The Travel Process is a collaboration between the travelers and their respective departments, the Travel
Office, and the Treasurer's Office. Each of these entities has their own requirements
and responsibilities. Briefly, we've outlined below what the full Travel Process looks
like.
Spend Authorization (SA): Business process request that occurs before travel which articulates estimated expenses
for a specific trip. This is required for international travel, non-employee student travel, when a cash advance
is requested, or if your department requires one.
Expense Report (ER): Expense Reports are processed for all travel card expenses and also for any personal
expenses incurred for which a reimbursement is being requested.
Settlement: Joint business process between the Travel and Treasurer's Offices that pays (settles)
an Expense Report, cash advance, or payment of monthly travel credit card charges.
Travel Process
Before Traveling
Traveler becomes aware of the need to travel.
Traveler notifies department of travel plans and completes any documentation required.
Spend Authorizations are required for International Travel, Group or Non-employee
Student Travel, requesting a cash advance, or if it is required by the Department/College
of your employment.
Official days of travel may not exceed 1 day prior to the event and 1 day after event.
Exception is when traveling internationally, where offical days of travel may not
exceed 2 days prior to the event and 2 days after the event.
If the traveler is going to multiple cities, choose the city where traveler will spend
the most time. You will list other cities visited in the legs of the expense report.
This is the time you'd want to request a Cash Advance. Before requesting a cash advance,
be sure to review the Travel Advance Policy.
Per State of Arkansas Travel Regulations, expense reports for individual trips where
a cash advance has been requested are to be received by the Travel Office within fifteen
(15) days after the return of the trip.
A cash advance is a loan to the travelers and thus is considered an outstanding invoice
until it is reconciled. Cash advances are a privilege and must be utilized appropriately.
Spend authorization is submitted and routes through the appropriate approval chain.
The Travel Office is the final approver.
If a spend authorization is sent back, corrections should be made and the spend authorization
should be resubmitted. A notification will appear in the Workday inbox when the spend
authorization has been approved by the Travel Office.
Travelers or their department representatives should create an expense report related
to the spend authorization for the trip (if applicable). All required receipts and
documentation will need to be uploaded to the appropriate line in the expense report,
or if a large expense report, you have the option of loading all receipts at the header.
Expense reports should be submitted within fifteen (15) days after the return of the
travel end date, unless you have received prior written approval for an extension
from the Travel Office. Expense Reports submitted after sixty (60) days from the
trip end date may not be reimbursed. Noted State Exceptions include Individual International and Group Travel thirty (30) days and Complex Group Travel sixty (60) days.
Expense reports reconciling Credit Card Charges must be submitted by the last working
day of the billing cycle in which the expense was incurred.
Once all prior routing has occured, the expense report will arrive to the Travel Office/Expense
Partner's Workday inbox.
The Travel Office will review the expense report.
If there is an error with the expense report, it must be addressed before the Travel
Office can move forward.
If an error is found, the Travel Office sends the expense report back electronically
(via Workday) to the individual or department for correction. Note: if an error can be resolved without sending the expense report back, the Travel Office
will address the issue.
Common errors include: missing receipts, missing justification for flights purchased
under fourteen (14) days before travel, failure to provide fully itemized receipts,
missing explanation/justifications for uncommon expenses, missing justification for
exceeding the GSA hotel allowance, and one employee claiming the expenses of another,
etc.
Once the errors are fixed, the expense report can be resubmitted in Workday.
If the expense report is payable, the Travel Office/Expense Partner will settle the
report.
If there are "Personal" expenses on the expense report (items not allowed), an invoice
will be created will be due immediately.
Helpful Documents
Employees may use the following worksheets and submit them to their departmental administrator
(with all required documentation), who will enter the spend authorization and/or expense
report.