TravelUVA login page changes

Christopherson Business Travel (CBT) has changed the look of the TravelUVA “AirPortal” login screen as of Monday, October 2, 2017.  Although the page looks different, the changes in functionality are minimal.  

Basically, you will now click on the left side of the page instead of the right. Below are instructions to find your way around the new page.

Log in to TravelUVA from http://www.procurement.virginia.edu/pageTravelandExpense - (no changes here)

To Book a Trip Online click on the Suitcase Icon.

Then click Book/Manage Online Trips

This will take you to the main page of TravelUVA/ Concur where you can begin booking travel as usual.

Please contact the Travel and Expense Services Team with any questions - Travel@virginia.edu or 434-924-4212 ext. 2.

Travel & Expense Wins a "Chromie"

The Travel & Expense Chromie up close

Chrome River, the company who provides the software platform for ExpenseUVA, recently awarded Dolores Hildebrand of the Travel & Expense Team in PSDS with a “Chromie Award.”  

Hildebrand was chosen to receive the Chromie because, out of all of Chrome River’s 600+ customers, UVA submitted the most system modification requests.  When presenting the award, Chrome River said that UVA’s system modification requests helped improve the system and enhanced the experience for all their customers.

In the past 12 months alone, during ExpenseUVA development, testing, deployment and continued use, 158 requests for change based on user feedback have been submitted and completed by Chrome River. 

Hildebrand said, “The Travel and Expense Team, our ITS partners, and all the ExpenseUVA Ambassadors have worked hard to gather input from expense owners, fiscal contacts, and administrators.  We hope the outreach we have done to find out what users need have provided our customers with a system that meets their needs.”

Upcoming Training: October through December

Finance Outreach and Compliance hopes you will take advantage of these professional development opportunities for finance professionals. Links to enroll via Employee Self-Service are available from the Events section on the Finance Outreach and Compliance website at http://foc.virginia.edu/.

Brown Bag Sessions

Using the UBI Community

The UBI Community is the best resource to get your questions answer, get help with using UBI, and share your suggestions and ideas. In this session you will earn how to get the most out of being part of the UBI Community!

Tuesday, November 7, 12:00-1:30
Presented by Danielle Hancock, FOC, and Christopher Birkl and Matt Douglas, MRP
Carruthers Hall, Conference rooms 1 and 2
Complimentary tasting offered by Mezeh Mediterranean Grill

Courses, Workshops, and Labs

Finance Fundamentals

What is UVA’s mission? What is the Code of Ethics and why is it important? What is the organizational structure of UVA and where do you fit in? What is a PTAEO? What are the sources of revenue at UVA and how are funds processed? What do you need to know about internal controls, and what are some best practices to follow? In this class you will get answers to these questions and more, as well as have an opportunity to interact and network with other administrative professionals. This class is a required course for access to the finance applications in the Integrated System, but is also open to anyone who wants to learn about UVA’s financial operations.


November 14, 1:30-4:30
November 28, 1:30-4:30
December 12, 1:30-4:30
All sessions are held in Carruthers Hall, Conference room 2

Reconciling Expenditures in Recon@UVA (formerly Mastering Account Reconciliations)

All departments spend money, whether it is for office supplies, equipment, or personnel. It is important to reconcile these purchases each month to maintain strong internal control standards. This course is designed to help UVA staff and faculty who prepare, review and approve expenditure reconciliations navigate these processes in the Recon@UVA system. We will discuss how to accurately complete monthly expenditure reconciliations for transactions that occur in the Integrated System’s Grants Management (GM) module in compliance with UVA policy and procedures.

November 9, 1:30-4:00
Carruthers Hall, Carr-2

ExpenseUVA: Lab

Do you need help with UVA's new expense management system, ExpenseUVA? During this lab, you will be able to log into the live system and submit expense reports help from the UVAFinance team. You will also learn where to go for resources and help. IMPORTANT: This class is a lab where you can come for help with entering actual expenses, and is not intended to replace the online training. Please complete the Expense Management System - Online Training prior to attending the lab and bring your work with you. Please arrive at the stated time of the class and then stay as long as you like. For immediate training and help, please refer to the online training Expense Management System - Online Training 

November 16, 1:00-3:00 pm
December 14, 9:00-11:00 am
All sessions held at 2400 Old Ivy Road, room 136



If you have any questions, suggestions, or need to discuss training needs, please contact us at foc-training@virginia.edu. Please check out our training pages at foc.virginia.edu/training.


