Concur Travel and Expense Training

A message from the Office of the Provost

 

Dear Council of Deans and Assistants:

In an effort to streamline our process of communicating approvals or policy updates in relation to academic events and faculty travel, we have created a new online form. This should provide us with all the information we need to track events and travel and to communicate with staff and faculty in a timely manner about any events or travel plans that they submit for approval.

The link can be accessed here: https://uconn.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1AeHfUVB1CHVvet

If you have individual faculty traveling who would like an exemption from the Provost’s Office to give them permission to travel, they should fill out this form. However, we do strongly encourage them to consider remote options and/or postponement if at all possible.

As this situation has evolved, we have been working to create a better process to gather the information we need so that we can provide up-to-date information as and when guidelines are updated. Thank you for working with us to help make sure we have all the details we need to communicate effectively in relation to academic events and travel.

 

Best regards,

Jeffrey Shoulson

_________________________________________

Jeffrey Shoulson, Ph.D.

Vice Provost for Academic Operations

Professor of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages

Professor of English

University of Connecticut

352 Mansfield Road, Unit 1086

Storrs, CT 06268-1086

To the University Community:

Given the quickly changing nature of the COVID-19 outbreak and the need to communicate with multiple audiences, the university is going to begin sending a daily update with all new coronavirus-related messages to the UConn community. This will centralize communications in one place and reduce the number of overlapping, stand-alone messages that the UConn community will receive.

CURRENT STATUS: All students, faculty and staff need to register all international travel, if you have not already. Out-of-state travel on university business is suspended. As of today, planned events and gatherings that include more than 100 people can continue as planned. This includes on-campus conferences, meetings, performances, athletic events and other gatherings. Should this guidance change, the university will communicate that change to the campus community.

Please click the READ MORE links to see the full messages, below.

CRITICAL MESSAGE FOR ALL FACULTY: While a decision to suspend on-campus operations has not been made at this time, in light of the COVID-19 virus, all faculty must begin preparing now in the event UConn chooses to transition to remote teaching online after Spring Break. Faculty should have plans in place, based on guidance below, to make that transition as soon as March 23. This is to ensure a smooth and seamless transition for all courses, should the university make this choice in the near future in the best interests of public health. Faculty should also get in the habit of taking their laptops home every night to prepare for the possibility of a short-notice decision to restrict access to campus. READ MORE.

CRITICAL MESSAGE FOR ALL STUDENTS: The COVID-19 pandemic will come to the state of Connecticut and it will likely directly impact UConn. In that case, we are prepared for the possibility of moving classes to an online-only format and having students return home when possible. This has already occurred at some universities in the country. It is strongly recommended that students bring along all necessary academic materials (textbooks, laptop, notes, etc.) during the Spring Break period in case the decision is made to not return to in-class instruction.  Should the university determine that instruction will be offered online, students may not have the ability to return to the residence halls. READ MORE.

To the UConn Community:

Earlier today, Governor Lamont sent executive branch agency heads a directive designed to help prevent and delay COVID-19 in Connecticut, including freezing employee travel on state business.

University-Sponsored Travel Outside of Connecticut is Suspended: Though not an executive branch agency, UConn wishes to act in keeping with the governor’s goals. Effective immediately, all domestic and international, university-sponsored travel outside of the state by faculty and staff is suspended until further notice.  Any exception needs to be approved by university leadership.

Requests for Travel Exceptions: If you believe an exception should be made for your planned travel, please make a request in writing to the appropriate operational leadership office to whom you report, meaning the President (for units that report directly to the President’s office), Provost, Executive Vice President for Administration/CFO, or the CEO of UConn Health. Each request will be evaluated and a response will be provided.

Travel Updates:  In consultation with the Governor’s office, the university may determine what is or is not essential employee travel and will provide you with any updates.

Campus Events: Organizers of events on any of our campuses being attended by out-of-state travelers must continue to consult with the Provost’s office (if the event as academic in nature, including the regional campuses and the schools in Farmington) or the EVP for Administration’s office (if the event is non-academic in nature) to determine if any modifications are needed. This requirement applies to all events sponsored by the University, including schools, colleges, departments as well as employee-sponsored or student-sponsored events.

On-campus activities such as athletic events and fine arts performances can continue as scheduled. If anything changes or if modifications are needed, new guidance will be shared immediately.

Please also continue to consult UConn’s coronavirus information page for resources and guidance on these issues and related topics.

 

From: University Communications <communications@uconn.edu>
Date: March 9, 2020 at 6:50:36 PM EDT
To: “UCONN_EMPLOYEES-L@LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU” <UCONN_EMPLOYEES-L@LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU>
Subject: [UCONN_EMPLOYEES-L] Updated Travel Guidance; University-Sponsored Travel Outside of Connecticut is Suspended
Reply-To: Do-Not-Reply@LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU

To the UConn Community:

It is critical that all students and employees read the message below related to travel registration and new travel restrictions as there may be actions you need to take in response.

