TRAVEL & EXPENSE
Business Case Review
Employee Profile Load & Validation Process
OVERVIEW: Emory currently uses application messaging to bring data from Human Resources into PeopleSoft Expenses. There are two
specific data records types that cause problems once they are loaded into the Expense tables: employees with a WOC (without compensation)
record flagged as their default profile record and POI (persons of interest) records that the program validates for expense reimbursement when
they should not be eligible for expense reimbursement. In discussions with the Human Resources team, it was confirmed that the WOC records
must remain in the messaging process for use by the Grants Management system. The custom validation program has been modified to focus
on the default profile selection for employees (excluding WOC records) and to ensure that POI employee records are not validated for expense
reimbursement.
Emory is currently using a custom expense approval process designed by SmartERP, which does not require employee profiles to have a valid
‘report to’ or supervisor ID populated on the employee profile. We anticipate using the delivered 9.2 workflow and the supervisor or designated
approver field being required to trigger the workflow process. A ‘bolt-on’ process to evaluate WOC (without compensation) and POI (persons of
interest) records would be needed prior to the load and validation process taking place in PeopleSoft Expenses. The bolt-on would evaluate
that no WOC record is flagged as an employee’s default profile record for Expenses and that POI’s are not marked as Valid for Expenses.
RECOMMENDATION: The recommended design solution is to utilize the 9.2 delivered application messages to bring data into the PeopleSoft
Expenses staging tables. The staging tables would be evaluated to determine if the records from the messaging process are valid prior to
running the process to load the data into PeopleSoft. A bolt-on application would be used to achieve the business need and utilize delivered
functionality.
Owners
Overall Process & Policy Change Owners
Module Owners
Project Work Owners
Melanie Widmer
David Wright & Carol King
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David Wright & Carol King
Employee Profile Load & Validation Process
Impacts
People
Module Support
Minimal Testing of the delivered messaging process and the new bolt–on functionality for
all future PUM upgrades.
Central Administration
HR Team would need to update Supervisor IDs in HR System
Campus Users
Process
Module Support
Central Administration
Expense administrator would not have to manually correct default profiles.
Campus Users
System
Module Support
Low impact when using the delivered application messaging.
Development required to create the bolt-on process to evaluate messaged data prior to
loading into the PeopleSoft Expense tables.
Central Administration
Campus Users
Training
Module Support
Central Administration
Campus Users
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Expense Report Summary
OVERVIEW: The existing Expense Report Accounting summary is a customized page that was based on the Expense Report Project summary
screen that was delivered in PeopleSoft 9.0 Expenses and shows the Expense line items along with the accounting information. In addition to
the custom page for the Expense Report Accounting summary, there are multiple customizations to the Expense Report Entry screen that have
been added and do not exist in 9.2 Expenses. These customizations include the Begin/End Dates, ID Type and the Corporate Card holder
message at the top of the Expense sheet. The current Expense Report Accounting Summary does not show the Program or Event chartfields,
nor does it show any of the Sheet Header information that could be used to help identify the trip being reviewed. The Begin/End date fields are
currently stored in the EX_SHEET_HDR record, but they are custom fields that are entered by the submitter of the Expense report. This can
lead to incorrect keying and there is also existing code within the Expense Report Entry screen that is checking the Transaction dates against
the Being/End Date, which is unnecessarily causing errors to occur. The summary is used primarily during the approval process so users don’t
have to drill down to multiple layers to review the expenses and accounting; eliminating it would be extremely unpopular.
RECOMMENDATION: To balance the need to have an ‘Accounting’ summary of the Expense report with the goal of removing customizations
to the Expense Entry screen, we will develop a new Expense Report Summary page that will incorporate all of the customized data points that
have been added to the Expense Entry screen as well as show the accounting detail for the expense transactions on the Expense Report. To
accomplish this balance, we recommend developing a new XML Publisher (XMLP) report based on the existing ‘Print Report with Barcode’
and add all of the accounting data. The full string of chartfields should be shown along with the Expense Type, Merchant, Amount, Transaction
Date and additional comments made at the expense line level.
