GROUP MEAL AND MEETING SUPPORT FORM

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NOTE: Google Chrome must be used to access the GURU website and for completing and/or downloading fill-and-print forms. Firefox, Internet Explorer, and/or Microsoft Edge browsers do not support all features required for PDF fill-and-print forms functionality. Substitutes for an approved University official form (created using a different browser or scanned copies) will be returned with the request to use the Chrome version of the form.

Purpose:

The Group Meal and Meeting Support form is used to document business purposes and attendees for an authorized group meal or meeting of Penn State employees or visitors to the University. The form is used as supporting documentation for Purchasing Card transactions (SAP Concur), Purchase Orders (Lion Marketplace), or Direct Billing, Internal Service Requests (ISR), or Non-PO Invoice processes (SIMBA).

General Information:

See Procedure CR2023 Group Meals and Meetings for a detailed explanation of the Group Meal and Meetings processes.

Refer to Policies: AD18 Possess, Use, and Distribution of Alcoholic Beverages, AD26 Sale and Serving of Food and Beverages at University Locations, Policy BS14 Penn State Purchasing Card, Policy FN10 Other Business Expenses and Activities, Policy FN11 Contracts and Leases and, Policy Guideline FNG02 Limited Delegation of Contract Approvals regarding group meal and meeting expenses.

Petty cash funds are NOT to be used to reimburse group meal and group meeting expenses. Refer to CR2016 Long-Term and Short-Term Advances.

As a reminder, the purchase of alcohol is never permitted to be charged to general funds. Also, if alcohol is purchased any gratuity related to alcohol must be split out of the receipt.

All contracts and/or agreements pertaining to Group Meal and Meeting expenses must to submitted to the Office of Central Procurement for review and approval in advance of procurement and payment by emailing psucontracts@psu.edu. The approved contract and/or agreement, as well as the approved Group Meal and Meeting Support Form, become supporting documentation for the transactions.

Use of Penn State Purchasing Card:

Group Meals and Meetings transactions occurring on a Penn State Purchasing Card are to be reconciled in SAP Concur. The use of this form is:

required when the meal is hosted by someone who is not a workflow approver; or
required when the meal is hosted by someone who is not the employee submitting the expense report in SAP Concur
not required when the budget administrator is the host of the group meal; or
not required when the budget administrator is a workflow approver.

When there are 12 or more attendees at a Group Meal or Meeting , one attendee entry can be created for the attendees using the "Group of 12 or MORE" attendee type in SAP Concur. Create a New Attendee and select the Attendee Type of "Group of 12 or MORE," enter a name for the group, and add the group to the expense. Next edit the Attendee Count field to reflect the correct number of attendees. Create a separate document with the complete list of attendees and upload as supporting documentation to the SAP Concur expense report.

All pre-approved contracts and/or agreements, the Group Meal and Meeting Support Form (when required), and all receipts must be uploaded as supporting documentation for the P-Card transaction.

Use of Purchase Order:

A group meal or meeting being held at a non-University facility, with a projected cost of $10,000 or more, must be processed with a Purchase Order through a LION Marketplace Shopping Cart. The Group Meal and Meeting Support Form, any pre-approved contracts and/or agreements, and invoice must be uploaded to the Shopping Cart as supporting documentation. A Good Receipt Confirmation must also be submitted.

Use of Non-PO Invoice:

A Non-PO Invoice may be used when a group meal or meeting, being held at a non-University facility, has a projected cost of less than $10,000. The Group Meal and Meeting Support Form, any pre-approved contracts and/or agreements, and invoice (if payment is to a vendor) or receipts (if reimbursement) must be uploaded as supporting documentation to the transaction in SIMBA.

Use of Direct Billing, Internal Service Request, or Journal Entry Processes:

A group meal or meeting being held at a University facility requires the use of Direct Billing, Internal Service Request, or Journal Entry processes and a Group Meal or Meeting Support Form is required. The completed and approved form and any pre-approved agreements must be uploaded into SIMBA as supporting documentation for the transaction.

General Ledger Account Usage:

See the 5239xxxx series in the General Ledger Accounts and Payment Decision Matrix for the appropriate GL to use.

Exhibit and Instructions:

This form has fill-and-print form fields and digital ID (signature) fields enabled. The PDF version has instructions provided for the type and/or format of information to be included within the fill-and-print form fields. Hovering the computer mouse over any form field within the PDF document will display these instructions. See Converting Web-based Documents to PDF documents for details. See Applying Digital IDs When Document Contains Multiple Signatures for instructions on adding signatures.

