The implementation of Concur earlier this fiscal year allowed the University to begin posting travel commitments to assist departments with budgeting. Currently, a travel commitment is created when a traveler’s pre-trip request is approved in Concur. This commitment is for the total cost of the trip, which includes University paid expenses and expenses for which the traveler will be reimbursed once travel is complete. However, University paid expenses, typically airfare and registration fees, are not reducing the commitment when paid. Even though all travel commitments are automatically closed 60 days after the last day of travel, not all travel commitments are being reduced timely, resulting in an overstatement of commitments.
This creates challenges with monitoring cost object balances and year-end closing as well as the closing of grants throughout the year. Therefore, all existing travel commitments were removed from SAP as of April 30, 2019. A technical solution to post and reduce travel commitments is being pursued for next fiscal year.