University of Sunderland I-Expenses · University of Sunderland 2 Procedures The following information provides the stages each Travel Administrator will manage for processing travel

University of Sunderland

I-Expenses Full Administration Training Guide

Version 2 7/9/2011

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Table of Contents

1 TRAVEL POLICY AT A GLANCE ........................................................................................................ 2 2 PROCEDURES ................................................................................................................................. 4

2.1 i-Expenses Procedure ..................................................................................................................... 7 3 LOGIN ............................................................................................................................................ 8

Login Problems ........................................................................................................................................... 8

3.1 Switching to other Oracle modules ....................................................................................................... 9 4 THE HOME PAGE EXPLAINED ....................................................................................................... 10 5 CREATE NEW EXPENSE REPORT ................................................................................................... 12

5.1 General Information .................................................................................................................... 12

5.2 Cash and Other Expenses ............................................................................................................. 13 5.2.1 Enter Mileage Expenses .................................................................................................... 15

5.3 Expense Allocations ..................................................................................................................... 17

Where the expense costs will be charged. ....................................................................................... 17 5.3.1 Account Allocations (Cost Centres) ................................................................................. 17

5.3.2 Project Allocations .............................................................................................................. 18

5.4 Advances ...................................................................................................................................... 19

5.5 Review ......................................................................................................................................... 20

5.6 Submit ......................................................................................................................................... 22 6 RETRIEVE SAVED EXPENSE REPORT ............................................................................................. 23 7 WITHDRAW A SUBMITTED EXPENSE REPORT .............................................................................. 23 8 DUPLICATING AN EXPENSE REPORT ............................................................................................. 24 9 SETTING YOUR DEFAULT APPROVER ............................................................................................ 24 10 CREATING AND REMOVING PROJECT OR ACCOUNT ALLOCATION SETS ....................................... 25

10.1 Creating ....................................................................................................................................... 25

10.2 Removing ..................................................................................................................................... 25

10.3 Checking Expenses Over 30 Days Old ................................................................................................ 26

10.4 Checking for Expenses Awaiting Approval ......................................................................................... 27

10.5 Receipt Attachments for iExpenses ................................................................................................... 28 11 ALLOW OTHERS TO SUBMIT EXPENSE REPORTS ON YOUR BEHALF .............................................. 31

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1 Travel Policy at a Glance

These rates should be applied in conjunction with the Business Travel Policy.

Nominated Travel Agents Horncastle Executive Travel Ltd

Hadrian House, Higham Place, Newcastle, NE1 8AF Quick dial 1261 Email [email protected] Office Hours M – F 0830 to 1730 (tel 0191 261 6040) Emergency out of hours (0191 300 2150)

Transport Receipts are necessary other than for mileage.

Transport Claim

Private Car Mileage

Journeys Less Than 150 miles 40p per mile

Private Car Mileage

Journeys More Than 150 miles

or 10,000 miles annual mileage

23p per mile

Motorcycle Mileage

Within 20 mile radius of the University 23p per mile.

Bicycle Mileage

Within 10 mile radius of the University 20p per mile.

Public Transport Rate

Where public transport or car hire could have been used but an individual prefers to use his or her own vehicle.

23p per mile

mailto:[email protected]

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Incidental Expenses

No receipts necessary – covers expenses such as newspapers & telephone calls.

Where Claim

UK £5 per night

Overseas £10 per night

Meal - Guidelines

Receipts are necessary in order to make a claim.

Meal Claim

Breakfast

Before 7 am start or away from home previous night £5

Lunch

Away from the University over the lunchtime period whilst on University business (when there is no provision for lunch).

£6

Snack

Whilst travelling, working day in excess of 12 hours £3

Evening Meal

Home after 7.30pm or away from home overnight £20

Accommodation

Hotel usually booked and paid for by nominated travel agent.

Or Situations where our travel agent does not book the accommodation, up to £100 per night

(£120 within London) may be claimed. These amounts include meal allowances. Hotel receipts

necessary.

