Using Technology to Drive Change: WVU’s Journey to Transform Expense Management Rachel Hays & Caitlin Mutkus, West Virginia University

West Virginia University Public, land-grant institution Private, non-profit research corporation 30,000 students 20,000 employees

West Virginia University 20,000 employee reimbursements annually 4,000 PCards One-card program (travel and purchasing) $25 million travel spend

What we were doing before: paper! Paper forms/receipts & physical signatures Manual data entry PCard reconciliation in bank software Travel booked through any & all methods No spend visibility

Request for Proposals (RFP ) Process RFP for expense management system and TMC Participants from central, colleges, athletics, etc. One expense tool selected Two travel management companies selected

WVU’s fully integrated expense tool, which is used for: Employee reimbursements Travel reimbursements to individuals (i.e. candidates) PCard reconciliation

How did we design the system? Single sign on Fully integrates with our financial system Mobile approvals 2 approvers- college and supervisor/grant owner Serves as document management system

How did we design the system? Workflow designed per report type Expense types designed for best spend analysis Policies determine warnings Favored warnings over hard stops in most cases

Targeted communication plan & training “Open Houses” In person demos Online training videos WVU “E-News” Updated policies & procedures

Roll out phase 1: reimbursements 10 month process Updated Travel & Expense Manual Informal pilot group with specific colleges Designated staff on call for troubleshooting Stopped accepting paper forms 3 months after go live

Phase 2: PCard reconciliation Updated PCard Manual and Record Retention Policy Targeted email/FAQ’s sent to each cardholder Hosted another round of trainings No pilot group: instantly had 4,000 users

Phase 2: PCard reconciliation Require receipt and business purpose for each transaction Suggested 1 report per week for each cardholder Clearing account used to pay the bank Cardholder’s budget charged once report is approved

Statistics: 9 months in

Then vs Now Then Now Paper paper paper Time to receive reimbursement- 30 days No transparency Full time temp required for data entry Various internal college processes All electronic Time to receive reimbursement- 1 week Real time visibility No temp needed One process; standardized workflow

Lessons learned Need buy-in from the top Tailor help based on the user “Squeaky wheel” Be proactive with troubleshooting Be as responsive as possible Resist customization requests

Lessons learned Understand source data is important (HR, funding, etc.) Multiple methods to reach user: email, phone, in person Configure system to fit your spend reporting needs Biggest delay in processing: supervisor’s approval Biggest challenge: employees don’t know their funding

Phase 3: Travel booking Online booking tool: “MyTravel” Agent for group travel Separate on-site agent for athletics Currently “Strongly Encouraged”

Plans for future Mandate use of the online travel booking tool Data analytics to target savings Decreasing non-travel reimbursements Travel advances

Contact us Rachel Hays Caitlin Mutkus Director of Payment Services West Virginia University Rachel.hays@mail.wvu.edu Travel Analyst West Virginia University cmutkus@mail.wvu.edu