On July 1, the university will expand the Travel and Expense system. This expansion will streamline expense and PCard reconciliation processes, with faster processing times and less manual work for both business offices and employees.
As I shared in October, this change promotes visibility, compliance, and shared responsibility between business offices and employees for travel and approved purchases.
I am pleased to report that the project is on schedule and is following a consultative approach with our campus partners.
Project Progress
In recent months, we have engaged regularly with the advisory group formed in the fall and received invaluable input from nearly 50 user-group representatives from across campus. We are grateful for their feedback, which we are incorporating into the expansion and our future processes to effectively address the needs of our users and our business office partners.
If you would like to learn more, we have created the Travel and Expense Project page to share background information, ongoing updates, and support resources throughout this transition.
Next steps and timeline
- February and March: Information sessions for the campus community on upcoming process changes related to the expansion.
- February through June: User testing with advisory group members and a small pilot group in May and June ahead of the expanded system deployment on July 1.
- Before July: Virtual training for the updated system and both new and updated training reflecting new processes.
How to prepare
You play an important role in creating a positive experience for employees using the system. You can start preparing today by:
- Reviewing resources available on our new website, including PCard best practices, supporting documentation guidelines and how-tos, and the Business Travel Start-to-Finish Guide.
- Exploring training modules designed for PCard holders, travelers, and business offices.
- Sharing these resources with employees in your unit who hold a PCard, request reimbursements, or travel on university business.
What the expansion will mean for you
Starting July 1, you can expect changes such as:
- The ability to upload expense documentation into the system and the option to submit documentation via a mobile app, eliminating the process of submitting physical receipts to business offices.
- Access to custom dashboards with expense data and the ability to track the approval of submitted documents in real time, providing greater visibility during reimbursement requests.
- Built-in system notifications, such as policy reminders, audit rules, and approval workflows, to guide users through submission processes.
I look forward to sharing more with you in the months ahead and encourage you to visit our website for the latest updates.
If you have questions or suggestions, please contact our change management team.
On behalf of our project team, thank you for your partnership as we work together to streamline the employee experience for travel and expense activities and improve our shared business workflows.
Sincerely,
Andrew Brennan
Chief Procurement Officer
This email was sent to university business offices and business officers and members of the project advisory group.