As the university continues to monitor the spread of COVID-19, or coronavirus, across the globe, we are taking steps to help improve our informational awareness and reduce the risk to our community.

 

Travel Registration

The university is asking all faculty, staff, students and affiliates to inform UConn of your recent or planned international travel.

The nations that are categorized by the CDC as being safe or unsafe to travel to due to coronavirus can change quickly. Because of this, the university needs to keep track of all planned international travel by members of the UConn community.

If you have returned from foreign travel in the last 14 days or you plan to travel outside of the U.S. in the next 90 days, please fill out this form. This includes both your UConn-sponsored travel as well as your own personal travel. The information you provide will be sent to UConn’s Office of Global Affairs. After submitting the form, you may be contacted directly by UConn staff if there are specific actions you need to take or if there is information you need to be aware of related to your travel.

Note that you need your Net ID and password to complete the form. There may be employees at UConn Health who do not use their Net ID regularly and may not know what it is. If that is the case, please click here and follow the instructions.

New Travel Restrictions & Guidance 

Due to the continued spread of coronavirus globally and domestically, effective immediately, UConn is implementing new travel restrictions and providing additional guidance for all travel for faculty, staff and students:

• All university-sponsored travel by employees and students to Level 3 and Level 2 nations as determined by the CDC is suspended. Previously, UConn had barred official travel to Level 3 nations only. The university is now extending this ban to Level 2 nations as well. Any student or employee who travels to a Level 2 or Level 3 nation must self-quarantine upon their return to the U.S. As of this moment, that means China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, and Japan.

• All planned international university-related student group travel is postponed including during Spring Break. Students traveling individually during Spring Break should take seriously the risks associated with international travel at the present time; a nation that is not now classified as a Level 2 or Level 3 country could be designated as such without notice and a 14-day self-quarantine period may be required upon your return to the U.S. The university urges students to exercise great caution when making any travel choices.

• All faculty, staff and students are strongly encouraged to cancel or postpone all non-essential foreign and domestic travel at this time, including both professional and personal.

• Faculty or staff planning on-campus academic events such as conferences, symposia, etc., that require groups of participants to travel to Connecticut from elsewhere in the U.S. or internationally should consult with the Provost’s Office on whether or not your event should proceed as planned.

• Staff who are planning non-academic events that require groups of participants to travel to Connecticut from elsewhere in the U.S. or internationally should consult with the office of the Executive Vice President for Administration on whether or not your event should proceed as planned.

Any faculty or staff member planning such an event should immediately review any contracts or agreements in place to determine whether there are associated cancellation fees.  Most agreements contain provisions permitting termination without charge if sufficient advance notice is provided.  Please contact the Purchasing Department if you have questions.

The coronavirus situation continues to rapidly evolve; because of this, travel restrictions and guidance may also continue to change very quickly.

If you have questions related to university-related foreign or domestic travel, please contact Global Affairs:

abroad@uconn.edu

Phone:  (860) 486-5022

Later today, UConn Human Resources will send a message to all employees that will address various issues and questions that UConn’s coronavirus-related travel guidance and policies will generate.

As a reminder, here is UConn’s main coronavirus page; here is UConn Health’s page.

Colleagues,

We are writing to provide an update regarding the University SAP Concur implementation.

The SAP Concur project is a collaborative UConn initiative to implement a best-in-class, cloud-based Travel and Expense management service for the university.  There are currently over 2,600 employees participating in the pilot phase of this project.  There has been strong feedback during this phase that complexity in the environment has, at times, made it difficult to make best use of the service.

Based on this feedback, the first phase of the project will not go-live on its previously scheduled date of March 10, 2020.  The project will, instead, assess the environment to streamline elements of the workflow and to simplify customer interaction.  In the coming weeks you will hear more details about the project, including updated timelines and rollouts.

We would like to extend our thanks to the pilot participants and to other engaged members of our community for your efforts and thoughtful contributions.  Your partnership has been invaluable.  We are committed to providing a high-performing system that represents the best practical balance between effective university controls and a robust, enjoyable customer experience.  Please do not hesitate to contact us or the project if you have comments, questions, or concerns.

Regards,

Trish Casey, CPA                                                                                                       
Associate Vice President, Financial Operations and Controller

John Clifford, Ph. D
University Director of Procurement Services

Gregory Daniels, J.D.
Interim Associate Vice President of UBS and Chief Procurement Officer

Michael Mundrane, Ph. D
Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer

 

From: Official Announcements – All UConn Staff <UCONN_STAFF-L@LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU> On Behalf Of Mundrane, Michael
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2020 4:39 PM
To: UCONN_STAFF-L@LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU
Subject: [UCONN_STAFF-L] Concur Update

Concur Travel and Expense Training Opportunities

As of January 1, 2020 the federal rate for mileage reimbursement has changed to 57.5 cents per mile.

The rate for 2019 was 58 cents per mile.

The Travel and Entertainment workbook has been updated for this change and can be found in the Supplemental Documents in PaperSave.  The form is titled “Travel and Entertainment – 2020”.