Or £25 if staying with friends or relatives, the amount is the same irrespective of whether this is

overseas or in the UK.

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2 Procedures

The following information provides the stages each Travel Administrator will manage for processing travel

expenses.

Identifying Travel Requirements

A Traveller to identify/justify a travel requirement.

A Traveller to discuss/agree the itinerary of a business trip with their Line Manager and Travel

Administrator.

Both Travel Administrator/Traveller to agree a method of travel, accommodation and other expenses.

Travel Administration

A Traveller to complete a travel form (forms can be downloaded from the P&F website,

http://services.sunderland.ac.uk/images/MASTER_COPY_I-expenses-travel-form.doc ).

A Traveller to receive authorisation from their Line Manager and to provide a copy of the travel form to

their Travel Administrator.

The Travel Administrator must procure transport, accommodation, course/conference fees via the

purchase order/purchasing card route. All business travel should be procured through the University’s

contracted Travel Supplier Horncastle. Contact information can be downloaded from the P & F website,

http://services.sunderland.ac.uk/finance/sections/procurement/rec-suppliers/

The travel form should only be used as a method to communicate a business trip within a Faculty/Service

and to assist the administrator when inputting a Travel claim onto the IExpense system. There is no

requirement to pass this form onto Planning & Finance and should only be used for internal purposes,

with the exception of Advance Travel forms (T4). Travel Administrators must collect from the traveller all

associated receipts/supporting information following their return and attached to the I-expenses log sheet

for audit purposes. Please refer to Expense archiving (Page 4) for further information on the

administration of receipts.

If the travel expenditure relates to activity on a project it is unlikely the funder will re-imburse these costs if

not evidenced by a related receipt. If you require guidance on the type of information to retain for project

activity please contact the projects team on [email protected]

The following instructions are available to support the Travel Administrator when using the IExpense

system:

http://services.sunderland.ac.uk/images/MASTER_COPY_I-expenses-travel-form.doc

http://services.sunderland.ac.uk/finance/sections/procurement/rec-suppliers/

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https://docushare.sunderland.ac.uk/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-5227/i-

Expenses+Full+Administration+Training.pdf

Overseas Travel and Advances

For overseas travel, frequent Travellers are encouraged to use a University Credit Card to pay

subsistence and incidental expenses. Where a credit card is not available a Traveller may apply for an

advance payment to support subsistence and incidental expenses. Advance Payments should only be

provided if:

The Traveller has no University credit card

For Travel outside the UK

There are no unapplied advances outstanding (unless agreed with P&F)

The advance has been authorised by the Faculty/Service

The Traveller is an employee of the University

Advance payments must be communicated to Planning and Finance at least 10 days before the traveller

commences their business trip. An Advance form will require completion and authorisation from the

requesting Faculty/Service. Planning & Finance may decline an advance if it is received late.

Where an advance is not provided or expenses are in excess of the advance amount provided the

Traveller may claim expenses following their return from a business trip. All expenses such as mileage,

meals, incidentals and other costs can be paid via the online expense method with the support of a

Faculty/Service Travel Administrator. Please refer to the Travel Policy

https://docushare.sunderland.ac.uk/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-

135/Business+Travel+Policy+and+Procedure+-+June+09+FINALv2.pdf to obtain further guidance for

expense types and University guideline rates.

Receipts and Advance payment reconciliation

During a Business trip receipts must be collected for all expenses which are incurred (except daily

incidentals). Please refer to the new Travel Policy where further details can be provided.

Where an advance payment has been provided Travel Administrators must make it a priority to collect the

receipts from the Traveller following their business trip and reconcile it against the advance payment.

Planning and Finance cannot provide further advances for future trips unless the original advance has

been reconciled and offset against original receipts.

Once this has been completed, future expense claims can thereafter be offset against an under spent

advance payment.

