There are times when an organization outside of UCAR pays for all or part of an employee’s travel.
No-Cost Travel
Travel that is entirely paid for directly by the outside organization (also known as “host”) is referred to as no-cost travel.
Billable Travel
Travel that is initially paid for by UCAR and then reimbursed (in full or in part) by the host is referred to as billable travel. Billable travel can either be invoiced to the host by UCAR or paid directly to the traveler by the host. Expensing billable travel depends on who the host will reimburse.
Common Scenarios
There are four common scenarios:
Host Reimburses Both Traveler and UCAR
This billable scenario only applies when the host already paid UCAR. Begin by processing a travel expense report for all trip expenses. This includes expenses paid by the Travel Card (T-Card), direct billed to UCAR, out of pocket expenses paid personally by the traveler, and those to be billed to the host.
Once all expenses have been added to the expense report:
Verify each expense is allocated as billable or not, as appropriate. Visit the Allocating Expenses guide for details.
Record the amount the traveler received from the host using the Amount Paid to Traveler from Host expense type. Be sure to enter the amount as negative and mark the payment type as “Out of Pocket”.
Allocate the expense added in the previous step as billable - see step #1 for details.
Record the amount UCAR received from the host using the Invoice Request expense type. Be sure to note that the host has paid UCAR directly.
Confirm that the amount shown as billable on the UCAR-Detailed Report with Summary Data is equal to the total amount that the host paid UCAR directly.
Submit the expense report.
This scenario only applies when the host has already paid UCAR.
Responsibilities
- Pays for all or part of the trip’s costs.
- Sends reimbursement directly to traveler and UCAR.
- Accounts for amount paid to traveler by host on expense report.
Includes Invoice Request form to account for costs sent directly to UCAR. - Does not submit report until host sends money to UCAR.for all or part of the trip’s costs.
- Sends reimbursement directly to traveler and UCAR.
- Posts costs received to the corresponding travel request.
- Audits final expense report and receives any additional amount due from traveler.
Host Will Reimburse Traveler
In this billable scenario the host reimburses the traveler directly. Begin by processing a travel expense report. Include all trip expenses paid by the Travel Card (T-Card), direct billed to UCAR, and out of pocket expenses paid personally by the traveler.
Once all expenses have been added to the expense report:
Verify each expense is allocated as billable or not, as appropriate. Visit the Allocating Expenses guide for details.
Record the amount the traveler received from the host using the Amount Paid to Traveler by Host expense type. Be sure to enter the amount as negative and mark the payment type as “Out of Pocket”.
Allocate the expense added in the previous step as billable - see step #1 for details.
Determine whether the traveler owes money to UCAR. One way is to use the UCAR-Detailed Report with Summary Data, available under the Print/Email dropdown within the expense report.
If needed, Travel will contact the traveler regarding money due UCAR. Funds can be returned via check or EFT. If sending a check to the UCAR Travel Office, have the traveler write the report key (available at the top of the UCAR-Detailed Report with Summary Data) in the memo and send the check to the UCAR Travel Office.
Submit the expense report.
Responsibilities
- Pays for all or part of the trip’s costs.
- Sends reimbursement directly to traveler.
- Books travel as usual, through Cain/Concur. UCAR pays.
- Submits expense report with costs host is paying allocated as billable.
- Must include the Amount Paid to Traveler by Host on the expense report.
- Sends payment to UCAR if any amount is due UCAR.
- Due any amount host paid if UCAR paid for expenses.
- Expense report goes through the audit process.
- UCAR processes any reimbursement received from the traveler.
Host Will Reimburse UCAR
In this billable scenario, it's preferred for UCAR to invoice the host rather than the traveler submitting documentation to the host directly. Begin by processing a travel expense report for all trip expenses. This includes expenses paid by the Travel Card (T-Card), direct billed to UCAR, out of pocket expenses paid personally by the traveler, and those to be billed to the host.
Once all expenses have been added to the expense report:
Verify each expense is allocated as billable or not, as appropriate. Visit the Allocating Expenses guide for details.
Complete the UCAR Invoice Request form.
Attach completed UCAR Invoice Request form to the expense report using the Invoice Request Form expense type. The amount shown on the UCAR Invoice Request form should match the amount shown as billable on the UCAR-Detailed Report with Summary Data.
Submit the expense report. UCAR will submit an invoice to the host once the expense report is fully approved.
Responsibilities
- Expects invoice for travel costs from UCAR.
