The travel process is pretty involved and involves many different individuals including the traveler, possibly a document preparer, approving official and the processing staff. Each person that touches the document has a role in ensuring that the traveler has a successful trip. This is going to explain the process a travel document follows from the time the traveler is requested to go on travel.
Travel authorizations are manually entered by the traveler or a document preparer in the eTravel system prior to taking a trip for the agency. During the creation of the authorization the reservations are made for air, hotel and rental car. Any estimated miscellaneous expenses such as parking, taxi or hotel taxes are input so that funds can be reserved in the accounting system. The appropriate accounting is selected for the trip. Once the document is completed it is digitally signed by the traveler or document preparer to start the electronic routing. The document is routed through pre-established routing lists setup by the agency. Each individual in the routing is notified by email when the document is ready for them to review. Once the document has been approved, it is held to be sent for processing in the accounting system.
When the traveler returns from the trip, they complete the travel voucher in the eTravel system. All information from the authorization is pre-populated in the voucher. All amounts and expenses are reviewed to ensure they were incurred and claimed correctly. Once all valid expenses are entered, the traveler must be the one to digitally sign the voucher to start the routing. It is routed through the pre-established routing list for approval. Once the voucher has been approved, it is held to be sent for processing in the accounting system.
Local vouchers are also completed in the eTravel system and follow the same process as the travel voucher. They can be created at anytime in accordance with the agency policy.
Approved documents in the eTravel system are securely transmitted to the processing office each night in a batch file. The processing office transfers those files the next morning and placed in the “drop zone” to be interfaced to the accounting system. There is a custom travel interface that is run each business day by our accounting technicians for each customer we service. There is a separate interface for authorizations and vouchers/local vouchers. We also receive a report that provides details about the documents in each file for reconciliation purposes.
Authorizations are usually run first and consist of a GT Start Order API that reads the information from the interface file and performs data checks to ensure that the required fields are included and valid for each document. The Purchasing Documents Open Interface loads the data into the purchasing module and approves them. Travel authorizations could create 2 obligations in the accounting system. An obligation is created for the portion of the document that is reimbursable to the traveler. A second obligation could be created if there were any non-reimbursable expenses included on the authorization that would be charged and paid on a centrally billed travel card. Reports are run from the accounting system and compared to the report received from the vendor to verify that all authorizations included in the day’s file were interfaced and approved.
Vouchers and local vouchers begin with the GT Start Voucher process that reads the information from the interface file and performs data checks to ensure that the required fields are included and valid for each document. The Payables Open Interface loads the data into the invoice module. Reports are run from the accounting system to ensure that everything interfaces correctly. The Invoice Validation process approves all invoices that the technician has access to approve. Any invoice over $2500 requires a secondary approval by an analyst or accountant. Travel vouchers could create as many as 3 invoices in the accounting system. The invoice created for the traveler is for the portion of the payment that is to be paid directly to the traveler’s bank account. If the traveler has a credit card, an invoice could be created to pay a portion of the payment directly to the credit card vendor on the traveler’s behalf (split disbursement). Each voucher processed has a Travel Authorization Voucher (TAV) fee that is charged by the software vendor for using the software and an invoice is created to pay that fee directly to the vendor. Reports are run from the accounting system and compared to the report received from the vendor to ensure that all invoices included in the day’s file were interfaced and approved.
By: Jason Caltrider