Travel Administrators must communicate any cancelled business trips to Planning and Finance where an

advance payment has been provided to the Traveller.

https://docushare.sunderland.ac.uk/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-5227/i-Expenses+Full+Administration+Training.pdf

https://docushare.sunderland.ac.uk/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-5227/i-Expenses+Full+Administration+Training.pdf

https://docushare.sunderland.ac.uk/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-135/Business+Travel+Policy+and+Procedure+-+June+09+FINALv2.pdf

https://docushare.sunderland.ac.uk/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-135/Business+Travel+Policy+and+Procedure+-+June+09+FINALv2.pdf

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Repayment of under spent Advances

Advance payments which have not been fully spent can be repaid/managed via any of the following

methods:

Provide a cheque or income receipt number to Planning & Finance for the repayment of unused advance funds within one month.

The Traveller Administrator to reconcile the under spent advance against the Travellers current expense claim (UK or overseas) within one month.

The Traveller to agree with the Faculty/Service to offset the unused advance against a business trip expected to take place the following month

On return from a business trip all expenses which have not been met by a purchase order or purchasing

card/University credit card must normally be claimed using I-expenses within one month of a Travellers

return. Please note the University will not reimburse expenses claimed more than three months after the

date of travel except in exceptional circumstances.

All claims must be processed separately for each business trip with the exception for mileage.

Currency Converter

All overseas receipts must be converted into sterling using the XE currency converter. Where the

currency converter is used please provide a copy of the rate used with each claim. The XE currency

converter link is available on the Planning & Finance website. http://www.xe.com/ucc/full/

Non Travel Expenses

The IExpense system has been adapted to pay staff additional expense types. We expect non travel

expenses to be exceptional and would like to remind staff that the University would expect them to use

the Purchasing system already in place to manage Oracle purchase orders for expenditure over £250,

purchasing cards for spend below £250 and petty cash expenditure which has a maximum limit of £25 per

claim. Planning and Finance are required to review all non travel related expenditure which has been

claimed as staff expenses to ensure this facility is only used in exceptional circumstances.

Payment of Expenses

The University will pay all approved expenses on a monthly basis. The cut off date for all online expenses

to be approved is the 17th of every month and paid on or around the same day as the monthly payroll.

http://www.xe.com/ucc/full/

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Expense Archiving

All receipts relating to IExpense claims should be attached to the Expense summary sheet (which is

available from the on-line expense submission) and sent to Planning & Finance immediately. Where there

are missing receipts the budget holder must further approve the Expense summary sheet before it is sent

to Planning & Finance. If a claim exceeds the meal allowance the system will send a request to the

approver to approve, reject, or request more information. There is no need to send a hardcopy to the

authorising officer. Future audits will take place to verify both authorisation and I-Expenses procedures

are followed.

2.1 I-Expenses Procedure

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3 Login I-Expenses are available via the University intranet only. You will have the ability to raise and book a

claim while using a PC at the University. Open up your web browser and go to the following URL

www.sunderland.ac.uk/finance

If you do not get this page please contact your IT support and ask for your computer to be put across the

‘BRIDGE’.

Login with your username and password.

Click on the Internet Expenses link.

Login Problems All staff who currently have access to Oracle Financials will have the responsibility “Internet Expenses”

added to their Oracle Financials account by 5th October 2009. This will enable staff to raise and track

their expense claims.

All staff who have made an expenses claim since 1/8/08 will have an Oracle Financials Account created

by 5th October 2009(if they did not already have access). If you fall into this category you will need to

contact the IT Helpdesk 2992 to request your userid and password.

Staff who have not made an expense claim since 1/8/08 and who do not currently use Oracle Financials

will need to complete a Finance access form available from your administrator or you can download it

from http://services.sunderland.ac.uk/finance/finance-forms/staff-forms/ .

http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/finance

http://services.sunderland.ac.uk/finance/finance-forms/staff-forms/

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If you are unsure of your access levels within Oracle Financials please contact the IT Helpdesk 2992 who

will assist you.

Please note

Differing local working practices exists within Faculties and Services. Please consult with your

administrator before using Oracle I-expenses.

