I also have Regional Administrators in each of my Regional offices who assist me with these duties now that that we have implemented fully.  It is easier for them to take care of their own regional people.

We have worked hard as a team in training our travelers, travel planners, reviewers, and approving officials on the E-Travel system.  We have utilized hands-on, classroom, online, and WebEx training.  We created handouts with quick tips for our employees to use. We also send out frequent e-mail messages with helpful hints to our employees.

I personally believe the greatest benefit of the transition to the E-Travel System has been the forced compliance to the Federal Travel Regulations.  This has been a real issue for many of our travelers.  They don’t understand why they can’t take this flight that they have always taken, or why they can’t just rent any car.  The forced compliance or having to justify why they are going out of policy has cause some real issues with a lot of our travelers.  We have seen some justifications that we have had to go back and train both train both traveler and approving official on.  “Because I wanted to” is not a valid justification, nor is “This system sucks”, nor is “Not applicable to this agency”.

All in all, some of our worst critics initially have become the biggest fans of   the E-Travel system now that they have learned how to use it.

By: Shirley Keller

“The comments made here are mine alone and do not reflect the opinions of either my agency or the government.”

• Clearly defining conversion goals
• Mitigating risk issues that could result in monetary or time loss
• Optimizing/revamping current business processes the customer performs
• Administering end user training on the eTS

Our eTS customer implementation process usually consists of four steps. We begin implementations with a project kick off meeting with the agency. These are normally on-site visits at the agency. During this kick off meeting several things are accomplished such as:

• Introductions
• A demo of the eTS
• Provide the customer with a high level overview of the project plan
• Try to determine any unique needs the customer may have
• Attempt to gain a feel for the customer’s business practices/processes and visualize the impact on the project and/or ongoing operations after implementation

Once the kick off meeting is completed, then we hold bi-weekly conference calls with the customer. During these bi-weekly conference calls we continue to develop relationships and establish contacts with key personnel. We review/monitor tasks on the project plan documenting the status of each task. Besides the demo that we provided during the kick off meeting, we also allow for select customer personnel to have access to our training database in order for them to have ‘hands on’ experience and to be able see ‘up-close’ how the eTS system works. By the customers actually creating documents in the training database of eTS, these bi-weekly calls aid in allowing for ongoing discussions of system capabilities and capacities to meet the customer’s needs. Also during the course of these bi-weekly meetings, the customer is working on completing traveler information worksheets, approving official worksheets, routing lists, and groups. We need all of this information, prior to the customer going live in the eTS, to set up their organization correctly. A rollout schedule is also established during these calls.

Our third step is training the customer. Normally the training is done on-site, but we have also used an on-line training tool to provide training. The customer decides what type of training is to be done, such as ‘Train the Trainer’ or ‘Train the User’ type of training. The customer also decides how the training will be done (such as demos, hands-on training, on-line sessions, etc.) and who will attend the training. Each training session is geared specifically toward the agency’s policies and requirements. A normal training session would include a thorough overview of authorizations, vouchers, local vouchers, amendments/adjustments, and how to approve a document.

The fourth step is post implementation issues. Post implementation issues are usually minor and are easily corrected. An example of a post implementation issue may be that a user does not have the proper permission level to approve a document. When this happens, we refer back to the worksheets provided to us by the agency and can determine if the user should have originally been set up with approval access or not. If they are not listed on the documentation we originally received, then we simply ask for documentation from the customer and update the user’s profile.

Now just because a customer’s eTS implementation is completed, the relationship and communication process does not stop. We continue to communicate any eTS outages, reservation unavailability, and system changes/enhancements via email notifications. Our eTS vendor informs us of any scheduled or unscheduled eTS outages and reservation unavailability, which in turn, we pass on to our customer contacts. Our eTS vendor also routinely implements table updates and enhancements to the eTS. We are notified in advance of these implementations and the items that will be included. We perform comprehensive testing in both the training and production environments of the items being implemented, as well as, ‘routine’ testing. ‘Routine’ testing includes the basics such as creating authorizations, vouchers, local vouchers, amendments, etc. If we find any items that do not work or are not working correctly, we contact our eTS vendor and then they research the issue to determine the problem. Sometimes the issue can be resolved quickly and other times it may take a while. It just depends on what is causing the problem and how it needs to be fixed.

