- A profile must be set up for an individual before they can access the Concur system. No one is automatically set up with a profile, nor can they establish the profile themselves.
- If the individual filling out the authorization form does not know his/her default funding information, he/she should consult with his/her departmental business administrator.
- There are three separate profile request forms: Faculty and Staff; Student; and Guests. These forms are available in OSCAR in the OSCAR Forms section. If you need access to OSCAR, have a Business Administrator in your department complete the OSCAR New User form request on your behalf. If you have any questions regarding OSCAR, please submit your questions on the Finance and Administrative Support Site.
- The appropriate request form must be completed in its entirety prior to submitting or it will be returned on review.
- An email will be sent to the individual when his/her profile has been established. This email will contain a link to a checklist that will assist with accessing the system and outline important setup options.
- For Guest profiles (and Students as Guests), the Travel Assistant/Expense Delegate listed on the form will be emailed when the profile has been established.
- Please note: For Direct Travel to be able to see an individual's profile, the required information in the profile (middle name, work number, home number, cell number, gender, date of birth) must be completed.
- If an individual chooses to be set up for direct deposit, he/she is responsible for entering (and subsequently maintaining) the proper banking information using the Rensselaer Self-Service Information System.
Students
Students should be set up in Concur with their own profile, to allow them to book their own travel with the agency or online through Concur. The booking would require pre-trip approval from a designated supervisor before the tickets would actually be issued to the student. The student would also be responsible for submitting his or her own expense reports.
Once the student has finished selecting the itinerary for their trip, an e-mail will be sent to the Manager/Supervisor listed in the student's profile.
The Manager/Supervisor must sign into Concur within 24 hours of the reservation and approve or reject the reservation.
- If the Manager approves the trip, Direct Travel will ticket the travel arrangements.
- If the Manager rejects or fails to approve the reservation on time, the trip is cancelled.
When the student returns from their trip, they will be required to submit an expense report the same way that any Rensselaer traveler is required to do. Students should avail themselves to the resources provided through this site.
Students can also have their travel arranged by an RPI employee/delegate, but they would still require a profile. The assigned travel arranger/delegate would book the travel on behalf of the student and would be responsible for creating the expense report on behalf of the student, but the student themself would still be responsible for submitting the report.
Guests
Guests can only be booked as such in the system by an approved RPI employee/delegate. A profile is required for all guests, but guests will not be granted access to the Concur system. The guest's designated arranger/delegate will also be required to submit an expense report on the guest's behalf.
Exceptions
If you are only booking airline reservations, a train reservation or a hotel reservation for a guest or student, it is not necessary to fill out a Concur Profile Request form in OSCAR for that individual. It is expected that these individuals will not have any out-of-pocket expenses that will need to be reimbursed. Expenses for these type of travelers will flow into the expense account of the person booking the travel and that person will submit the expense report on the traveler's behalf. Permission is required to book as a guest traveler. Contact Travel and Expense for assistance.
If the guest is marked as a non-resident alien on the Concur Authorization Form, the Rensselaer tax office will review the report once it has completed the initial approval steps.
The Rensselaer tax office will also reach out to the expense delegate or traveler to obtain required data for taxability analysis, and will perform NRA analysis based on data from GLACIER.
Individuals who are assigned as an expense report approver will receive a system-generated email notifying them that there is a report in their approval queue that requires attention. These are the main areas of focus when reviewing an expense report:
Review Report Header
This section contains basic information about the expense report, with data points including the report name, purpose, location, duration of the trip and any summary comments. The report header can be accessed either by clicking on the Name field or using the Details drop-down menu.
Check for Travel and Expense Policy Exceptions
Rensselaer requires that travelers abide by the approved Travel and Expense policy and, for travelers' convenience, the policy guidelines have been coded into Concur wherever possible. Violations identified by the system are denoted by red and yellow icons. Approvers are required to confirm the legitimacy and appropriateness of all expenses.
Review Individual Expense Item Detail
As part of the expense report approval process, review the individual detail for each expense item contained in the report, including any receipt attachments and allocations. Clicking anywhere in the expense line opens the expense item detail. Required data points contain left-justified red bars. While not required, the traveler should provide a business purpose for individual expenses as needed to provide context to the approver.
Please be aware that receipt documentation is denoted by a blue check icon and may be attached individually at the line level (as is the case in the example below), or with other receipts at the report header level.
Adding an Additional Review Step
You might also see an Approve & Forward button on an expense report. This allows you to send the report to another approver.
To approve and forward a report:
- On the home page, in the Required Approvals section of My Tasks, click Expense Reports. The Reports Pending your Approval page lists the awaiting reports. Select the report you want to open.
- Review the report, and then click Approve & Forward. Enter the User-Added Approver, and add a comment, as needed.
- Click Approve & Forward to approve the expense report and send to the next approver.
Reference