3.1 Switching to other Oracle modules

Click on the Home icon at the top right of the I-Expenses

In the navigate button click on the option that you want.

If you are using a different Oracle screen click on the ‘hat’ symbol in the toolbar. Select the area you

would like to go to via the

Responsibilities window.

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4 The Home Page Explained The Home page is in three main sections

Track Submitted Expense Reports

Any outstanding expenses or expenses paid within the last 30 day are displayed in this area. The status

is displayed in the Report Status field. If the expense is awaiting approval the approver is displayed in

the Current Approver field. You can also Duplicate or Withdraw the expense by clicking on the relevant

icon. You cannot withdraw a request if the expense has been approved.

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Update Expense Reports

Lines in this section are claims which are not yet ready to be submitted for approval. Any saved,

rejected, or returned expenses are displayed in this area. You can

Update, Duplicate or Delete the Expense by clicking on the relevant

icon.

Notifications

If you are an authorized approver and you need to approve an Expense this is where you look. It is

advised that you use the email Approval system. As an approver you will receive an email when staff

submit their claims for approval.

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5 Create New Expense Report

Click the Create Expense Report button from the Expense Home Page.

Any field with the star icon is a required field.

5.1 General Information

A page similar to the one below will be displayed

Please enter the following data:

Field Description

Name Select the name of the person you are putting the expense request for. By default this will be you.

Cost Centre Type in the cost centre for your Service of Faculty. Use the torch icon to search and select a value.

Expense Template Select the Relevant template from the list.

Purpose You must enter a description for the purpose of the claim.

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Approver Type in the surname of the approver followed by tab key or uses the torch icon to select an approver.

Please note an approver must be granted appropriate authority for approving expenses.

You can set the default approver in the Preferences section. (see 9 Setting Your Default Approver on Page 24)

Trip Location If your trip is to the UK please leave as UK&N. Ireland.

If your trip is Overseas please use the torch icon to select a location.

Number of days Please enter the number of days of the trip.

Click the Next button

5.2 Cash and Other Expenses

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On the Receipt Based Expenses tab you can enter your expenses as follows:

Field Description

Date Enter the date of the expense.

Receipt Amount Enter the total amount of the receipt.

Expense Type From the Drop Down List, select the type of expense.

Place of Visit Please enter a justification for the expense.

Optionally, Save the Expense Report at this stage

Click the Details icon:

Populate the details where required and enter optional data where appropriate in order to adhere

to your general expenses policies for provision of information.

The Original Receipt Missing field must be ticked when they don’t have a receipt. It is

advisable to provide information for why the receipt had been misplaced; further information

about the expense claim can be added to the Place of Visit field.

Certain expense types may require additional information to be entered.

A warning icon is shown against the item element that violates the policy. In the example below

£22 is claimed for an evening meal and policy guideline is £20.

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When you have finished, click the Return button, or click on the Back and Next icons to go the

other lines. If you wish to remove the line you are viewing click on Remove icon.

Continue expense entry for any other items of expense by either entering the required data for

the new expense on the next available line or duplicating an existing expense line and updating if

required

Go to enter Mileage Expenses section if you have a mileage claim to enter

5.2.1 Enter Mileage Expenses

Select the Mileage Expenses tab.

A page similar to the one shown below will be displayed

On the Miles Expenses tab, you can enter your expenses as follows:

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Field Description

Start Date Enter the date of travel.

Place of Visit Enter the place of visit

Unit of Measure Please leave as Miles.

Trip Distance Enter number of miles for that visit.

Click the Details icon.

A page similar to the one below will be shown:

Add the following Data

Field Description

Vehicle Type Please enter the correct Vehicle Type. Please select the correct one as payment is at different rates.

Location From Enter the start location.

Location To Enter the destination.

When you have finished, click the Return button, or click on the Back and Next icons to go the

other lines. If you wish to remove the line you are viewing click on Remove Line icon.

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5.3 Expense Allocations Where the expense costs will be charged.

