Wired In An occasional report of what's new in cyberspace

In keeping with UI President James Stukel's objective of streamlining
methods of doing business and reducing the bureaucratic paper flow
universitywide, the UI's offices of Business Affairs are expanding the use
of electronic technologies.

The effort to make electronically accessible business documents available
for use by UI employees has been led by Craig Bazzani and Richard Margison,
vice president and associate vice president, respectively, for business and
finance. Through their support and encouragement, much of what UI employees
might want to know about campus business and financial policies and
practices is available on the Internet's World Wide Web.

One of the latest additions to the effort is the development of an on-line
version of the new Business and Financial Policies and Procedures manual.

"This reviewed, reorganized and updated version of the manual is the result
of a tremendous effort by all the campus offices of Business Affairs to
provide a more current and user-friendly document," said Janier Koss,
assistant director in the University Office of Business and Financial
Affairs and coordinator of the project. "A new printed copy of the manual
was distributed in October, but we expect the on-line version to eventually
become the preferred way to refer to the manual. That's mainly because it
will be the most updated source and users can benefit from electronic
search capabilities."

The manual's Web location is: http://www.uiuc.edu/providers/oba/bfpp. It
also can be accessed from the UI home page (http://www.uiuc.edu) under
Administrative and Support Services, Campus Policy and Procedures Manuals.
For more information, contact Katharine Kral at 333-8024 or
jberbaum@illinois.edu.

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Business and Financial Affairs has expanded its Business Travel Guide for UI
Employees to better assist faculty and staff members in planning in-state,
out-of-state and international business trips.

"The objective of this project is twofold," said project coordinator
Marietta Walton. "It offers a quick and easy reference to travel
reimbursement rates and travel policies and procedures, and provides
practical information for university business trip planning. When planning
a business trip, an employee can now access with a few clicks of the mouse
all the information she or he needs, ranging from transportation, lodging
or insurance to distance between two locations anywhere in the U.S.,
detailed information on communities worldwide or electronic currency
converters."

To ensure the effectiveness of this resource, user input is especially
important, Walton said.

"We have published what we believe are the basics of business travel
planning and have tailored that information to UI employees' needs," she
said. "But now we want the users to let us know if this travel guide is
serving its purpose. In the guide's 'News You Can Use' bulletin, users are
invited to submit questions, comments or suggestions to help make this a
more useful tool."

The guide's Web location is: http://www.uiuc.edu/providers/oba/acct/travel.
For more information, contact Walton at 244-4919 or mwalton@illinois.edu.

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Links to the Business and Financial Policies and Procedures manual and
Business Travel Guide also can be found in the UIUC Office of Business
Affairs Home Page. This home page includes business documents from the
offices of Grants and Contracts, Purchasing Division, and Accounting
Division. Employees can access a series of documents including OBA
Contracts Procedures manual, list of viable minority and female business
enterprise suppliers, list of suppliers discounts, annual operational
information package, or NSF grant general conditions.

"It is our goal to continue developing our home page and make the
electronic environment a new tool for accomplishing our mission of
providing quality business and financial services to the university
community and external clients," said Katharine Kral, director for business
and financial operations. "In the near future, we will publish a UFAS
reference guide with information on object codes and useful links to
detailed descriptions as presented in the code book."

The Web location of the OBA home page is:
http://www.uiuc.edu.providers/oba. The page also can be accessed from the
UI home page via the path: Administrative and Support Services, Office of
Business Affairs. Contacts for questions regarding content of the OBA pages
are listed on the page next to the documents. To comment on the on-line
version of the page, contact Jennifer Lehmann at 244-4251 or
jalehman@illinois.edu.