Queen’s new expense reimbursement system (ERS) is now being piloted by a number of individuals on campus, in preparation for its rollout to the rest of the university community.

The new ERS will make the expense claims process faster and more transparent for faculty and staff, as well as allowing for the return of per diems for non-Ontario government funded research travel.

“The new ERS is a more efficient, automated system,” says Caroline Davis, Vice-Principal (Finance and Administration). “It will add convenient features to streamline the expense submission process for all faculty and staff.”

With the new cloud-based system provided by Concur, items like mileage, HST rebates and foreign exchange will be calculated automatically.

“Queen’s selected Concur as its new ERS provider after a thorough request for proposals process last year. The university has done extensive due diligence around privacy and security, and no personal financial information, such as credit card or banking information, is required by Concur to process expense reimbursements.” says Heather Woermke, Controller, who is overseeing the system’s implementation.

A select group of pilot users was recently introduced to the new system, and the rollout to the Queen’s community will continue in phases over the coming months. Financial Services is providing online and classroom training, as well as ongoing support during the pilot project and as the wider rollout happens over the coming months. Queen’s employees can also take advantage of 24/7 global support offered by Concur.

Automated expense reimbursement systems are a common practice across the public and private sectors, and Concur is a leading provider with more than 20,000 clients and 25 million users world-wide. A number of Canadian universities, including the universities of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Waterloo and British Columbia, as well as Memorial and York universities, already use Concur’s system, with others like the University of Ottawa recently signing on.

The move to the new system is partially funded by the Government of Ontario through a productivity and innovation fund grant. More information about the new travel and expense system is available on the Financial Services website or by contacting the project team by email or at 613-533-6000 ext. 75099.