5.3.1 Account Allocations (Cost Centres)

Click on the Account Allocations tab at the top of the form.

If you have entered Project information for some or all lines, you may be prevented from updating

the resulting account allocations.

Type the Cost Centre and Analysis code for each expense item that needs to be charged to a

Cost Centre, use the torch icons to select the required Cost Centres if you do not know it.

If you have setup Allocation Sets, select the lines that you wish to apply a set to by clicking the

clicking the tick box select field.

From the My Allocations drop down list select the allocation you require to apply to the selected

lines (see Section 10 on Page 26 on advice on advice on setting them up).

When complete, click the Next button. OR

If you need to enter Project information against lines, see Project Allocations steps.

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5.3.2 Project Allocations Please Note: You must complete the Account Allocation screen before you can set the Project

Allocations. Please remember to put a dummy Analysis code into each expense before you go to Project

allocations. When the Project code is entered the correct analysis code for project expenses will be

populated and will override the dummy code entered.

Click on the Project Allocations tab at the top of the form.

A page similar to the one below will be shown:

Type the Project Number in the Project Field for each expense item that needs to be charged to

a Project, use the torch icons to select the required Project Number if you do not know it. Type 1

in the Task field.

Entry of Project information will generate default accounting for the line and this can be seen on

the Account Allocations page.

If you have setup Allocation Sets, select the lines that you wish to apply a set to by clicking the

clicking the tick box select field.

From the My Allocations drop down list select the allocation you require to apply to the selected

lines (see Section 10 on Page 26 on advice on advice on setting them up).

Click the Apply button.

When complete, click the Next button.

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5.4 Advances

This screen will only be displayed if you have a pre paid advancement.

You will be prompted to apply any advances that you have previously received prior to incurring

an expense.

You will see similar screen to the one below:

Click the Advance Number Torch icon.

Click the Go button on the Search page to find all available advances.

Select the advance that you wish to use against the Expense Report then click the Select icon.

Please make sure that you are selecting the correct advancement for that particular expense.

Click the Next button when you have selected all the applicable advances to move onto the

Review page.

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5.5 Review

Prior to submitting an expense claim, you will be given the opportunity to review and if necessary

go back and update the expense report before submission.

Notice that there are multiple tabs to review – in the example above:

Expense lines

Expense Allocations

Approval Notes

If you need to update any of the elements, click the Back button until you return to the page on

which you need to make the adjustment.

Make the adjustments and then return to the Review page.

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Please Note: If your Expense Report contains any policy violations you will see a page similar to

the one above with a Warning message.

If you submit with a policy violation, your Expense Report Approver will be notified of the violation

and also, your Expense Report will be subject to an Audit.

Either:

Review the violation by clicking the violation icon next to the line or lines that have a policy

violation.

Use the Back button to return to previous pages to make the necessary amendments on the

Expense Report in order to have your Expense Report be in line with business policy.

Or:

Continue by following the Expense Submission steps.

It would be advisable to enter a note as to why you have violated a policy.

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5.6 Submit

Continuing from previous steps for Receipt or Mileage claims, when on the Review page after

having made any required amendments, click the Submit button.

A page similar to the one below will be displayed.

If your expense report is to be approved by another employee, the confirmation page will inform

you of whom the claim has been submitted to.

Please Note: This page must be printed and receipts must be attached and send to Planning &

Finance immediately.

Click on the Printable Page icon and then print from the Web browser. Use the Back Button on

the browser after printing to return to the page.

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6 Retrieve Saved Expense Report

Saved Expense Reports are listed in the second section (Update Expense Reports) of the

Expenses Home page. If you start to raise a claim but do submit for approval you can save it.

These will be located in this section. You may retrieve and complete it when required.

Click the Update icon or the Report Number of the Expense Report you wish to update.

Follow the previous sections under the Create Expense Report sections to update the saved

report.

7 Withdraw a Submitted Expense Report

Submitted Expense Reports are listed in the first section (Track Submitted Expense Report) of

the Expenses Home page.

