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The following is a greeting given in one of the 20 indigenous languages recognized by the State of Alaska.

Ade’ ndadz dengit’a?
(Deg Xinag)
"Hello, how are you?"
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Alaska Department of Administration Division of Finance

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Administration / Finance / Travel / E-Travel News / July 2020 Issue

Travel

E-Travel News

July 2020 - Volume 12, Issue 4

In This Issue

Alaska Airlines Announcements

Alaska Airlines launched their Next Level Care program, which explains their commitment to help keeping travelers safe at airports and on board. See the Next Level of Care video for more information.

Effective June 30, passengers are required to complete a health agreement during check in and masks are required onboard.

Alaska Airlines has also announced they will start flying the Embraer 175 jet within the state of Alaska in October 2020. The E175, operated by regional partner Horizon Air, will serve select communities where larger jets are not the best option. Read the full news release [PDF].

Alaska Marine Highway System Service Notice

Effective, Monday, June 21, 2020, Department of Transportation issued new protocols for passengers on the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS).

To help minimize the transmission of COVID-19, there is now a testing requirement on mainline ferries (Kennicott, Matanuska, and Tustumena), passenger screening for travel on day vessels (LeConte and Lituya), masks are required onboard, and passengers and crew are not allowed to go ashore during port calls.

Please review the Press Release for additional details or visit the AMHS website.

Employee Reimbursements

The Division of Finance (DOF) and Shared Services of Alaska (SSoA), are working together to standardize employee reimbursements using a One Time Payment (OTPAY) in HRM.

The decision has been made to move away from using vendor codes for employee reimbursements. MISC VCNs do not allow for EFT payments and therefore will always process via printed warrants. Paper warrants are expensive, and we are growing increasingly cost sensitive during this difficult budget time.

Therefore, DOF will no longer add new Employee Vendor records, nor maintain existing employee vendor records (i.e. updating EFT, updating mailing addresses) requested from agencies in which SSoA is responsible for reimbursing. Departments not processed by SSoA may be asked to provide a valid business reason for new VCN requests and maintenance is requested.

We understand this may result in changes to SSoA as well as agency internal processes. SSoA and DOF will work together to solution any unforeseen situations surrounding reimbursements on OTPAY and once we feel those have been solutioned we will move forward with implementing the standardized reimbursement via OTPAY reimbursements statewide.

Non-employee travelers will still need to supply a VCN and will be paid via a TAPRC through IRIS FIN.

New Travel FAQ

In today's environment, there may be situations where an agency may approve a mileage reimbursement to an employee using a personal vehicle within the defined duty station.

The mileage reimbursement is non-taxable if the mileage allowance has been approved in advance by a commissioner or designee and odometer readings are used to calculate no more than the federal mileage rate. If the rate reimbursed is higher than the federal rate, then the payment is taxable.

When processing a non-taxable mileage reimbursement for an employee, it is recommended that the payment is made in HRM using an OTPAY document.

If OTPAY is not possible, reimburse in FIN with an existing employee vendor code or the miscellaneous vendor code using Object Code 2004. This object is not marked reportable and therefore allows the use of Miscellaneous vendor records.

Refer to E-Travel FAQ Reimbursements.

Travel Arranger Homepage

Travel Arrangers will soon experience an enhanced arranger homepage in E-Travel Online. The release was initially slotted for Tuesday, July 14; however, the release has been postponed. We will alert Department Travel Administrators and travel contacts when the new date has been announced.

The enhancements will simplify the travel arranger home page in the following ways:

  • Links are removed to make it easier to select a travel profile
  • All traveler/generic profiles are listed when arranger has more than 50 and a scroll bar is added
  • Enhanced Search Function (TIP: select the User ID from the dropdown and enter the Employee ID)
  • Increased “frequent travelers” from 10 to 50
  • Quick Action added to view traveler profile and trips
  • Frequent travelers Trips-Calendar view and Trips list View are removed

E-Travel Arranger Old View

E-Travel Arranger New View

The Online User Guide and self-paced video modules will be updated soon.

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Mission Statement

The mission of the Division of Finance is to provide accounting, payroll, and travel services for State government.

State of Alaska Department Administration
Division of Finance

Physical Address: State Office Building,
333 Willoughby Avenue, 10th Floor,
Juneau, AK 99801
Mailing Address: PO Box 110204,
Juneau, AK 99811
Phone: (907) 465-2240
Fax: (907) 465-2169