Category Archives: Travel

Adapted Travel Process for Presidential Approval

To Administrators and Analysts:

COVID-19 related travel restrictions from the President’s & Chancellor’s Office’s level now requires all essential travel be approved by the President.

The Payment Services team collaborated with the President’s Office and the Divisions to develop the process outlined below.  This process includes a new Google form to facilitate Presidential approval and complements the existing Travel Authorization approval process in FTS.

This adapted process is as follows:

  1. Traveler or Department Admin/Analyst submits the Travel Authorization in FTS.
  2. The authorization will go through the normal approval process in FTS.
  3. Traveler notifies the Department Admin/Analyst of approved Travel Authorization (if applicable).
  4. The Department Admin/Analyst enters the traveler’s trip information in their Division’s Travel Form – Adapted Process for Presidential Approval:
    Academic Affairs Travel Form
    Admin & Finance Travel Form
    Research and Innovation Travel Form
    Office of Diversity Travel Form
    University Advancement Travel Form
    Student Affairs Travel Form
    President’s Office Travel Form
    IT Travel Form
  5. The submitted form will notify the Division Head of the Travel Authorization who then notifies the President’s Office for an approval.
  6. The President’s Office approves or denies the travel to the Division Head.
  7. The Division Head will inform the department of the decision.

If you have any questions, please contact the Jasmine Velazquez in Payment Services at jasmine.velazquez@sjsu.edu or 408-924-1674.

 

 

Extended Suspension of Business Travel and New State Added to Restricted List

Business Travel Suspended Through June 2021 Due to COVID-19

The CSU Chancellor’s Office recently announced that non-essential international and domestic travel will be suspended through June 30, 2021. For more information, please view the FY2020-21 Systemwide Meetings and Conferences memo.

In response to the extension, SJSU will continue to follow the travel guidelines established due to COVID-19 and as explained in our blog last March. The noticeable change to the original guideline is the President (or their designee) now maintain final approval for essential travel. Essential travel is not authorized until President approval is obtained.

For information on the university’s plan to continue campus operation, please refer to SJSU Adapt.

Update- New State Added to the Restricted Travel List

With the effective date July 1, 2020, Idaho has been added to Assembly Bill 1887, the law restricting the funding or sponsoring of state business travel to states with discriminatory laws.

The current list of restricted states are as follows:

Alabama
Idaho
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Mississippi
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas

For the background and guidelines regarding Restricted Travel, please refer to the Travel Guide.

Travel Reimbursement for Business Travel Suspended by the COVID-19 Situation

Employees whose business travel were suspended due to the COVID-19 situation can submit a Travel Reimbursement in FTS for non-refundable expenses paid for out of pocket. Please use the Travel Reimbursement that is associated to your Travel Authorization. Enter the expenses in the One Time Charges and not in the Daily Charges section. In the Funding Source/Chartfields section, include COVID-19 class code 4716 with the required chartfields (Account-Fund-DeptID).

For expenses incurred by the department (typically on a GoCard), review your GoCard statements for costs incurred in previous months and enter an Expense Transfer Journal in FTS to add class code 4716 to the transaction. While an extra step, it will best ensure departments receive reimbursement for costs associated with cancelled trips.

Please refer to our travel announcement for guidelines related to submitting a Travel Reimbursement. If you have any questions, contact Finance Support at financeconnect@sjsu.edu or 4-1558.

Figure 1: An example of how to enter claims in the One Time Charges. Click on image to enlarge.