Note that if you have access to submit claims on behalf of other employees, you will also see all

of their claims here.

If you are permitted to withdraw a claim, the Withdraw icon will be available against the Expense

Report.

To withdraw a claim, click the Withdraw icon.

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A Confirmation Page is then displayed.

Click Yes to continue with the claim withdrawal, or No to cancel.

8 Duplicating an Expense Report Both Submitted and Saved Expense Reports can be duplicated by clicking on the Duplicate icon

against the Expense Report. This will open a new Expense report which is a duplicate of the

selected report.

9 Setting Your Default Approver Select Preferences from the Expenses

Home Page.

Click General from the menu.

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Type in the surname of the approver followed by tab key or use the torch icon to select an

approver.

Please note an approver must be granted appropriate authority for approving expenses.


10 Creating and Removing Project or Account Allocation Sets Select Preferences from the Expenses

Home Page.

Click My Allocations from the menu.

10.1 Creating

Click the Add another Row button under the appropriate region (My Project Allocation Sets or

My Account Allocation Sets).

Provide an Allocation Name.

Use the Torch icons to find the information (Project, Task, or accounting information) that you

wish to add to the set.


When a new expense claim is entered, this value will be available from the My Allocations drop

down list.

10.2 Removing

Click the Remove icon at the end of the allocation you no longer wish to see in the Allocation Set.

This value will be no longer available from the My Allocations drop down list.

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10.3 Checking Expenses Over 30 Days Old Click on the Expense Reports tab. Enter the name you wish to search for in Name field. Click the Go

button.

This

will

displa

y all of

the

previo

us

expen

se

claims

this

person has submitted.

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10.4 Checking for Expenses Awaiting Approval

There is a report in the P & T Admin section called

UofS Expense Claim Tracking

Report. Select Run from the

Reports section of the menu.

Select the UofS Expense Claim Tracking Report.

In the Parameters section type the name of the

person who raised the expense in the expenses

raised by.

To view the report click View Report. A report similar to below will be displayed.

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10.5 Receipt Attachments for iExpenses The process to scan and attach receipts to an expense is as follows:

1. Scan the receipts (using a suitable scanner – e.g. MFD)

2. Save the file to a share or local drive

3. Create an expense and attach the scanned receipts file(s)

iExpenses will accept any file format e.g. tiff, bmp, jpg, word, etc. But if the file attachment needs to be

viewed the software to view the specific file format must be installed on the PC (or centrally for UDS

machines) being used to access Finance.

A file can be attached to an expense at any point during the approval process. The expected business

process will be for the expense administrator to attach the file showing the receipts at the Submission

screen before sending for approval, as shown below.

Expense Submission Screen

Create an expense and Click the ‘Add’ attachments before submitting the expense for approval

Click Add

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Enter the following information:

Description (mandatory field)

Category – Receipts

Browse for the file on the share or local drive

Then click on ‘Apply’

Attachments now changes to ‘View’

Changes to ‘View’

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To view all attachments click on ‘View’

Click on the filename to either Open or Save the attachment

From An Audit Responsibility (Payables Team)

Query back an expense and either Add or View the attachments

Click the filename

Add or View Attachments

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11 Allow Others to Submit Expense Reports on your behalf

Click the Access Authorizations submenu.

A page similar to the one below will be displayed:

Under the Expenses Entry Delegations region select the Add another Row button

Use the torch icon to select the name of the employee who you wish to be able to enter Expense

Reports on your behalf.

Select the Save button and then repeat for each employee you wish to grant access to. That

employee will now see your name in a list when they create an expense report.

To remove access, click the Remove icon.

Please Note: Any .Expense Report that has been submitted on behalf of yourself will need to be

approved by yourself via email. Click on the Approve or

Reject button then click Send.

Documents

University of Sunderland I-Expenses · University of Sunderland 2 Procedures The following information provides the stages each Travel Administrator will manage for processing travel