“Would it be okay if I dropped by now?” A colleague working in another building makes a desperate phone call to my colleague, to his mind the only person with the ability to understand and complete the expense claim process in the new financial program. On January 1, TU/e switched to the uniFy financial software package. Nobody in his own division has taken the time to familiarize themselves with the process. The helpdesk points people in the direction of the supplied manual (34 pages) and online instruction videos. 

A little while later, the three of us are looking at a laptop screen. In that respect, uniFy is aptly named: it brings people together. At first, I’m optimistic that we’ll make short work of this task. After all, I’ve managed to complete the entire process before, with the help of a colleague. She hit a few keys, linked two things together, and that was it. The claimed expenses were in my account in less than a week. Piece of cake. 

The screen shows a number of pre-completed fields, as well as 65 copies of a receipt that have been uploaded. That’s the number of attempts our colleague made that all failed ‘at some point’. But at which point? And all of this to claim back a new-year’s reception that cost 350 euros. 

We go about it in a structured way, following the manual as we go along. I’m also writing down all of the steps in my own words, so we’ll get it in one go next time. Too bad the manual we’re using was printed out a tad too small. We can read the instructions in black, but can’t make out the explanatory images in light gray. 

We manage to delete the 64 receipts. The amount had been pre-filled out, so we add a description and a cost center. But where to go from there? The ‘send for approval’ button remains grayed out, no matter what we do. What are we missing? It doesn’t take long for us to deviate from the step-by-step method. My colleague is clicking loads of buttons, tabs, and arrows at a pace I can’t keep up with. I’m not even writing along anymore. Then, suddenly, we’re there: we can click ‘send for approval’. The claim is filed. We did it! But please don’t ask me how. 

Annemarie van Malsen is a communications officer at TU/e’s Department of Industrial Design. The views expressed in this column are her own.