
    • CC7344 AVPSS Sponsored Program Accounting
    • CC6747 SVPSA Administration
    • CC5541 BUS Supply Chain Management

Cost centers are assigned to one of the following top-level hierarchies. 

Cost Center Hierarchy Hierarchy Description Hierarchy Business Owner
CCH00 All Cost Centers The CCH00 All Cost Centers hierarchy includes all cost centers in Workday. This hierarchy does not provide insight into the relationship between the cost centers. It is used for ease of reporting activity by all cost centers. Amy Tetmeyer, Controller
CCH01 MGMT Cost Center Hierarchy. The CCH01 MGMT Cost Center Hierarchy includes all cost centers and groups them by the management reporting units.

Heather Lynn Paris, SVP Operations and Finance

Amy Tetmeyer, Controller
CCH02ISD Finance Improved Service Delivery The CCH02ISD Finance Improved Service Delivery hierarchy includes all cost center hierarchies for Finance Service Delivery (FSD). Rachel Gross, FSD Senior Accounting Manager
CCH DUAL All Dual Department Cost Center Hierarchies The CCH DUAL All Dual Department Cost Center Hierarchies hierarchy structure connects cost centers that represent a single department across different business units. This facilitates reporting by these jointly administered departments, since reporting by a single cost center or business unit does not give the complete financial picture for these departments. Ellen Reints, Provost
CCH EXT All Extension Cost Centers The CCH EXT All Extension Cost Centers hierarchy structure organizes the extension cost centers (cost centers for BU53) in the manner needed for their reporting requirements. Andrea Lutter, Extension Business Unit Manager
C ORG Campus Organization The C ORG Campus Organization hierarchy includes all cost centers for campus/student organizations.

Rachel Boenigk, Student Affairs Administration Manager

Jaime Barker, SAA Campus Organizations Manager

Anyone can request a new cost center by submitting a New Cost Center request through Workday. Visit the FDM Workday Requests and Updates page for more information on this process. Your request is routed to the Workday Finance Data Governance Operational Committee, which maintains sole review and approval authority over requests for cost center creation and maintenance.

Visit the Worktag Inactivation Procedures page for guidance on how to request worktag inactivation.

  • ISU Cost Centers and Cost Center Managers - This report shows all cost centers in Workday and includes their corresponding Cost Center Managers and emails, business units, Business Unit Mangers and emails, Cost Center Financial Analysts, Finance Specialist, Grant Financial Specialist and Procurement and Expenses Specialist.
  • Cost Center Manager dashboard - Cost Center Managers can use this dashboard to access a variety of common financial tasks and reports related to FDM, transaction detail, payroll, and procurement expenses.
  • ISU Cost Center NSF Codes - This report shows all cost centers and their associated business unit and NSF (National Science Foundation) code, if applicable. You must enter an effective date when prompted. Optionally, you may select one or more business unit or cost center hierarchies, business units, or cost centers to narrow your search results.
  • View Cost Center - Use this report to view details of a specific cost center, including its related business unit, workers assigned to the cost center, and assignable security roles and role holders.
  • View Cost Center As Of - This report is similar to View Cost Center, but it shows you cost center details as of an effective date, which is a required search field.

  • Who can initiate requests for new Cost Centers? Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
  • Who reviews and approves requests? Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
  • How and when will I know my request has been reviewed? Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
  • My request was denied. How can I appeal this decision? Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.