Division of Business Services

3024.2 How to Use “Hold” Business Purposes in Expense Reports and Identify Reports on Hold via Reporting

Procedure #3024.2; Rev.: 1 (Effective July 1, 2025)
Related Policy: UW-3013 Purchasing Cards Policy, UW-3014 Shared Liability Cards Policy, UW-3024 Expense Reimbursement Policy
Functional Owner: Accounting Services, Division of Business Services
Contact: Expense Reimbursement Program Manager – Allie Watters, expensereimbursement@bussvc.wisc.edu, (608) 263-3525

Contents

  1. Procedure statement
  2. Who is affected by this procedure
  3. Procedure
  4. Contact roles and responsibilities
  5. Definitions
  6. Related references
  7. Revisions

I. Procedure statement

All Purchasing Card, Shared Liability Card, and out-of-pocket transactions are reconciled in Workday Expenses by creating and submitting an expense report. It may be appropriate to include a secondary review of an expense report prior to submission for approval. Claimants/cardholders and Expense Data Entry Specialists may utilize the “Hold” Business Purposes to indicate whether an expense report is still in process by the expense report initiator (**Hold – In Progress) or if it is ready for review prior to submission, typically by departmental or divisional finance staff (**Hold – Ready for Review). This procedure outlines where to find the Business Purpose field, when to utilize the “Hold” Business Purposes, and how to run reporting to find which reports might be ready for review and/or submission.

Note: This functionality is NOT used by every Department/Division. Check with your Division Coordinator to see if this will be implemented for your Department/Division.

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II. Who is affected by this procedure

Departments/Divisions who plan to utilize “Hold” Business Purposes to facilitate Expense Data Entry Specialist pre-submission review of expense reports. Department/Divisional staff that wish to monitor pending expense reports with “Hold” Business Purpose activity.

May apply to employees who seek reimbursement for out-of-pocket or Shared Liability Card expenses; cardholders who must reconcile Purchasing Card transactions; and Expense Data Entry Specialists who prepare, review, and/or submit expense reports.

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III. Procedure

  1. Applying the “Hold” business purposes to an existing expense report (expense report initiator)
    1. Create a new expense report. See Procedure 3024.1 Creating and Submitting an Expense Report for full instructions on creating an expense report.
    2. The Business Purpose field in the header section of an expense report is used to summarize the official purpose of the expense report or indicate the status of the report. Upon creating an expense report, the initiator (claimant, cardholder, or Expense Data Entry Specialist) may utilize the Business Purpose field in the header section of the expense report to identify activity and progress on the report and indicate that the report is ready for review by Expense Data Entry Specialists assigned to review/submit expense reports.
      In "Create Expense Report" task, for the "Business Purpose" field there are two selection options: "**Hold - In Progress" and "**Hold - Ready fore Review" with two red arrows showing their location

      1. Note: Some units have two teams of Expense Data Entry Specialists, one team that creates reports and one team that reviews prior to submission, which is why a report may be created by one Expense Data Entry Specialist and reviewed by a second, different Expense Data Entry Specialist.
      1. The expense report initiator should select **Hold – In Progress if the report is incomplete and not ready to be reviewed yet.
      2. The expense report initiator should update the Business Purpose field to **Hold – Ready for Review when all expense lines have been completed, and all supporting documentation has been attached. This Business Purpose will signal to Expense Data Entry Specialists who are reviewers that the report is ready for them to take action.
    3. Click Save for Later and close the expense report.
  2. Searching for Expense Reports with the Business Purpose **Hold – Ready for Review or **Hold – In Progress (Expense Data Entry Specialist reviewers)
    1. Expense Data Entry Specialists who are tasked with reviewing expense reports prior to submission will run the report Expense Report (UW) to identify reports ready for review and submission.
    2. In the Search bar of the Workday homepage, type “Expense Report (UW)” and press Enter.
      Show the Workday search bar with a "Expense Report (UW)" search term; the "Expense Report (UW)" report item is the first search result
    3. In the search results category Tasks and Reports, click the hyperlinked text Expense Report (UW).
      Screenshot with arrows showing the "Tasks and Reports" category and the "Expense Report (UW)" text that shows as the first result under "Tasks and Reports"
    4. Fill out the search parameters as applicable below. Note: All fields highlighted below are optional. Utilize individual fields as appropriate to your assigned units.
      Screenshot of the Expense Report (UW) in Workday, with number labeling to help identify different fields

