This form is used to request policy exception approval to allow for reimbursement of noncompliant transactions. Once submitted, the form is automatically routed to Divisional Business Office contacts for approval. This form is intended to be used only by Divisions participating in the Division of Business Services centralized audit of expenses.
This form is used to request policy exception approval to allow for reimbursement of noncompliant transactions. Once submitted, the form is automatically routed to Divisional Business Office contacts for approval. This form is intended to be used only by Divisions participating in the Division of Business Services centralized audit of expenses.
Instructions for a claimant/submitter on how to obtain a policy exception for a noncompliant expense report. Applies to UW–Madison expense reports.
Access the Policy Exception Approval Request web form. You will be prompted for a NetID login to access the form. Note: If this is a request on behalf of a non-employee, the form must be filled out by a current UW–Madison employee with a NetID on behalf of the non-employee.
Fill out the required fields:
Claimant Name – This is the individual requesting reimbursement of policy noncompliant expenses.
Claimant Email
Submitter’s Name (if different than the claimant, e.g., an administrative assistant)
Submitter’s Email (if different than the claimant)
Select Division & Division Name from list. This field is required for form approval routing purposes.
Department UDDS: Enter your six-digit Department ID.
Department Name: Enter the name of your Department.
Total Exception Request Amount: Enter the total dollar amount of your exception request.
Expense Report Number: : Policy exception requests will be for a transaction or transactions on an expense report. Please include the expense report number in this field, if available when submitting the exception approval request form. The expense report number is a ten-digit identification number, e.g., 0001234567.
Select which policy was violated.
Select additional policy violation (if applicable to the situation).
Select additional policy violation (if applicable to the situation).
Reason for Policy Exception Request: Please provide a thorough explanation of the circumstances surrounding the policy violation. Include a description of what happened and a justification for why the exception should be granted.
Actions taken by the claimant and/or department to prevent need for future exceptions of this nature: Please outline how future exceptions of this nature will be avoided, whether there are new procedures in place or if there is now a better understanding of policy requirements.
Please add any supporting documentation: Up to 10 files may be added for the exception approvers to review/consider. Files may include receipts, agenda, relevant emails/communications, etc.
Click Submit. A message will pop up confirming “Your response was submitted.” The claimant (and submitter, if applicable) will receive an email confirmation of submission of the exception request. The submitted form will be automatically routed to the Divisional exception approvers for review.
Approval or denial of the request: Divisional exception approvers will either approve or deny the request.
Approved: The claimant (and submitter, if applicable) will receive an email notifying them of the approval of the policy exception request. The email should be converted to a PDF and attached to the expense report. The expense report may then be resubmitted into workflow.
Denial: The claimant (and submitter, if applicable) will receive an email noting that the request has been rejected.
Expense report: Remove the expense line(s) from the expense report containing noncompliant transactions. Resubmit the report.
Instructions for Divisional Business Office employees on how to review a policy exception for a noncompliant expense report. Applies to UW–Madison expense reports.
When a new Policy Exception Approval Request form has been submitted by a claimant, both the primary and backup exception approvers for a Division will receive an email from Microsoft Power Automate (flow-noreply@microsoft.com) and a Microsoft Teams Activity notification that the request is pending withing the Microsoft Teams Approvals application. The exception request may be reviewed and acted upon in either Microsoft Outlook or in Microsoft Teams Approvals. Directions for each process follow below.
Reviewing a Policy Exception Approval Request Form in Microsoft Outlook
Click on image to enlarge – How a Policy Exemption Approval Request appears in Microsoft Outlook
Every Policy Exception Approval Request form will show at the top of the request as “Created by DEXTER FIERRO.” This only indicates that Dexter Fierro, Division of Business Services Business Analyst, created the Power Automate workflow as a whole. He did not create the specific request that is being submitted.
The second line, “Requested for Rebecca Lin” indicates that this Policy Exception Approval Request has been submitted by claimant Rebecca Lin (or on behalf of claimant Rebecca Lin), followed by a date and time stamp for unique identifiers of the request.
In the following section, a summary of form field answers is displayed. Here is where exception approvers will find the Department ID and Department Name logged, as well as the dollar amount and relevant expense report number. The exception request notes exactly which policies were violated and contains claimant responses regarding the circumstances of the exception request and the steps taken to prevent future exception requests of a similar nature.