Owners
Overall Process & Policy Change Owners
Melanie Widmer
Module Owners
David Wright & Carol King
Project Work Owners
David Wright & Carol King
4
Expense Report Summary
Impacts
People
Module Support
Provides a report that contains the customizations rather than requiring individual
customizations to the entry screen and the creation of a separate Accounting Summary
page.
Central Administration
Process
Campus Users
Provides a page view of all the detailed transactional and accounting information for an
Expense Report, which greatly aids during the approval process.
Module Support
Facilitates system support by removing customizations
Central Administration
System
Campus Users
Provides a single page to review transactions and also as a printable copy of the
Expense Report.
Module Support
As an isolated ‘bolt-on’ minimal maintenance is required to apply future PUM upgrades.
Central Administration
Campus Users
Training
Module Support
Central Administration
Campus Users
Training to use the new ‘print’ version of the Expense Report (after saving) to review all
transactional and accounting data.
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Mock-up of the proposed expense report:
Year-end Expense Report Processing
OVERVIEW: Our current year-end process for handling Expense reports that have creation dates prior to the start of the new Fiscal Year is to
deny any Expense report that has not been fully approved through workflow and delete those Denied reports along with any “pending” reports
that have a date in the “old fiscal year.” This is done to ensure that Expense reports with “old fiscal year” accounting dates do not get processed
in the new Fiscal Year and back posted to the prior period. The issue of back posting is due to the fact that the Expenses module never truly
closes and the Journal Generate run controls are what determines in which period to post the expenses.
There is a great deal of manual effort involved by the Expenses Administrators for the University and Healthcare to monitor those Expense
reports that are in workflow with “old fiscal year” creation dates and to ultimately make the decision to deny the Expense report. In addition to
the manual effort to monitor and address the reports in workflow, there is a custom App Engine that has to be run by a PeopleSoft developer to
go through and select and delete the appropriate Expense reports that are in Denied or Pending status with an “old fiscal year” creation date.
RECOMMENDATION: We would like to review and possibly redesign the custom App Engine that is used to mass delete the Denied and
Pending expense reports to see if this functionality can be extended to the Expense Administrators to run themselves. PeopleSoft 9.2 also
introduces a new functionality for accruing Expense reports. We would like to examine this functionality to determine if it can replace the
existing manual process of managing the Expense reports that are in workflow and eliminate the need for the custom App Engine. The new
functionality to perform Period End Accruals for Expenses allows for expense liabilities to be posted in one period and then reversed in the
next period.
Owners
Overall Process & Policy Change Owners
Melanie Widmer
Module Owners
David Wright & Carol King
Project Work Owners
David Wright & Carol King
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Year-end Expense Report Processing
Impacts
People
Module Support
Retain the two custom App Engines, but enhance them to make them available to be run by the
Expense Administrators.
Central Administration
Campus Users
Process
Module Support
Development doesn’t have to get involved in year-end EX clean-up
Central Administration
Would ensure that Expense reports are posted to the correct accounting period and Fiscal Year by
deleting those Expense reports with prior year accounting dates.
Automates accrual for outstanding expense reports at month end to allow for expense accrual and
reversal of the accrual.
The functionality to mass delete the Expense reports would be extended to the Expense Administrators
and remove the work from the Developers.
Campus Users
System
Module Support
Requires the retrofit and/or redesign of the custom App Engines
Central Administration
Does not alleviate the manual monitoring and denial process of Expenses in workflow at year-end.
Campus Users
Training
Module Support
Central Administration
Campus Users
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Expense Report User Interface
OVERVIEW: With the initial implementation of PeopleSoft, a large number of customizations were made to the Expense Report entry screen in
an effort to mimic the pre-PeopleSoft online Expense report page. Since the initial implementation, there was an additional effort to enhance
and streamline the Expense report entry process while adding functionality that did not exist in delivered 9.0 Expenses, primarily the ability to
attach documentation/receipts to the Expense report.
