Published: Dec. 1, 2020

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Official Function Event Types in Concur

Over the years, the university has received a number of questions regarding the event type choices available for official function expenses in Concur. The Concur dropdown list includes many types of events not defined in the PSC Procedural Statement Official Functions.

In early January, we will be updating Concur’s event type options to align with those listed in the procedures and on the Official Function form.

The most common types of official functions are:

  • Community relation functions - external (directly related to the university’s instructional, research or public service mission)
  • Donor cultivation, solicitation and stewardship official functions - requires use of fund 36 (advancement/development funds)
  • Employee recognition/appreciation events and retirement functions
  • Goodwill functions - for official guests/volunteers to indicate goodwill or esteem
  • Multi-unit or multi-campus events - participating units may not report to the same officer and events may not occur more often than monthly

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  • Recruitment functions - held to enlist new staff, faculty, post-/pre-doctorates, student athletes, etc.
  • Student functions - hosted for students and directly related to student educational development (e.g., student recognition, recruitment and program development)
  • Training functions - held to enhance staff knowledge or educate employees, associates or other individuals (should have written agendas/study materials and be led by identified presenters)

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If your department purchases food/beverage for such events, we encourage you to review the Official Functions procedures. Please note:

  • In Concur: Official Function information is provided as part of the expense line
  • In CU Marketplace: The Official Function form itself is uploaded as an internal attachment to the requisition.

Questions?

At the bottom of the Official Functions procedural statement, click on the toggle labeled Have a question or feedback?

Booking Rail in Concur

Over time, we’ve seen an increased interest in traveling by rail – for sustainability purposes as well as for possible COVID concerns. So, we’re pleased to announce that you can now use Concur to book train travel for domestic trips on Amtrak and international trips on VIA Rail in Canada. To book rail travel in Concur, see the new tab with a train icon in the trip search area of your Concur home page. Note:

  • Use Concur to book commuter train trips through the designated providers (Amtrak in the U.S., VIA Rail in Canada). For overnight train travel, and for travel in international locations other than Canada, contact a Christopherson Business Travel agent for advice.
  • You’ll need a university travel card or personal credit card identified in your Concur profile to complete your booking (just as you do for booking a hotel room in Concur).
  • Your rail purchase is immediate. This is unlike your airfare purchase in Concur (24-hour window for cancelation) or your hotel booking (cancelation policies set by the hotel) or rental car booking (reservation only).

Remember that travel currently requires pre-approval. This means you’ll need to provide an approved Concur request ID in order to complete your rail booking.

Airfare Reconciliation in Concur

There’s a big change coming early January 2021: the ability to import airfare expenses into Concur travel reports. Currently, when you book an airline ticket in the Concur travel and expense system, or through a Christopherson Business Travel agent, the ticket is charged to the university’s ghost card (so-called because no physical card exists for the account). The PSC then processes a journal entry, charging the total cost of each ticket to the speedtype identified during the booking process. With the new process, each ghost card transaction will be an available expense in Concur. You’ll import it into the appropriate expense report (employee or non-employee). Advantages of the new process include:

  • You’ll be able to create a comprehensive expense report that includes (1) tickets charged to the ghost card, (2) transactions on the travel card, and, (3) out-of-pocket (personally paid) expenses for reimbursement.
  • You’ll be able to split the cost of the airline ticket between more than one speedtype during the Concur expense report reconciliation process.

Look for more information in future issues of the PSC Communicator newsletter.

Source: PSC Communicator | November 23 & December 1 editions