The approving official has a very important role in the processing of travel requests. Approving officials need to complete training on their eGov Travel application. Many agencies offer classroom or online training.
Approving officials are setup in routing lists in the eGov Travel application. There is often more than one approving official in a routing list to allow for unavailability. The approving official can be an administrator, part of the finance office or required for specific agency business rules. When a document is routed to the approving official it is their responsibility to review the document in a timely manner.
The review of the authorization must be timely by the approving official to allow the traveler to confirm the reservations and take a planned trip to accomplish the agency mission. The approving official must review the document to make sure the traveler made choices which were advantageous to the government, not just the convenience of the traveler. All selections and expenses must be identified as being within the FTR and the agencies policy. The approving official can sign the document or return it to the traveler for adjustment. When the document is signed it is done with a secure, digital signature.
The review of the voucher must be timely by the approving official to allow the traveler to be reimbursed for the expenses which were incurred during their trip. It can be tempting for an approving official to sign/approve a document without looking at the details and expenses of the traveler. It is critical that the approving official review the expenses related to the trip and compare against appropriate receipts provided by the traveler prior to approval.
By: Debbie Sams
“The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.”