Revised Travel Expense Form for Non-Employees

The Institute Travel Expense Statement has been revised for non-employee travel reimbursements with an effective date of December 5, 2011.  Changes were made to expedite payment turn-around, streamline the audit process, and enhance compliance with travel policies and the State of Georgia travel account codes.

All non-employee travel reimbursements must be on the paper Travel Expense Statement. Non-employees do not have access to TechWorks and therefore cannot process their reimbursements through the electronic T&E System.  Per the State of Georgia travel regulations, non-employees must follow the same travel regulations as employees; the updated form helps to ensure compliance with State of Georgia and Board of Regents travel policy.

Click here to review major changes to the paper Travel Expense Statement.

Please begin using the new version of the TES immediately.  The Travel Expense Statement can be accessed via the Business Services Form Bank:

http://www.procurement.gatech.edu/travel_forms.php 

Please contact travel.ask@business.gatech.edu for additional information regarding use of these forms.

Advanced T&E Topics Webinar

Tuesday, November 29, 2011 (9:30 am - 11:00 am)

During this webinar, we will review advanced tips and techniques for the Travel & Expense system and discuss the upcoming system.enhancements.

If you would like to attend this webinar, simply click here and submit your contact information.  A recorded version will be available later if you are not able to attend at this time.

Pending Enhancements to Travel & Expense Reimbursements System

Since implementing the new Travel & Expense Reimbursements system in April, a number of improvements have been introduced to enhance the user experience.  This past summer, representatives from various campus units came together to discuss issues, identify potential solutions and assess relative priorities.  Based on the information gathered during these sessions, a set of changes is ready to be implemented on Thursday, December 1, 2011.

• The GT Travel & Expense Home page will have new and revised links for increased functionality and better navigation
• New buttons make it easier to navigate between travel documents in your search results
• Department Administrators will now receive more detailed information when an employee is already assigned to another supervisor
• An Approver’s worklist will now display additional information, e.g. employee’s name, department ID, and dates of travel (if trip-related
• The Travel Authorization Approval Detail panel will display date/time stamps of approvals
• The Travel Authorization Print Out will display approval dates for each approver.

Click here for more information

Travel & Expense Update - Location Search

Due to system maintenance activities which took place overnight, you may encounter a longer than usual response time the first time you try to look up a location today in the Travel & Expense system.  To avoid this problem, please enter a city in the location field before clicking on the magnifying glass to look up a location - do not leave the location field blank before clicking on the magnifying glass.

T&E Enhancements - September 2011

Based on feedback received since the Travel & Expense system (T&E) was implemented, several changes have been implemented to enhance the user experience and more are on the way.  At this time, we would like to alert you to some important enhancements that are now available.

Per Diems
Domestic per diem rates, which are updated annually, will be available in the T&E system effective October 1.  These rates will remain in effect until September 30, 2012.

Foreign per diem rates have been updated.  They will now reflect the current date of travel. 

Location! Location! Location!
There are now more than 30,000 domestic locations loaded in T&E from the Department of Defense.  This is a significant increase in the number of options available to you when specifying travel destinations.

The format used to identify locations in the system and the associated search functionality have also been enhanced, making it easier to search for both domestic and international locations. 

Click here for more details

Travel & Expense System Unavailable Wed 9/28 4pm - Thurs 9/29 7am

There is an important system update scheduled for the Travel & Expense Reimbursements System (T&E):

• Start: Wednesday, September 28, 2011, 4:00 pm EST
• End:  Thursday, September 29, 2011, 7:00 am EST.

During this period, T&E will be unavailable so that data can be loaded into the system.  Afterward, per diem rates will be updated and the process for specifying a destination/location should be more intuitive and user-friendly.  Additional information will be provided when the changes take effect. 

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.  If you have any questions or concerns, please send an email to travel.ask@business.gatech.edu.

