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Entertainment Announcements Archive
- Apr12026
Retirement of Entertainment Reporting Form and Meal Expense Tracker
Effective July 1, 2026, the Entertainment Reporting Form (ERF) and the Meal Expense Tracker (MET) will be retired and removed from the Financial Affairs website. These legacy tools are being replaced by existing financial systems and a new expense aggregator tool designed to assist with event planning and streamline the procurement and reimbursement processes.
The transition aims to consolidate financial data entry into primary enterprise systems, reducing redundant documentation and improving fiscal transparency. Campus units should plan to transition to the preferred methods and systems for all entertainment and meal-related expenses by the July 1st retirement date.
For more information, please see the full announcement. Financial Affairs is decommissioning the Entertainment Reporting Form and the Meal Expense Tracker effective July 1, 2026. This change centralizes expense reporting and leverages the capabilities of modern financial platforms.
Entertainment Reporting Form (ERF) Retirement
After 7/1/26 the ERF, previously used to document and approve entertainment-related business expenses, will no longer be available. Business entertainment reporting and documentation requirements will be integrated into the following existing workflows and tools:
- POs (CruzBuy): For entertainment expenses handled via purchase orders.
- Expense Reports (CruzFly): For individual reimbursements and travel-related entertainment.
- Direct Payments (CruzBuy): For non-purchase order payments to non-UCSC payees.
- OneCard & Instant Card: For purchases made using University-issued credit cards; documentation will be managed within the card reconciliation system.
- Event Expense Aggregator: A new tool for tracking and consolidating complex event costs that fall outside of standard procurement streams.
Meal Expense Tracker (MET) Retirement
The Meal Expense Tracker resource is being phased out in favor of a more comprehensive solution, to be available for Fiscal Year 26-27:
- Transition to Event Expense Aggregator: All meal expense tracking functions will transition to the Event Expense Aggregator tool, available by July 1st, 2026. This new resource will provide a more robust framework for tracking cumulative event/meal costs across UCSC’s various financial systems.
Preparing for This Change
All units should finalize any outstanding reports in the legacy systems prior to the July 1st deadline. Inquiries regarding these changes may be directed to the Financial Affairs support team overseeing this project at erf-met-retirement-group@ucsc.edu. - Feb112026
Entertainment DOA Form Upgrade
The Entertainment Delegation of Authority (DOA) process is transitioning to a DocuSign enabled web form on Tuesday, 2/17/26.
Going forward Entertainment Delegations will be based solely on level 2/3/4 Org Codes, Funds will no longer be specified in the Entertainment Delegation.
To establish an Entertainment Delegation the Delegate and Delegator will be required to complete, review, and sign the DOA form. The DOA form will automatically route to the Accounting Office for final review and approval. Designating Top-Level Approval for EECs will require additional approval from the Chancellor's Office.
Questions about the new DOA form and process can be directed to the FAR Office within Accounting.
Any issues encoutered while using the new DOA form can be reported to the FinAff-Tech team. - Feb42026
Planned Outage - Authentication Unavailable on Financial Affairs Website During Improvement Work: Fri 2/6 @ 10pm - Mon 2/9 @ 6am
The Financial Affairs website will be undergoing work to improve the authentication platform over the coming weekend. The website WILL be up and available, as will all primary system launch pages (CruzBuy, CruzPay, etc.), however users will NOT be able to authenticate for access to protected resources, such as DocuSign enabled web forms and the Entertainment Dashboard.
The authentication outage is limited to only the Financial Affairs website, and will be in effect from Friday evening at 10pm PST until Monday morning at 6am PST. Users attempting to authenticate during this outage window may encounter a system error page when attempting to sign in.
If you have questions about this outage, please contact our finaff-tech@ucsc.edu team. - Dec12025
New Look & Feel for All Financial Affairs Guides
Financial Affairs Guides have been redesigned! We've updated the look and feel to simplify navigation, enhance search and filtering, and create more space for comfortable reading.
This visual refresh improves the overall guide experience while keeping all content unchanged. Explore our redesigned guides through the Financial Affairs Guide Directory.
Please share any feedback on the new presentation with the Financial Affairs tech team.
- Jul222025
Financial Affairs Website: Planned Outage on 7/23/25 from 12:30am - 6:30am
The Financial Affairs website will be unavailable for 6 hours on Wednesday morning, July 23rd, from 12:30am to 6:30am for scheduled system maintenance. This will impact access to systems such as CruzBuy, CruzPay, CruzFly, ERS, and FIS. Please plan accordingly and contact
finaff-tech@ucsc.edu with any questions.
