UO's New Online Travel Reimbursement Form Streamlines Payment Process

The form's success sparks keen interest in the Banner world

Ask campus staff what they think of the new UO online travel reimbursement form, and they're likely to sum it up in one word: "Quicker!"

The new web-based form, which may be accessed from DuckWeb by any authorized department staff member, enables employee travel reimbursements to be processed largely in-house, eliminating the need for data entry and a lengthy review and approval process by the UO Business Office. The result: travel reimbursements are processed in a matter of days instead of weeks. And after they're approved, reimbursements can be directly deposited into an employee's bank account, eliminating the time and cost involved in issuing checks.

Campus Business Services Associate Director Nancy Cameron, Assistant Director Krista Borg, and systems programmer Joey Mitchell, three of the principal collaborators in the creation of the UO's new online travel reimbursement form, share a light moment. Borg and Mitchell will demonstrate the form's virtues at the Banner users' SETA West Conference in Seattle this fall.

Another time-saver is the built-in per diem calculator, which instantly computes lodging and food expenses for any locale in the world. In addition, official regulations governing travel expenses are automatically updated and applied, eliminating the need to spend time researching and interpreting the rules, and expediting the final approval process.

The new module is the product of close collaboration between Business Office administrators Nancy Cameron and Krista Borg, and a Computing Center programming team led by Joey Mitchell--as well as many other Business Office and department personnel on campus who gave important feedback on its design.

The design team's goal was to create a product that conformed to regulations, contained all the necessary information, and yet was simple enough that anyone could easily learn to use it. During the twelve months it took to create and test the form, programmer Joey Mitchell says he kept two thoughts uppermost in his mind: "Think of everything!" and "Keep it simple!"

Business Office staffers Nancy Cameron, Krista Borg, and Carolyn Wooley continue to devote a large percentage of their time to training department personnel to use the travel form. Since its debut in September 2002, more than 200 UO staff in 120 campus departments have been trained to use it, and approximately 15,000 forms have been processed online.

Cameron and Mitchell first presented the travel form to some 350 colleagues at the March 2004 SCT Summit Conference in Philadelphia. It was so well received that Banner developer SunGard SCT has expressed an interest in incorporating the module into its product line. This fall, Mitchell will again demonstrate the form, this time in tandem with Krista Borg, at the regional Banner users' group (SETA West) in Seattle.

Department personnel interesting in signing up for training in the use of the new web-based travel form should contact Judy Fossum (baojudy@uoregon.edu, 346-2387). Trainings are currently being scheduled every other month; the two half-day sessions include testing, and those who wish may extend their training to include the full certification necessary for creating invoices online.