User Guide
The instructions below rely on the following assumptions:
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Users are employed within CITZ: IMB and are able to authenticate themselves using the IDIR system.
a. Instructions begin with the assumption that the user has already logged in to the application.
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Users have a basic understanding of how to operate a computer and a web browser, such as Edge, Chrome, or Firefox.
Submitting requests uses the Common Hosted Forms Service (CHEFS). Request submission is a multi-stage process and only addresses the initial request submission, not the following actions carried out by administration staff.
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From the Home page, select the +New Request button (Diagram 2).
a. This redirects to the CHEFS Form (Diagram 1), which may require authentication.
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Confirm that your first and last name have been populated correctly.
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Enter your employee ID under the Employee ID field.
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For each purchase in the reimbursement request, fill in the Vendor, Purchase Date, and Cost fields.
a. Add additional rows by selecting +Add Another.
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Optional: Add comments in the Additional Comments field.
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Select Submit to submit this info to SPR.
a. If successful, you will be redirected to the newly submitted request.
b. If the Submit button is disabled, a necessary part of the form has not been filled out to the specifications. Review the fields and address any field warnings that appear.
At this point, a request has been submitted, but additional actions are required before the request can be sent for reimbursement. See the sections on File Management and Adding Approvals for more information.
Every reimbursement request requires approval from an expense authority. Without attaching this approval, your request cannot be completed.
Depending on the status of the record and your permissions, some options may not be visible.
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When viewing an individual record (Diagram 3), select the Add Approval option.
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Use the date picker to select the date when approval was obtained.
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Select the Add File button and choose a file from your computer.
a. For more information on managing files, see the File Management section.
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Optional: To remove an approval record, select the Remove option and confirm the removal in the prompt. Removing an approval like this and then updating the record is a non-recoverable action. Remove approvals with care.
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To save your changes, select Update. You will be redirected back to the Home page.
a. Not doing this and leaving the page will not save your updated approvals.
Files are uploaded in two cases: adding receipts from purchases and adding proof of approval.
All file interactions occur on an Individual Request page (Diagram 3).
All files must be in PDF format and cannot exceed 10MB in size.
These files are stored with the application temporarily and are deleted 30 days after the request process has been completed. Copies are manually stored on the network drive by staff for submission to the Finance Department.
When a file has been automatically deleted from a completed request, the page will display a notification in place of the file link.
A green downloaded symbol will appear beside file links (for admin users) if any admin has previously downloaded that file. This can be used to notify users that the file has not been stored elsewhere and is only retained within this application.
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Select the Add File button. You will be shown a file selection window.
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Select the file you wish to add and then select Open.
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The file link should now be visible in the place where the Add File button was previously.
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Select the Update button to save your request record.
a. Leaving the page without updating will not save your files to the request.
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Select the red X to the right of the file link.
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A dialog will ask you to confirm the removal of the file. Confirm the removal.
a. The file link should have now become the Add File button once more.
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Select the Update button to save your request record.
a. Leaving the page without updating will not remove the file from the application.
- Select the file link. The file will be downloaded to your default download location.
Users may want to view the status of their request or return to an unfinished request.
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From the Home page (Diagram 2), select the More button to the right of each request record.
a. The Individual Request page (Diagram 3) should now be visible.
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Make additional changes or download files as desired.
To easily manage large volumes of request records, a system of filtering and sorting has been implemented on the Home page (Diagram 2).
Multiple filters work simultaneously and can be combined for greater accuracy. Sorting can happen on any individual field, but selecting a new sorting option will override the previous one.
Filters will be remembered while using the app. Selecting Reset Filter or closing the browser will clear filter settings.
- Select the text field for either Requestor Name or Vendors.
- Type text to filter request records.
- Delete all text to remove the filter entirely.
- Select the text field for Total Cost.
- Enter a number value (e.g. 34.99) to filter request records.
- Click the >= symbol to toggle the filter between >= and <=.
- Delete all text to remove the filter entirely.
- Select the date range filter to open the date picker menu.
- Select the starting date then select the ending date and select OK.
- Optional: Use the predefined date ranges at the bottom of the date picker menu to filter by a predetermined range.
- Select the drop-down menu.
- Check the boxes of records that should be visible. Uncheck those that should be hidden.
Sorting exists in one of three states: Unsorted (⎯), Descending (), or Ascending(), indicated by the sorting icon beside the title of each column.
Select the sorting icon to change between sorting states.
Tasks covered in the Admin Use section will not be visible to users without admin-level permissions.
The Admin Mode toggle on the Home page (Diagram 2) switches the user’s view between an administration staff’s view and a general user’s view. It only affects the Home page by limiting the records that an administration staff member is viewing at one time for the purpose of convenience.
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Select the Admin Mode toggle tool. It will toggle between one of two states:
a. ON (blue): Viewing all request records.
b. OFF (grey): Viewing only request records owned by the user.
If necessary, administrative staff may need to edit requests submitted by other users. This could involve updating the contents of the request or changing its status manually.
Administration staff have additional permissions when editing request records. General users may only edit requests under certain conditions, but administration staff can edit requests at any time. They are also not constrained by the completeness of the request when manually changing its status.
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From the Home page (Diagram 2), select the More button to the right of any record.
a. This will bring you to the Individual Request page (Diagram 3).
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Change fields and alter files until the request contains the desired contents.
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Select the Update button to save your changes.
Although the filtering tools on the main page can be used to narrow down visible request records to a single name, an alternative is provided to only get requests from a single IDIR from an Individual Request page (Diagram 3).
This could be useful if two employees with identical names have submitted requests because filtering by name alone will not separate them.
- From an Individual Request page, select the Additional Options menu in the top right, represented by three vertical dots, to open a menu.
- Select View User’s Requests to be navigated to a page that contains only requests for that user.
- Return to the Home page at any time by selecting Staff Purchase Reimbursement in the header.
In cases where a request has been submitted by accident, possibly with incorrect information or as a duplicate request, it may be better for administration staff to mark the record’s status as Deleted.
Marking the status as Deleted does not immediately delete the record from the system. It will be recoverable for a period before the record is permanently removed. See the section on Scheduled Deletions for more information.
- From an Individual Request page (Diagram 3), select the three dots in the top right to open a menu with additional options.
- Select the Delete Request option.
- When prompted to confirm the deletion, select Confirm.
There are five potential, mutually-exclusive statuses that a request may have:
- Incomplete: A request has been submitted, but it is missing required information, such as approvals or receipts.
- Requests may receive this status automatically if a user updates their request while it is missing information.
- Submitted: A request has all the necessary information. An administration staff member must now review.
- Requests may receive this status automatically if a user updates their request while all information is present.
- In Progress: An administration staff member has reviewed the request and forwarded it to the Finance Department.
- Complete: The reimbursement process has been completed. The requestor should expect to receive their reimbursement shortly.
- Deleted: The request has been deleted by administration staff.
When a file is downloaded by administration staff, that file is marked as downloaded.
To more easily see which files have already been downloaded, admins can see a checkmark symbol beside the file name.
Replacing the file will cause this marker to reset.
Some situations will result in the automatic deletion of files or requests. This helps reduce storage space for the application.
This clean up is scheduled to repeat each week on Sunday mornings.
There are two conditions that result in permanent data deletion:
- Requests marked as Deleted for 30 days will be removed from the system during the next schedule clean up. After this point, these requests are non-recoverable.
- Files that were uploaded more than 30 days ago on requests marked as Completed will be removed from the system during the next schedule clean up. After this point, these files are non-recoverable.