The U of A System has implemented key updates to the Workday Expense Report and Spend Authorization processes, effective Nov. 16, 2024. These enhancements are designed to simplify workflows, improve accuracy and reduce confusion for employees whose jobs require travel activities and expense reporting. Faculty, staff and administrative assistants are encouraged to review these changes to ensure a smooth transition. 

Key Changes to Expense Reporting

1. Inactivation of Obsolete Expense Items and Business Purposes: Expense items and business purposes prefixed with "zzz" (e.g., "zzzOfficial Business") have been removed from dropdown menus.
2. Improved Spend Authorization Field Visibility: The Spend Authorization (SA) field on Expense Reports will now appear only if an active SA is available for selection. This update minimizes confusion for users who do not have an active SA.
3. Removal of the Tax Field: The Tax field has been hidden to prevent accidental selection, which previously led to manual corrections.
4. Proactive Alerts for the "Personal Expense" Checkbox: Users will now receive an alert when selecting the "Personal Expense" checkbox during submission. This measure helps prevent errors that could result in delayed reimbursements or discrepancies in expense records. Approvers will also see this alert to provide an additional layer of oversight.
5. Automated City Mapping for Airfare and Hotel Expenses: Workday now automatically maps airport and hotel city codes to their corresponding travel cities for credit card transactions. This automation streamlines the itemization process in Expense Reports.
   Please note, not all airports or hotels are included in this update. The U of A System Office's Workday Support Service team will continue to expand the mapping in future iterations.
6. Custom Validation for External Committee Member (ECM) and Guest Reimbursements: When submitting an Expense Report for an External Committee Member or guest, an alert will indicate if a check needs to be held for pickup. This update replaces the previous offline memo tracking process.
7. Expense Report Business Purpose for Conferences and Professional Development: For reimbursements related to conference attendance, state regulations require a conference agenda to be included when requesting meal reimbursements. For professional development, seminars or training that are not conferences, users must clearly specify this in the description to avoid confusion over required documentation. 

Employees who use travel and expense reports in Workday are encouraged to familiarize themselves with these updates. These changes aim to enhance user experience and reduce administrative burdens across the system. For questions or further assistance, please contact the Travel Office at uatravel@uark.edu.