Important GT Traveler Information-Volume I

Nearly 10,000 Expense Reports have been successfully processed via Georgia Tech’s new employee T&E System since April, 2011.  To ensure that employee reimbursements for your unit are processed as quickly as possible, Business Services has outlined common problems that could result in reimbursement delay.  

Please click here to review the 6 most common problems and action that can be taken to expedite reimbursements.  

For more information, please contact travel.ask@business.gatech.edu

TechWorks Update and Impact on Travel & Expense Users

For security purposes, TechWorks has a timeout after 30 minutes if there has been no user activity on any window that may be open.  Since T&E went live, there have been increased complaints and issues raised regarding the timeout and the impact of users losing their information and having to rekey.

T&E was initially launched as a separate TechWorks window. The main TechWorks window would register 30 minutes of inactivity even if a user was actively entering information in the separate T&E window. We are changing Travel and Expense so that it does not open in a separate window, but in the main TechWorks window. Every time a user navigates from one field to another entering data, the counter will be reset and the 30 minutes will start over. We believe that this will improve the user experience related to the timeout issue for T&E.


Please click here for more information.

Travel Policy News: No Change in Mileage Reimbursement Rate for GT Business Travel

Please click here to review and distribute information from Greg Griffin, State Accounting Officer, concerning the State's standard mileage reimbursement rate. This information should be shared with all travelers and travel administrators in your unit.

The Official Code of Georgia Annotated (OCGA) Section 50-19-7 requires the State of Georgia to follow the General Services Administration (GSA) rates for mileage when State employees are reimbursed for use of a privately owned vehicle while on official travel.

Although the IRS recently announced an increase to the standard automobile mileage rate from 51 cents to 55.5 cents effective July 1, 2011, the GSA has chosen not to adopt this rate at this time based on further evaluation.  Therefore, the State of Georgia’s current standard mileage reimbursement rate will remain at 51 cents/mile until further notice.

For more information, please contact travel.ask@business.gatech.edu

FY11 Close-Out Important Reminders from Business Services

Please click here to review and download information that should be distributed to all employees in your unit who are responsible for requisitions, managing encumbrances, invoice approval, and travel.  This memo includes important reminders and guidance to ensure a successful fiscal year close. 

For additional assistance, please refer to the Business Services Customer Support Grid for dedicated email customer support contacts.

Important Updates to the T&E System

1. Effective immediately, please include a copy of the Travel Authorization (if applicable) when submitting receipts and supporting documentation for trip-related Expense Report. 
2. NEW!  A new menu item has been added to provide Supervisors, Financial Approvers, Delegates and T&E administrators with various ways to search for Travel Authorizations and Expense Reports.  
3. PeopleSoft financial queries have been developed to provide Unit Financial Managers and T&E Administrators with a mechanism for analyzing and printing T&E system data. 
4. If a trip is "no cost to GT', the Travel Authorization is not required, but if desired by the department, the TA may be prepared in the usual manner with the following exceptions. 

 Click Here to read more 

 about these important updates.

Assigning Roles in Your Department

Each department should have at least one authorized Travel & Expense Administrator.  The T&E Administrator is responsible for setting up the Preparers, Supervisors, Financial Approvers, Delegates and default project IDs for your department.   They can also provide you with guidance and support as you begin to use the new system. 

Please note that it may take up to 2 business days for a Supervisor, Financial Approver or Delegate to be completely set up in the system after the T&E Administrator has entered information in PeopleSoft.   If you submit a TA or Expense Report before the new role is completely set up, the Supervisor/Delegate or Financial Approver may not be able to access the information.   Please check with your T&E Administrator if you have any questions.  Click here to look up your T&E Administrator(s). 

