Chrome River Frequently Asked Questions

EDITS cannot be made on a fully approved Travel Pre-Approval, BUT rarely would you need to. Remember the pre-approval is an estimate. If an additional student is planning to go with a group or if a new expense is realized after a pre-approval has been approved, simply add the information in the Comments section on the pre-approval. When it’s time to do the expense reimbursement, you are not locked in to anything that’s on the pre-approval. You can add lines and delete lines on the Expense Report, and you can add and delete funding sources on the Expense Report.

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Chrome River is UMW’s online Travel Pre-Approval system AND the reimbursement system for both TRAVEL and NON-travel reimbursements. Chrome River is available to all employees. Travel Pre-Approvals and Reimbursement Requests are entered and processed in Chrome River, and the actual payment process occurs in Banner.

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Chrome River is a web-based system and does not require the VPN. Use your UMW credentials to log in to Chrome River. You can also access Chrome River from your mobile device using the Chrome River app.  Chrome River works best using Google Chrome, and if you get a message that Chrome River is not available, please do the following:  Clear the cache on your Google Chrome and then attempt to log in again. For more information on this, please consult this link: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en.

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Chrome River is web-based and does not require an app but there is an app. To get the app, go to your App Store and search for Chrome River.  If not using an app, go to https://app.ca1.chromeriver.com/login/sso/saml?CompanyID=umw.edu  HELPFUL HINT: Copy this URL address and email it to yourself using an email account that you can check on your mobile device. When you open that email using your mobile device, touch the URL link to open Chrome River on your device. The UMW single sign-on screen should appear. Due to the fact that UMW is using single sign-on for Chrome River, BEFORE entering your UMW credentials to log in, save the website to your smart phone (save as an icon on your home screen) for future ease in locating and logging in to Chrome River. Enter your UMW credentials and navigate the Chrome River site.

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There are password-protected video tutorials with step-by-step guidance for various entry types. (NOTE that the ONE password for ALL videos is found on the Chrome River home page.) As always, feel free to contact Accounts Payable and we’ll be glad to help!

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If the payee is an employee, reimbursement cannot be made without direct deposit for reimbursements in BANNER, which is separate from Payroll. If an employee already receives REIMBURSEMENT payments as a direct deposit from UMW, the employee does not need to take any action in Banner. See Direct Deposits to enroll in direct deposit in Banner OR TO UPDATE INFORMATION IN THE EVENT OF A BANK CHANGE for reimbursements for employees.

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Avoid excessive printing on paper. In Chrome River, electronic documents serve as original receipts. Simply use an electronic version of a receipt to upload into Chrome River OR take a photo of your paper receipt and email the photo to receipt@ca1.chromeriver.com. The receipt will then be available for selection within your Receipt Gallery in Chrome River. NOTE that each employee’s UMW email is already attached to the employee in Chrome River, and if you want to send receipts from an email other than your UMW email, simply add another email using the following steps:

• Login to Chrome River
• Click your name
• Click “Settings”
• On the left side of the screen under “Personal Settings,” click “Add Alternative Emails”
• Add the email address as prompted. A verification email will be sent to your UMW email. Follow the instructions within that email, and you should be all set to send copies of receipts directly to your Chrome River Receipt Gallery from the email address you added.

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Only employees (not student employees) can access Chrome River. Therefore, an employee will have to enter a Travel Pre-Approval or Expense reimbursement request for any student or guest. The employee entering for the student or guest will select the appropriate Traveler/Payee Type (“Student” or “Guest”) on the Report Header in Chrome River and will then enter Pre-Approval or Reimbursement information just as you would for an employee. IN THE REPORT NAME, MAKE SURE TO USE “GUEST” OR “STUDENT” AND THEN THE GUEST OR STUDENT NAME. For example, if you have a job candidate, enter “Guest John Smith Chem job candidate.” The instructions within the tutorial videos apply to all (employee/student/guest) and Chrome River is programmed to populate regulation compliance warnings based upon the Traveler/Payee Type selected.

