The Comptroller's Office has begun a phased rollout of a new General Expense Management System (GEMS), a comprehensive expense management tool that will streamline and facilitate employee reimbursements for business-related travel and other out-of-pocket spending.

GEMS uses a system from CONCUR Technologies to process out of pocket expenses, and can be used along with the optional GEMS credit card. When it has been implemented in your department, it will replace the Travel Expense Voucher (TEV) and the Direct Payment Voucher (DPV) for employee reimbursements, as well as any existing University-sponsored credit card programs.

GEMS will consolidate the reimbursement process by allowing you to report your expenses through a single secure GEMS website. As a result, the University will handle expense reports more efficiently and use the University payroll system to manage reimbursements and money owed to the University.

The GEMS Project Team is currently rolling out GEMS to all University departments, with full implementation in essentially all departments expected by the end of 2008. Full training for the new system will be available, and several departments are already using the system. If you work for NSIT, the Social Sciences Division, the Comptroller's Office, the Smart Museum, UDAR (Development and Alumni Relations), the GSB, Legal, the Library, UHRM, Community Affairs, the Computation Institute, or Investments and you use or handle expense reports, training is available now. You can enroll for a training session by clicking here.

Your department leadership will be contacted when it is time for your department to start using GEMS. It is important to note that once your department begins using GEMS, the Comptroller's Office will no longer accept paper expense reports for any member of your department who is eligible to use GEMS.

For more complete information about GEMS, including a list of FAQs, please visit https://gems.uchicago.edu.