One of the customizations to the Expense Entry screen, the Begin/End date fields which are not delivered fields, also had logic embedded in
them that caused a number of problems, primarily with the Payment Method being changed if the Expense transaction date was outside of the
Begin/End date range. The overall number and complexity of overlapping customizations to the Expense Entry screen makes it extremely
difficult to apply patches and upgrades to the Expenses module.
The majority of the Expense Entry customizations should be removed to facilitate future upgrades and patches from PeopleSoft. Some of the
customizations, such as the Expense Report Accounting Summary, should be redesigned to provide enhanced information and capture the
information included in the current customizations. A large number of the Listening Tour requirements focused on the need to improve ease of
use for the Expense Entry screen, particularly regarding the number of clicks or ‘drill downs’ required to populate an expense transaction.
RECOMMENDATION: Adopt the redesigned and streamlined Expense Entry screen delivered in 9.2, which addresses many prior concerns.
Create a new custom Expense Report Summary that will incorporate the informational customizations to the Entry screen along with the
Accounting Summary for the Expense Report. Rollout the Mobile Expenses application.
Owners
Overall Process & Policy Change Owners
Melanie Widmer
Module Owners
David Wright & Carol King
Project Work Owners
David Wright & Carol King
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Expense Report User Interface
Impacts
People
Module Support
Minimal support required because of moving to delivered functionality.
Central Administration
Process
Campus Users
Greatly improved and streamlined User Interface that reduces the drill down and clicks
required to complete an Expense report.
Module Support
Greatly reduced support requirements because of using delivered functionality without
customizations.
Central Administration
System
Campus Users
The delivered 9.2 Expense Entry screen is much more user-friendly than the existing
screen in 9.0.
Module Support
Future upgrades for patches and enhanced functionality could be implemented with
minimal retrofit and testing effort.
Central Administration
Campus Users
Training
New features and functionality could be delivered easily with future PUMs.
Module Support
Central Administration
Campus Users
Requires significant re-training effort for users of the Expenses module.
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Expense Report User Interface -
A lot of modifications that we can see, and many more we cannot
Expense Entry Interface
New, more intuitive, Expense Report entry
Expense Entry Interface
Meal Attendees
Expense Entry Interface
Itemize Hotel Bill
Expense Entry Interface
Receipt Split
Expense Entry Interface
Mobile Expenses Application
Expense Entry Interface
Mobile Expenses Application – Create an Expense Report
Expense Entry Interface
Mobile Expense Application – Add a line
Corporate Card Load process
OVERVIEW: The current Corporate Card load is a custom job that processes a flat file provided to us by JP Morgan Chase (JPMC), our Corporate Card provider. The
existing custom load process was designed to replicate the delivered load process in PeopleSoft 9.2. Since the initial implementation, there have been numerous
issues logged related to error handling during the processing of the Visa file. These errors have typically been a result of the data being sent from JPMC that did not
adhere to the Visa file format standard upon which the load process was built. For Fiscal Year 2014, the Corporate Card represented 57% of the dollars processed
through the Expenses module with over 2,800 users and 39,000 reports.
RECOMMENDATION: The recommended design solution is to move to the Corporate Card load process that is delivered in PeopleSoft 9.2 Expenses and make the
proposed enhancements to that program. We further recommend working with JPMC to determine if there is a newer, or better, file format that we can receive that
has better data consistency to reduce the amount of error handling required by the load program.
Summary of enhancements to the Corporate Card load process:
• Error handling for known data issues that have caused problems historically. Error handling for known data issues should be built into the load program to prevent
the entire process from failing when a required piece of data is missing or in an incorrect format.
• Prevent, or mark as deleted, the “Late Payment Fees” from JPMC. We currently prevent Late Payment Fees from JPMC from being displayed in an end-user’s My
Wallet so they cannot be added to an Expense report.