After our testing is completed, we send out guidance to our customer contacts that includes information on the enhancement updates, as well as, any major system functionality that may have been disabled/interrupted during the implementation.

Another part of the communication process with our customers is through our help desk. We have a very qualified and informed help desk. After we have completed a customer’s eTS implementation, that customer’s users call our help desk to obtain the information, assistance, and/or guidance they need in order to resolve their issue or problem within the eTS.

by Susan Garrett

The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.

The GARS fee is an administrative fee which reimburses the rental car company for the following:  administrative costs incurred by rental car businesses which are peculiar to doing business with the Government; application of the agreement terms on a worldwide basis; a guarantee of the rates for at least 60 days; the rental of vehicles to employees under age 25; and the acceptance of properly-licensed Government employees on official business as additional drivers.

When reserving a rental car, please remember to add the $5.00 per day to the daily cost of the rental car.  On your rental car bill, the GARS fee will appear as an itemized daily expense.  Other charges that will be itemized and included are state and local taxes.  Taking these fees into account on your travel authorization will ensure a more accurate estimation of your total rental car cost.

by Brian Shears

My agency went from a very effective, simple in-house electronic authorization and vouchering system to using one of the three ETS systems 5 years ago.  The old electronic travel authorization and voucher system did its job very well, particularly in facilitating the timely payment of vouchers.  But the old system enforced little travel policy – Federal and agency travel policy that users of the ETS system may not have even known existed.

The old system also did not have an integrated Online Booking Engine (OBE).  Unlike a travel agent, an OBE can’t really answer your questions or help you with anything that you don’t specifically ask for.  While very convenient for simple trips, an OBE isn’t ideal for more complicated multiple city travel.  Travelers and travel arrangers had to be educated that there are some trips were it makes sense to spend a little extra by using a travel agent.

The challenges of system-enforced travel policy and an integrated OBE have been successfully overcome now with use of our ETS system.  It is unlikely that we will need to jump these hurdles again with ETS2.

The user interface of our ETS system was a little rough around the edges initially, but the vendor has made improvements over the years to make the system more user-friendly.  The new user interface of the ETS2 system may very well be the biggest change overall that will need to be addressed.  The ETS2 system’s user interface won’t be “worse” than the ETS system’s user interface, just different.

So, how should we successfully manage the change from an ETS system to an ETS2 system?

It will be very important to have buy-in of ETS2 from Executive leadership at the agency.  For ETS, we had this.  For ETS, we had a strong Executive Sponsor who kept peers updated on a regular basis on the status of implementing our ETS system.  This message was communicated by our Executive Sponsor over and over:  ETS is happening, believe it and be ready!  This same strong leadership will be required for ETS2 to be successful.

Communication with and training of users are also extremely important.  For ETS, communication with users was primarily of key upcoming events like demos and training courses.  Some public relations, PR-type communication to build interest prior to implementation was done, but more could have occurred and likely helped ease the change.  Training was provided on-site in offices throughout the United States.  Those that attended training seemed to handle the change to the new system much better (no surprise there).  In hindsight we could have been more pro-active in ensuring more users attended the training.

For ETS, we identified “super users.”  Super users are highly-trained employees that are willing and able to provide support to users of the ETS system at a local level, within their office and/or geographical area.  Super users supplement formal help desks, and we asked super users to even be the first line of defense whenever possible.  Super users had direct access to the team that implemented the ETS system, including attending recurring conference calls and meetings both prior to implementation and after.  It was particularly important to meet with super users on a regular basis in the weeks immediately following implementation.  These calls and meetings let an individual super user get an answer from the implementation team that may be pertinent to many super users.  The recurring calls and meetings also facilitated super users talking amongst themselves to share best practices in helping users.

On a personal note, I do find it interesting and even a bit amusing that in my experience the same people who complain about a new system are often those that complain when that system is later being replaced.  I expect that some of the biggest opponents of our ETS system will be some of its biggest proponents now that it will be going away.  Makes you think that it might not be the system that is the “problem,” but maybe the real issue is users resisting changing the way they have been doing things.  No matter, the change still needs to be managed.

