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AP Workflow

Easy, Paperless Reimbursement

Minerva Novero and Margaret Saunders

The Controller’s Division (CDV) has recently introduced a new service designed to give University faculty, staff, and administrators a quicker, easier, paperless, and more environmentally friendly way to process reimbursements and cash advances. This new service will also enable University employees to track their submitted reimbursement or cash advance requests on their own at any time. Employees no longer need to check with Accounts Payable (AP) or with their administrative offices to determine the status of requests they have submitted.

This new service is a web-based facility called “AP Workflow”. It was developed by CDV in conjunction with ITS to make the following possible for all University employees:

  • Submit requests for advances and reimbursements from anywhere in the world at any time securely. AP Workflow is accessible via the Work tab in NYUHome to any University employee with access to an Internet connection, a valid NetID, and a valid password. Paper forms will no longer be necessary, helping to keep personal information safe.
  • Attach supporting documentation. AP Workflow provides the ability to easily give necessary expense details that previously required separate forms by electronically attaching receipts and other supporting documentation to requests.
  • Confirm budget availability and validate chartfields. AP Workflow has built-in features to help ensure correct chartfield entry, provide an alert if the budget is insufficient for the request, and prompt for required fields that employees may overlook.
  • Automatic submission of requests to Approvers. AP Workflow automatically routes requests to appropriate Approvers, along with attached supporting documentation. Approvers are alerted by email of pending requests, and can then review and act on them.
  • Automatic submission of approved requests to AP. Retrieving approved forms and documentation from Approvers and forwarding them to AP is no longer necessary, as AP Workflow automatically uploads approved requests to the AP financial system.
  • Quick turnaround; 24-hour processing in some instances. Approved requests that meet certain criteria can be processed within 24 hours. Those on the AP Direct Deposit Program will be able to access their funds more quickly, instead of waiting for checks to be delivered by mail and cleared by their banking institution.
  • Tracking of requests at all stages. AP Workflow provides status updates as soon as requests are submitted. It also sends notifications when requests are approved and submitted to AP for processing.
  • Effortless record keeping and retrieval. AP Workflow maintains a record of all transactions and assigns a unique identifier to each one, allowing for easy searching and reviewing of past transactions.

    • AP Workflow is being introduced in phases across the University. A member of the AP Workflow Team will contact employees for consultation and training before the service is launched in their school or department. Visit www.nyu.edu/cdv/apworkflow.html for more information about this new service. Send questions, comments, or suggestions to ap.workflow@nyu.edu.

    Author Biographies

    Minerva Novero is the Director of Policy Communications and University Training in the Controller's Division.

    Margaret Saunders is the Director of the Accounts Payable Department in the Controller's Division.