Thank you to all of the participants who completed the Travel and Expense Experience Questionnaire. Congratulations to Ryan Griffin, a Graduate Student in the Faculty of Engineering and Design! Ryan was randomly selected by the Travel and Expense Advisory Committee as the winner of a $250 VIA Rail Gift Certificate.
A total of 312 questionnaires were completed over the two month period, as follows:
| Staff | 129 |
| Faculty | 107 |
| Students | 56 |
| Other | 20 |
| Total | 312 |
| 65% of the participants had filled out their own claims, while 35% of the participants were delegates for other individuals. For 40% of the participants, this was their first time using the system, while for another 30%, it was only their second time. |
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When asked about the system’s ease of use, the majority of responses indicated that it was fairly easy to use or at least easy after you use it a few times. |
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The top 3 areas of the system that people have found the most difficult to use were noted as (1) Taxes, (2) Navigation, and (3) Changing the FOAPAL or Funding Source.
Financial Services has found that one of the most challenging aspects of the new system is returning requests for corrections. The Business Office is currently unable to alter a request once it has been submitted. This means that errors, large or small, must be corrected by the originator of the claim. Of the requests cited by the questionnaire participants, 57% had been returned due to errors in tax calculations or updates. This is an area of the system for which improvements are in development.
We are pleased that 50% of the participants were very satisfied with the personal assistance they received from Financial Services, while another 30% did not require any assistance at all. The most popular training resources were cited as the Frequently Asked Questions and the User Guide, and we received a lot of positive feedback regarding the step-by-step Travel Wiki process walkthrough.
As part of the questionnaire, we asked how willing individuals would be to scan and upload their receipts if that option was available. 70% said that they would be very likely to do this, but only if a scanner was available to them. When asked if they would keep their originals, 50% agreed they would continue to send their originals to the Business Office, but saw redundancy in both scanning and sending in their receipts. Financial Services and the Travel Advisory Committee will be using the information gathered in this question to guide the future decisions made around electronic imaging for Travel and Expense.
Thanks again to all of you who provided your feedback in the questionnaire. If you have any additional comments, or did not have the opportunity to participate, please forward your comments to financial_systems@carleton.ca. We would be happy to hear from you!