How to avoid duplicate payments for expenses...

[funkmasterjs]

Thank goodness it doesn't happen very often, but on occasion a Ward/Branch will inadvertantly submit a duplicate payment request into the software. Could there be a feature added to the software that warns a submitter when a duplicate amount is about to be submitted? ie If I submit a $20.50 reimbursement, then inadvertently try to submit the package a second time, it would be great if a flag appeared that asks:
"Are you sure you want to submit this duplicate amount? There is already an identical amount currently being processed in the system. Hit "Yes" to continue this submission, or "No" to abandon this submission."

We would appreciate a capability like this.

Thanks for any help on this question!

[BrianEdwards]

Thank goodness it doesn't happen very often, but on occasion a Ward/Branch will inadvertantly submit a duplicate payment request into the software. Could there be a feature added to the software that warns a submitter when a duplicate amount is about to be submitted? ie If I submit a $20.50 reimbursement, then inadvertently try to submit the package a second time, it would be great if a flag appeared that asks:
"Are you sure you want to submit this duplicate amount? There is already an identical amount currently being processed in the system. Hit "Yes" to continue this submission, or "No" to abandon this submission."

We would appreciate a capability like this.

Thanks for any help on this question!

Welcome to the Tech Forum! For your awareness, this Forum is primarily for user-to-user discussion and self-help, and almost all of us are regular Church members with callings similar to yourself. We can often provide workarounds or ideas on how to utilize Church tech, but there's no connection between this Forum and the Church support teams. The correct way to ask for improvements or fixes to Church tech is via the Feedback functionality which is available at the bottom of most Church webpages, and also inside Church apps. This will get your request into the appropriate Church system for processing.

[greenwoodkl]

I wouldn't limit the concern to other payments currently being processed. We had 3 instances last calendar year (2024) before I was called as Ward Clerk of duplicate payments, but they were multiple weeks apart so the original payment was cleared before the second appeared. The Assistant Clerk and I now look at past expenses for the same payee as incoming requests and look for duplicate amounts. Some suggested checks and warnings from the system would be nice, but it won't catch every possible scenario.

[SethBW]

Thank goodness it doesn't happen very often, but on occasion a Ward/Branch will inadvertantly submit a duplicate payment request into the software. Could there be a feature added to the software that warns a submitter when a duplicate amount is about to be submitted? ie If I submit a $20.50 reimbursement, then inadvertently try to submit the package a second time, it would be great if a flag appeared that asks:
"Are you sure you want to submit this duplicate amount? There is already an identical amount currently being processed in the system. Hit "Yes" to continue this submission, or "No" to abandon this submission."

We would appreciate a capability like this.

Thanks for any help on this question!

Welcome to the Tech Forum! For your awareness, this Forum is primarily for user-to-user discussion and self-help, and almost all of us are regular Church members with callings similar to yourself. We can often provide workarounds or ideas on how to utilize Church tech, but there's no connection between this Forum and the Church support teams. The correct way to ask for improvements or fixes to Church tech is via the Feedback functionality which is available at the bottom of most Church webpages, and also inside Church apps. This will get your request into the appropriate Church system for processing.

I do not have access to the Church finance system except via LUFAS (for audit committee reasons). Would that web site be a proper place for me to submit a request for an enhancement to the system that allows members to electronically submit reimbursement requests?

[greenwoodkl]

I do not have access to the Church finance system except via LUFAS (for audit committee reasons). Would that web site be a proper place for me to submit a request for an enhancement to the system that allows members to electronically submit reimbursement requests?

Payment Request is already a feature in both the Member Tools app for all adults and in LCR for leaders. I received this information from the Global Services Department - Leader Member Support team:

It is now available for all members. The most common occurrence we have found is that the "tile" for payment request is hidden for some members. This is fixed by pressing and holding down on any of the tiles. This will cause a mini menu to appear. In the mini menu there will be an option to "add tiles". In the add tiles page most people see "finance" and "payment request" and can add them both to the home screen. After that basic troubleshooting of turning the phone off and back on, checking for the most updated version and deleting and downloading the app again. If none of that works anyone is welcome to give us a call for help 801-240-3500.

[Adam21Lyman]

I too would love to understand why this happens. I cannot teach our ward council how to avoid it since I cannot figure out what triggers it. We Just have to take extra time to check every expense submitted electronically. I have talked to multiple bishopric members that are experiencing the same thing.

[cjbeckert]

This has becoming a growing issue within our stake. As members have been given access to directly submit reimbursement requests via the app, there has been an increase in the number of duplicate requests generated not initiated by the member. For example, at the stake level I've had organization leaders submit an expense via the app which was processed and paid only to have the same expense request pop back up 3 more times over the following 2 weeks. The leader denies submitting the additional requests.

Fortunately I was able to recognize and delete the duplicate requests but the past two audit seasons have found multiple wards making duplicate payments due to similar circumstances. The only difference is the clerks or leaders approving the request either did not recognize the duplicates or were unaware someone else had already processed the initial request.

Reporting the issue to Global Services is ineffective as the issue continues to occur without substantive explanation or resolution from GS. Responses have generally been we must be doing something wrong on our end. Again in my experiences, the members, who are tech savy, report only entering the expense once, yet duplicate reimbursement requests still randomly show up after the initial request is processed and paid. It does not happen with every expense but there is no rhyme or reason why or when it will occur.

Based on responses to this issue thus far, we're not expecting any system-wide improvements anytime soon. In the meantime, the band-aid fix our stake is pushing out to our units after this last audit season is for units to treat each request electronically submitted by members as a likely duplicate. Each requested amount needs to be bumped against completed expenses to search for possible duplicates before processing any payments. Its cumbersome and time-consuming, not to mention taxing to get everyone who is authorized to process payments aware, onboard, and remember to bump requests; but it beats having to make multiple requests to members to repay the duplicate payment(s).

[eblood66]

Reporting the issue to Global Services is ineffective as the issue continues to occur without substantive explanation or resolution from GS. Responses have generally been we must be doing something wrong on our end.

I haven't seen quite as big an increase as you mention but we almost never had audit exceptions for duplicate expenses before but we had two last audit period and I think there have been one or two others that were caught and corrected by the units before the audit. At very least it has become more common due to online requests. But I tend to agree that there is some bug somewhere.

I'd recommend continuing to provide examples to support. Eventually with enough reports it may get through support and gain developer attention. But even with developer attention, it's probably a difficult thing to duplicate, so a quick resolution is unlikely.

I think promoting something like what the original poster asked may be more productive. Even if there isn't a bug in the system, the problems seems to be growing. The system should be able to warn if a request for the same amount to the same recipient has occurred within some (fairly long) time frame. It may even be good to warn if an expense for the same amount was paid to any member of the same household. And if the attachments are exactly the same, an even stronger warning would be warranted.

I'd recommend any clerk encountering this problem should make a request through support (I probably will). But I'd also recommend that stakes mention it to their assistant area auditor especially if you've had audit exceptions. If the request comes through the audit department channel, it will probably get prioritized sooner.

[garystroble]

Code that looks fine on a developer's computer often fails with real users. The three most important aspects of software development are testing, testing, testing (prior to release).