University of Maryland Campus

How many expense forms can be generated by an organization with only 3,000 employees? Would you believe over 40,000 forms per year? Just ask the University of Maryland, Baltimore. That’s a big part of the reason why they implemented GT eForms™ for travel expenses.

UMB implemented  their PeopleSoft-based travel expenses solution created with GT eForms™ for all schools and departments, processing over 40,000 online forms in the first year. For many organizations, those numbers could be just the tip of the iceberg.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) had evaluated a variety of solutions to automate their travel expense processes, including third-party applications, hosted SaaS solutions, and the delivered PeopleSoft Expenses module. Unable to find a delivered solution that met their requirements without significant customization, they decided to pursue development of a wholly custom solution that would meet their requirements to the letter.

UMB engaged Gideon Taylor to help them scope, design and develop their new Expenses system from the ground up. The solution would have to integrate with the University’s core PeopleSoft system, as well as be able to provide feeds to a State-hosted system for payment processing. The solution would be used by employees throughout UMB, interacting with the system in a variety of roles. The system therefore had to dynamically deliver content and a user experience based on each participant’s role and/or the activity they were performing.

Gideon Taylor and UMB worked together to create the new system, which guides employees through travel expense processing from beginning to end, including approvals, advances, and integration with their payroll and AP systems for automated reimbursement.

According to Raj Rao, UMB’s internal project manager for the effort, “This was a great team effort involving the Gideon Taylor Functional/Technical consultants, eUMB Functional Team, eUMB Development Team, Financial Systems Team, Travel Office Team, System Administrators, Database Administrators and the Training team.”

The Travel eForms solution was the first in a series of eForms initiatives that will expand to other business processes, reducing paper, increasing efficiency and implementing policy goals across campus.

Following the success of their Travel eForms solutions, UMB implemented a campus-wide ePAF solution to automate personnel actions for their 3,000 employees with in PeopleSoft HCM.

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