Feel free to share this information to other colleagues, and managers, please forward to your staff. Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Reducing redundant purchases, reusing unused supplies, and cutting out unnecessary expenses

ASG Team centralizes office supply purchasing in UVAFinance

Let’s say you’re in charge of making your department’s office supply order (a process you aren’t very familiar with, because you don’t do it often), and you accidentally order a case of file folders instead of one box, and you forget entirely to order the highlighters your colleagues requested. It’s not the worst thing that could happen. Some people will be inconvenienced, and you’ll have to find a place to store the extra boxes of folders until they can be worked through, but it’s not the end of the world, right?

Of course not. But what you didn’t know is that last month, your counterpart in the suite next door ordered seven boxes of highlighters that are gathering dust, and the supplier they use is sold out of the very kind of file folder you have stacks of.

Mariah Kier, Deputy Mayor of Carruthers and ASG
Team Member, with some office supplies ready to
be delivered their new homes.

This summer, the Administrative Services Group within UVAFinance set out to make the procurement of office supplies a smarter, easier, more collaborative process. Their aim was not only reduce waste in supply ordering, but also to provide better, more efficient, and more personal service to all departments within the unit.

They started with a thorough audit of all area supplies: ASG team member Mariah Kier inventoried the storage cabinets and supply closets of all UVAFinance departments and built a database of exactly what was located where.

From there, ASG team member Connie Alexander, with expertise gained from years of work in Procurement & Supplier Diversity Services, took over as the point person for UVAFinance purchasing.

Once per month, she gathers up supply requests from each UVAFinance area. All the orders are sourced through a contract vendor (Supply Room), which results in better pricing for all units. Alexander navigates the purchasing process with ease, making recommendations, answering questions, and generally ensuring that each department gets what it needs at the best price.

Supply delivery is also centralized: the goods Alexander orders come to Kier’s front desk in Carruthers, and are then delivered or picked up without anything being misdirected or misplaced.

Another upside to the new process is that it allows UVAFinance to “shop their stash:” orders are only placed for items that aren’t already a part of the inventory in the central supply database.

Piles of over-ordered supplies have dwindled considerably since the implementation of the new process, and several supply needs have been fulfilled without even having to place an order, which, in some emergency cases, has been one of the biggest benefits.

“I was in a pinch and needed a certain size battery the other day,” said Stacey Rittenhouse, ASG team member.

“Connie was able to look in the database and find some for me right away. Normally I would’ve had to go begging from department to department,” she laughed.

After a small period of adjustment, the ASG team found that the new, streamlined process has been very well received.

“Everyone still gets what they need,” Rittenhouse remarked.

“The difference is that now, it’s easier for everyone within the departments to order, and we also save money. And it’s so much easier to analyze our spending when it’s just one amount for supplies per month,” she said.

______________________

Questions?  Contact Connie Alexander

Outreach and Compliance expands Integrated System Training Resources

Are you looking for information on Finance Training? Do you know what training you need to take to get access to the Integrated System? Check out the Finance Outreach and Compliance website, foc.virginia.edu/training for training information, access to resources, online tutorials, questions and answers, and more!

Under Finance Training, you’ll find a list of the instructor-led and online courses offered for finance and business professionals, and information about Brown Bag training sessions.

We have recently added more information and resources to the Integrated System Training section, including a description of the Finance modules of the Integrated System, links to information on the process for gaining access to the system and to ESHARP, and instructions for subscribing to learning paths for system responsibility and for enrolling in training.

If you are unsure what system responsibility you need, you can read about each one in the Responsibility Descriptions section, which also indicates if training is required or recommended.

Our newly expanded Resources and Help section includes many self-help tools:

• Video Tutorials offering tips and tricks for topics like setting iProcurement preferences, using the buyer assist form, and using online help. 
• Job aids and Q&As – quick answers or printable PDFs with step-by-step instructions for the most commonly asked questions
• Training Guides are available for the Purchasing, Accounts Payable, Grants Management, and General Ledger modules. You can use the Table of Contents to go to exactly the section you need. (It is not advisable to print and use entire guides, as they are frequently updated.)
• System Help and Support – instructions for accessing the HR-Finance User Group Community, online self-help, and contact information for Finance and UBI training, ESHARP, and technical issues

Let us know if you need additional videos, job aids, and training guides. Also let us know if you have suggestions for improvement for the training pages. You may contact the Finance training team at foc-training@virginia.edu.