• On Pre-Approval reports, IF the student or guest name does NOT appear, type “Person Not Found” and select it to submit the report (so you can enter the Pre-Approval even when the student or guest is NOT in Chrome River). Example: During a faculty search, a candidate dropped out and another last-minute candidate is asked to interview. The pre-approval needs to be completed quickly in order to purchase airfare or shuttle. Select “Person Not Found” so the Pre-Approval can be submitted.
• On Reimbursement Expense Reports, the Non-Employee field is required (so the student or guest must be in Chrome River IF the student or guest is being reimbursed). AND NOTE that IF “Multiple” was used as the Traveler/Payee Type, this field will need to be changed to “Student” or “Guest” (so the employee will not be reimbursed).

The student or guest needs to be in Chrome River ONLY IF the guest or student is going to be reimbursed by UMW. If the student or guest need to be reimbursed AND the student or guest is NOT in Chrome River, complete the Questionnaire at this site. In addition, if traveling with students, see this Travel with Students site for a payment option which may help eliminate the need for the reimbursement process.

To see if a student or guest is in Chrome River (needed ONLY IF REIMBURSEMENT WILL BE INVOLVED):

• • • Go to CREATE (either Pre-Approval OR Expense)
    • Scroll down to select Guest or Student
    • When the Non-Employee field pops up, enter the person’s name
      • If the name appears, then the person is in the system
      • If the name does NOT appear, the person is NOT in the system–and IF the person is going to be reimbursed, someone needs to complete the Questionnaire (link above)

Watch this 13 minute video for instructions to determine if the student or guest is in Chrome River. (The password for videos is found on the Chrome River homepage, and the link to the homepage is highlighted near the top of this page.)

All active employees in Banner get selected by a Chrome River process that automatically populates those employees into Chrome River each night. In addition, as part of this same process, non-employee individuals are also populated in Chrome River based upon a special vendor type that is entered in Banner by Accounts Payable. If the guest or student is NOT in Chrome River AND WILL NEED TO BE REIMBURSED FOR ANYTHING, the Questionnaire needs to be completed to prompt Accounts Payable to:

• • UPDATE the vendor type for the Chrome River selection process OR
  • Enter the individual in Banner using the correct vendor type for Chrome River selection

How long does it take to get the student or guest into Chrome River?

The guest/student “entry” in Chrome River is part of an automated process that runs nightly on an export from Banner as follows:

• Accounts Payable (AP) receives a completed QUESTIONNAIRE.
• AP enters the individual into Banner based upon the information provided from the Questionnaire, and AP includes appropriate coding in order to get that record selected on the automatic nightly run to export that record into Chrome River.
• AP will email the UMW contact the Banner ID and other information to let the UMW contact know when the student or guest will be in Chrome River.
• On an automatic nightly run, records in Banner that have specific coding get selected for the export from Banner for import into Chrome River.
• At that point, the guest/student will show in Chrome River in the non-employee field.

This process can happen within two business days but is not guaranteed.

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Problem:  Conference registration deadline is August 1^st but awards about funding from the Dean are not given until September 15^th. I know I’m going on the trip whether I receive funding from the Dean or not. How should I proceed?

Enter a Pre-Approval FOR THE ENTIRE TRIP in Chrome River and allocate any unfunded amount to PERSONAL MATTER (personal expense). In the comments section on the Report Header, indicate that you hope to receive funding from the Dean and this is the Pre-approval in the meantime (so you can have the Pre-Approval done in advance, as required, before any purchases are made relating to the trip). Note that the entire trip can be allocated to PERSONAL MATTER on the Pre-Approval. Then, AFTER the travel happens, you’ll “pull over” the Pre-Approval to the Expense Report and can add any funding sources on the Expense side, and the Expense will route based upon the FOAP(s) entered. This 14 minute video is found on the video training site. (The password for videos is found on the Chrome River homepage, and the link to the homepage is highlighted near the top of this page.)

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You should never charge anything on any UMW card unless the appropriate pre-approvals are in place!

• Any overnight travel requires a FULLY approved Travel Pre-Approval prior to any travel expense.
• Any day-only travel totaling $500 or more requires a FULLY approved Travel Pre-Approval prior to any travel expenses. (“Total travel” includes any expenses involved for that trip, such as mileage, registration fees, parking, etc.)

• • If a Travel Pre-Approval is NOT required, then be sure to document on the paperwork that the charge is for DAY-only travel where total expenses are less than $500.

