All, We recently had a very positive meeting with Travel Services. They are going to work with us on some changes to some of our travel expenses practices. This is the first time I can recall having support from the university to ensure that our accounting practices not only meet policy requirements but also fulfill the information needs of our department. It is very important for everyone in the department to be aware of these changes because they will affect almost everyone travelling for university research projects. So please forward this information to any others who need to be informed.
1. Car rentals from Enterprise. We are going to shift our Enterprise car rentals to a PO basis. This means that instead of using a Visa number, a Purchase Order number will be used. So it will mean very little difference in the procedure for car rentals. However, if research projects are expecting to require rental vehicles from Enterprise, a PO will be set up ahead of time to allow multiple rentals from a specific FOAP. A car rental PO will be linked to a specific FOAP but can be used for multiple car rentals for multiple individuals. We need to ensure that the information on each individual rental within a PO gets sent back to the department. We are waiting for confirmation that this will be the case before we go ahead. Don't worry about new projects waiting for FOAP numbers to be issued. We have a bridge FOAP that we can use for vehicle rental in circumstances where a project is ready to go ahead but still doesn't have a FOAP number assigned.
The rollout for this will start January 2018. At that stage, we will discontinue using Visa and start using POs. This will give us time to get the POs for each project set up.
2. Travel advances. For students who require cash to fund expenses while travelling, we will now acquire a travel advance for each individual who needs it. Travel advances need about 2 weeks notice. If you register for a conference, you will be asked if you will be needing a travel advance. If you are going on an extended field trip, you can get a travel advance. But you need to notify Carmela ahead of time.
This change comes into effect immediately. If you show up in the office expecting to take an administrative travel Visa card with you to cover expenses, you are out of luck. If you are travelling in the next 2 weeks and need cash for expenses, please see Carmela immediately.
Thanks for your cooperation as these changes come into effect.