Electronic Workflow allows for Email Notifications

Thanks to the Electronic Workflow in our T&E system, the system will be able to provide automatic notificaions when your attention is needed:

• After a Travel Authorization (TA) is approved or sent back for revisions, an email notification is sent to the traveler to indicate the action taken.  If the TA had been submitted by a preparer (on behalf of a traveler), both the traveler and preparer should be notified.  From April 11-April 18, preparers authorized to process TAs for multiple travelers may not have received all email notifications after TAs had been approved or sent back for revision (the emails may have been sent to one of the other travelers in the preparer's list.) This problem has been resolved; however, preparers can use the View Status/Modify Travel Auth function to check the status of TAs they have prepared.
• Supervisors, particularly those who have delegates, may not want to receive system-generated email notifications when TAs and expense reports need to be reviewed.  An email filter can be set up to automatically file or discard these requests.  Click on one of the following links for instructions:
• Email Filters - Zimbra
• Email Filters - Outlook

Training Opportunities and Materials Are Available

Training is not required for access to the T&E system; however, there are training materials available to help you learn how to use the new system.

• The T&E Training Resources Page provides access to a process overview, description of roles, quick reference guides and a complete User Guide.  In addition, there are several video demonstrations which explain how to use the various system functions.  
• The online tutorial consists of the video demonstrations and support materials provided on the T&E Training Resources Page plus a 10 question assessment.  If you wish to receive credit on your GT training transcript for Travel & Expense system training, you must successfully complete the assessment or attend classroom training.  Go to http://www.trainsweb.gatech.edu/ to register for the tutorial.  Please note that you must access the tutorial from a campus computer or via a secure remote connection.  If these are not viable options and you need to take the assessment, use the remote access tutorial link.  Otherwise, you can use the T&E Training Resources Page to access the same information.

Instructor-led, classroom training sessions are also available. This covers the same information as the online tutorial and provides an opportunity to ask questions.  Classroom seating is limited to 20 participants; however, you can now opt to attend the training as a remote participant. 

• Tuesday, May 10, 1pm                         
• Wednesday, June 15, 10am                  

To reserve a seat as a remote participant, go to http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/522407/Travel-and-Expense-System-Training

Creating Your Travel Authorizations and Expense Reports

To create and submit your travel authorization or expense report, first access the T&E System, and then refer to these instructions:

• Use the Detailed Description/Comments field to provide justification for high cost expenses, document personal days taken in conjunction with business travel and describe unusual expenses.

• For meal per diems, if the city to which you are traveling is not listed, please select the nearest city and make note of the substitution in the Detailed Description field. 
• If you only have mileage and meals to report (no expenses that require a receipt), you should still print and submit the bar code cover sheet.   For both auditing and reconciliation purposes, the bar code cover sheet is necessary in order to reconcile a ledger.  Expense Reports that do not have an electronic bar code cover sheet may be returned to the employee or preparer for re-submission with the cover page.
• The resolution on the scanner or fax machine used to submit receipts and supporting documentation should be set to 300 dpi.  If the quality of the images received is illegible,  the employee or preparer will be notified that the documentation must be re-submitted.

Submission Requirements

As a reminder, all employee reimbursement requests must be processed through the Travel & Expense system with the exception of the reimbursement types specifically listed on the Employee Payment Request Form.

Travel and Expense System Powered by Elctronic Workflow

The Travel & Expense System provides electronic workflow which automatically routes requests for review and approval via system generated email notifications.  If changes or corrections are needed, the request is sent back to the Employee.  This is the same approval process for Travel Authorizations and Expense Reports.
 
- Employee or Preparer create and submit the original Request.
- Supervisor approval is optional; this decision is made at the department level.

• System supports only one supervisor for an employee
• Off-line approvals required if additional supervisor approval desired

- Multiple financial approvers can review request.

• Only one financial approver needs to take action in the system
• Email notifications sent to all financial approvers
• Request appears on each financial approver’s worklist

- Preparers can be authorized to create travel and expense documents on behalf of other employees.
- Delegates can be assigned to act on behalf of supervisors.

• Multiple delegates are allowed
• Delegation can be temporary or permanent
• Email filters should be set up if supervisor does not wish to receive email notifications