Create a Travel Request
A request describes the purpose of an event or travel, and an estimate of the related expenses. Scanned receipts and documents can be uploaded and attached to a request. Any active Travel Express user can create a request.
A request is only an estimate of expenses - once the request has been approved, any changes to per diem or other expenses should be made on the voucher, not the request.
After the voucher is completed, it is routed to a fiscal coder. The Fiscal Coder then routes it to an Approver. After the voucher is approved at the final level, it will be uploaded to STARS at the end of the business day.
If a request is not made into a voucher within 60 days of the return date, it will be automatically removed from view and given the status of “Expired". Expired requests can be found using the Reports menu
1. From the Travel Express main menu, click Requester/Travel Menu, and then click Create Request.
2. Typically, the name of the traveler, Vendor Suffix, Billing Agency, Home Station, and the origin of travel will be pre-populated.
a. If you are a proxy, select the name of the Traveler from the drop-down menu.b. If needed, select an appropriate Vendor Suffix (Vendor Sfx) and enter the Home Station and/or origin fields.
a. If you are a proxy, select the name of the Traveler from the drop-down menu.
b. If needed, select an appropriate Vendor Suffix (Vendor Sfx) and enter the Home Station and/or origin fields.
Figure 1 - Creating a request
3. Select a Group if needed. Your Travel Express administrator may create groups that will be available in the drop down menu. Group is simply an optional tag to help categorize the requests or vouchers.
4. Click the Departure Date field, and then select the date when you plan to leave. Or you can enter a date inmm/dd/yyyy format.
5. Click the Time field,then enter the time you expect to leave. Select AM or PM.
6. Click the Return Date field, then select the date you plan to return.
7. Click the Time field, then enter the time you expect to return. Select AM or PM.
8. If a State Vehicle or Personal Vehicle will be used, enter the license plate number in the respective field. (A Personal Vehicle license plate may be automatically set up by the Travel Express administrator.)
9. Select the Destination State from the drop down menu.
10. Click Browse to select the correct Destination City in order to get the correct per diem rates.
11. Enter a description of the Purpose for Travel (up to 1,000 characters including spaces). Do not use special characters or symbols, including &, ', “, <, and \.
12. Enter Comments, if desired (up to 1,000 characters including spaces). Do not use special characters or symbols, including &, ', “, <, and \. If your agency plans to use the CSV format for Reports, do not use hard returns (paragraphs).
13. Click Save, or click Cancel to cancel the request.
14. To delete a request after it has been saved, click the Request tab and then click Remove, or click the Status tab, select the request, then click Remove.
Whenever you are on a screen to enter or change expenses, click Save. (Do not click the back button on your browser.)
1. After saving the request, the Per Diem tab will be displayed with the per diem meals and meal allowances for your dates of travel and destination entered automatically. (International travel or Hawaii and Alaska destinations will not populate per diem amounts due to rate flucuations – you must enter these manually.)
Figure 2 - Per Diem expenses
2. To change the Per Diem meal expenses:
a. Uncheck any per diem meals not taken for a given date. For example uncheck the Dinner check box for a date that you did not take dinner. (This will reduce the amount of Allowed Meals for that day.) b. To change the amount of a meal or meals, enter the actual amounts in the Allowed Meals amount fields.c. Using International destinations, Hawaii, or Alaska will not populate the per diem amounts. Enter these manually.d. You should not be able to enter amounts that exceed the per diem rate set by the Board of Examiners or your agency.e. If you change the dates or times of the travel or event, the Per Diem screen will be reset and you will have to re-add the mileage, lodging, etc.
a. Uncheck any per diem meals not taken for a given date. For example uncheck the Dinner check box for a date that you did not take dinner. (This will reduce the amount of Allowed Meals for that day.)
b. To change the amount of a meal or meals, enter the actual amounts in the Allowed Meals amount fields.
c. Using International destinations, Hawaii, or Alaska will not populate the per diem amounts. Enter these manually.
d. You should not be able to enter amounts that exceed the per diem rate set by the Board of Examiners or your agency.
e. If you change the dates or times of the travel or event, the Per Diem screen will be reset and you will have to re-add the mileage, lodging, etc.
3. Enter any amounts expected to be charged on a P-Card for meals for each day in the P-Card Meals fields. (The Allowed Meals amount will not change.)
4. Enter the Mileage. Mileage must be entered in whole numbers. The Mileage Amount will be automatically calculated. If your Travel Express administrator has set agency specific mileage rates, these will be automatically calculated.
5. Enter the amounts expected for lodging expenses for each day in the Lodging fields or enter the amounts expected for lodging to be charged on a P-Card for each day in the Lodging P-Card fields. You cannot use both Lodging and Lodging P-Card fields on the same line. (If lodging will be billed directly to the State, use the Paid By Other tab to enter the amounts.)
