Creating a Travel Authorization with No Expenses

Overview

A Travel Authorization is a form that an employee submits to acquire the permission needed to receive reimbursement for travel and provide the university with expense estimates. Travel Authorizations will be required out-of-state (which includes international) travel, and some departments may require TA's for in-state travel. UGA policy considers travel out-of-state if the travel is more than 50 miles outside of Georgia.

A no expense Travel Authorization is created in instances where a speaker's travel is fully paid by an outside organization. However, approval for this travel is still required if the traveler is representing on behalf of the university.

In this article, you will learn the steps to create a travel authorization with no expense.

1. Step 1

Oneusg Connect homepage displayed with the Travel Authorizations tile highlighted

First, log into the Financial Management System.

Click the Travel Authorization tile.

2. Step 2

Travel Authorization Search page displayed with the Add Travel Authorization link highlighted

The Travel Authorization Search page will display.

This page allows you to view and add travel authorizations.

Click the Add Travel Authorization to create a new travel authorization.

3. Step 3

Travel Authorization Search page displayed with the *Descrition field highlighted

The Travel Authorization page allows you to add information to create a new travel request.

The first field to populate is the Description field. Users should enter a brief description of what the trip is for.

In the Description field, enter "Attend Meeting".

4. Step 4

Travel Authorization Search page displayed with the *Business Purpose field highlighted

The Business Purpose field defaults to Out-of-State Travel. Leave it as it is.

Note: The Business Purpose field, and other header defaults, can be set by the traveler by updating the traveler's profile defaults.

5. Step 5

Travel Authorization Search page displayed with the Comments field highlighted

The Comments field can be utilized for any additional comments or justification needed for the trip.

Example shown here: Enter "SEDAAG 2018 meeting".

6. Step 6

Travel Authorization Search page displayed with the *Billing Type menu option field highlighted

The Billing Type field defaults to Internal as it is saved on the traveler's profile defaults.

7. Step 7

Travel Authorization Search page displayed with the Accounting Tag field highlighted

An Accounting Tag is a ten character "short cut" for populating a full ChartString distribution. The Accounting Tag will populate the Accounting Details, if you have set up an Accounting Tag for a specific account.

In the Accounting Tag field, enter "140".

8. Step 8

Travel Authorization Search page displayed with the selected Accounting Tag option highlighted

Click the 14000000 test adding manually option.

9. Step 9

Travel Authorization Search page displayed with the Accounting Default button highlighted

To update the ChartField details, click the Accounting Default button.

10. Step 10

Travel Authorization Defaults page displayed with the lookup magnifying glaas in the Bud Ref field highlighted

The Accounting Tag you selected in the previous page fills in all the default information for the GL ChartFields.

Note: Budget Reference (Bud Ref) is the fiscal year that the expense should be charged to.

To locate the Bud Ref, click the look-up magnifying glass in the Bud Ref field.

11. Step 11

Travel Authorization Defaults page displayed with the selected Bud Ref option highlighted

Click the appropriate option.

12. Step 12

Travel Authorization page displayed with the *Travel To field highlighted

The Travel From and Travel To fields should be completed. The Travel From field will default to Headquarters (i.e. Georgia, Athens-Clarke) once it is set as a default on the traveler's profile.

The Travel To field can be utilized to search for the destination for the trip. If the traveler makes trips to the same destination repeatedly, the Travel To location can be set as a default on the traveler's profile.

13. Step 13

Travel Authorization page displayed with the selected *Travel To location option highlighted

Example shown here: Enter "LO" in the Travel To field. As we begin to type, a drop-down selection will appear for easy selection.

Enter the appropriate destination.

14. Step 14

Travel Authorization page displayed with the *Date From and *Date To fields highlighted

The travel dates should be selected using the calendars in the Date From and Date To fields.

15. Step 15

Travel Authorization page displayed with the Notes button highlighted

Note: The Notes feature allows the initiator to add additional information to validate the critical nature of the travel.

16. Step 16

Travel Authorization page displayed with the Expense Type, Description, Merchant, Amount and Accounting fields highlighted

Note: In the Details section of the Travel Authorization, employees should provide estimates for anticipated spend for the trip. For domestic trips, use rows one and two, and for international trips, use rows three and four to provide the estimates.

17. Step 17

Travel Authorization page displayed with the Population button highlighted

The Populate from Travel Authorizations button will create a new blank expense line with chartstring information from a prior TA.

Note: This is optional and does not populate any information from the prior TA such as description, business purposes, travel locations, dates, etc.

18. Step 18

Travel Authorization page Domestic Pay by Employee Description field highlighted

For this demonstration, we are using row one.

In the Description field next to Domestic Pay by Employee, input the anticipated expenses, such as lodging, car rental, per diem, conference registration etc.

Example shown here: Enter "Expenses paid by SEDAAG".