Upcoming transition to Chrome River for travel and expenses

Chrome River is the University’s new travel and expense tool for reconciling travel card transactions and requesting reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses (when allowable). This transition will ultimately replace the Employee Expense Worksheet and our paper process with electronic submission and workflow. Please take a few moments to view these short videos describing the new tool:

• Chrome River Overview (closed-captioned)
• Chrome River system demonstration (not closed-captioned)
• Chrome River system demonstration (closed-captioned) 
• Click enroll, view details, launch the course, and select the video called Demo: Reporting Expenses in Chrome River. We are working for a better solution for captioning.

Chrome River will roll out in phases with ASR tentatively scheduled to go-live at the end of October. We will be discussing this transition and the related procedural changes during the ASR In-Service on October 25.

No additional action, such as requesting a travel card, is required at this time. Additional instructions will be given at the ASR in-service on October 25. For questions, contact your building’s admin support (Lindsay or Megan).

2018 Community Fund Drive

ASR encourages all staff to participate in the annual Community Fund Drive. One option is to donate to ASR’s TC Student Success Fund. You can do this by participating in an ASR event or by donating directly online.

To mark your participation in the Community Fund Drive via an ASR event, go to cfd.umn.edu and click on ‘Community Nonprofits’. Select the third option: “I supported the Community Fund Drive by participating in my college or unit’s activities and/or cannot support the campaign financially at this time.” (This option is not available if you made a donation to a Community nonprofit.)

Change in Administrative Support Contact (ASC)

We are pleased to announce a change in the ASC responsibility split - Lindsay Bork Nichols has been the primary ASC for all of ASR for the past several months since Mara departed. Now, we will once again split the contact role based on building (see below).

With any administrative support type of questions, please first reference the handy, dandy Resource Guide, and then reach out to your ASC if you have additional questions.

	Lindsay Bork Nichols lindsay@umn.edu 160 Williamson	Megan Wollner woll0122@umn.edu 253 Fraser
Bierman Field		X
Bruininks Hall	X
Coffey Hall	X
Fraser Hall		X
Medical School		X
West Bank Skyway	X
Williamson Hall	X

Community Fund Drive - October 1-31

Last year ASR hosted “Donuts, Dogs, and Donations” and raised $725 for the TC Student Success Fund in support of the annual U of M Community Fund Drive.

This year’s event will be “Cookies, Cats, and Cash” on Thursday, October 25 from 9-10:30 in Fraser B20. Stop by and enjoy a treat while perusing cute cat photos. Bring cash to vote for your favorite photo. Each vote is a donation to the TC Student Success Fund.

Submit your cat’s photo to Megan Wollner (woll0122@umn.edu) by Thursday, October 18. One photo will be randomly selected to represent each unit in ASR at the event.

New template for external presentations

The Board of Regents recently approved a new template for external presentations. The template must be used when you present to external audiences.

There are templates for both PowerPoint and Google Slides in the ASR Team drive (ASR Staff Team Drive > Presentation Templates). Note that there are two choices for introductory slides. There is a final slide that says "Driven to Discover", which is optional.

Please delete/archive your old presentation templates and use the new approved template. When you create a copy of the template, be sure to save it in a separate folder. If you need a different version or have other specifications, contact Crystal Nichols (nicholsc@umn.edu).

2018 election - campaign activities

The University encourages students, faculty, and staff to engage and vote. However, be reminded that federal and state laws prohibit the use of University resources to support specific candidates, ballot initiatives, or referenda. University of Minnesota political engagement policies reflect these legal regulations. More information is available via the 2018 guidelines for political campaign related activities.

Successful completion of work study audit

This summer the University’s Internal Audits audited administration of the federal and state work study programs. Their primary scope was to determine whether:

1. The University and participating departments are taking full advantage of the work study program and ensuring that all University work study funds are used
2. No student is earning more than their approved work study fund allocation
3. No student is earning work study funds after their enrollment has fallen below eligibility

They concluded that the programs are well managed and that the manual monitoring processes are effective. They also found the automated controls in place to prevent students earning more funds than they were allocated were also effective.
Huge thank you to Deb Wilkin and Christopher D. Peterson from the Office of Student Finance for their tireless efforts to assist the audit.