• Enhance the Error reload page to give more clarity as to how to resolve the problem. There are normal instances where a transaction will not load correctly and
something needs to be corrected in (Compass) PeopleSoft before the transaction will load. Because the existing, delivered page does not show what the cause of
the error is, it requires the Expense Administrator to contact the Developer responsible for Expenses and obtain a copy of the day’s file that contains the erroneous
transaction.
Owners
Overall Process & Policy Change Owners
Melanie Widmer
Module Owners
David Wright & Carol King
Project Work Owners
David Wright & Carol King
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Corporate Card Load process
Impacts
People
Module Support
New 9.2 configuration to include external data account maintenance to help automate the addition of
new cards to the system; delivered error handling will be used when a new card can’t be matched to
an employee, allowing the admin to take action when necessary.
Error handling within the load program will prevent a developer from having to spend time trying to
track down the source of the problem.
Central Administration
Campus Users
Process
Module Support
Enhancing the Review Errors page will remove the need for the Expense Administrator to involve a
technical resource to assist with a functional task
Central Administration
System
Campus Users
Preventing Late Fees from appearing in My Wallet will ensure that the departments are not being
charged for Fees that are the responsibility of the Cardholder.
Module Support
Developers working closely with the Corporate Card provider’s technical resources to determine file
formatting with enhanced data.
Utilizing the new 9.2 maintenance and error handling features to minimize errors/issues.
Central Administration
Campus Users
Training
Module Support
Central Administration
Campus Users
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Mass Proxy Maintenance
OVERVIEW: We need a process by which proxy submitters can be created for multiple employees from a central screen rather than
making changes to each employee individually. This process would also allow for the duplication and/or reassignment of proxy authority from
one user to another and the deletion of proxy authority. Within PeopleSoft Expenses, individuals have the ability to submit expense reports for
themselves or on behalf of others as a proxy submitter. In FY2014, 70% of the Expense Reports were submitted by a proxy. The utilization of
proxy delegations is an important part of Emory’s business and any setup functionality will be customized. The options are:
1. Design a new Mass Proxy Maintenance page that incorporates all of the required functionality into a central screen that can be utilized by
the Expense Administrator for easily maintaining, adding and deleting proxy authority for multiple employees.
2. Change nothing and migrate the existing Custom page into the 9.2 environment. While this option requires no new development, it requires
the same amount of time as Option 1 and provides no new functionality.
3. Remove the custom page and require all proxy setups to use costly, manual effort to maintain proxy submitters, which are used very heavily
at the University.
RECOMMENDATION: We recommend to enhance and improve our current Mass Proxy maintenance process to better meet Emory’s
business needs while maintaining controls and security checks for the proper delegation of proxy authority.
Owners
Overall Process & Policy Change Owners
Melanie Widmer
Module Owners
David Wright & Carol King
Project Work Owners
David Wright & Carol King
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Mass Proxy Maintenance
Impacts
People
Process
Module Support
Central Administration
Greatly reduces manual effort needed to establish a proxy submitter for multiple users.
Campus Users
Campus administrators could have control over the proxy assignments and management for departments for which
they are approvers.
Module Support
Central Administration
Provides a single page for creating and managing proxies.
Campus Users
Would allow campus administrators to proactively create replacement or substitute proxies prior to an individual
leaving and being replaced, or in the event of an extended period of absence.
Allows for the creation of separate roles of a proxy viewer and submitter to grant appropriate levels of access to
different sets of individuals.
System
Module Support
Requires new development of a bolt-on that will need to be maintained and retrofitted during all upgrade testing
Central Administration
Creates a single control page that is integrated with Unified Workflow that can be used to perform all of the
necessary proxy assignments.
Campus Users
Training
Module Support
Central Administration
Minimal training effort required for Central users if functionality is extended to the campus.
Campus Users
Specific training would be needed for those campus users who are approvers and would have access to the Mass
Proxy page.
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