Stepping up and helping out: UVAFinance during the COVID-19 response

High fives to these folks for helping out!

Life and work haven't exactly been normal lately, but, as they say, the show must go on.  When times are tense, it's sometimes the little things that can matter the most!  Here are some of the ways UVAFinance has stepped up to serve the UVA Community during the COVID-19 crisis.  

Got an example of how your unit has gone out of its way during this unpredictable time? Email it to bv8h@virginia.edu !

Travel & Expense

T&E has helped travelers across grounds cancel their upcoming travel plans and understand travel rules for how to rebook moving forward. The University has approximately $400K in unused ticket credits that T&E will need to help departments manage over the next two years. The airlines have offered special waivers to their corporate contracts which extend the validity of unused ticket credits and allow them to be used for a different traveler (name changes) which is not the standard practice, so we will need to help departments understand these exceptions and be aware that they have credits and how they can go about using them for alternate travelers.

We have helped to have approximately $43K in non-refundable tickets refunded by suggesting that travelers wait until the last minute to cancel tickets in case airlines issued waivers or had schedule changes which required them to refund rather than provide future travel credits.

Procurement & Supplier Diversity Services (and UVA HR!)

Early in the University's response to the Coronavirus, PSDS received a request for hand sanitizer from the School of Medicine.  At that point, there was none to be found.  Never daunted, John McHugh reached out to First Systems and Resources, a local small business that has been under contract with UVA for many years, and discovered that they had only an order of UVA HR-branded hand sanitizer in stock.  With the help of George Minor in HR, PSDS was able to supply both the SOM and Facilities Management with hand sanitizer from the HR stash.  Small business connections and generous colleagues meant that PSDS was able to provide a necessary commodity for our frontline colleagues.