Travel and Expense Project turns suggestions into fixes

A visit can come collectively in just a few emails, however getting it authorized and reimbursed can take longer.

To simplify the method, Finance and Operations launched the Travel and Expense Project in 2025 with assist from Operational Excellence. The undertaking goals to enhance Concur — the University’s on-line system used for managing journey requests and expense experiences — whereas strengthening associated insurance policies and assist.

The crew gathered enter in July 2025 by means of discovery workshops and a campuswide survey that closed Aug. 1, 2025. More than 1,300 college, workers and directors accomplished the survey, and 123 college and workers participated in 4 workshops.

Their suggestions confirmed that almost one in 4 expense experiences is returned for correction and pointed to 2 key issues: unclear steering within the system and avoidable back-and-forth throughout assessment.

“Users felt the messaging was too technical or did not provide clear information,” mentioned Rebecca Spanos, director of journey and fee card providers and interim director of accounts payable and vendor providers.

Changes rolling out

The crew set 5 priorities to handle widespread frustrations:

• Simplifying the Concur interface to cut back confusion
• Reviewing insurance policies for higher readability
• Simplifying workflows to save lots of time
• Upgrading coaching and assist to make navigation simpler
• Exploring AI instruments to additional help customers

Guided by these priorities, the project team is launching a number of updates geared toward lowering returned experiences, rushing up approvals and clarifying course of and expectations for vacationers and reviewers.

The crew created a short introductory video that explains what to know earlier than planning journey and how one can get began.

“One major enhancement is the new AI-driven request assistant,” mentioned Spanos. “It will help travelers estimate expenses when creating a travel request.”

The crew labored to streamline the assessment course of and minimize down on back-and-forth questions. Concur now requires sure data up entrance, like enterprise justifications for floor transportation and meals and beverage bills.

“These updates are the result of listening closely to user feedback,” mentioned Carly Perin, affiliate vice chancellor for finance. “They may seem like small changes, but they address real pain points, and collectively they have a meaningful impact on reducing frustration and making the process easier to navigate.”

What’s forward

The undertaking crew will proceed refining Concur and associated workflows to make the method even simpler for customers.

“We recognize that we’re not there yet,” mentioned Perin. “This is just the first step in a continuous improvement process, and we’ll continue listening to campus feedback.”

A future undertaking as a part of ServiceFirst implementation will discover use of a journey and expense shared providers perform. This change would assist cut back administrative workload from college and workers to allow them to deal with work that’s core to the mission of Carolina. “Our goal is to give people time back by reducing unnecessary administrative burden,” Perin mentioned.

Users can count on an up to date one-page journey guidelines, continued progress on an AI chatbot to reply questions and a consolidated journey and expense coverage, every meant to make duties clearer and simpler for customers.

“We are continuing to look for ways to simplify requirements, streamline the process and leverage advances in AI,” Spanos mentioned.

Campus colleagues now produce other methods to share enter. The travel services website added a feedback submission page for submitting options and elevating considerations. World Travel affirmation emails can even embrace a “rate your experience” hyperlink to an instantaneous suggestions kind, with a dedication to reply inside one enterprise day.

The Travel Vendor Fair, to be held 2 to five p.m. March 3 within the West Lounge of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union, will give customers a chance to work together with distributors and uncover useful sources in particular person.

Visit go.unc.edu/travel-and-expense-updates for updates or be part of the journey workplace notification channel in Teams. Users on the lookout for help may also contact the journey crew or the Concur assist desk for private assist.