Requesting Travel

Access Concur. If you are not automatically logged in, log in with your UCAR SSO credentials. (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. Click Create Request.

The Request Header appears.

Enter a descriptive 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 your Trip Type. This will determine the spend categories to which this request will be obligated. Note: Travel outside the 50 United States is considered international, regardless of the traveler’s home country. 

Select how the trip will be booked. 

• In Concur: Using the Travel module in Concur. 
• Through Cain Travel: Travel agent-assisted bookings. Especially helpful for complex trips or group travel. An additional agent fee will apply to your booking. 
• Outside of Concur/Cain: Using another method to book than Concur or Cain, such as Travelocity or Expedia. 
• No Booking: No booking is needed, such as when driving for the entire trip. 

Enter the Final Destination. If traveling to multiple destinations, enter the farthest location.

Enter the Travel Start Date and Travel End Date. If your trip includes personal travel dates, be sure to incorporate those into your start and end dates. You can use the calendar (icon on the right side of the field) or enter manually as mmddyyyy.

Select the Trip Purpose. 

Enter the Event Code, if applicable. You can search by the code or the event title. If searching by code, click in the field and then select Code from the drop-down menu. Visit the 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” and attach to the request after saving the header. 

Check the Is this Trip Billable? box, if applicable. Check this box if an organization outside of UCAR/NCAR will pay for all or part of this trip, even though UCAR is paying for the trip expenses initially.

If you are the traveler, select “N/A (no Travel Coordinator)” from the Travel Coordinator dropdown. If someone other than the traveler is entering this request, select your name from the Travel Coordinator drop-down menu. If you are a travel coordinator and your name is not listed, submit an NCAR/UCAR Service Desk ticket to request the addition of your name. 

Select whether this trip will contain personal travel and, if so, enter the dates in the Personal Travel Dates field. 

Enter the Cost Center and then select the Project. The entire trip will be obligated against this Cost Center and Project unless the expenses are allocated (done in a later step). 

Provide comments to the approver(s), if needed.

Click Create Request. 

Optional: Use Request Assistant to quickly and easily estimate expected expenses. See Estimating Travel Costs Using Request Assistant for details. 

Request Assistant is a feature in Concur Request that uses generative AI and benchmark data to provide intelligent travel cost estimates. This tool saves you time by eliminating the need for extensive manual research during the pre-trip approval process. 

Your travel request is now created, and the Expected Expenses list will appear. 

If you used Request Assistant, your travel request will be created with the selected services (e.g., Airfare, Hotel, Car Rental) listed.

Click Add on the right-hand side of the Expected Expenses header to add an expected expense. 

Search for or scroll to the desired expense type and click on it to open the expense entry and enter the required expense details. Click Save to save the expense entry. Continue adding expenses to complete the travel request. Frequent trip expenses include:

• Airfare
• Lodging (hotel)
• Rental Vehicle
• Rental Vehicle Fuel
• Conference Registration
• Taxi/Rideshare
• Personal Car - Mileage
• Daily Meal Per Diem (see next step below)

Enter daily meal per diem, if applicable. 

• If traveling to one destination, click Add and select the Daily Meal Per Diem expense type from the list and then click Save. 
• If traveling to multiple destinations, click Add and select the Multiple Per Diem Locations expense type from the list. Enter the Destination City, # of Days, and Trip Type, and then click Save. Repeat for each destination. 

The per diem amount automatically calculates based on the Final Destination and Business Start and End Dates as entered on the Request Header.

Note: This is just an estimate for trip approval and obligation purposes. The actual per diem amount with provided meal exclusions is reconciled on the expense report after your trip concludes. 

On the left-hand side of the expected expenses list, click the checkbox(es) for the expense(s) you would like to allocate and then click the Allocate button. 

Click the Add button. The Add button is located in the upper right of the Allocate window. 

Click the Add button to select a different Cost Center and Project to allocate the selected expenses to. If you have saved favorite allocations, you can select them by clicking on the Favorite Allocations tab. Continue adding as many worktags as needed. 

Click on Percent or Amount to choose your allocation method. 

Note: If you do not allocate the full percentage or amount of the expense(s), the remainder will be applied to the Default worktag (the one you selected on the Request Header): 

Click the Save button in the lower right of the window. Allocated expenses will display a blue Allocated link under the requested amount. Clicking on Allocated will display a window showing the allocation details.

Note: Expenses that don’t have the blue Allocated link will be allocated to the Cost Center and Project entered on the Request Header. 

Send this request for approval by clicking the Submit Request button. Visit Approvals In Concur for details about the approval flow and how to add additional approvers. 

You will be returned to your list of requests. Your current request will show a status of Submitted & Pending Approval. Each approver will receive an email notification when it is their time to approve the request. You can view progress in the Approval Flow by opening the request and clicking on Request Details > Request Timeline. The Request ID is needed to book this trip in Concur or through Cain Travel. 

Once your travel request is fully approved, you may proceed to Booking Travel.