APR Traveler Reimbursement Team:
Phase 1 Solution Implementation
Improve Current Application
(technical changes to eReimbursement)
General Information Box:
Create specific required
fields for the content
currently captured in the
"comments" field such as
date and time of departure
and return
Create an expense report
summary page that
includes funding string and
detail page information for
individual expense lines
Improve current "edit
check" procedures to
streamline the accounting
validation during the
approval process
Allow Approvers and
Auditors to make
corrections to Expense
Type and Billing Types (InState, Out-of-State,
Foreign)
System should clearly
identify required vs. nonrequired fields and reduce
toggling between screens
Provide a next button on
Complete – Added Date and Time of Departure and Return
fields. Changed field labels to make them more user-friendly.
Added a check box to identify if the report is travel related
which also eliminates having to fill these new fields out if not a
travel-related expense report.
Testing – Includes information from multiple areas within the
expense report on one page for all roles in e-Reimbursement.
This will address the VOC regarding too many pages to toggle
between to find information. Initial round of testing completed
but resulted in additional changes. Second round of testing
scheduled for September 12th. Targeting the end of October
for implementation.
In development – This solution will eliminate steps during the
approval process by informing users in real-time if there are
funding string errors. Approvers will no longer have to click
the Save button to run the edit check and will eliminate the
steps that followed clicking the Save button. The intent is to
get closer to delivered functionality and remove complex
customized coding. It will also eliminate approvers and
auditors having to leave expense reports that they were
running the edit check on. This solution also includes turning
on the auto-approve functionality in the approval process
which will remove the current setting for Approvers to
approve a single report more than once.
Pending Technical Advice. After initial review by DoIT, it was
determined that approvers would not be able to make
changes to the expense type after the expense report has
been submitted. This is due to the way the system designed.
DoIT is still looking into changing the system to allow
approvers to change billing types after submitted by the
traveler. The impact of selecting the incorrect Billing Type is
that the account code will be incorrect which approvers often
need to fix.
In Process – All expense types require additional information
on the details page. The information required depends on the
expense type selected. Since users cannot see this
information on the front page, it causes a negative opinion of
e-Reimbursement because they are not alerted that there is
additional information required until after they either attempt
to submit the report or click the Save button. A solution for
how to alert Travelers prior to clicking the submit button is
still under discussion. In the meantime, all detail page
required information has been reviewed and suggestions for
changes have been submitted to UW System for approval and
reconfigurations.
This will allow travelers to navigate to the first detail page to
the detail pages of the
expense report
fill out required information, then continue through each detail
page without navigating back and forth. This functionality
currently exists within e-Reimbursement but it is only
available for travelers if they click the Submit button and have
further information required. We would like the next button to
always be available on the detail page for all users to
streamline the entry process.
Improve Application of Current Policy/Culture Change
Update policies so they are
more clear, concise, and a
better resource for campus
(ongoing with feedback
from e-Reimbursement
Division Coordinators &
other customer groups)
Retitle & consolidate
expense types to be more
intuitive
Revise and consolidate
training materials
Develop a new Accounting
Services 'Travel Center'
and new format for eReimbursement content on
Accounting Services
website. Create a Trip
Planning guide
Clarify Approver & Auditor
responsibilities and revise
Delegation Agreements
Hold campus forums and
Question and Answer
sessions
Review Expense Type
detail page required
information
Improve usability of eReimbursement reporting
in WISDM
9 out of 10 completed. As defined by the APR team in
collaboration with the Accounting Services Policy team 10
policies needed to be updated. Accounting Services will
continue to update all remaining policies.
Complete – New expense types were implemented in July of
2012
In process. All training materials and How-to’s are being
updated and will go live along with the new e-Reimbursement
website.
Layout concept and general information complete. This will
give travelers a place to go prior to travel and get all the
information that they need. This is where the Trip Planning
Guide will be housed. The Travel Center will be implemented
along with the new e-Reimbursement website. The Trip
Planning Guide will be compiled after all training documents
and related policies are completed to eliminate the need to
update as we go.
Complete – Approver/Auditor Delegation Agreements have
been updated. Four separate delegation agreements have
been consolidated into one document to provide flexibility to
campus between the various approval roles. Division
Coordinators can identify specific responsibilities for each
approver by using check boxes to assign job duties to each
person.
On-going – used to provide a forum to existing users to ask
questions, to clarify requirements and eliminate tasks or
beliefs that are conceived as part of culture but not truly
necessary with the goal of reducing send backs. These
sessions are also used to gather feedback on current solutions
for the APR team and a general forum for communication of
those changes.
In-process – this will eliminate the user having to fill in nonvalue added information on each expense line and configure
the system to prompt users where information is required for
approval purposes. Acct Services came up with potential
recommendations and presented to Divisions for feedback.
The final version has been submitted to UW System
In process – campus feedback received. Solidifying business
requirements. This solution includes consolidating expenses
with the same funding string (e.g. expenses with the same
coding will be consolidated into one line). This solution will
also include a new e-Reimbursement search within WISDM
where users can search for items using terminology that is
e-Re account code
structure: implementation
out of scope
Eliminate paper receipt
requirement implementation out of
scope
consistent with e-Reimbursement.
Completed - Analysis of potential changes to the account code
structure has been completed. The main VOC was that eReimbursement displayed too many lines in WISDM. It was
determined that a change to WISDM and how it displays eReimbursement information would be the solution. The team
also found that reverting back to the former account code
structure which is based on the business purpose will not work
with the design of e-Reimbursement.
In process – Analysis complete. The APR team worked with
RSP to determine what needs to be done to officially begin
scanning receipts and documentation for travel expenses. It
was identified that the DS2 may need updating. Accounting
Services is in the process of reviewing the Federal Policy and
DS2 to ensure we are aligned with policy and/or if
documentation needs to be updated. Note: The upgrade 9.1
includes the capability to attach receipts and documentation
to reports.
Guided Entry Interface
Develop & implement a
new user-friendly interface
for e-Reimbursement that
guides users through the
expense report creation
process
In process – Initial demo will be presented to AC in
September and Division Coordinators in October.