For step-by-step instructions on completing the Group Meal and Meeting Support form, click on link below:

Group Meal and Meeting Support Form Exhibit

Form Requirements:

No form may be used that substitutes for an approved official University form without prior review and approval by the steward of the form/central office, as facilitated by the Office of Systems and Procedures (designated representative of the Associate Vice President for Budget and Finance). Policy FN17 Required Use of Approved University Forms Appearing in the General University Reference Utility (GURU) requires that all form templates must be vetted and approved prior to being published on the GURU website and all such documents having gone through said established approval process must be password protected.

Accessing GURU Forms:

GURU PDF forms are designed for use with Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Acrobat Pro. Each browser (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, etc) has a built-in PDF viewer making it the default PDF viewer without asking users. These built-in viewers do not necessarily support all features required for PDF forms. Similarly, many calculations are not supported by other stand-alone PDF readers (for examples, Nuance). It has been brought to the attention of the Office of Systems and Procedures that PDF forms do not function appropriately when accessed using Firefox and/or Microsoft Edge. In order to access any of the forms on GURU and have the fill-and-print functionality work properly, the end-user must access the GURU website using Google Chrome.

The latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader is available for free. Contact your IT support staff person for downloading assistance, if/as needed. If Adobe Acrobat Pro better suits your needs, contact your IT support staff person for purchasing and installation assistance.

Web-based Documents:

Clicking the form download icon on any of the form instruction pages on GURU will open a web-based version of the form. While it appears to have fill-and-print fields available, not all functionality may be available for use (i.e. digital ID fields). With some exceptions (see exceptions below), it will be necessary to convert these web-based documents to PDF documents (see Converting to PDF documents section).

Converting Web-based Documents to PDF Documents:

There are two (2) options available to download forms:

Option 1 - To create a PDF for this document:

Click the download icon located in the upper right-hand corner of the web-page
Select a location to save the document where you will be able to locate the document
Click Save
Open the document from the saved location

Option 2 - To change system settings to always open documents with Adobe:

Click the download icon located in the upper right-hand corner of the web-page
Select a location to save the document where you will be able to locate the document
Click Save
The file will appear in the bottom left-hand corner of your browser window. Click the small up arrow to the right of the file name
Click the "Always open with system viewer" option
The form now opens as a PDF and can be completed
All PDF files will now open in a separate window in Adobe

Exceptions:

Combining PDF Documents:

There may be times when it is necessary to combine multiple PDF documents into a single document for submission. In those instances, complete the following steps:

Click on the appropriate form in GURU
Complete the fill-and-print boxes on the web-based form (do not complete the digital ID process at this stage)
Click the print icon located in the upper right-hand corner of the screen
Change Destination to Microsoft Print to PDF using the drop-down arrow
Click Print at the bottom of that panel
Enter a file name in the box at the bottom of the pop-up window and be sure to select a location where you will be able to relocate the document
Click Save

Repeat this process for each document that will be combined (each file name must be different from the previous)

Now, open one of the completed PDF documents and on the far right select combine files
Click Add Files and select the files to be combined
Click Combine
The new document will have the title "Binder" - change the file name and save again
Open the new document, apply digital ID signature (if appropriate), and save again

Applying Digital IDs on PDFs (general instructions):

This form has the Digital ID (applying an electronic signature to the document) process enabled.

NOTE: Once a digital ID has been applied to a document, it is considered an "approved" document and it is not possible to make any revisions to the form. DO NOT apply any digital IDs until the document is completed and ready to be approved.

Complete all fill-and-print form fields before completing the signature process:

Open the Group Meal and Meeting Support Form
Complete all fill-and-print fields
Once the form is complete, click in the signature form field and either:
- select your digital ID and click continue, or
- create your digital ID, select your digital ID, and click continue
Review the information in the appearance box and click sign
You will be required to save a copy of the document (the digital signature is not applied until the form is saved)
- The file name pop-up window will contain the name "group-meal-and-meeting-support-form" in the file name field, add a dash and the payment method transaction number # (i.e., group-meal-and-meeting-support-form-1234567 (with 1234567 being the purchase order number, internal service request number, or direct billing number)
- choose a location to save the file where you will be able to locate/retrieve this saved version
- click save
Close the form version appearing on your screen
Open the version containing the vehicle #, saved in the previous step
Verify the digital ID appears on the document
Close the document

Creating a Proxy Digital ID:

If authority has been delegated to act as a proxy for signing forms, it will be necessary to create a "proxy digital ID." The individual authorizing another to act as their proxy must provide written documentation to the individual being proxied. The individual receiving the proxied authority must retain this written documentation for the duration of the proxy. The written documentation indicating the authorized proxy should be submitted along with the document containing the proxied signature.