By: Kevin Young

Approving officials are setup in routing lists in the eGov Travel application.  There is often more than one approving official in a routing list to allow for unavailability.  The approving official can be an administrator, part of the finance office or required for specific agency business rules.  When a document is routed to the approving official it is their responsibility to review the document in a timely manner.

The review of the authorization must be timely by the approving official to allow the traveler to confirm the reservations and take a planned trip to accomplish the agency mission.  The approving official must review the document to make sure the traveler made choices which were advantageous to the government, not just the convenience of the traveler.  All selections and expenses must be identified as being within the FTR and the agencies policy.  The approving official can sign the document or return it to the traveler for adjustment.  When the document is signed it is done with a secure, digital signature.

The review of the voucher must be timely by the approving official to allow the traveler to be reimbursed for the expenses which were incurred during their trip.  It can be tempting for an approving official to sign/approve a document without looking at the details and expenses of the traveler.  It is critical that the approving official review the expenses related to the trip and compare against appropriate receipts provided by the traveler prior to approval.

By: Debbie Sams

“The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.”

I was hired in 2005 to support travelers with this new eTravel system.  The agency that I work for provides administrative support services on a competitive and full cost-reimbursable basis to other government agencies.  We operate like a public business and do not receive any appropriated funds.

We have two branches within travel  – Relocation and Temporary Duty (TDY).  I work in the TDY branch.  Our services include E-Gov Travel implementation, help desk support, training, travel-related payments, travel policy, and charge card administration.

In the beginning I provided support to travelers that would call the Help Desk.  Much of the day was spent answering calls regarding the registration process.  The E-Gov Travel system registration process is designed to be completed by the traveler rather than a secretary.  There is unique information needed that only the traveler would now.  Many travelers were reluctant to use the system and did not think that it was user-friendly.  They were accustom to calling the travel agency and handling everything by paper.  The system also made them abide by the Federal Travel Regulations, which some were not used to.

It has been over five years now and it seems that travelers are growing to like the system and its features.  Our ETS vendor continues to make upgrades to the system and continues to strive to make the system user-friendlier. Travelers also appreciate our helpful, friendly staff.

By:  Chanda Garrett

The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.  Use of this equipment is consistent with the agency’s policy governing limited personal use.

In the mid-1970s, the federal government implemented the use of travel purpose identifiers to categorize the types of travel conducted by its agencies.  Congress could then obtain the information needed to oversee the use of federal funds for travel.  Incorporated into Chapter 301 of the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR)  the following travel purpose identifiers were added as Appendix C:  Site Visit; Information Meeting; Training Attendance; Speech or Presentation; Conference Attendance; Relocation; and Entitlement Travel.

Over time these travel purpose identifiers became inadequate in identifying the complexity of modern travel needs. In response to these changes the General Services Administration (GSA) established the Travel Purpose Identifier Focus Group to review and develop a common list.  This team recommended six new identifiers asserting the following benefits:

• Standardize identifiers across the Government;
• Provide the ability to report travel spending by purpose;
• Permit the highlighting of special travel requirements in agency budgets and missions;
• Allow agencies to develop mission-specific sub-identifiers; and
• Provide greater opportunity to develop standardized reports Government wide.

To enhance classification of travel cost, effective August 20, 2009, the following updated list of travel purpose identifiers along with their descriptions replaced the previous travel purpose identifiers in Appendix C of Chapter 301 – Standard Data Elements for Federal Travel

Employee Emergency

Travel related to an unexpected occurrence/event or injury/illness that affects the employee personally and/or directly that requires immediate action/attention. Examples: Traveler is incapacitated by illness or injury, death or serious illness of a family member (as defined in §300-3.1 or §301-30.2), or catastrophic occurrence or impending disaster that directly affects the employee’s home. Emergency travel also includes travel for medical care while employee is TDY away from the official station (Part 301-30), death of an employee/immediate family member when performing official duties away from the official station or home of record (Part 303-70), medical attendant transportation (Part 301-30), assistance travel for an employee with special needs (Part 301-13), as well as travel for threatened law enforcement/investigative employees (Part 301-31).