• • If a Travel Pre-approval is required, then ask the person for the PDF printed Pre-Approval from Chrome River. If the person doesn’t have one, explain that you need it in order to be in compliance, and depending upon how your office operates, either offer to enter the Pre-Approval for the person (if that person has delegated out to you) or ask him/her to (1) enter the Pre-Approval in Chrome River and (2) email the PDF Pre-Approval from Chrome River. The Pre-Approval will show FOAP information (so you’ll know which FOAP to charge) and you will have the Pre-Approval attached to the receipt, as required.

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The Pre-Approval will have to be done, and if you do the Pre-Approval after purchases are made, the approval dates will indicate that you are not in compliance (because you did not do the approval prior to travel purchases).

ACTION: Enter the Pre-Approval and enter in the Comments section the reason for delay in submitting the Pre-Approval. If you have any written documentation that you had earlier approval, such as the Dean’s award letter, then you will upload that documentation on the “expense” side (the reimbursement side) after returning from the trip. You will “pull over” the Pre-Approval in the system that will “connect” to the expense/reimbursement. (The uploaded award letter from the Dean, for example, will help justify the comment made on the Pre-approval about why the Pre-Approval was not done in advance). If you have a UMW Finance Card with your name on it, such as a coach, and had a last-minute change of plans that would require a travel Pre-approval, go ahead and enter the Pre-approval as soon as you know your change of plans, and attach that Pre-approval and any other approval correspondence (such as an email or text correspondence for last-minute changes) to the charge card documentation. Remember that Chrome River is a web-based system so it’s easy to access and start the Pre-approval process even on a mobile device (see mobile use).

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Bookmark this site https://adminfinance.umw.edu/ap/chrome-river-faq/ . It has the login to Chrome River; it has a link to the video tutorial page and the videos are listed by subject matter; and it has an FAQ section. If you need help immediately, feel free to contact payables@umw.edu. We realize this is new to everyone and we’re glad to help.

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All non-student employees have access to Chrome River. (If an employee has access to a UMW employee email, then the employee has access to Chrome River.)

Any employee can enter a request for a guest or student (and no delegations are needed).

• Start the report name with “GUEST” or “STUDENT” followed by the student or guest name (and any other information that will fit on the line) in order to identify QUICKLY and EASILY. If you do not include “GUEST” or “STUDENT” as the 1st part of the report name, the request looks like it’s for the person who entered the request—and the approver will have to open the report and “drill down” to see that it’s NOT for the employee who entered the request.
• The guest or student does NOT have to be in Chrome River for a travel pre-approval.
• The guest or student HAS to be in Chrome River for an expense reimbursement request.

Any employee can enter on behalf of another employee as long as the employee has delegated that authority out to another person.

• An employee can delegate out to multiple people and those delegates remain until the employee removes them as delegates.
• When you are a delegate for someone else, their name will show under your name (upper right corner) and if you are making an entry on their behalf, you need to select their name in order to be “in” as that person. When you select their name, you will see two silhouettes in the upper right corner. If you enter under your own name AND SELECT “EMPLOYEE” AS THE TRAVELER/PAYEE TYPE, you are entering for yourself. (The reimbursement will go to you, regardless of the Report Name.) Key Point: WHEN “Employee” is selected as the Traveler/Payee Type on the report header page, the reimbursement will be made to the name showing in the upper right.
• Delegates will receive the automatically generated Chrome River no-reply email notifications for any employee for whom they are a delegate.

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Use “Multiple” ON THE PRE-APPROVAL when a group of students travels (with or without an employee). A field will be provided to include names. Be sure to identify students and employees in a clear way. If the list is long, you can enter “See attached list” AND THEN REMEMBER TO ACTUALLY ATTACH THE LIST (and make sure each person is identified as a student or employee)! If you check out a UMW Finance Card from the cashier, the cashier will need the list. If funding sources change from the funding source listed on the Pre-Approval, you need to let the cashier know.

SEE CHROME RIVER FAQ’S FOR OTHER IMPORTANT LINKS AND A LINK TO CHROME RIVER TUTORIAL VIDEOS.

You can always check the routing status (12 minute video) using the Tracking feature in Chrome River. (The password for videos is found on the Chrome River homepage.) BEFORE entering a request, consider where you want the request to route for the initial supervisor approval, especially for students and guests–and enter the request under the appropriate employee’s name for where you want the supervisor approval (as routing and example details are shown below). Ask that employee to delegate to you to be able to enter on his/her behalf (or have that employee enter the request). If a report is not routing the way you think it should, please contact Accounts Payable at payables@umw.edu with details and request to reassign a request to a different person.