Complete the following steps to create a proxy digital ID:

Click in the signature form field
Click "Configure New Digital ID" in the "Sign with a Digital ID" box
Select "Create a New Digital ID" and click Continue
Select "Save to File" and click Continue
Enter "[Your name] proxy for [enter name]" in the Name field and complete the other fields (as appropriate) but the email address is required (this would be your email address) and click Continue
Select a location to save the new Digital ID (or leave as assigned), apply a password that you will use for signing, and click Save

Applying Digital ID's When Document Contains Multiple Signatures:

The Group Meal and Meeting Support Form requires multiple signatures. Please complete the following process for obtaining those signatures:

The Event Host completes and saves the form using the naming convention defined above
The Event Host sends an email, with the above referenced document as an attachment, to the Budget Administrator (or delegate) for initial approval
The Budget Administrator (or delegate) opens the attachment, reviews the document, and applies their digital ID (if approving) as defined in Steps 4, 5, and 6 above and saves the document again (do not change the file name)
If Penn State students were in attendance in accordance with Policy FN10 Other Business Expenses and Activities, the Budget Administrator (or delegate) sends an email, with the above referenced document as an attachment, to the:
- Budget Executive - required if graduate students will be present and alcohol provided
  - The Budget Executive opens the attachment, reviews the document, and applies their digital ID (if approving) as defined in Steps 4, 5, and 6 above and saves the document again (do not change the file name)
  - If undergraduate students were present and alcohol provided, the Budget Executive sends an email, with the above referenced document as an attachment to the Vice President for Student Affairs.
  - If no undergraduate students were present, the Budget Executive sends an email, with the above referenced document as an attachment, to the Business Area Financial Officer
- Vice President for Student Affairs (or proxy)- required if undergraduate students will be present and alcohol provided
  - The Vice President for Student Affairs (or proxy) opens the attachment, reviews the document, and applies their digital ID (if approving) as defined in Steps 4, 5, and 6 above and saves the document again (do not change the file name). See "Proxy Signature" process above
  - The Vice President for Student Affairs (or proxy) sends an email, with the above referenced document as an attachment, to the Business Area Financial Officer
- If no students were present, skip these approval signatures, and the Budget Administrator send an email, with the above referenced document as an attachment to the Business Area Financial Officer
The Business Area Financial Officer (or delegate) opens the attachment, reviews the document, and applies their digital ID (if approving) as defined in Steps 4, 5, and 6 above and saves the document again (do not change the file name). See "Proxy Signature" process above
The Business Area Financial Officer (or delegate) sends an email, with the above referenced document as an attachment, to the Event Host
The Event Host uploads the document, along with any supporting documentation, to the appropriate financial system (Lion Marketplace, SIMBA, or SAP Concur)

Clearing Fill-and-Print Form Fields:

This form has the "Clear Form" Bookmark enabled. To clear ALL form field entries:

If left-hand column is not displayed on screen when document is opened, click the small arrow located at about the mid-point of the left-hand side of screen to reveal the column
Click "Bookmarks" (looks like a ribbon)
Click "Clear Form"

If you encounter any difficulties, contact the GURU support staff by submitting a Technical Support Form request.

Number of Copies and Ultimate Distribution:

Table of distribution and retention of the Group Meal and Meeting Support Form
Document:	Ultimate Distribution:	Retention Periods:	Disposition Method:
Original:	Uploaded into SAP Concur (Purchasing Card), Lion Marketplace (PO) or SIMBA (ISR process, Direct Billing, or Non-PO Invoice process). Upon successful upload, this electronic version becomes the document of record	General Funds = End of fiscal year +7 years Restricted Funds/Contracts/Grants = End of fiscal year after close of contract/grant +7 years	Paper document = Secure Bin disposal or shred Electronic document and data = delete and empty recycle bin
Transitory Documents	Once verified document successfully upload, the Original, Budget Administrator, Budget Executive, Vice President for Student Affairs, and Financial Officer copies become transitory copies	Current fiscal year +1 year	Paper document = Secure Bin disposal or shred Electronic document and data = delete and empty recycle bin

*Transitory Copy - University Records that have temporary value and, as a result, may be destroyed after they are no longer needed. In no event shall be retained longer than the official copy of the University Record as delineated on the Records Retention Schedule.