No one knows better than Lucia Languino that change, in the true sense of the word, can be a good thing. Languino, an assistant professor in the pathology department, was the first person to receive a travel expense reimbursement in just five days using the new Expense Reimbursement Process being piloted by the Travel and Entertainment (T&E) sub-team of the Project X Procurement Team.
Languino, who had attended a conference in New York, was impressed by the quick turnaround time: "It worked great," she says. "It was a definite improvement on the previous system."
The new process is designed to eliminate most of the duplication of effort previously involved in reimbursements and to move responsibility for authorizing expenses out to "the source" -- i.e., the travelers and their business managers.
Here's how the five-day process works. On day one, the traveler or his/her appointee fills out the reimbursement form and submits it to the authorized party (usually the department business manager), who then reviews the information for accuracy, completeness and compliance with University policy, and faxes it to Accounts Payable for processing. On day two, information is keyed into the A/P Walker system, and the check is processed that night. On day three, the check is mailed. By day five, the traveler should have received payment.
Eventually, as the process becomes web-enabled with the implementation of the new Oracle systems, this turnaround cycle is expected to become even smoother, with fewer possibilities for error.
"It's exciting for the whole team to see this process working, since we have talked about it for an entire year now," comments Darlene Corgan, travel manager and part of the T&E team that has been working to make this change a reality. Corgan, along with other team members, has been involved in overseeing the pilot implementation, which began in July. Departments currently using the pilot program include pathology, chemistry and Human Resource Services.
The Yale employees who prepare and authorize travel reimbursements, as well as petty cash administrators, learned about the new process in sessions led by Corgan; Dick Bascom of the Project X Business Management Group; Don Relihan, manager of Traffic, Receiving, Stores, and Campus Mail; and Mary-Frances Cassista, supervisor of Accounts Payable.
The response thus far has been enthusiastic, according to Corgan: "Most participants are amazed at how simple the new process is." Those attending the sessions were also encouraged to share their thoughts about the new process. "The participants had some interesting thoughts," says Corgan. "It has helped us to develop a better understanding from a user's perspective, and fine-tune some aspects of the implementation process."
The team plans to add more departments to the process as the pilot evolves over the next few months. As travel expense reimbursement becomes an automated process, the approval mechanism will be further defined so that an "electronic" signature can be verified through the system and payment can be generated. In addition, business managers are receiving special training in the steps that need to be followed before authorizing expenses.
One change related to the travel policy that is not yet well known is an increase in the petty cash limit from $100 to $200. This increase was designed to help move the lower cost/lower risk transactions out of Accounts Payable, which will focus instead on the larger dollar-amount transactions that may require greater scrutiny.
To date, over 50 expense reimbursement forms have been received and processed using the five-day cycle. Initially, quality assurance reviews are being conducted for every expense reimbursement form submitted. The reason for this is twofold: first, to ensure that the rules have been followed for the submission of the expense reimbursement form; and second to detect any problems early on. That way, future training sessions can be customized to address any recurring issues.
The Online Business Office Environment (OBOE), a web-based training tool, will soon enable users to access OBOE via a Netscape browser to supplement classroom training, to follow-up on what they have learned, or to consult an online reference library of University policies and procedures. "It allows training to be ongoing and provide a more uniform learning environment," says Lindsey Holaday, associate director of the Yale Telemedicine Center and a member of the Project X Training and Communications Team.
Some of OBOE's unique features include an online bulletin board; a users' forum that features live threaded discussions on specific topics; a datebook and training calendar that contains a schedule of classroom training and other events; and a hints and tips feature. And, since OBOE can be accessed over and over again, it can serve as a refresher course that can be reviewed as often as a person deems necessary.
--By Donna Pintek
A longer version of this article can be found on the Project X home page on the World Wide Web at www.yale.edu/pjx.