Concur Overview
Why Concur? Needed a better travel process UH System RFP in November 2013 Workflow approval E-receipts Better management reports on travel Software as a service (“in the cloud”) Customized to meet our needs Concur is the most widely used travel management system in private business and higher education
What’s in scope? ALL UH travel for employees, prospective employees, students, prospective students, university guests, contractors, and regents “Travel” includes: All trips that include airfare, rental car, or hotel All overnight trips All Travel Card transactions, including for new employee moving expenses All trips for UH business, whether UH pays or not All moving expense reimbursements
What’s new? Travel Request process Travel Advance process Online booking tool Travel agency Travel Expense Report process Travel Card process New employee moving expense process
Travel Request Created in Concur by traveler or delegate Workflow approval Employee travelers must submit their own TR into workflow to acknowledge their review Approvers are automatically notified when a Request is waiting for their approval An approved Travel Request is required for all university travel, whether paid by UH or not Don’t book travel until the TR is fully approved
Travel Request Workflow Paths 1. Employee North American Travel Employee – Supervisor – Certify 2. Employee Foreign Travel – Local Funds Employee – Supervisor – Certify – VP 3. Employee Foreign Travel – State Funds Employee – Supervisor – Certify – VP – Provost Note: Academic supervisor approves all faculty travel and Provost approves faculty foreign travel. Research VP also approves foreign travel when using Research Division funds. Use “Approve and Forward” to add approvers.
Travel Request Workflow Paths 4. Prospective Employee North American Travel Delegate – Unit Head – Certify 5. Prospective Employee Foreign Travel – Local Delegate – Unit Head – Certify – VP 6. Prospective Employee Foreign Travel – State Delegate – Unit Head – Certify – VP – Provost 7. Other Non-Employee Travel (all destinations)
Travel Advance Available for employee foreign travel and group travel (local funds only) Concur setup form must indicate “travel advance eligible” for employee to have travel advance option Advance requested on the Travel Request in Concur After TR is fully approved, Travel Advance will go through its own workflow approval Path: Employee – Certifying Signatory – AP After AP approves, nightly feed to UHS Finance System creates pre-approved voucher to issue Travel Advance Concur keeps track of Travel Advance used on Expense Report
Concur Online Booking Tool Customized to include UH System and state contracts for airfare, hotel, and rental car Discounts for United and Southwest flights booked through Concur Concur keeps track of your unused tickets so they don’t expire Concur builds reservations in “live time” so inventory is secured during the search, instead of at the end when it may no longer be available
Concur Online Booking Tool Concur tells you which flights are Fly America compliant when traveling internationally on federal funds Concur can store your travel preferences, rewards programs, and credit cards in your profile for more convenient booking Travel Arrangers selected by the traveler can book travel on behalf of the traveler, if desired. Both traveler and arranger receive confirmations.
Travel Agency Corporate Travel Planners (CTP) was selected as the UH travel agency following a RFP Headquartered in San Antonio Travel agency for several universities Long-term Concur partner Available 24/7 Can split payment for business/personal travel
Expense Report Traveler’s Expense Report copied from TR Dept Travel Card Expense Report created with information from TR and refers to TR number Electronic receipts are available Many airlines, hotels, and rental car agencies provide e-receipts for Concur customers, which are sent directly to the traveler’s queue in Concur (traveler must opt-in to receive e-receipts and book in Concur with credit card in traveler’s name) Use free ExpenseIt app to take a picture of a receipt with your phone, email it to ExpenseIt, and an itemized copy of the receipt will be sent to the traveler’s queue in Concur
Expense Report UH travel rules (e.g., required receipts) are built into the Expense Report, so you know when something is missing Select the expense description (e.g., Airfare – Direct Billed) on the Expense Report and the expense account will be selected for you Workflow approval – Must be submitted by employee to acknowledge review
Expense Report Workflow Paths 1. Employee Travel (Non-Taxable) Employee – Certify – AP 2. Employee Travel (Taxable) Employee – Certify – Tax – AP 3. Non-Employee Travel (US Citizen or Resident Alien) Delegate – Certify – AP 4. Non-Employee Travel (Foreign National) Delegate – Certify – Tax – AP 5. Department Travel Card Expense Report Dept Travel Card Custodian – Certify – AP
Expense Report Workflow Paths 6. New Employee Moving Expenses Before Employee Starts Delegate – Certify – Tax – AP After Employee Starts Employee – Certify – Tax – AP After AP approves, nightly feed to UHS Finance System creates pre-approved vouchers and journals to issue payments and record expenses.
Travel Card Process Travel Card transactions feed to Concur daily Cardholders (or delegate) and custodians match receipts to Travel Card transactions, which are then matched to an Expense Report Individual Travel Card transactions are approved on the traveler’s Expense Report Department Travel Card transactions are approved on the custodian’s Expense Report for the traveler
New Employee Moving Expenses To reimburse moving expenses, you must create a Travel Request and Expense Report in Concur just like you would for travel Attach offer letter to Travel Request Attach receipts and Moving Expense Template to Expense Report Direct payments to moving companies are not made through Concur
Who Has Access to Concur? Employees who are known travelers Travel Card cardholders and custodians Staff who create Travel Requests and Expense Reports or make travel arrangements Supervisors, unit heads, certifying signatories, and other approvers New travelers, delegates, and approvers can be added by sending a Concur Access Form to AP, which is posted on the Finance Forms page: http://www.uh.edu/finance/pages/forms.htm
Three Ways to Login to Concur PASS (employee self-service) www.concursolutions.com User ID is UH email address Temporary password will be emailed to you by AP Phone or tablet using the Concur app Login to Concur using PASS or the Concur website, go to the Profile page, and select Mobile Registration to download the free Concur app
Getting Started and Resources First thing to do after logging in is to review and update your profile in Concur. See documents on Finance Training page: http://www.uh.edu/finance/pages/Training.htm “Getting Started in Concur” Step-by-step instructions for using Concur See Company Notes page in Concur, which includes additional helpful information, including contacts for questions and booking travel.