User Stories not being taken forward
The table below show User Stories that were gathered at the Finance and Non-Finance User Groups in May 2014 but will not be developed as part of this current project. The ideas will be retained by Finance for consideration in the future.
| Ref | Epic | As a | I want | So that | Comment |
| F15 | Approve claims | Administrator | my claims are approved and paid independent of approval lines | I do not have to wait until the whole claim is approved | Policy decision from Finance that claims should not be partially paid |
| NF39 | Approve claims | Budget Holder | to know claims are properly authorised - by someone senior or in an independent finance team. Someone who will actually challenge the claim | I know UoE is not paying for invalid expenses | This will be handled by policy not by the system enforcing the rule, as in some areas the approver is not a senior grade |
| NF40 | Approve claims | Budget Holder | to control who spends on my budget - whether or not they are in my direct line management | I remain in control | This will be handled via eAuthorisations |
| NF14 | Approve claims | Approver | expense type code to be overwritable | if expense type description does not match available budget amount code, I can keep the description but overwrite the 4-digit account code to match the budget | This is partially covered in Story 72 but we will be limited by what can be amended without additional/different data being needed |
| NF4 | Approve claims | Claimant | not more than one approval group allowed per claim e.g. 542 only not 542 & 539 | as an approver with a claim received showing a line with an approval group I don't have permission to approve won't happen | We have already been asked to allow multiiple approval groups on one claim which is the complete opposite of this |
| NF49 | Manage claim | Auditor | control over what is claimed, each backed with original receipt | I know all claims are legitimate | The system will have no way of telling whether a receipt is original or not. It will be down to the approver to check. |
| NF2 | Manage claim | FIS Support | ability to fix in codes | non-Finance staff simply claim and don't have to think about coding | Wherever possible the system can assist with coding but the user will ultimately have to choose if there is more than one option (e.g. researcher working on two grants) |
| F48 | n/a | Claimant | conversion for currency | currency would be helpful. Rate, currency & GBP value & record & calculate rate of exchange. | Currency conversions were noted as being out of scope in the Project Brief |
| F42 | n/a | FIS User | use the drilldown in eFin to view expenses info | this current functionality is still available | We are not changing eFIn functionality so this will still work - we'llbe sure to include it in the testing |
| F57 | n/a | Insurer | to be clear everyone doing mileage claims is insured | ensure mileage properly insured if on Uni business | The mileage is being claimed after the event so there isn't much the system can do. The best that could be done is to edit the on-screen narrative to remind claimants that they must have adequeate insurance |
| F77 | n/a | Group Accountant | improved reporting on travel & subsistance in general T&S xxxx from the following - manual claims PO2 - eExpense claims PO2 - xxxxxx travel system xxxxx (charged by travel providers )GT - AP invoices POI - paid to xxxxxxx e.g. hotel POI | it is necessary to join up the 4 T&S expense streams | We hope to include the manual expenses claims currently done against cash advances, but the others are outside the scope of this project |
| F79 | n/a | Group Accountant | manual expense claim vouchers to be held in the same document image repository as eExpense vouchers. They are at present | when eExpenses replacement accommodate claim voucher image scans, the manual expense claim images can be added to the same document management system (by staff ID) | This would be a manual process for Accounts Payable and/or Cash Office |
| NF12 | n/a | - | will history of previous claims be available on new system e.g. archive existing data but be available to access by claimant and approver/dept etc | - | A decision has not yet been made as to how long the old system will be available for reporting. The old claims will not be visible on the new system. |
| NF21 | n/a | Proxy User | the system to run at a reasonable speed | it's not slowed down unnecessarily | We will test for acceptable system response times |
| NF24 | n/a | Claimant | the simplest form possible in non-finance speak | I can claim easily and quickly i.e. date, amount, description and type | We will attempt to make the form as simple as possible but still need to capture all of the data required |
| NF33 | n/a | Claimant | a mobile app | I can claim on the go | A specific app is not within the scope of the project as it requires completely different software to be written. However the new system will be available via internet browers on iPads etc |
| NF35 | n/a | Budget Holder | pre-approved expense capability | I can set out a fixed value I know must be incurred (i.e. standing expenses). Likewise another B/H may not use this so on/off is desirable | This is outside the scope of the project |
| NF42 | n/a | Approver | to be able to easily remove the VAT and recharge to the VAT account | I do not have to query | VAT Manager has specifically requested that VAT is NOT codes to the VAT account |
| NF46 | n/a | User | the home screen to look similar to the current eExpenses screen | the transition from current system to new system is smooth/easy | This will not be possible as modern coding and accessability standards will apply |
| NF53 | n/a | Claimant | to have a trip approval routing workflow e.g. as manager to approve journey in advance / to ensure adequate risk assessment in place. Whole lifecycle of claim from initial request to claim | I can ensure trips are approved in advance - could pre-populate the expenses claim fields e.g. trip purpose | This is outside the scope of the project |
| NF67 | n/a | Insurance | to have contact details for people travelling to remote parts of the world | they don't go to places they shouldn't visit e.g. Iran | This is outside the scope of the project |
| F49 | Reporting | Finance Manager | to view receipts submitted to do a control check on claims received | audit & control procedure & checks can be carried out (it would be nice to have audit query functionality) | Receipts will be accessible via the new system and eFin on a claim by claim basis |