PRE-APPROVAL REPORTS ROUTE IN THIS ORDER:

1. The employee for whom the request is entered. NOTE that this step happens ONLY IF the request was entered by a delegate (when one employee enters on behalf of another employee).
2. The Supervisor* of the owner of the report. (Every employee has access to Chrome River and when a report is entered under an employee’s name, that employee is the owner of the report–even with a guest or student report.)
3. FOAP Manager(s)–based upon ORG(s) of FOAP(s).  NOTE : No one can approve as supervisor* of his/her own report, BUT budget managers CAN approve as BUDGET MANAGERS on their own reports.
4. Accounts Payable (ONLY IF lodging involved exceeds the allowed rate)
5. Associate VP for Finance (ONLY IF lodging involved exceeds the allowed rate)
6. This step relates to the CAS dean only. FUND (ONLY IF funding source is 1552AS, 1553AS, or 1557AS)
7. Associate VP for Finance (ONLY IF sharing a room AND lodging exceeds 150% of state’s allowed rate)
8. Chief of Staff (ONLY IF International Travel)

EXPENSE REPORTS (reimbursements) ROUTE IN THIS ORDER:

1. The employee for whom the request is entered. NOTE that this step happens ONLY IF the request was entered by a delegate (when one employee enters on behalf of another employee).
2. The Supervisor* of the owner of the report. (Every employee has access to Chrome River and when a report is entered under an employee’s name, that employee is the owner of the report–even with a guest or student report.)
3. FOAP Manager(s)–based upon ORG(s) of FOAP(s).  NOTE : No one can approve as supervisor* of his/her own report, BUT budget managers CAN approve as BUDGET MANAGERS on their own reports.
4. This step relates to the CAS dean only. FUND (ONLY IF funding source is 1552AS, 1553AS, or 1557AS)
5. Procurement Services Department (ONLY if the expense is for a NON-travel expense)
6. Accounts Payable for final review

*SUPERVISOR COMMENT: Each employee has only one “reports to” (or supervisor) in Chrome River. The “reports to” is determined by the supervisor in the HR system. The “reports to” for each employee is populated in Chrome River NIGHTLY from an automatic export from the HR information in Banner. (For example, the supervisor for professors is their chair; the supervisor for chairs is their dean; the supervisor for the deans is the provost.)

If you want a request to route to a certain supervisor, you have some control over that by entering on behalf of an employee who reports to that supervisor. Here are some examples:

• PROBLEM & SOLUTION—The Physics department has a faculty job search but the supervisor of the office manager for Physics is the Biology chair because that office manager handles multiple departments but has only one “main” supervisor. (For example, the supervisor for that office manager signs off on MyTime.) If that office manager enters under the office manager’s name, the requests for the Physics department will route to the Biology chair, and everyone would prefer the requests to route to the Physics chair. The simple solution is to ask the Physics faculty member who is in charge of the search to delegate out to the office manager. If the office manager enters under that Physics professor’s name, then the request will first route to that Physics professor and then will route to the Physics chair. If the office manager entered under the office manager’s name, the request would route straight to the Biology chair. Of course, the Physics professor can also enter the request for the guest or student directly, in which case, the request would route to the Physics chair.
• PROBLEM & SOLUTION—A professor is a faculty advisor to a student group that has nothing to do with his department. He wants a request entered for the student group travel but if he enters it, the request will route to his chair as the supervisor. If his office manager enters the request, the request will route to a chair as the supervisor of the office manager. If that professor is traveling with the group, it seems perfectly reasonable that his chair would be knowledgeable of his role as a faculty advisor to a group and would be comfortable approving the trip. Whoever is listed as the budget manager for the FOAP being charged would approve the budget source. (The chair is not approving the budget expense; the chair is simply approving that the trip is official business for that professor.) If the provost oversees that student group, for example, and if the professor doesn’t want his chair to approve the trip, then the professor can ask the office manager for the provost to enter for the student group (using “Multiple” as the Traveler/Payee Type) under the office manager’s name. The request will route to the provost because the provost is that office manager’s supervisor. If the group is under Student Activities, then the professor can ask the office manager in Student Activities to enter.