Stay in the know: Join the Policy Listserv!

We all have a lot to keep up with in our daily work:  approaching deadlines, shifting priorities, big projects, and "other duties as assigned."  How can we possibly keep up with policy changes? 

Policies are important because they communicate our shared values, set clear expectations for behavior or performance, and demonstrate institutional commitment to meeting external requirements and standards.

The Policy Listserv makes it a lot easier for busy staff to get news of changes, and the Policy Directory, a centrally-managed repository for policies that impact two or more VP areas, is also a great, searchable resource to bookmark. 

The Policy Directory offers search functionality by policy number, title, or keyword or you can browse policies based on contact office, oversight executive, or category. 

You can join the Policy Listserve by emailing Lynn Mitchell, University Policy Manager, to be notified when changes and additions are made to the Policy Directory.     

A lot of work has been going on behind the scenes in UVAFinance to update our existing policies and migrate them into the Policy Directory. 

Current efforts are focused on updating policies related to account reconciliation, monitoring cash balances, effort reporting, consistent allocation of costs, and lease vs. purchase.  If you have suggestions for policies that need to be deleted, modified, or created please contact Kelly Hochstetler.

UVAFinance isn’t the only area updating policies; new Information Security policies have been approved and will roll out later this fall.  

UBI SIS Demo Sessions Offer Guidance to New SIS Users

During the last two fiscal years, the Managerial Reporting Project (MRP) Team has introduced the UBI reporting environment to the University and continues to deliver new modules of the UBI reporting tool - primarily to the Finance-related community of users. Well ahead of the planned December 31 sunset for Discoverer reports, MRP is releasing new SIS reporting modules regularly with each update to UBI.

Throughout the month of August, MRP held a series of introductory presentations about UBI and student reporting. The sessions were created to demonstrate the basic functionality of UBI and show the new UBI SIS Class Scheduling module.

Leading the UBI SIS Demos was Mark Anderson, Business Intelligence Lead for Managerial Reporting, assisted by Gregory Ball, Project Analyst for MRP. The MRP Team set out with the purpose of making sure that potential users would have a chance to hear more about the project, see a brief demo, and ask questions or raise any concerns that they might have.

“I was very pleased with the turnout and participation,” Anderson said. “Users seem to be open to the coming changes and the planned [UBI] adoption process.”

The demo sessions focused on informing (or reminding) new UBI users of the rationale behind the UBI MRP project, such as improved reporting and analytics capabilities, as well as the impending sunset and loss of support for Discoverer.

Highlights of the sessions were describing the process for collecting user requirements and migrating current reports from Discoverer to UBI, showing a demo of the UBI Class Scheduling module, and discussing the resources – such as training and support – available to users to assist them during the transition. The timeline for testing and production rollout, in addition to the adoption program, were also communicated.

Another aspect of the sessions was communicating the timeline for migration to SIS users, while addressing the need for users to adopt UBI. Anderson noted the team behind UBI is prepared for the pending sunset of SIS reporting in Discoverer.

“The timeline is going to be much shorter than we had for Finance, but our team is better prepared,” Anderson added, “and we have the lessons we learned from the Finance adoption. So, in some ways, I think the shorter timeline will be beneficial to our stakeholders.”

As for takeaways from the demo sessions, Anderson hopes as users become more familiar with the new reporting tool they will collaborate with the MRP Team during the transition to fine-tune and improve University reporting and analytics capabilities. “Our team has a process in place to capture user requirements and we are involving and partnering with the SIS community throughout the process.

“We know that we won’t get everything exactly right on the first pass but our process is structured to collect feedback and respond rapidly to unmet needs.”

Anderson recommends the best way for users to prepare for the change is to take advantage of training opportunities and to use the new UBI reports as they become available. “[Users] can send us feedback and get comfortable well before Discoverer goes offline this winter.”



This story was originally featured in the UBI Community.