Note:  The “Travel and Entertainment-2019” workbook will stay in the system for the first quarter of the calendar year and is to be used for recording/calculating mileage for travel that occurred in 2019.

It is imperative that the correct forms be used for calculating/reimbursing mileage.  If an incorrect form is used, the Request for Disbursement (RFD) will be returned for correct form usage.

As a reminder, the workbook may be opened in Excel using the following steps:

1. Click on the box to the left of the desired form.
2. Click on the “Save” button in the toolbar.
3. An Excel link will appear on the bottom of the screen, click on this link to open the workbook.

The workbook will need to be scanned/saved as a PDF file for attachment to an RFD.

If you have any questions or need additional information please feel free to contact a member of the Disbursement Team.

 

Edward Liedke
Director of Fund Administration
And Disbursements
Phone:  860-486-2006
2390 Alumni Dr. U-3206
Storrs, CT 06269
From: Edward Liedke <ELIEDKE@foundation.uconn.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, January 8, 2020 11:12 AM
Subject: Mileage Rate Change

Dear Campus Community,

We are providing you with an important update regarding the Concur Travel and Expense project.  The members of the project team have been working hard over the last year to ensure the new travel system is customer friendly, intuitive, efficient, and stable.  There has also been extensive work with Key Travel, our new travel management company, to ensure the level of customer service experience delivered to UConn travelers is of high quality.  A pilot program for Concur was launched on October 15, 2019 for seven different areas across our Storrs and Regional campuses.  The objective of this pilot was to garner feedback from actual travel program users and then incorporate their feedback into the system prior to rolling out Concur to the campus community.

Since the pilot go-live, we have received a lot of helpful, concise, and constructive feedback from our dedicated pilot participants, as well as from leaders throughout the campus.  This feedback included suggestions for extending the adoption period of our new program ahead of University-wide go-live.  This recommended extension will allow for additional training sessions and formats, as well as, open forums to address questions from the campus community as we trend toward go-live.

After listening to and considering the received feedback, which has now been incorporated into a revised project plan, it has been decided to have a phased roll out of Concur, with the final roll out planned for  March 10, 2020.  This timing better aligns with the academic calendar, and the time demands of faculty and support units.

Prior to the final rollout, divisions including University Business Services (UBS), Controller, Budget & Institutional Research, Public Safety, Human Resources, Facilities Operations, and University Planning, Design, and Construction (UPDC), will join the current pilot participants as early adopters of this system on January 22, 2020. Please be on the lookout for additional communications regarding trainings, town halls, and open labs to support the University faculty and staff during this transition. If you have any questions, please email Travel.Project@uconn.edu.

We thank you for your feedback and continued support as the University deploys this exciting new Travel Program!

Matt Larson, Charlie Eaton, and Ngozi Taffe

Source Link: http://dailydigest.uconn.edu/publicEmailSingleStoryView.php?id=145527&cid=24&iid=4325

To UConn faculty, staff and employees:

We want to provide you with a further update on the changes occurring to the University’s Travel Program. You will recall we sent out a message in June announcing: 1) Key Travel will be our new travel management partner; 2) a Travel Card program will be established; 3) We will begin the use of Concur, a travel and expense management system.

Please note that this update is for the Storrs, Law and regional campuses only.

This past October 15, Key Travel, Travel Cards and Concur began being piloted with certain users.    The pilot group consists of the following departments: School of Business, Office of Admissions, Division of Athletics, Information Technology Services, and Departments of Statistics, History, and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Full implementation of Key Travel, Travel Cards and Concur will occur across all UConn campuses and become effective for all employees on December 4.  Training materials, project communications, resources and answers to FAQs are available on the UConn Concur Project website.

As we transition, we want to remind everyone of important changes for your travel planning.   Pre-approval is now required for all international travel and for domestic travel that contains airfare, rail, hotel and/or car rentals.   This approval must be provided by an employee’s next level supervisor and fiscal officer within Concur.   Without pre-approval, travelers may not be reimbursed for their expenses.

Next level supervisors, (as defined by HR Core CT), can delegate only to those with similar supervisory status and defined as Approvers.   Fiscal officers are designated within their departments and associated with specific funding accounts.  These newer distinctions help ensure the traveler has the proper administrative approval, as well as the financial support to do so.

Finally, we thank all those who have put in the hard work and dedication with this important initiative.  Your assistance and contributions have helped transform our Travel Program. These advancements will help us reach our goals in the area of compliance, transparency and providing a more efficient and customer centric travel experience.    Please contact our Procurement Solutions Support Team at 860-486-2289 regarding any travel questions you may have.

 

Sincerely,

Scott Jordan

Executive Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer

 

John Elliott

Interim Provost

For more information, contact: Office of Travel Services at travel@uconn.edu

Link to Daily Digest: http://dailydigest.uconn.edu/publicEmailSingleStoryView.php?id=143613&cid=24&iid=4262