Extreme Makeover: New Travel Business Model for LBNL
In the fall of 2006, Chief Financial Officer, Jeffrey Fernandez, commissioned a team to develop a new business model for delivering travel to the Lab. This team, headed by Carla Garbis, made a number of recommendations for improving the entire travel process which were approved by Lab Senior Management in January. Click HERE to view the presentation. A few of the recommendations are being implemented immediately and others will be rolled out over time. Key recommendations include:
- The replacement of Gelco with an intuitive, user-friendly system that will be designed for use by travelers. (A schedule for the implementation and roll-out of the new system will be developed shortly. Until that is done, the best estimate we can give to have a new system up and running is approximately 2nd Q FY08.)
- Reduction in the reimbursement turnaround time. (Steps are being taken to quickly reduce the current backlog of vouchers in the Travel Office. Once a new system is in place, the goal will be to reimburse travelers within 2 weeks from the time he or she certifies their expense report.)
- Reimbursement of travelers only after all required receipts have been submitted. Return of incomplete expense reports. (One of the main reasons that it is taking an excessive amount of time to reimburse travelers is that expense reports submitted for reimbursement are often incomplete; (e.g., they lack the required receipts, have not been approved). Prior to implementing these recommendations, training for travelers and administrative staff will be made available. Stay tuned for further information about the training which is targeted for sometime in March.)
- Preferred Method of Reimbursement for Meals & Incidental Expenses: Actual Cost. To minimize costs, travelers are highly encouraged to request reimbursement for the actual cost of meals & incidental (M&IE) expenses up to the established M&IE rates. (Receipts are not required for any M&IE expense less than $75. The actual cost for the first and last day of travel cannot exceed 75% of the M&IE rates.
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