Concur Travel
Concur travel tool saves money and streamlines the travel experience
April 5, 2019 Concur, the university’s new paperless travel management system, saves time, frustration and money. Concur is a one-stop shop for all things travel, from submitting the initial travel request and booking a trip, to uploading receipts and completing expense reports. Gone are the days of tracking paper receipts. Travelers can simply snap pictures of their receipts and upload them to their expense report with the Concur mobile app. The goal is to have all university travelers and delegates trained and using Concur for travel by June 2019.
With more than 25 million active users in 150 countries, Concur is the leading industry travel and expense management system. In addition to streamlining the approval and expense process, Concur seamlessly integrates UA’s new travel regulations and provides a consistent travel experience for all university travelers. Concur manages individual traveler profile information including frequent flier details, travel preferences, expense preferences, delegate assignments and default UA Travel Card information for an improved travel experience.
All travelers need to take travel training, which includes an overview of the new travel regulations, traveler’s responsibilities, the new travel card program and a demonstration of the Concur platform and mobile app, before they can begin using the tool for travel. All travelers should use the Concur travel and expense management system to submit travel requests, make reservations (which realize university negotiated benefits/discounts), and provide electronic records for expedited reimbursements.
New UA travel cards were created to use with the Concur tool. The university pays for the business expenses on the card directly so the traveler will no longer bear the burden of personally paying for the trip and then waiting for reimbursement. The card transactions feed directly into Concur and reconcile when assigned to the expense report, streamlining the expense reporting process. The trip expenses will post to the department’s account after the expense report is completed and submitted for processing.
First time users will need to apply online for a UA Travel card, update profile information in the UA Travel Concur tool, setup acting delegates or travel arrangers, setup the mobile apps, review current travel regulations and guidelines and setup a direct deposit account for travel reimbursements.
There’s an app for that! Do more with your favorite apps and services by linking them to Concur. Concur partners with numerous partners that compliment your travel activities such as Uber and others. You can find travel partner links in the Concur App Center. All employees will also receive access to Concur’s TripIt Pro, a mobile app that organizes your travel itinerary (airfare, hotel, car rental) in one place. TripIt provides real-time flight updates, information about gate changes and tracks reward points, it even helps find another flight if one gets canceled.
Because university employees receive State of Alaska contract rates when booking travel through Concur, travel that includes personal days can only be booked through Concur if it is an extended stay at the business or intermediate location. If the traveler would like to go to a separate location for personal reasons, they must book the trip to the separate location outside Concur. When business travel includes personal travel, a business only cost comparison is required to be attached to the Request for travel authorization. If a business comparison is not provided, the traveler will be required to work with UA’s travel agency (CTM) to generate a “business only” cost comparison and will incur any associated fees.
Visit the UA Travel website for more information https://alaska.edu/uatravel and/or call UA Travel 907/450-8785 (TRVL).