Travel and Expense Info Center

Important GT Traveler Information-Volume I

2011-08-24T13:15:00.000-04:00

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

2011-07-25T12:55:00.000-04:00

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

2011-07-05T12:44:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-17T12:34:00.000-04:00

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

2011-05-24T16:58:00.000-04:00

Effective immediately, please include a copy of the Travel Authorization (if applicable) when submitting receipts and supporting documentation for trip-related Expense Report.
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.
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.
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

2011-05-03T10:45:00.000-04:00

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

2011-04-28T20:22:00.001-04:00

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:

Training Opportunities and Materials Are Available

2011-04-27T16:33:00.000-04:00

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

2011-04-25T09:28:00.000-04:00

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

2011-04-20T13:27:00.000-04:00

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