Faster Travel Reimbursements with Direct Enter

May 1, 2018

Dear colleagues,

The Controller’s Office is introducing a new travel reimbursement process that is intended to eliminate duplicate data entry by Campus Shared Services, shorten processing time to payment from weeks to days, and put more control of the process in the hands of employee-travelers. Faculty and staff who travel in the course of their work are now able to request travel expense reimbursements by entering their travel expenses into the Travel and Entertainment (T&E) Reimbursement System. This should eliminate the need to fill out multiple forms to request reimbursement. Additionally, travelers can upload photos of receipts directly to the system and all certifications and approvals can now be completed electronically, rather than collecting paper signatures.

The T&E team partnered with early adopters to pilot the new Direct Enter process. Since introducing the new process, user feedback has been positive and more than two-thirds of campus departments are realizing benefits from using it.

Roll out of the Direct Enter process has been coordinated through the Divisional Finance Leaders (DFL). We are asking DFLs to ensure that all of the departments within their organization are set up to use the new process by Monday, July 2, 2018.

To learn more about the Direct Enter process, visit the Direct Enter page on the travel website, where you will find helpful information, as well as training material and videos which will walk you through how to directly enter your trip expenses into the travel reimbursement system. Staff from the Accounts Payable office are available to visit departmental staff meetings, conduct a demonstration, and answer questions about the new process. If you would like to request a demonstration or if you have questions about using the Direct Enter process, contact travel@berkeley.edu.

Campus Shared Services will continue to be available to assist with processing complex travel reimbursements, if necessary, that involve extensive foreign currency transactions or multiple destinations and with travel reimbursements for students and visitors.

The ability to directly enter travel reimbursements should simplify the travel experience and provide faster reimbursements to you while making the university more efficient.  We welcome your feedback via email to travel@berkeley.edu so we can continuously learn and improve the effectiveness of the new T&E system.


Sincerely,

A. Paul Alivisatos
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost

Rosemarie Rae
Vice Chancellor, Finance

Marc Fisher
Vice Chancellor, Administration