| F50 | Reporting | Finance Manager | to be able to easily answer FOI queries | meet statutory report/info deadlines | There will be BI Suite reporting which should cover most of these requests but without specific examples it's difficult to be 100% sure |
| F70 | Reporting | AP staff member | read-only access | answer queries | Authorised users will be able to view claims & run reports via WebFirst and BI Suite |
| NF41 | Reporting | Auditor | effective reporting | I can tell who has claimed what, when, for what, who approved it, see trends of claims - i.e. have good management information | Authorised users will be able to view claims & run reports via WebFirst and BI Suite |
| NF50 | Reporting | Manager | to record my travel commitments (currently via WebFIrst). Trip approval could record estimated cost which could be used to update commitment info in WebFirst & eFinancials electronically | I can then monitor the trip estimated cost v actual at the end | Trip' functionality if outside the scope of this project |
| NF59 | Reporting | Procurement Manager | to be able to see the total cost of rail travel / air travel etc across the University - regardless of source | I can negotiate contrats for travel, accommodation etc with suppliers | This may be available via BI Suite depending on how we are able to record the expense details |
| NF69 | Reporting | Manager | to report expenses by trip/purpose of visit/activity & group costs together in the financial ledger | I can see the total cost of a trip / visit / activity e.d. EDUCAUSE trip to ISA (air travel, conference fees, taxi etc) | Trip' functionality is outside the scope of this project, but common descriptions could be reported on via BI Suite |
| F18 | Reporting | Administrator | to be able to search on claims more easily within the system | we can respond to support calls more effectively | Authorised users will be be able to search for claims and view the details/receipts |
| NF36 | Reporting | Auditor | record keeping | I can look back at a specific claim to answer queries | Authorised users will be able to view claims & run reports via WebFirst and BI Suite |
| NF60 | Reporting | AP Manager | to review a sample of expense claims to ensure financial control rules are adhered to | University policies on expenses are followed | Authorised users will be able to view claims & run reports via WebFirst and BI Suite |
| NF64 | Reporting | Financial Accountant | to be able to view the audit trail for expenses to ensure no fraud / or to investigate fraud | I can provide evidence for disciplinary investigation | Authorised users will be able to view claims & run reports via WebFirst and BI Suite |
| F34 | Reporting | Tax Manager | on line accounts scanned support | to identify/review nature and status of expense | Receipts will be viewable via eFin and/or eExpenses |
| F55 | Reporting | Manager | to report claims by College, School, Unit & also extract the claims we report for FOI purposes can be easily extracts | info can extracted easily for reporting on expenses, group expenses by trip/purpose functionality | The new BI Suite should address some of these requsts |
| F59 | Reporting | Finance person | electronic receipts integration to expenses claim & new receipts related to a claim or view all receipts relating to a range of job codes/ccs | report externally on expenses claimed | This seems to cover several requests but it looks like they're all covered by other User Stories |
| F60 | Reporting | Finance Manager | report HMRC, produce PAYE reports via BOBI | claim VAT, report on PAYE etc | The combination of BI Suite, WebFirst and eFin should provide this. If new BI Suite reports are needed please speak to FIS |
| F74 | Reporting | Group Accountant | to be able to see what xxx & expenses that have been processed have had vouchers/back up submitted and/or the reporting shows which expense claims have been vouchered and/or which lines on an expense claim been vouchered | financial controls have been exercised and voucher and receipts have been submitted so that we can be confident the regulations for expenses have been followed | This should all be visible in eFIn |
| F75 | Reporting | Group Accountant | improved documentation on the range of BOXI, inputs available. These are probably in a BOXI folder called something like eFin & Exp v3.4 or eFIn & Exp v4.1 a Schools or somewhere invalid not think to look | I can open an existing BOXI report and - edit it (not a xxxxxxx xxxxx copy) - create a report tailored for my own use | The new BI Suite should address some of these issues. If additional documentation is required please speak to FIS. |
| NF38 | Reporting | Budget Holder | control totals between what's claimed on eExpenses & what's posted to eFin | I know all expenses accounted for, once & once only | BI Suite and/or WebFirst should already cover this? |
| NF58 | System admin | Claimant | standard mileage distances for journeys in Edinburgh e.g. Old College to KB as defaults in the system | I don’t have to think about regular distances | This is outside the scope of the project |
| F62 | System admin | Support Person | be able to look at a users details, claims, approvers (i.e. see it as they can see it) | we can answer any support calls by our users | You will be able to look at the claims but not exactly as they see it. You could make use of the proxy functionality which is similar |
| NF29 | User admin | Approver | to set out of office on my profile | claimant can direct claim to another user | Out of scope but approval will be via 'approval groups' so other authorised people will be able to approve the claim |
| NF37 | User admin | Auditor | a way of automatically removing people who have left - or at least highlighting that they need to be removed | I know leakage is minimised | There is no way of telling that someone has left as their EASE account remains open |
| F78 | User admin | Group Accountant | clarity in reporting on who (role?) approved the claim? Where they say a PI approving a claim for one of their research associates - or say a department or research administrator approving a claim for a senior PI professor claimant? Does that happen? Is there an assumption of one-up approval? should that be a function of the system - should there be exception reporting where one-up approval not the case | This will be handled by policy not by the system enforcing the rule, as in some areas the approver is not a senior grade. eAuthorisations will record who is authorised to approve claims for an individual. |