In summary, if you understand the routing concept, you can control the supervisor approval in Chrome River based upon the supervisor of the employee whose name the request is being entered under.

SEE CHROME RIVER FAQ’S FOR OTHER IMPORTANT LINKS AND A LINK TO CHROME RIVER TUTORIAL VIDEOS.

SUMMARY

If the reimbursement request is in a fully approved status at 1:00 A.M. on Monday (early morning) the request will be selected on the automatic export from Chrome River for the import into Banner for the payment in Banner on Tuesday that will have Wednesday’s date. NOTE that Chrome River pays per line item so if a line item is in a fully approved status, that line item will
be paid and any other outstanding line items on the reimbursement request will be paid when in a fully approved status on a Monday at 1:00 A.M.

DETAIL

There are automated processes that control dates of payments. On Monday mornings at 1:00 a.m., an automatic program “collects” all fully approved expense reports to export them from Chrome River and import them into Banner for payment. This means that a reimbursement request must be fully approved by all parties (including Accounts Payable’s final review) by Monday morning 1:00 a.m. When the approved record is collected in Chrome River, that record will show a status as “Exported” which means that it was selected for payment (on Monday morning at 1:00 a.m. it was “picked up” in the automatic run to be exported from Chrome River into Banner for payment). The actual payment will happen on Tuesday and that payment will show Wednesday’s date. The employee should receive an automatically generated email on Wednesday afternoon from payables@umw.edu . An actual check will write for: (1) students who are not enrolled in direct deposit and (2) guests, and the check will be in the U.S. Mail on Wednesday morning. On Thursday, the status of the report should show as “Paid” in Chrome River. Note that Chrome River will pay by line item, so if a line item was returned but the other line items were approved, the record may show “Multiple Statuses” because the record has line items that are in different statuses.

SEE CHROME RIVER FAQ’S FOR OTHER IMPORTANT LINKS AND A LINK TO CHROME RIVER TUTORIAL VIDEOS.

• Pending = The request is in an approval queue process.
• Approved = The request is fully approved.
• Exported = The expense record has been exported from Chrome River and imported into Banner for payment.
• Paid = The expense has been paid in Banner and that record information has been exported from Banner and imported to Chrome River.
• Multiple = The record has line items that are in different stages (one line item might be paid and another line item on the same record is approved, waiting for payment selection).

NOTE that EXPENSE reports will typically go from an “Approved” status to an “Exported” status on Monday morning at 1:00 a.m. The “Exported” status usually remains in place until early Thursday morning when it changes to “Paid” status. If a report say “Multiple Statuses” you will have to look at each line item on that report to know the status of each line item.

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Use the tracking mechanism. It’s easy and remember that you might need to check by line item. There’s a video for that! See https://adminfinance.umw.edu/ap/video-training/ for all videos; one is dedicated to tracking. The password for all videos is found on the Chrome River homepage when you login.

SEE CHROME RIVER FAQ’S FOR OTHER IMPORTANT LINKS AND A LINK TO CHROME RIVER TUTORIAL VIDEOS.

When on the email:

• Click File
• Click Print
• From the printer dropdown menu, click “CutePDF Writer” (IF you do NOT have this as an option, contact the help desk and they can help you load the option)
• Click Print
• Save it on your hard drive
• Upload it as an attachment in Chrome River

SEE CHROME RIVER FAQ’S FOR OTHER IMPORTANT LINKS AND A LINK TO CHROME RIVER TUTORIAL VIDEOS.

You will need to ask the office manager so you’ll make sure your funding requests are correct.

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Use the Receipt Gallery—and ask those for whom you enter to use the receipt gallery. The receipt gallery places the receipt under the employee’s name in Chrome River. Ask your department to use it. It’s easy. If they refuse and continue to send you receipts, you can use it by sending the receipt to the receipt gallery email which is receipt@ca1.chromeriver.com WITH THAT EMPLOYEE’S EMAIL ADDRESS AS THE SUBJECT LINE. There’s a video for that! See https://adminfinance.umw.edu/ap/video-training/ for all videos; one is dedicated to the receipt gallery. The password for all videos is found on the Chrome River homepage when you login.

SEE CHROME RIVER FAQ’S FOR OTHER IMPORTANT LINKS AND A LINK TO CHROME RIVER TUTORIAL VIDEOS.