# Presentation: 692020

## Recommendations on New Travel Business Model for LBNL

**January 11, 2007**

## Project Participants

## Outline

**Outline**

**Travel Facts**
**The Problem**
**Feedback from Travelers & Divisions**
**Recommendations**

## LBL Travel Facts (FY06)

| $ spent on travel | $10.6M (~2% of lab budget)
 |
| --- | --- |
| Annual # of trips | 7,300- 9,400 (28-36/day)
 |
| Average cost of trip | ~$1,100 |
| % of travelers who took 1-5 trips during year |     80%
 |
| # of delinquent expense reports as of 12/19/06 
(Policy states that expense report becomes delinquent 30 days after return date) | 1,693 |
|                      - # residing in the Travel Office |    221 |
|                      - # pending division action |    430 |
|                      - # paid but not yet reconciled | 1, 042 |

## Business Analysis-The Problem

**Lack of leadership; staffing issues**
**Multiple business processes; no institutional consistency**
**Administration of travel is costly**
**Reimbursement can take a long time**
**100% audit****	**
**too many errors         **
**missing receipts**
**Pre-trip approval process for foreign trips is lengthy**
**Gelco system not intuitive, buggy, broken**
**Divisions, users and the Travel Office unable to easily get the information they need**

## Feedback from Travel Surveys

**10% of travelers responded; primarily scientists**
**Most travelers want to be able to easily make their own reservations and prepare expense reports**
**Majority want Gelco system replaced**
**Most consider 1-2 weeks  a reasonable amount of time to be reimbursed (from the time an expense report is completed)**
**21% of scientific divisions agree with concept of eliminating formal pre-authorizations of domestic trips**
**A number of divisions wanting formal authorization are in favor of waiving trip expense approval; ****(UC policy requires post trip approval)**

- <date/time>

- <footer>

## Recommendations

**Recommendations**

**Core Travel Team’s Guiding Principles:**
- Faster reimbursement
- Improve the customer experience
- Keep it simple
- Minimize cost of processing
- Consider what is right for the institution

## Summary of Key Recommendations

**Develop one consistent institutional process *******
**Divisions are currently handling pre & post-travel processes in many different ways:**
**Some don’t require pre-approval**
**# of approvals vary**
**Use of Gelco varies by division**
**Domestic travel: require pre-approval within divisions; recommend using email**
**Reimburse traveler only after all required receipts have been submitted *******
**Continue current practice of reimbursing for actual cost of meals & incidental expenses (M&IE) up to maximum per diem rates, and clarify policy**
**Default reimbursement (other than airfare) directly to employee’s bank account rather than disbursing checks*******
**Move expense reimbursement of travel to Disbursements *******
**If above recommendations are adopted, replace Gelco with an intuitive, user-friendly interface coupled with PeopleSoft travel module, and also mandate use of system**
**The system should be used by all travelers**** **
*******Represents best practice**
*******Represents best practice**

- _Trip Info _
- Where
- When
- Purpose
- Project id
- Cost estimate

- _Expense _
- _Information_
-  (trip expenses
- entered in same document
- created in step 1;
- traveler certifies
-  expense report and it
- is forwarded to
- approver)

- _Final _
- _Approval of _
- _Expense Report_
- (trip approved
-  by funding
-  division or
- supervisor)

- _Reimbursement_
- (Payment issued to
- traveler’s bank
- account)_ _

- 1

- 2

- 3

- 4

_**Trip # assigned**_

- Post-trip

- Pre-trip

*Obtain pre-approval *within division (email recommended)

_**(regardless of funding source):**_
*Request for approval* automatically emailed to traveler’s division director (or designee)
- Option will be provided to email notification to organization that is funding the trip
*Trip approved *by traveler’s division director (or designee)
**Note: ***Additional trip info will be captured in Step 1; data will be uploaded to FTMS; all foreign travel requests must be submitted to DOE (via** FTMS) and approved before trip occurs*

- Domestic trip?

- Foreign trip?

_**Trip # assigned**_

***Note:**** *
_*Conference travel requiring SC approval:*__*** ***_*New travel system should support process to extent possible*

**What the Process Will Look Like**

*-****One travel document***

**-4 steps** *(status provided at each step)*

## Next Steps

**Implement elements of business model that are independent of a new system (e.g., training)**
**Develop project plan for implementation of PeopleSoft Travel & Expense module**
**Need scientific representation by ALD**

**            ****Backup**

## Recommendations: Process

**Develop one consistent institutional process*******
**Domestic travel: require pre-approval; recommend using email**
**Eliminate recording of liens before trip occurs*******
**Expense airfare immediately to division project*******
**Require one approval on expense report (must be in Lab’s Signature Authorization System)**
*******Represents best practice**

## Recommendations: Process (Cont)

**Provide option for approval to “follow the money”**
**Default reimbursement (other than airfare) directly to employee’s bank account rather than disbursing checks*******
**Continue current practice of reimbursing for actual cost of meals & incidental expenses (M&IE) up to maximum per diem rates and clarify policy**
**Improve reimbursement turnaround time - 2 weeks from the time a traveler certifies expense report. Continue to reduce over time to meet industry standards. **
*******Represents best practice**

## Recommendations: Controls

**Provide cash advances via US Bank corporate travel card only**
**Provide training on how to complete an expense report **
**Reimburse traveler only after all required receipts have been submitted*******
**Return incomplete expense reports to traveler’s division*******
**Develop robust reporting********* **
**Perform random audit of expense reports (by Acctg)*******
**Complete timely accounting reconciliations*******
**Provide reliable data. Database needs significant clean-up********* **
**Improve ongoing communication (Web, updates, announcements) *******
*******Represents best practice**

## Recommendations: System

**If all other recommendations are adopted, replace Gelco with an intuitive, user-friendly interface coupled with PeopleSoft travel module, and also mandate use of system**
**The system should be used by all travelers**
**Fully utilize system audits*******
**Enable a traveler to fill out expense report off-line and upload to system at later date**
**Explore scanning technology**
**Provide easy means to status where expense report is in the process**
******* Represents best practice**

## Recommendations: Organization

**Provide strong leadership**
**Move expense reimbursement of travel to Disbursements*******
**Fully train staff **
*******Represents best practice**

## FY06 Travel Cost by Division