Reprinted from the PSC Communicator dated November 13, 2015, News from the Procurement Service Center
Effective Jan 4, 2016, all international travel will require active approval from both the department and the designated International Travel Approver (officer) for the traveler’s organizational unit prior to booking the trip. International travel to high-risk destinations will require additional pre-approval from the appropriate chancellor/president or his/her delegate.
New Concur process promotes safety
The review and approval process will be handled in the Concur Travel & Expense System through the use of a new module, Concur Request. With Concur Request, the University can consistently and thoroughly assess the risk and benefit of international trips in order to enhance the safety of University travelers.
Furthermore, Concur Request emails the appropriate campus export control office whenever an international travel request is fully approved. This allows export control specialists to review the countries being visited and to contact the traveler with regulatory compliance information.
Here’s how it works
- When planning a trip abroad for University-related business – whether funded by CU or by an outside entity – the traveler enters cost estimates and a list of all countries being visited in Concur Request. Christopherson Business Travel (CBT) can provide a preliminary itinerary to assist the traveler in completing the request. Expense delegates can prepare a Request on behalf of a traveler but the traveler must submit the Request. We will, therefore, be contacting all travel arrangers to recommend that they also be set up as expense delegates for their international travelers.
- Concur Request routes trip information to the traveler’s HR manager and then to the designated officer for the traveler’s organizational unit (or her/his approval delegate). For high-risk destinations, Concur Request subsequently routes to the appropriate chancellor/president (or her/his approval delegate) for their approval.
- Each designated approver must formally approve the trip in the Request module in order for trip information to be sent on for the next level of approval. Concur Request emails approval/denial to the traveler and to the expense delegate (if the expense delegate is set up to receive email notifications).
- Once the request is approved, the traveler/travel arranger contacts CBT to book the trip. Note that although the international travel Request is entered in Concur, international travel itself continues to be booked through CBT.
Travelers will continue to receive travel alerts and health warnings from iSOS whenever an international trip is booked.
High-risk destinations
High-risk countries (as identified by University Risk Management) are hard-coded into Concur. When a traveler submits an international travel request for a high-risk destination, Concur Request issues a warning noting that additional approval is required. Note that the Request should include all legs of travel, including all connecting flights.
Look for additional details and instructions on the new international travel request process in future PSC COMMUNICATOR newsletters.
Questions? Contact FinProHelp@cu.edu or call 303.837.2161.