The hyperlinked text Here is a link to the item you are approving contains a link to the Microsoft SharePoint item record for the specific policy exception approval request form being reviewed. This link is utilized to access attachments added to the Policy Exception Approval Request form, which can be found at the bottom of the SharePoint item page. This link should be used to access attachments, to request additional information from the claimant or submitter via the Comments functionality in SharePoint, or to grant access to another ad-hoc reviewer of the form via the Comments functionality in SharePoint. A comment may be directed to any individual with an Outlook account via @mentions. This functionality may be leveraged to ask the claimant or submitter for more information or to ask other individuals to review the request and comment on it, such as a Department Administrator. It is envisioned that this @mention functionality would be used most often to request more information from the claimant or submitter. The @mention functionality triggers an email to the mentioned individual, which grants them access to the SharePoint item to provide further information via comments. See below for an example of where to find attachments and to see a comment added triggering the claimant to provide more information.
Click on image to enlarge – How to access request attachments and add comments to a request (including tagging a claimant)
When an approver is ready to Approve or Reject the request, the approver should return to the email in their inbox and click their desired action button. Exception approvers have the opportunity to add a comment, but it is not required. Click “Submit” to complete the action step (this is the same regardless of whether Approve or Reject is selected). An email will be sent to the claimant and submitter notifying them of the decision.
For the approver who completed the action step, the Microsoft Power Automate email for the request will dynamically update reflecting the status to Approved or Rejected (Figure A below). For the other approver who did not complete the action step, their Microsoft Outlook email regarding the request will be updated to note “Others have already completed this request” (Figure B below).
Figure A. What the approving individual sees they complete the approval process: “Approved” status in the email
Figure B. What an approving individual sees when a different approver has completed the approval process: “Others have already completed this request” status in the email
Reviewing a Policy Exception Approval Request Form in Microsoft Teams Approvals
Click on image to enlarge – How to find requests in Teams under the “Approvals” section
Microsoft Teams has an application called Approvals. All Power Automate Policy Exception Approval Request Forms are visible within and actionable within Microsoft Teams Approvals. This application can be added to Microsoft Teams by clicking on the sidebar View More Apps “…”, searching for Approvals, and then pinning to your taskbar by right-clicking on the icon and selecting Pin. An exception approver will receive an Activity notification every time a Power Automate Policy Exception is submitted for their approval.
Navigate to a requested policy exception form in the Approvals Any items with Status “Requested” are still pending action from approvers. Click anywhere on the Request title to view the details of the submitted form.
Click on image to enlarge – You can see request details when a Policy Exception Approval Request is selected in the Teams workflow, including why the request was completed
A summary of form field answers is displayed. Here is where exception approvers will find the Department ID and Department Name logged, as well as the dollar amount and relevant expense report number. The exception request notes exactly which policies were violated and contains claimant responses regarding the circumstances of the exception request and the steps taken to prevent future exception requests of a similar nature.
Click on image to enlarge – The details of a Policy Exception Approval Request, including where you can find attachments, the approval workflow, where to add comments, a reassign option, and the ability to reject or approve the request
Continue scrolling on the form to view the SharePoint item link Here is a link to the item you are approving. This link is utilized to access attachments added to the Policy Exception Approval Request form, which can be found at the bottom of the SharePoint item page. This link should be used to access attachments, to request additional information from the claimant or submitter via the Comments functionality in SharePoint, or to grant access to another ad-hoc reviewer of the form via the Comments functionality in SharePoint. A comment may be directed to any individual with an Outlook account via @mentions. This functionality may be leveraged to ask the claimant or submitter for more information or to ask other individuals to review the request and comment on it, such as a Department Administrator, for instance. It is envisioned that this @mention functionality would be used most often to request more information from the claimant or submitter. The @mention functionality triggers an email to the mentioned individual, which grants them access to the SharePoint item to provide further information via comments.
A diagram of the approval workflow is provided with both the primary approver and backup approver listed.
If an approver would like to add comments, they may do so in the Comments section.
The form approval may be reassigned to another Teams user with a Microsoft account. Note: This is not recommended as a best practice. The primary and backup approvers should be approving all requests. The SharePoint @mention functionality can be used to gain additional feedback from individuals, but the requests themselves should always be approved by the Divisional CFO or delegate (the primary or secondary approver).
When an approver is ready to take action on the form, click Reject to deny the request or Approve to approve of the exception request. An email will be sent to the claimant and submitter notifying them of the decision. The Microsoft Teams Approvals log will dynamically update the status of the form once this is completed.