- May162025
CruzFly Videos Now Available
The first CruzFly navigation videos are now available on the
CruzFly Video Resources page. These include how to login to CruzFly, and create an expense report; and how to enter FOAPAL information. We hope these videos can be used as a starting point for first time users, or refresher for those that don’t use CruzFly regularly. Additional videos will be added throughout the next year.
As always,
CruzFly training is also available.
Please contact
cruzfly-help@ucsc.edu for any questions.
- Aug122024
CruzFly is Now the Primary System for Reimbursement Requests All Reimbursement Requests for UCSC payees should now be processed through
CruzFly. Other forms and processes, such as Direct Payment, Post-Travel, Travel Advance Request, and the Entertainment Reporting Form (ERF) should only be necessary when the person being reimbursed is a non-UCSC affiliate (that is, does not have a CruzID email address), or in special circumstances. For information about CruzFly, including how to get an account, please see the
CruzFly User Manual.
For questions please contact
cruzfly-help@ucsc.edu.
- May282024
Scheduled Site Maintenance Complete
The site maintenance has been successfully completed, and full functionality has been restored.
This was a significant upgrade to the underlying service that powers our website.
If you notice any website issues, please contact the web team at finaff-tech@ucsc.edu.
- May202024
Scheduled Site Maintenance and Content Freeze Over Memorial Day Weekend
Beginning Friday 5/24 @ 5:30pm through Tuesday 5/28 @ 7am the Financial Affairs website will be undergoing scheduled maintenance. While the site will remain available in a read-only mode, some services will be impacted.
Notably, the Entertainment Dashboard and ERF/MET forms will be unavailable during this scheduled maintenance period. If you have questions or issues regarding this maintenance, please contact the web team at finaff-tech@ucsc.edu. - Feb262024
Financial Affairs Website: Planned Outage on 3/3/24 from 2:30am - 5:30am
The Financial Affairs website will be unavailable for 3 hours on Sunday morning, March 3rd, from 2:30am to 5:30am for scheduled system maintenance. This will impact access to systems such as CruzBuy, CruzPay, CruzFly, ERS, and FIS. Please plan accordingly and contact finaff-tech@ucsc.edu with any questions.
- Sep82022
Increase in Meal Rates for Business Travel and Entertainment
Changes to UC Business and Finance Bulletin G-28 "Travel Regulations" have been approved by the UC President for Fiscal Year 2022-23.
The changes increase maximum meal rates for both Travel and Entertainment related events.
-
Travel: Maximum daily reimbursement for meals and incidentals (for domestic travel) has increased from $62 to $79.
-
Entertainment: The maximum meal rates for entertainment and business meeting meals have increased for all meal types.
Please see the full announcement for more detail on these changes.
Travel Meals
Business and Finance Bulletin G-28, Travel Regulations (Travel Policy) defines the Meal and Incidental Expenses (M&IE) Reimbursement Cap as the maximum amount authorized for the daily meal and incidental expenses established by the University. This is for all business travel of less than 30 days in the continental United States, which includes the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia.
The maximum M&IE rate for the Fiscal Year 2022-2023 is $79.00 and is based on the highest per diem rate available for all UC locations as published by US General Services Administration for Fiscal 2023. We will continue to follow this methodology to select a new M&IE rate for future fiscal years and will update the Travel Policy accordingly.
Entertainment Meals
The maximum meal rates for entertainment and business meeting meals have been increased in response to soaring food prices. The new rates are as follows:
|
|
| Breakfast |
$31 |
| Lunch |
$54 |
| Dinner |
$94 |
| Light Refreshments |
$22 |
As a reminder, these amounts include the cost of food and beverages, labor, sales tax, service, and delivery charges. The cost of room rental, room set-up fees, media rental, and decorations, etc., are not included in the per-person costs. - Aug192020
Financial Affairs Response Times Impacted
As with many campus units, there are a significant number of Financial Affairs staff impacted by the CZU Lightning Complex Fire. Response times for all Financial Affairs departments may be slower than usual. Be safe, everyone.
- Apr132020
Financial Affairs Response to COVID-19 During this unprecedented time, our entire UCSC community has been directly impacted by the magnitude of the global COVID-19 crisis. Many temporary adjustments have been, and continue to be, made to our financial policy and processes in order to accommodate our UCSC community and to help our campus navigate this difficult period. For more information on the response and related resources, please visit our Financial Affairs Response to COVID-19 page.
- Jul12016
CruzBuy Goes ERF-less!
ERFs are no longer required for meal-related purchases made solely through CruzBuy. More detail on changes to the entertainment reporting process can be found here. For questions, contact entertainmenthelp@ucsc.edu.
- Dec222015
New 2016 Entertainment Per-Person Meal Maximums
The maximum meal per-person rates for entertainment and business meetings occurring on or after January 1, 2016 are as follows:
