Travel & Purchasing - Using Concur

Links below are provided as a courtesy for the School of Psychological Science.  You can find more information regarding travel and purchasing through OSU's Travel & Expense website. 

When starting out with Concur, please watch the training video, Intro to Concur, https://media.oregonstate.edu/media/t/1_uz8qgb9p. The video is about 20 minutes long and walks you through getting started. The next videos are Completing a Travel Expense Report and Completing a Non-Travel Expense Report. The links to these can be found on our training page at https://fa.oregonstate.edu/training-1.

Key Information
  • Domestic & Foreign multi-day travel requires pre-trip registration in Concur
  • An Online Booking Tool within Concur is available for Air, Car, Hotel and Rail bookings
  • All travel and non-travel employee reimbursements are processed through Concur
  • Travel and departmental advances are requested and issued through Concur
  • New credit cards as well as updates to existing credit cards are requested through Concur
    • Purchases can be made directly by using a Travel & Expense card
  • Credit card transactions are reconciled via expense report within Concur by the cardholder 
Obtaining Your Faculty Travel & Expense Card

If you are a faculty member and would like a Travel & Expense card, please request the card in Concur through the MyOregonState webpage. From the OSU homepage, click Tools and Services and then MyOregonState. Click the Resources link in the upper right of your screen. From the resource screen, begin typing Concur in the search bar. Be sure to click the heart to save it to your favorites on the main page.

By accessing Concur this way, you will be logged in automatically with your OSU credentials.  Click the "create new request" link, under "request type", select "credit card".  Under "card type", select "travel and expense" and then complete the rest of the information requested on the page. If you do not know your "index" and "activity" please email Shirley.

Once you have followed the steps above, including watching the training videos, you can request your Travel & Expense Card.

When you are in Concur (access through MyOregonState) …

  • On the upper left side of the screen (in the black section) next to SAP Concur, you will see “Requests”. Click that link then click “+Create New Request”
  • Under “Request Type*” you can drop the menu down to select “Credit Card Request”
  • Fill out each section
  • For the “Card Type*” please select “Travel & Expense” card
  • When you select Default Index, you should see your Index/Activity codes. If you do not know your Index/Activity or Grant Code, please contact Shirley.
  • Once you have all of the steps completed, click “Create”.

 

Travel

Booking Travel 
  • A pre-trip request through Concur is required for all travel  (access through MyOregonState)
  • All travel requires an expense report in Concur after travel has commenced (see "Expense Reports" below).
  • Faculty can utilize their Travel & Expenses card for traveling once a trip is approved and scheduled in Concur.
  • Graduate students will need get travel approval through Shirley prior to submitting a pre-approval request in Concur
    • After approval is received from Shirley,  schedule all travel through Concur and the contracted OSU travel agency. Work with the travel agency to utilize your airline accounts.
      • Graduate Students Requesting a cash advance must do so at the time they submit their pre-trip request.
        • Graduate students who need cash to pay for trip expenses, such as hotel and meal expenses which are not included as part of your conference, can ask for a "cash advance" prior to the trip. Minimum amount for advance is $250 and, if needed, the cash advance should be added to the pre-trip request in Concur so at the conclusion of the trip, only one expense report will need to be submitted for all costs.
  • Do NOT use personal funds to book travel. All travel needs to go through Concur.
  • When scheduling travel, please use your index code and activity code. 
    • If you do not know your index/activity, please contact Shirley Mann. 
    • Please make sure you enter the index and then the next line should be the activity code. OSU needs both codes entered so the charge goes to the correct budget.
  • Please access Concur through the MyOregonState webpage.
    • From the OSU Homepage, click "Tools and Services" and then MyOregonState. 
    • Click the "Resources" link on the upper right of your screen. 
    • From the resource screen, begin typing "Concur" in the search bar. Be sure to click the heart to save it to your favorites on the main page. By accessing Concur this way, you will be logged-in with your OSU credentials and you will be able to complete a pre-trip request and book your trip utilizing the OSU contracted travel agency.
Travel Reimbursements - Expense Reports

  • After your travel has ended, you will need to submit a travel expense report to reconcile any travel expenses you have made using your Travel and Expense card or using your personal funds.

    • To create a travel expense report, click the Expense tab at the top of the Concur page. Underneath the Manage Expenses section you will need to select + Create New Report.
      • A Create New Report window will popup, with Travel Expense Report already selected. This is your report header. Update all relevant and required fields on the Request Header page, including any additional fields, as applicable to the trip. Required Fields are identified by a * (red asterisk) on the right side of the field name.
        • Requests cannot be submitted if there is data missing for required fields. Note: If you create a new report from your approved pre-trip travel request, the information you entered for the pre-trip will be copied into the report header for the Travel Expense Report.
        • Report Name - should be descriptive enough for you and your budget authorities to know the purpose of the request. Best practices include using the location and dates of your travel in the Report Name field (i.e., “ABC Conf (4/10/21) Seattle WA” or “Annl VIP Conf in Tampa 3/23-3/27”). This field is limited to 32 characters.
          • If there isn’t enough space in the Report Name box, additional information can be provided under the Detailed Trip/Report Purpose or the Comments sections.
        • Business Travel Start & End Dates - Enter the beginning and end dates of your travel or non-travel.
        • Report Purpose - From the dropdown menu, you will need to select one of the following reasons for your travel: Community Relations, Conference, Mileage Only, Other, Professional Development, Recruitment, or Research Activities.
        • Detailed Trip/Report Purpose - In the Detailed Trip/Report Purpose you will explain your business purpose and the benefit of the travel for the University.
        • Traveler Type - From the Traveler Type dropdown menu, select one of the following types: Employee, Group Travel, or Student (OSU).
        • Trip/Report Type - For the Trip/Report Type select whether your trip was Domestic or International.
        • Personal Travel - When asked if your trip included personal travel, please select Yes or No; if your trip did include personal travel you are required to include the dates in the text box for the Personal Travel Dates question.
        • How You Booked Your Travel - This question helps you and your travel expense approver know if there will be documentation already uploaded and available in Concur. You will need to select either Booked outside Concur & Agent, Booked with Agent, or Booked with Concur Online.
        • Index and Activity Code - You can search for the Index, or funding source, that will be charged for these expenses. If needed, you can also include an Activity Code.
        • Report Date and Comments - The Report Date will auto-populate to the current date; you can change this if needed. In the Comments section you can provide additional information about your travel, either for clarification or to note exceptions.
        • Claim Travel Allowance - If your report includes travel, and you require Per Diem for meals or incidentals, you can select Yes, I want to claim travel allowance. If you do not plan to claim reimbursement for meals, select No, I do not want to claim travel allowance.
        • Once all required sections have been completed, select Next at the lower right corner of the page. The Travel Expense Report will be created and expenses (i.e., lodging, meals, car rentals, et cetera) and receipts can be added before submitting it for approval.
    • Entering in Travel Allowances - Travel allowances, formerly known as per diem, are daily rates for meals and incidentals determined based on your location. These new rates are calculated by U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and no longer take into account the start or end times of your travel. Because of this change, the rates now provide 75% of the cost of meals and incidentals for the first day and last day of travel.
    • Create Itinerary - If you have not submitted a pre-trip travel request (due to not being able to use Concur prior to your travel, you will need to Create a New Itinerary. Enter in your departure city, date of departure, and time of departure; then enter in your arrival city, date of arrival, and time of arrival. Select Save.
      • Concur will predict the next step of your itinerary as your return trip and will prepopulate your departure city. You can correct this, if needed. If no correction is needed proceed in entering your departure information and arrival information for your return trip and select Save.
      • Once you have finished creating your trip itinerary, select Next >> to be taken to the Expenses and Adjustments tab.
      • Available Itineraries - If you have any approved pre-trip travel requests, those itineraries will appear in the Available Itineraries section.
      • After reviewing the itineraries, and assigning any available itineraries if needed, select the Done button or Next > > button at the lower right corner.
    • Expenses and Adjustments - The Expenses and Adjustments tab is the last tab you need to review for Travel Allowances. This is where you will claim your travel allowance, formerly known as per diem.
      • You may notice that your first and last day of travel are now at 75% of per diem. The rates may be a little different than the rates you are used to seeing, and how they are distributed has changed as well. There is also $5.00 included for daily incidental fees and tips.
      • If a meal was provided for you can opt out of claiming the meal by selecting the checkbox for the meal provided. If the meals and incidentals were completely covered for you on one day, or on certain days, you can select the Exclude All checkbox for that day. Your meals and incidentals allowance totals will update based on your selections.
      • Once you are done editing your travel allowance, select Create Expenses at the bottom right corner of the screen.
    • Adding Other Expenses - Select Add Expense and a popup window will appear. You can scroll or start typing the name of the expense to search for it.
    • Adding Lodging Expenses - When you are adding lodging to a travel expense report, you will need to itemize the cost of your stay for each day. Once you have added commercial lodging as an expense, follow these steps to itemize your stay.
    • Click Save Expense, window will pop up notifying you, “This expense has been saved. You are required to itemize this expense. Would you like to do that now?” If you select No, you will be required to itemize your lodging before you are able to submit the travel expense report. If you select Yes, you will be taken to the Itemizations tab to itemize your expenses for the lodging.
    • Itemizations - Under the Itemizations tab, select Create Itemization.
      • If you were charged different rates based on specific dates (i.e., Friday and Saturday), select Not the Same. You will be able to enter in the room rate, taxes, and fees for each night. If your room rates were the same for each night of your state, select The Same Every Night.
      • You will need to enter in the Room Rate (per night). For taxes and fees, there are three text boxes: Room Tax (per night), Tax 2 (per night), and Tax 3 (per night). Room Tax (per night) text box, you will enter in the assessed room tax for each night of your stay. If there are additional taxes or fees associated with your stay, such as a resort fee, please enter those in the text boxes of Tax 2 (per night) & Tax 3 (per night). After entering your rates and taxes, select Save Itemization.
      • Now you will need to upload a copy of your receipt. Select the + Attach Receipt Image box to the right of your itemized lodging. A popup window will appear. Click + Upload Receipt Image, and you can search your computer for the receipt you would like to upload. After uploading the appropriate receipt, click Save Expense in top right corner.
    • Submitting the Travel Expense Report
      • After entering in all your expenses, itemizing them if necessary, and uploading receipts for your travel, you are ready to submit for approval and processing.
      • At the top right corner, select Submit Report. If you have any alerts, you will be prompted to review and if needed, resolve them, before submitting your report.

  • The following documentation and information should be included for your Expense Report to be processed and approved.   

    1. An itinerary, event flyer or conference print out:
      1. The name of the conference, event or activity that is happening.
      2. The dates of the conference/event
      3. The location of the conference/event
    2. Airfare Itinerary:
      1. If the airfare expense is not already included in the expense report
    3. Clear Business Purpose:
        1. How does your attendance at the conference/event benefit OSU?

    4. Note: To attach documentation to your expense report go to Manage Receipts and then Manage Attachments and attach the documentation to the report there. If there is already documentation or receipts in the report, you will append this documentation to the report. To view what documents are in a report, go to Print/Share and then Detailed Report.  Choose Save as PDF and open the report that is downloaded.  

    1. Any Expense over $25 must have a receipt.
      1.  Per the IRS, a receipt should have at minimum the following information on the it:
        1. Date
        2. Amount
        3. Vendor Name
        4. Itemization of the items purchased.

    2. Note: If you do not have a receipt or the receipt you received does not have the appropriate information on it, you can attach a Missing Receipt Declaration for that charge within Concur via the Manage Receipts drop down menu option.

    3. For some online purchases, Concur is able to create a receipt that has all of the information required.  It is up to the departments discretion if original receipts are to be used over the receipts that Concur can create.  

    4. Tip:  Enter your travel expense report starting with those expenses incurred at the start of your travel.  Think about whether the budget authority or someone else reviewing your expense report would be able to follow your trip from start to finish.  If they couldn’t, then what additional information is needed to fill in those gaps? 

      If you are unsure of what documentation or information you will need to provide for your upcoming travel, please reach out to travel@oregonstate.edu. We will be happy to talk with you and figure out exactly what you should need in order to follow OSU policy and include everything for approval.

Expense Reports: Allocate and/or Itemize

  • If an expense needs to be both itemized and allocated you will want to itemize the transaction before allocating the index, otherwise your allocations will be deleted.

  • Allocations:

    • You will want to allocate an expense when an expense report has expenses that need to be charged to more than one index. Please review this link to training documents for instructions on how to allocate expenses. 

  • Itemizations:

    • The itemization feature is necessary when a transaction has multiple expense types.

    • This is most commonly used when an expense has a portion of personal expenses that are not reimbursable, or when a receipt has multiple line items that are not the same expense type. Commercial lodging also needs to be itemized so the nightly rate is separated from lodging taxes.  Please review this link to training documents for instructions on how to itemize expenses.

 

Applying for Reimbursements

Personal reimbursements should be requested using the Concur Travel & Expense application.

  • The first time you log into Concur, you will need to set up your profile.
  • You can access Concur through your MyOregonState Dashboard by searching for “concur” under the resources section. 
  • To request a reimbursement in Concur, you will need to create a non-travel expense report.
  • You can access training videos at this link.

 

Support

 

Resources

Concur Login

  • Employees can access Concur though their My Oregon State Dashboard. Search for “Concur” under the resources section. Click the heart icon to add it to your Favorites.
  • Direct Login: https://login.oregonstate.edu/apps/concursolutions/
  • Non-employees cannot use Concur. Complete the Non-Employee Travel Reimbursement Request Form and submit it to travel@oregonstate.edu.
    • 2021 OSU Travel Reference Sheet for Non-Employees - effective 7/1/21-12/31/21
    • Contractors must add their travel expenses to their invoice(s) as it is taxable income to them. They cannot be reimbursed separately.

Travel Booking

Training