As of October 1, 2024, several changes were made affecting travel policy and expense reimbursement/payment approval guidance. The information is summarized below.
Travel Policy Updates
Effective October 1, 2024, the following travel policy updates have been made as a result of the August 1, 2024 update to UW-5087 – Remote Work:
UW-3016 – Air Travel: This policy was updated to reduce the number of situations in which a cost comparison is required for air travel. Specifically, “travel prior to or after the required business travel dates” (e.g., adding personal time to business travel) no longer requires a cost comparison. In addition, travelers may now depart from or return to any airport within the state of Wisconsin or within 100 miles from the Wisconsin border without a cost comparison. The policy was further updated to clarify that when a cost comparison is required, the cost comparison flight will generally depart from or return to the Dane County Regional Airport (MSN). The “no exceptions” clause has been removed from the 80% reimbursement statement when a valid cost comparison is not provided with a payment/reimbursement request.
UW-3026 – Non-Payable/Non-Reimbursable Expenses: This policy was updated to include a prohibition of payment/reimbursement of travel expenses to an employee’s assigned headquarters location.
UW-3015 – University Travel: This policy was updated to provide allowable departure and return times for UW business travel. Arrival on the day prior to a business event and departure on the day after business concludes is allowable. For international travel, arrival up to two days prior to the business event is allowable.
UW-3019 – Vehicle Use/Rental: This policy was updated to clarify the situations when mileage is a reimbursable expense. To summarize – commute mileage is never reimbursable and must be accounted for when reconciling business travel expenses.
Remote Work Audit Timeline
Travel and expense payment approvers should use the following timeline when auditing expenses:
For travel occurring on or before October 1, 2024: Expense reimbursement claims or payments will be processed under the remote work policy in place prior to August 2, 2024.
For travel occurring between October 1 and December 31, 2024: Exceptions may be granted via the Exception Request for Business Travel Form to allow for travel to headquarters location or additional mileage due to change in headquarters location if the travel was planned or scheduled prior to August 1, 2024.
All travel on or after January 1, 2025 for remote employees must conform to UW-Madison travel policies and application of UW-5087 – Remote Work.
Audit Resources
Information will be forthcoming for all e-Reimbursement approvers/auditors and purchasing card site managers who will need access to HR Remote Work Agreement data to audit travel expenses for remote employees.
Remote Work Agreements
All UW–Madison employees working remotely were required to complete a FY25 Remote Work Agreement (RWA) by October 1, 2024. If employees completed their FY25 RWA prior to July 31, 2024, they did so with the previous version of the RWA. It is recommended a new RWA be submitted – especially for those employees who are assigned fully remote (as a condition of their employment) – to streamline the expense reimbursement process going forward.
This form is to be used on a per-trip basis and be completed if the business traveler is requesting an exception from the travel policy (UW-3015) as it pertains to the remote work policy (UW-5087).
This form is to be used on a per-trip basis and be completed if the business traveler is requesting an exception from the travel policy (UW-3015) as it pertains to the remote work policy (UW-5087).
The Travel and Card team is pleased to announce several modifications to existing policies. See below for a summary of changes and impacts.
Policy UW-3016, Air Travel: Section I. Booking Methods has been updated to reflect four distinct exceptions. Previously, exceptions A. and B. were combined, which led to confusion, as the exceptions are truly separate and unrelated cases. The updated language reflects two separate exception categories: flights that can not be booked with designated travel management company and international flights purchased abroad (outside the United States).
Policy UW-3019, Vehicle Use/Rental: Previously, vehicle use/rental policy did not mention the allowability of parking expenses. A section has been added outlining payable and reimbursable parking expenses.
Policy UW-3024, Expense Reimbursement: There are two updates to expense reimbursement policy. The first update brings UW-Madison into alignment with the Universities of Wisconsin on accountable plan standards for Universities of Wisconsin students. The second update allows for expanded payment of expenses on behalf of any UW-Madison students, regardless of student type (e.g. undergraduate, graduate or doctoral students).
UW-Madison’s accountable plan needed to be updated to match Universities of Wisconsin policy to reflect that UW students who are not employed by the University are exempt from accountable plan requirements. Note that if a UW student is employed by UW-Madison or Universities of Wisconsin, they are considered an employee under the accountable plan and must comply with the 90-day deadlines.
Section IV., Claiming Own Expenses, has been updated to state employees may claim travel-related expenses for other travelers who are current UW-Madison students. Previously, this policy restricted the exception to undergraduate student travel only. Efforts should still be made to direct pay for student expenses utilizing Purchasing Cards or other direct methods of payment.
