Fall is here and the university is in full swing! Departments are busy promoting the university’s interests—scheduling meetings, appointments and incurring various expenses.
In this issue we will be discussing institutional memberships and the applicable policy. With the uptick in travel, we wanted to highlight allowable travel expenses, and how those may impact your budget. With new business comes new technology needs. In this issue we will revisit the IT approval process and as always finish off with a tech tip. Have you wished you could take a picture of a spreadsheet, and have it become an Excel document? We can show you how!
University Shared Services looks forward to continuing to service your teams. Please let us know if we can help in any way!
Sincerely,
Tracy Greenup,
University Shared Services Director
Table of Contents:
- Dues and Memberships in Organizations
- Allowable Expenses in T&E
- IT Approval for Software and Hardware Purchases
- Tech Tip! Converting data on paper to an Excel Spreadsheet
Dues and Memberships in Organizations
Institutional memberships for the University must provide educational or professional services of value to our Institution. Memberships meeting these criteria may be paid with university funds.
The preferred method of payment is the One card. Prior to purchase, please note additional approvals are needed. Campus and/or the System Chief Financial Officer must approve institutional memberships prior to purchase to avoid duplication. Institutional memberships requiring approval include those that provide, or have the potential to provide, a benefit to more than one department, or benefits the campus or institution as a whole. This approval will need to be noted on the One Card reconciliation expense report created in T&E.
Individual memberships in professional societies and associations that relate to the individual's job and support the mission of the University are allowable. Individual memberships require the approval of the employee’s supervisor and the approval of an authorized signer on the source of funds.
It is not appropriate for University funds to be used to pay individual personal membership dues in social, service or civic clubs.
Allowable Expenses in T&E
The Allowable Travel Expenses policy is for university employees and non-employees seeking payment for travel expenses. The policy outlines allowing payment on behalf of or reimbursement to employees for authorized business expenses. It also defines expenses that fall under the accountable plan and those that are not reimbursed along with other applicable plan rules.
Travel lodging that best meets the needs of the traveler and the university should be selected by the traveler. Travelers are responsible for selecting the most cost-effective lodging. An itemized receipted or folio is required for all lodging expenses. This will show the room rate separate from any taxes and allow us to comply with university policies. Expense lines do not need to be entered separately on the expense report. Summary statements provided by credit card companies will not be accepted as justification for reimbursement.
If meals are included in conference and hotel registrations, covered by other university payments, or paid by others, the traveler is responsible for making appropriate deductions to the per diem amount when submitting their reimbursement request. For single day travel, an employee may qualify for an occasional meal allowance when traveling without an overnight stay, if the travel is in excess of their normal work schedule. Therefore, if you are in travel status in excess of 8 hours but less than 12 you would qualify for the extended workday per diem, of 50%. Lunch per diem is not covered as the travel status would be considered part of normal working hours.
It is permissible for departments and units to provide travel allowances that limit total reimbursement on a trip to a total maximum amount determined prior to travel. In these cases, the traveler should account for the individual travel components (e.g. lodging, per diem, mileage) in accordance with university policies, and reduce the overall reimbursement to the trip maximum by entering a single line "Expense Adjustment".
There are three types of expense adjustments. Choose the appropriate one when completing the expense report.
- External agency
- Travel allowance
- Trip optimizer
Would you like to learn more about Travel policies and procedures? !
IT Approval for Software and Hardware Purchases
All IT and Telecom purchases and renewals, including no-cost items, must be reviewed and approved based on requirements put into place at each campus. All software must be approved by IT prior to use, even if it is free.
Each campus process may differ, and links for each procedure can be found below. The central IT division of each business unit will publish detailed procedures for making IT and Telecom purchases and/or purchase requests. These procedures will include items currently exempted from requiring CIO approval and the process to request exemptions based on need. Find more on Policy 12004 here.
Once obtained, the IT approval should be attached to the resulting transaction. If a non-catalog requisition was submitted, the IT approval can be attached upon submission for approval. If you are purchasing an item from Show Me shop, the IT approval is built into the workflow approval process. If you are using the One Card to process the payment, the IT approval can be attached to the expense report when reconciling the charges. A NON-PO voucher is not allowed as a payment method for IT purchases.
Tech Tip! Converting data on paper to an Excel Spreadsheet
Did you know if you have data on a piece of paper you can get the information added to a spreadsheet by using your phone?
First, open the Excel app on your phone. Then tap the blank workbook icon. Next, click on a cell and click the three dots on the bottom right.
Next choose Home, and then insert, and choose data from picture prompt.
This will open your camera app. You can take a picture of the data ensuring the edges are selected and hit confirm.
You can then email yourself a copy of the spreadsheet, from your phone. Open this on your computer and you will have all the data!
Do you have a tech tip to share? Email us at FTSS@umsystem.edu.
Reviewed 2022-10-19
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