Mission (Operational)

Travel to a particular site in order to perform operational or managerial activities. Travel to attend a meeting to discuss general agency operations, review status reports, or discuss topics of general interest. Examples: Employee’s day-to-day operational or managerial activities, as defined by the agency, to include, but not be limited to: hearings, site visit, information meeting, inspections, audits, investigations, and examinations.

Special Agency Mission

Travel to carry out a special agency mission and/or perform a task outside the agency’s normal course of day-to-day business activities that is unique or distinctive. These the agency annual special missions are defined by the head of agency and are normally not programmed in funding authorization. Examples: These agency-defined special missions may include details, security missions, and agency emergency response/recovery such as civil, natural disasters, evacuation, catastrophic events, technical assistance, evaluations or assessments.

Conference – Other than Training

Travel performed in connection with a prearranged meeting, retreat, convention, seminar, or symposium for consultation or exchange of information or discussion. Agencies have to distinguish between conference and training attendance and use the appropriate identifier (see Training below). Examples: To participate in a planned program as a speaker/panelist or other form of presentation, host, planner, or others designated to oversee the conference or attendance with no formal role, or as an exhibitor.

Training

Travel in conjunction with educational activities to become proficient or qualified in one or more areas of responsibility. 5 USC 4101(4) states that “‘training’ means the process of providing for and making available to an employee, and placing or enrolling the employee in a planned, prepared, and coordinated program, course, curriculum, subject, system, or routine of instruction or education, in scientific, professional, technical, mechanical, trade, clerical, fiscal, administrative, or other fields which will improve individual and organizational performance in scientific, professional, technical, mechanical, trade, clerical, fiscal, administrative, or other fields which will improve individual and organizational performance and assist in achieving the agency’s mission and performance goals.” The term “conference” may also apply to training activities that are considered to be conferences under 5 CFR 410.404, which states that “agencies may sponsor an employee’s attendance at a conference as a developmental assignment under section 4110 of title 5, United States Code, when:

1. The announced purpose of the conference is educational or instructional;
2. More than half of the time is scheduled for a planned, organized exchange of information between presenters and audience which meets the definition of training in section 4101 of title 5, United States Code;
3. The content of the conference is germane to improving individual and/or organizational performance, and
4. Development benefits will be derived through the employee’s attendance.” Agencies have to distinguish between conference and training attendance and use the appropriate identifier (see Conference—Other Than Training above). Examples: Job required training, Internships, Intergovernmental Personnel Act, and forums.

Relocation

Travel performed in connection with a transfer from one official station to another for employees/immediate family members, as applicable. Examples: Permanent change of station (PCS) moves for domestic and international transferees/new appointees, tour renewal, temporary change of station (TCS), and last move home.

Implementation of the updated travel purpose identifiers gives agencies the ability to capture and report their travel activity.  The federal financial manager can monitor their agency’s travel spending and its relevancy in executing their mission. They can evaluate travel programs and take suitable actions to ensure their agencies’ are productively and appropriately administering the use of federal fund.  As stewards of federal funds they are entrusted by taxpayers to be diligent in the use of those funds.

By Regina Potter

The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.

According to GSA, banks under contract to the Smartpay program must provide an assortment of protections against misuse. Under the program agencies may limit credit lines, use Merchant Category codes (which designate the type of business) to limit where cards may be use, access internet reports on use, monitor account activity, search for accounts with excessive disputes, arrange for reports of unusual spending activity, and locate accounts where cards have repeatedly been reported lost or stolen. According to GSA, agencies can arrange to receive customized reports to alert them to problems.

Apparently, agencies have available the tools to closely monitor and limit employee use of Smartpay cards. What GSA does not tell us is whether, and to what extent, agencies are using these tools and, to what extent employees are disciplined for card misuse. Even GSA admits that no Governmentwide policies exist concerning disciplining employees for card misuse and that most employees receive minimal training in what they may properly use the cards for. Rather than suggest that agencies need to correct this situation, I question why GSA does not issue Governmentwide requirements on training and discipline.

by Scott Goldsmith

For each customer to convert from the legacy system to the new one, there were two people in our agency assigned to lead each team.  We were responsible for performing all of the background maintenance tasks, such as routing lists, the people table, and security groups.