6. Enter a description of each day's per diem expenses in the Comments fields as needed (up to 1,000 characters including spaces). Do not use special characters or symbols, including &, ', “, <, and \.
7. Click Save. If finished with a request, click the Routing tab.
8. If you need to delete a request after it is saved, click the Request tab, and then click Remove.
1. Click the Travel Mode tab.
2. Click Add Row.
3. Select the mode of travel you expect to use from the drop-down menu – Airfare, Public Transportation, Rental, or Other Transportation.
Figure 3 - Transportation expenses
4. Enter the Out of Pocket or P-Card expense amount.
5. Enter a description of the expense in the Comments field (up to 1,000 characters including spaces). Do not use special characters or symbols, including &, ', “, <, and \.
6. Click Add Row to add another Travel Mode expense item and continue.
8. If you need to delete a request after it is saved, click the Request tab and then click Remove.
1. Click the Misc Exp tab to enter expected miscellaneous expenses.
3. Select Phone/Fax, Registration Fees, or Other Misc. Expense from the drop-down menu.
Figure 4 - Phone or fax expenses
4. Enter the Out of Pocket or P-Card amount.
6. Click Add Row to add another expense item and continue.
1. Click the Advance tab to enter any advances you expect to receive.
3. Select PCard Advance, Rotary Advance, or Warrant Advance from the drop-down menu. NOTE: It is best practice not to use other types of advances if you are using P-Card advances.
4. Enter the amount you expect to receive in the Advance field.
5. Enter a description of the advance in the Comments field (up to 1,000 characters including spaces). Do not use special characters or symbols, including &, ', “, <, and \.
6. Click Save. If finished with a request, click the Routing tab.
7. If you need to delete a request after it is saved, click the Request tab and then click Remove.
Figure 5 - Advances
Expenses that are part of the official travel or event, but not paid by the traveler/user can be entered on this screen. The amounts will not be calculated as part of the Due to or Due from amounts.
Examples include lodging that is directly billed, expenses billed to another agency, fees or costs paid for by a host, etc.
State travel policy says that if a third party is expected to reimburse the state for the trip, that information along with the name and billing address of the third party must be included on the travel request.
Expenses paid with a P-Card should be entered in Travel Express, but P-Card transactions still need to be verified and approved in the P-Card application.
Expenses that are part of the official travel, but not paid directly by the user/traveler, should be entered on the Paid by Other screen.
If all expenses entered are paid by other means, the request still needs to be routed and a voucher created from it for audit purposes. The voucher created from the request will have a zero amount balance
1. Click the Paid by Other tab.
3. Select Paid By Other Means from the drop down menu.
4. Enter the Amount.
7. If you need to delete a request after it is saved, click the Request tab, and then click Remove.
Figure 6 – Expenses paid by other means
1. Click the Attachment tab.
2. Click Browse to locate your scanned document. Valid file types have the following extensions: .pdf, .jpg, .gif, .bmp, .png, .tif, .tiff. The maximum size of a file that can be uploaded is 4MB.
3. Select the scanned document file and click Open. The directory location of the document will appear in the Browse Files field.
4. Click Add File. The document will be added to a queue. The filename (without the extension) of the scanned document will be automatically entered in the Attachment Title field.
5. Click Create Attachment(s). The document will appear in the Attachments area. (Click View if you want to view the attachment.) If adding multiple files, Uncheck the Create Single Attachment check box, click Create Attachment(s), and the documents will have different Attachment Titles based on their filenames.
6. Click Back to return to the request. If finished with a request, click the Routing tab.
After a request is completed, you need to route it to an approver. The agency's Travel Express administrator sets up the users who are authorized to approve requests.
After a request is approved, a voucher can be created from it. If a request is not made into a voucher within 60 days of the return date listed on the request, the request will be automatically removed from view and given the status of “Expired". Expired requests can be found using the Reports menu.
1. When finished with a request, click the Routing tab.
Figure 7 - Routing
2. Next to Route to approver, select the name of the approver from the drop down menu.
Figure 8 - Select an approver
3. Enter comments in the Comments field as needed (up to 200 characters). Do not use special characters or symbols, including &, ', “, <, and \.
4. Click Submit. If the administrator has enabled e-mail notification, automatic e-mails will be sent to the request Approver(s).
5. Requests that have been disapproved can be found in the Reports Menu.
6. Click Return to Menu to return to the Travel Express main menu.
If the administrator has enabled e-mail notification, automatic e-mails will be sent to the request approver or to the creator of the document (actual traveler or proxy) when a request is approved, disapproved, or routed back for further action.
The Report tab displays a report only for the request that is open. (For ad hoc type reporting, select the Reports Menu from the main menu.)
1. Click the Report tab to view the voucher details.
2. To print or save the report, click the Save disk icon.
3. Select Excel, Acrobat (PDF), or Word file format.
4. Click Open and use the print menu from your application to print, or click Save.
Figure 9 - View, Save, or Print a Request