Travel Department Lead

Description:

The Travel Department Lead coordinates all aspects of ongoing system maintenance and system modifications, that includes transitions to updated system versions, new interfaces and new travel products. Develop and create business intelligence reporting, financial reports, providing qualitative information to the management on an ongoing basis. Provide standard reports from the Cognos BI environment, to monitor system performance, effectiveness, cost savings and potential improvement opportunities. They are responsible for the audit and control of business expenses, reviewing data to detect and confront potential fraud or error. The Travel Department Lead will provide Lead work direction to staff in travel claims processing, Corporate Card reconciliation operations and campus training of the Concur module.

Responsibilities Include, But Are Not Limited To

Provide lead work direction of the Accounting Technicians in the processing and auditing of travel and corporate card reconciliation payments and other assigned Travel Department duties.
The Travel Lead acts as the Subject matter expert (SME) for the University’s Travel and Guest Travel (non-employee travel) services, and related CSU/campus travel guidelines, Direct Payment (Corporate Card) and associated procedures and policies for San Bernardino and Palm Desert campuses, which includes the auxiliary operations as well as the stateside. 
Responsible for providing comprehensive financial management and analysis services that includes developing, interpreting, and implementing financial concepts for financial planning, forecasting, modeling and internal controls for all travel and financial funds, functions and processes of the University.
Serves as the primary liaison between financial expense system application and IT department, and the campus functional units to identify and resolve programming and business rule implementation.
Responsible for regular audits and assessments of the travel data, in compliance with CSU/Integrated California State University Administrative Manual (ICSUAM) policies, campus procedures and other related administrative guidelines
Responsible for loading the Standard Accounting Extract (SAE) Cost file from expense management system application to PeopleSoft Database
Involved in activities that include historical trend reporting and future forecasting and planning using principles of management.
Develop quantitative methods for management to enhance reporting and provide more accurate data to higher management.
Responsible for the portfolio management of travel and direct purchasing (Corporate Card) data of the university
Lead and support projects designed to implement changes or add functionality to the technology with a focus on ensuring a positive end user experience.
Leading projects related to Risk Management and provided better assessment of statistics by analyzing the current trend data of travel.
Regular reporting and conducting risk assessments of current situations.
Responsible for handling and overseeing the daily processing of payments in the expense management application.
Manages new projects and enhancements of existing projects from conception through implementation, i.e campus wide Corporate Card project implementation and ongoing maintenance, implementation of the student/group travel and guest policy, personal mobile device stipend reimbursements, etc.
Member of the Financial Affairs Collaboration Team (FACT) and the Travel Advisory Council (TAC), and responsible for advising the groups of priorities, changes to policy, needed system improvements and when/where central support is constructive.
Coordinate all aspects of ongoing system maintenance, and responsible for system modifications required by changes in CSU/campus guidelines/policies: transitions to updated system versions, new interfaces and new products and applications.
Financial business configuration and administering expense reporting system including but not limited to user administration, imports/exports, forms, workflows, audit rules, integration with Peoplesoft Finance upstream / downstream systems.
Reconcile daily, weekly and monthly travel & expense accounts within expense reporting system and the ERP system - Peoplesoft.
Responsible for fiscal year-end closing of expense data for the University, this includes reviewing and adjusting all accounts, general ledger codes etc. to reflect the activities for the fiscal year.
Responsible for loading general ledger codes to the expense reporting system to better analyze and interpret correct accounting principles.
Conduct program analysis, provide reports and evaluating financial data; develop methods, policies and procedures to achieve programmatic objectives.
Responsible for developing and implementing best business practices for expense reimbursement.
Monitor preferred suppliers and service provider performance, reconcile service level agreements (SLA) with our campus contract.
Develop and maintain program documentation, including procedures, contacts and policies, to ensure adequate program supporting documentation and audit compliance
Assess local adoption of and compliance with program objectives and policies. Identifying local trends and patterns as result of data analysis
Serve as the CSUSB representative for all travel, expense reimbursement, and expense disbursement matters on campus and in system wide forums.
Audit and certify claimed expenses to ensure compliance, detect error or potential fraud and report accordingly.
Candidate/Visitor Expense Reimbursements
Create and manage a Concur application (app) that allows for visitors, university guests, volunteers, candidates, and students, etc. to be compensated for their valid travel expenses. 
Integrate and design a process application within Concur that is a simplified expense reporting tool that will require specific audit rules and workflow. 
This app will directly integrate with Concur travel and require ongoing maintenance to ensure that it abides by the current rules (state travel bans, mileage reimbursement rates, meals allowances, etc.) and campus policies.
Plan and create financial business and travel reports in Cognos Query Studio. The reports include various list reports, grouped reports, cross tab reports, chart reports and drill through Cognos reports.
Develop the financial reports to provide qualitative information to management regularly, this includes customizing, automating and scheduling reporting.
Provide standard financial reports from the Cognos BI environment, monitor system performance, effectiveness, cost savings and potential improvement opportunities.
Create dashboard reports to present critical University data in a single report.
Financial cost reporting of bank corporate cards, provide data to management.
Conduct monthly testing of expense reporting system updates and enhancements to the system.
Manage new users, system delegates and system processors, in a multi-campus environment.
Coordinates with various teams for integration of core ERP systems like Peoplesoft, DOC (duty of care), etc. in the expense reporting system
Collaborate with department heads to establish user accounts and resolve financial system-related travel transaction issues.
Assist with workflow management in the expense reporting system, including monitoring unassigned and unapproved transactions.
Recommend enhancements to existing controls to reduce the risk of fraud, duplicate reimbursements and inefficient processes/controls.
Act as subject matter expert during acquisitions, campus expansion, cross functional disbursement activities and system enhancements/upgrades
Administrating the Travel Department/Corporate Card webpage, that includes content restructuring and designing of the webpage.
Conduct periodic needs assessments and develop effective training programs, materials (including electronic media) and course offerings.
Evaluate training programs and course offerings to produce a wide variety of instructional materials and web resources related to training.
Develop campus expense procedures and ensure compliance with CSU policies, campus procedures and other external program requirements.
Respond to inquiries and provide necessary information for audits and system reviews.
Assess customer satisfaction using online surveys and focus groups to gain input, comments and recommendation on improving services.
Work closely with IT representatives, web developers and system representatives to ensure that content reflect campus needs.
Train business users to develop/use reports for their various departmental functions.
Actively involved in the training of expense reporting system user interface through online and in-person demonstrations
Lead staff assigned to travel or Corporate Card system activities.
Act in the capacity of the Director of Travel when absent from the office.
Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications: Required Education and Experience

Bachelor's degree and/or the equivalent training and administrative work experience involving study, analysis, and/or evaluation leading to the development or improvement of administrative policies, procedures, practices, or programs, PLUS five to six years of related experience.