We also trained all travelers on the E Gov Travel system.  At the beginning of each training session, we explained the new travel system is one of the President’s twenty-four E Gov initiatives and that it’s a mandatory system.  For the convenience of our customers, we provide a customer service helpdesk, an email help/information box, a web-based customer page, and a quick reference guide to be used when preparing documents in the travel system.  Our training sessions are open to all travelers of the agencies in which we provide services.  This training sometimes includes separate sessions for budget reviewers and approving officials.  We typically offer 1/2 day hands-on training sessions for travelers and document preparers.  After logging into the training database, our topics of instruction include the creation of an authorization, voucher, and local voucher.  In addition, we demonstrate how to create amendments and make adjustments.

One of the biggest changes for us and our customers from the legacy travel system to the new travel system is the ability to access the Global Distribution System to make airfare and hotel reservations.  We generally spend more time training the users on this function within the system than any other area.  This is greatly due to the versatility in selecting the desired flight for the temporary duty trip.  It’s helpful for the Government traveler to be educated on the selection and realize how accommodating this feature is.  For instance, the flights are highlighted in different colors to help the traveler identify what type of flight they are selecting.  The GSA City Pair fares with capacity limits are highlighted in yellow, the GSA City Pair fares are highlighted in green, and the penalty fares are highlighted in red.  The traveler may price up to ten flights as a comparison tool and then choose the desired flight for their trip.  The Travel Management Center fee is less expensive if the reservations are automatically booked within the system.  However, there are cases when the traveler may need to contact a travel agent which results in a higher transaction fee for using their assistance.  The traveler may request this assistance directly through the E Gov Travel system or call the travel agent by phone.

To complete the document training process, we teach the traveler how to maneuver in each screen in order to complete each document type.  When the voucher is created, we point out the information that was populated from the authorization.  We instruct them on how to delete, add, or change the information in order to submit the voucher for the correct amount in which they are to be reimbursed.

There is a feature in the system where the traveler is able to attach receipts to their document.  According to the Federal Travel Regulations, the following receipts must be retained for six years and three months.  The required receipts include airfare, rail, hotel, rental car, and any single expense over $75.00.  The receipts can be scanned or faxed into the document.  This tool is very convenient for the approving official when the voucher is electronically routed because they can easily compare the actual receipts to the expenses entered in the E Gov Travel system.  At this point, if the approving official needs to return the voucher to the traveler for any reason, they can do so.  If everything is correct and ready for approval, the approving official applies a digital signature so the voucher can continue on to the payment process.  Travelers can expect to receive their travel reimbursement within three to five business days.

To complete the training session, travelers are allotted time to work freely in the training database to become comfortable with the process and to ask questions while the instructors are available on-site.  We direct the travelers to websites that are useful to them to prepare for their business trip and to provide helpful information.

In closing, the transition from the legacy travel system to the E Gov Travel system has been successful and a great learning experience.

by Cindy Moore

Disclaimer: The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.  Use of this equipment is consistent with the agency’s policy governing limited personal use.

At my agency, we provide travel help desk support to other government agencies. This support ranges from assisting travelers with system functionality on a small scale to training infrequent travelers on how to use the system. When appropriate we also provide FTR guidance and credit card assistance to travelers.

In additional to help desk support via telephone, we also provide travel system training in a formal classroom environment to groups of travelers. We can provide a training facility in the DC area or train at the customer location assuming adequate facilities exist. Participants of these training sessions have an opportunity to get hands on experience in using the system as well as get their questions answered first hand. On-line or remote training is also an option for travelers who can’t attend a formal training session. On-line training materials are also available to assist travelers.

By providing several different training and support resources, the traveler can feel comfortable in completing their travel plans and documents promptly and have more time to focus on their agency’s mission.

by Julie Gilchrist

“The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.