- Sends reimbursement directly to UCAR.
- May cover all or part of the trip’s costs.
- Books travel as usual, through Cain/Concur. UCAR pays.
- Submits expense report with costs host is paying allocated as billable.
- Must include the Invoice Request form on the expense report.
- Expense report goes through the audit process.
- Invoice Request form forwarded to Accounts Receivable.
- UCAR AR sends invoice to host and collects payment.
A tool that can help you ensure each expense is properly allocated, and therefore marked as billable, is the UCAR-Detailed Report with Summary Data available under the Print/Email dropdown.
No-Cost Travel
Since No Cost travel is paid for entirely by the host directly, there should be nothing to expense. However, a travel request is still required; simply close/inactivate the travel request once the trip ends.
Directly pays for all of the trip's costs by booking flight, hotel, etc for traveler.
- All costs for trip paid for by the host.
- No expense report necessary.
- Closes / inactivates travel request in Concur.
- No expense report to audit.
- No reimbursement or invoice to process.
Requesting No-Cost Travel
Completing the Request Header
Access Concur. If accessing remotely, you may need to use your CIT credentials to log in. (You may want to bookmark this link for quick access to Concur next time – visit the Creating Bookmarks to Concur guide for details.)
Act as a delegate if entering this travel request on someone’s behalf. Refer to the Acting as a Delegate guide for details.
Start a travel request. There are a couple of ways to do this. One of the fastest is to use the task buttons along the top of your Concur home page. Hover your mouse over New and select Start a Request.
The Request Header appears.
Enter Trip Name. We recommend including the destination and trip dates in the trip name, along with the conference name (such as AGU) if applicable.
Select Trip Type. Note: Travel outside the U.S. is considered international, regardless of the traveler’s home country.
Select how the trip will be booked. Select No Booking since the other organization is paying directly for the entire trip.
Enter the Final Destination. If traveling to multiple destinations, enter the furthest location.
Enter the Travel Start and End dates. Include personal travel time, if any. You can use the calendar (icon on right side of field) or enter manually as mm/dd/yyyy.
Select the Trip Purpose.
Enter the Event Code, if applicable. You can search by the code or the event title. If searching by code, select the Code radio button that appears along the top of the search results once you begin to type. Visit the Working with Event Codes in the Visitor and Event Application guide for details about adding or editing event codes.
Enter the Business Justification. If more than 48 characters, enter “See attached” here and attach to the request in a later step.
Provide comments to the approver(s), if needed.
Check the Check if a NO COST Trip box.
If someone other than the traveler is entering this request, select the individual.
- If you are the traveler, select “_Me” from the dropdown. Otherwise, select from the list of travel coordinators available.
- If you are a travel coordinator and your name is not listed, submit a Help Desk ticket to request the addition of your name.
Select whether this trip will contain personal travel and, if so, enter the Personal Travel Dates.
Enter the Division for the account key, and then the Account Key. The division and account key are required, even though nothing will be encumbered.
Click Save. The Save button is in the upper right of your screen.
Setting the Approval Flow
Each travel request requires two levels of approval. First from the traveler’s supervisor (if the traveler is UCAR staff), and then from the budget approver for each account key getting encumbered. If a travel request is for a trip that has already occurred, and therefore doesn’t comply with policy, President’s Council approval is also required. Concur will automatically add these approval steps to each travel request as part of the approval flow and automatically skip steps that don’t apply. (The approver’s name will automatically fill in, or the step skipped, once the prior approval step is done.) You can add additional approvers to the travel request’s approval flow, if appropriate.
To see the approval flow for the travel request, click the Approval Flow tab. Each approval step indicates whose approval is needed and in what order (the first approval step is at the top of this list). Names that are faded – or “grayed out” – cannot be changed.
Add an Additional Approver
Determine where you want to insert the approval step.
Locate the existing approval step that is immediately below where you want to add an approval.
Click the plus sign to the right of that approver field.
A User-Added Approver field will appear above the approval step where the button was clicked. You can select anyone who is an approver within Concur for this approval step. Search for this approver by last name.
Submitting the Travel Request
Send this request for approval by clicking the Submit Request button.
You will briefly see a confirmation message before a list of active requests displays. The travel request will appear as an entry on this list.
Each approver listed under the Approval Flow tab will receive an email notification when it is their time to approve this request. The travel request number, needed to book this trip in Concur or through Cain Travel, appears in the upper left side of your screen.