The Concur Travel and Expense project within the Cornerstone initiative is complete, and this will be the last article about the system launch in Cornerstone News. As we close out the project, we asked several Rutgers staff members to reflect on their experiences with the system so far.
Irine Lima, for example, says she has experienced “all the things that could possibly come up” with the Concur Travel and Expense system.
Lima, a senior accountant in the Office for Research notes that, “With anything new, not everyone is as happy as they should be. But, as an accountant, I do think this is a great system. It’s definitely an upgrade from what we had. It eliminates a huge task I used to handle every month: categorizing all transactions to the correct account. I don’t have to worry about that anymore because the system does it automatically.”
Lima has one significant recommendation for future improvements.
“As a ‘tutor’ for our travelers, I feel like there should be live ongoing training because a lot of people have issues. The system isn’t always user-friendly, and that can be frustrating for them,” she says. “Even when I give them the procedures, step-by-step, sometimes they still miss things. So ‘live’ training, maybe once a quarter, especially for new employees, would help.”
For Annabelle Luu, associate dean for Finance and Administration at Mason Gross School of the Arts in Rutgers–New Brunswick, the new system is “simple to create an expense report.” And one element stands out.
“My favorite feature is the ‘alert’ feature,” Luu shares. “It reminds users to attach appropriate documents before submitting the report.”
Mazen Shehat, senior associate dean for Rutgers’ School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, also likes the system’s ability to upload documents. He highlights the various places where the Concur Travel and Expense system performs automated calculations.
“However,” Shehat adds, “I believe there are still a few minor adjustments that could further enhance the process. For example, faculty members have expressed that the new system requires more time than before to create requests with the necessary uploaded documents, and re-upload those documents when submitting expenses.”
Loly Cambeiro, director of the student affairs business office in Newark, acknowledges that the switch over to Concur was challenging at first but, overall, she is very happy with it.
“I like how modern Concur feels; uploading receipts is quick and easy,” she says. “Plus, I really enjoy how some transactions already create a receipt for you, making reconciling a breeze, or how your travel bookings will automatically appear to assist in submitting your expense report post-trip.”
One person who has a unique perspective on the Concur system is Anne Gutsick, associate director of Travel, Expense, and Card Services in University Finance and Administration. As a senior member of the project team that implemented the new system, Gutsick has been heavily involved in the project from the beginning. She says she feels a sense of pride for it, as a result.
“I’m most proud of the way team members across the university pulled together to work on this project, gave their input, and tested the system,” Gutsick says. “The entire university is affected, so it’s essential to hear from as many areas as possible.
From the point-of-view of a Rutgers traveler, Gutsick has two favorite system features: the per-diem travel allowance and personal car mileage calculator.
“Both are timesavers for university employees,” she explains. “The travel allowance will pull the per-diem amount tailored to the destination and enable employees to select the number of meals that may be provided for them while traveling. The mileage calculator automatically calculates the reimbursement owed to the traveler based on miles inputted. It also includes a built-in map feature, so employees no longer need to use an external mapping service to log their route.”
If only the system could do something about weather delays or traffic jams …
Need help with Concur Travel and Expense Management? You can find resources, FAQs, and training tools on the Concur Travel and Expense website. You can also email any questions to expense_management@finance.rutgers.edu.