University of Nebraska faculty and staff are invited to a series of presentations next week to learn about a proposed new university-wide travel policy developed as part of NU’s ongoing efforts to reduce costs.
The draft policy, available in full here, was developed by the Travel Budget Response Team, comprising staff from business and finance, procurement and other areas from all four campuses. It standardizes travel protocol across the university, ensuring that the same requirements for booking, expenses and other travel-related areas apply to all employees.
Members of the Travel BRT will visit each campus to review the proposed policy, answer questions and solicit feedback. A recording of the presentation will be available later this month at www.nebraska.edu/BRT. In addition to providing input in person, faculty and staff also may submit feedback to travel@nebraska.edu.
Presentation dates, times and locations are:
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Tuesday, Jan. 16, 4-5 p.m., Nebraska Union Colonial A&B
- University of Nebraska at Omaha: Wednesday, Jan. 17, 4-5 p.m., Mammel Hall Auditorium
- University of Nebraska Medical Center:
Thursday, Jan. 18, 4-5 p.m., Durham Research Center Auditorium, Room 1002. (Livestream will be available here.
) - University of Nebraska at Kearney: Friday, Jan. 19, 3-4 p.m., Copeland Hall Room 142
The new policy is scheduled to take effect July 1, following feedback from faculty and staff. Highlights include the following:
- All travel will be required to be processed through the new Concur software system, approved for purchase by the Board of Regents last August. The Concur system was one of the Travel BRT’s recommendations for cost savings and is expected to significantly reduce paperwork and labor by creating a standard, streamlined digital process for submitting travel expense reports.
Concur will be implemented on July 1; training sessions will take place on each campus prior to that date.
- Pre-trip requests will be required prior to all travel bookings or expenses.
- All travel expenses must be submitted no more than 60 days after an employee’s final day of travel in order to be reimbursed.
- Air, hotel and car rentals will be booked and processed through Concur and the university’s travel management company, Travel & Transport. Outside bookings and reimbursement will not be permitted unless Travel & Transport’s services are unavailable.
- All airfare paid by the university will be limited to coach, with an emphasis on booking the cheapest listed price at the time of the booking. Upgrades will be the responsibility of the employee.
- Lodging rates will be capped at conference rates when applicable, or up to the federal per diem rate plus 50 percent based on the location of the lodging.
- Up to three meals a day will be permitted during travel, with the total cost of the meals not exceeding the federal per diem rate of the destination city. Meal allowances will be reduced if meals are included in conference rates, lodging offerings or other registrations.
“This is an important step forward for the University of Nebraska,” said David Lechner, NU senior vice president of business and finance and chief financial officer, who has chaired the Travel BRT. “Not only are we establishing a unified travel process for our employees, but we’ll create meaningful efficiencies that will help the university make the most of our limited resources. I’m proud of the work our colleagues on the Travel Budget Response Team have done to get us to this point and we look forward to hearing the ideas of faculty and staff for whom we want to make travel as enjoyable and efficient as possible.”
Complete information on the Budget Response Team process, including cost-savings strategies in procurement, human resources, energy and facilities, information technology, printing, finance and communications, is available at www.nebraska.edu/BRT.
I am opposed having to use only Concur for booking flights and hotels. Concur does not allow one to pick and choose flights. The outbound flight is paired with a return flight that does not always fit the needs of travelers. The beauty of T&T is that we can get better flight options that what Concur offers. Conferences offer special hotel rates. How is that going to work with Concur? Concur is not going to "know" what the conference rates are, and will we be able to select hotels that we want, or do we have to choose form a limited selection of hotels that Concur provides? I do not see how this enhances the travel experience to meet the needs of my doctors and student travel. Will there be training in Concur or just the meeting on campus? I have many questions about the changes and merely attending a meeting is not going to provide the training I need.
So, ordinary people who use their personal vehicles for University trips will get reimbursed at 25 cents per mile (less than half of the IRS rate), which will induce everyone to request rental cars, wasting time and money for the University. But "Privately-owned or piloted airplanes will be reimbursed at the current IRS mileage rate." We like our executives, don't we?
These are such great questions below! If people aren't able to attend the meeting(s), what is the best method to submit all of our questions? I'd like to know the answers to these, as well as about 10 other questions my colleagues and I have.
It's difficult for many employees to understand where these decisions come from, when these decisions impact our workload/workflow/efficiency SO much. At times it feels as if the people in charge of these decisions have absolutely NO experience doing travel.
Sarah, please send me a copy of your questions and I will forward to the BRT travel group. Thanks, Melody Stark
1.More often than not flights are chosen based on convenient arrival and departure times. The cheaper flights are usually very early or very late. It is not unusual for a provider to be in clinic for part of a day and choose to fly later on during the day. I have also heard the situation that a traveler left later in the day because of a later afternoon or evening event at their destination. If they had to take the earlier, cheaper flight, they could end up camping in the hotel lobby as check-in for their room is not available.
2.I have not had any issues with upgrades in a couple of years but this is an item all should at least be aware of as they will only get reimbursed for the upgrade.
3.This one may be the real stickler for us. Most conferences require booking the room through their site to get the rate. I have not booked hotel through Concur so I am not sure if they have something in their system to capture the conference rate or even the conference hotel. Also, our providers attend some very large meetings and the selection of hotels can be limited depending on when they decide to register. The GSA rate plus 50% usually does not cover a hotel in an expensive location such as New Orleans, anywhere in Hawaii, San Diego or other popular locations.
4.The GSA meal rate is not very generous and they tell you how much of the per diem you can spend on breakfast and lunch (25% each meal) and dinner (50%). It is not that unusual for dinner to take up more than 50% in an expensive location. My other concern or question would be if the traveler submits only a dinner receipt but that receipt exceeds 50% of the per diem, what will get paid? Will they pay the actual amount or up to 50% of the per diem.
5.So many of our staff, at one time or another, travel with their spouse. It will be a significant change for them to ask for separate checks. Most are used to having one receipt and then picking out what they had to be reimbursed.
6.Everyone submits receipts for snacks, whether purchased in an airport or in a hotel (Starbucks is quite common). According to this, snacks will be considered a meal. I could understand if it counted against the per diem but to count as a meal is not reasonable. We have travelers that due to health situations need to eat more often than 3 times per day.
These are just a few items I found quickly that could present problems for reimbursement. I am most concerned that traveling will become a gamble on what will and won’t get reimbursed.