      1. Limit search results by selecting a date for Report Date on or After or Report Date On or Before. May also run wide open with no dates entered.
      2. Cost Center Hierarchies: Limit search results by entering the Cost Center Hierarchy/Hierarchies assigned to the Expense Data Entry Specialist for oversight/review. Reports will populate if expense line funding on the expense reports falls within the selected Cost Center Hierarchies (e.g., UWMSN | CCHL5 | L&S | College of Letters and Science). This does not have to be entered, especially if more narrow elements of the Foundational Data Model are used in the ensuing fields (e.g., Program).
      3. If a more specific search is desired, enter a specific Fund or Driver Worktag (Program, Gift, Grant, Project), (i.e. a research administrator EDES may wish to search for expense reports ready for review by Grant).
      4. Expense Report Payee: Enter a claimant or cardholder name to limit results to reports belonging to that specific claimant/cardholder.
      5. Expense Report Created By: Enter the name of the expense report initiator (claimant, cardholder or Expense Data Entry Specialist) to restrict results to a specific initiator.
      6. Business Purpose: Select the Business Purpose **Hold – Ready for Review to return results only for expense reports ready for review. If desired, the search may also be run for **Hold – In Progress to view reports in progress by initiators given the specified criteria.
    5. When done entering search criteria, click OK to run the report.
  3. Reviewing Expense Reports and Updating the Business Purpose for Submission (Expense Data Entry Specialist reviewers)
    1. The search results of Expense Report (UW) may be used as a queue for Expense Data Entry Specialists performing the review function prior to submission.
      Screenshot showing how to find the Actions menu for an Expense Report and then to find the Edit panel; written steps found in procedure 3024.2

        1. (1) From the search results, hover over the Expense Report number to reveal the Related Actions menu for the expense report. Click the Related Actions icon (…) to view the Actions menu.
        2. (2) Hover the cursor over Expense Report to populate options.
        3. (3) Click Edit to enter into the expense report.
          1. Tip: Right-click on Edit and select See in New Tab to maintain original search results in one tab, and the selected expense report for review in a second tab.
        4. Scroll down to the bottom of the expense report screen and click the Edit button. The Expense Data Entry Specialist now has an editable version of the expense report open.
        5. The Expense Data Entry Specialist may now edit, revise, and update the data and supporting documentation in the Header, Attachments, and Expense Lines tabs. (5)
          Screenshot showing the various parts of the Edit Expense Report view in Workday; sections explained in procedure text
        6. (6) When finished with the report, the Expense Data Entry Specialist must remove the **Hold – Ready for Review Business Purpose and add the correct Business Purpose to categorize the expenses (e.g., Purchasing Card Reconciliation for purchasing card transactions).
        7. Click Submit to advance the expense report into the approval workflow. Note: If an expense report for an employee is submitted by an Expense Data Entry Specialist, the employee will be the first approver of the report to attest to the accuracy of the expenses entered or being reconciled.
  4. The Expense Data Entry Specialist reviewer may return to the results of Expense Report (UW) and proceed to the next expense report for review/submission, repeating the process in step C above.

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IV. Contact roles and responsibilities

  • Expense Report Initiator – employee claimant, cardholder or Expense Data Entry Specialist that creates expense reports and is responsible for applying “Hold” Business Purposes.
  • Expense Data Entry Specialist (reviewers) – Expense Data Entry Specialists identified by Departments and Divisions to review and submit expense reports created by others; responsible for running Expense Report (UW) to identify reports ready for review.

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V. Definitions

  • Business Purpose: Selection in the header section of an expense report used to summarize the official purpose of the expense report or indicate the status of the report.
  • Cost Center Hierarchy: A group of cost centers in a tree structure within a controlling area that represent specific areas of cost incurrence from a controlling perspective.
  • Driver Worktag: The primary funding source for the transaction. Types of worktags that can be a driver are Grant, Gift, Project, or Program.
  • Foundational Data Model: The framework to support accounting and financial reporting in Workday.
  • “Hold” Business Purposes: A subset of business purposes to identify reports in progress and reports ready for review.
  • Expense report: Electronic submission to request reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses and/or to submit card-product expenses for approval.
  • Workday: The cloud-based software used by the Universities of Wisconsin to manage finance and human resources.
  • Workday Expenses:  The Workday module used to create, submit, and approve expense reports for out-of-pocket, Shared Liability Card, and Purchasing Card transactions.

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VI. Related References

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VII.  Revisions

Procedure Number 3024.2
Date Approved May 8, 2017
Revision Dates Jan. 19, 2021 – Updated Procedure Number to 3024.2 from 320.2
June 30, 2025 – Updated to reflect Workday procedures and terminology.

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