Policy UW-3026, Non-Payable/Non-Reimbursable Expenses: Edited to specify that parking costs at the headquarter worksite (office, etc.) are not payable/reimbursable. Previously, the term used was: assigned workplace. This change updates the language to reflect that used by Universities of Wisconsin. Added “early check-in” as a non-payable/non-reimbursable item on lodging folios; however, please be advised early check-in/late checkout may be paid or reimbursed if justified by business need/circumstances.
As always, please let us know if you have any questions.
As of July 1, 2024, UW Travel Services has transitioned all individual travel arrangements from Travel Incorporated to Fox World Travel. Reference the Universities of Wisconsin TravelWIse agency transition webpage for more details and upcoming webinars.
If you have an upcoming air, car, or hotel reservation booked with Travel Incorporated, it was moved to Fox World Travel on July 1.Travel Incorporated is no longer available for assistance or support for your upcoming booking. No action is required by the traveler or travel administrator. All reservations remain valid and confirmed.
As of July 1, all new reservations should be booked with Fox World Travel or in Concur. All active Concur profiles transferred to Fox World travel. All previous Administrative Group codes have been retired and are no longer available for booking.
Please note: Concur is not available for booking until July 2 due to the transitioning process (unavailable June 27 – July 1).
We recommend you save Fox’s contact information and bookmark the new Concur link.
Fox World Travel business hours: 7 a.m. – 7:30 p.m. Central Time, Monday – Friday. Additional fees apply after hours.
UW–Madison Travel Manager Terry Wilson is working closely with our UW System Administration partners throughout this process and may be contacted with any immediate questions.
On July 1, 2024, UW System Administration’s required contracted vendor for individual travel, Travel Incorporated, will be replaced by Fox World Travel.
To prepare for the transition, please review the below time-sensitive tasks.
Utilize open airline ticket credits on file with Travel Incorporated.
The Travel and Card team is happy to announce the following policy updates and changes:
UW-3022, International Travel: To align with Universities of Wisconsin foreign/international travel policy, two new allowable expenses associated with international travel will be added: international calling/data plans when accompanied by a business justification and required inoculations/vaccinations.
UW-3024, Expense Reimbursement: Universities of Wisconsin require receipts regardless of cost for international calling/data plans as well as required inoculations/vaccinations. These have been added to the section “Receipts are always required…”
UW-3018, Meals and Incidentals: A note has been added to clarify that individual phone calls are included in the incidental per diem rate, but international calling/data plans are reimbursable for foreign travel if supported by a UW business purpose.
UW-3075, Official Functions and Expenses: Several Divisions on campus have reached out regarding whether children/dependent travel expenses may be included as part of an Official Function pre-approval for a UW-Madison job interview trip. Policy language currently limits this to “a spouse/significant other/companion.” The “a” will be removed to allow for more flexibility in arranging job interview travel, where the number of accompanying individuals is not limited to one. The policy will now read: “Travel expenses for spouse/significant other/companions to accompany an applicant on a UW-Madison job interview trip.” The approved Official Function must outline each additional traveler for the job interview trip, the approved travel expenses for additional travelers, and the business benefit for including the additional traveler(s) on the job interview trip.
UW-3026, Non-Payable/Non-Reimbursable Expenses: This policy needed to be updated to reflect that dependent travel expenses may be payable/reimbursable if associated with a preapproved Official Function for job applicant travel. Additionally, a provision for rental of graduation regalia was added. Purchase of regalia is neither payable nor reimbursable. Finally, we clarified a point of confusion around manuscript expenses; both article submission fees and article publication fees are payable/reimbursable when purchased using a card product (e.g., debit, credit).
All of these changes are reflected in the UW-Madison Policy Library.
Please distribute this information as appropriate to impacted travelers, travel arrangers and travel administrators.
On July 1, 2024, UW System Administration’s required contracted vendor for individual travel, Travel Incorporated, will be replaced by Fox World Travel. Leadership made this decision based on feedback from travelers, arrangers, and administrators.
For more information, please reference the Universities of Wisconsin TravelWIse agency transition webpage. The page contains registration links for March and April webinars to review the transition and frequently asked questions. The site will be expanded and updated as the scope of the project is finalized, and the implementation process progresses.
UW–Madison Travel Manager Terry Wilson will work closely with our UW System Administration partners throughout this process and may be contacted with any immediate questions.