MAINTAIN PER DIEM RATES
Use this screen to set up and maintain per diem rates on a location-by-location
basis. You can generate the information in this table using the Update
Per Diem Rates screen. This process updates the Per
Diem table with the CONUS, OCONUS, and OCONUS/US rates established
by the federal government. For clients who use alternate per diem rate
schedules, you also maintain the alternate rate information in this screen.
The web address where you can find the CONUS and OCONUS rates is: http://www.dtic.mil/perdiem/pdrates.html.
Remember to do a virus scan on any downloaded files before you
use them. Please see the Summary section of the documentation for the
Update Per Diem screen for more information.
You can select a location outside the continental
United States (OCONUS), a state, locality, and city within the continental
United States (CONUS), or any of the following locations: Alaska, Hawaii,
and U.S. Territories and Possessions including the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands (OCONUS/US). You need to specify
only a country and locality when setting up rates for locations outside
the United States (for either OCONUS or OCONUS/US.) You can enter only
one active per diem and lodging rate for each locality at any given time.
You can enter multiple per diem rates with different effective dates,
however. Costpoint will compare the expense report date to the effective
date when evaluating over-ceiling amounts.
Many locations (usually those within or around resort areas, such as
beaches) have seasonal rates for meals at restaurants and for lodging
at hotels and motels. Therefore, you must set up a maximum M&IE rate
and a maximum lodging rate for each season that a particular seasonal
location may have. (These seasonal rates are designated by starting and
ending dates in the table window.)
For example, if you enter a line for the season of 05/01 (start date)
through 08/31 (end date), you must also enter a line(s) for the remainder
of the year. Start and end dates should not be confused with the effective
date of the record. Start and end dates are not usually specific to a
particular year and are entered only by month and day. It is therefore
possible to have multiple seasonal rates that are effective as of the
same effective date.
Before you enter data into this screen, set up meals and incidentals
schedule information in the Maintain Meals and Incidentals Schedule screen.
The use of meals and incidentals schedules is optional.
If you track employee travel expenses against per diem ceilings, you
must set up per diem rates for a specific location and a designated period
of time before entering an expense report for that same location.
Per Diem Location
Use this group box to enter the location to which the per diem rate
applies.
Country
Enter, or use 
to select, an abbreviation for a valid
country (OCONUS.) You can also use to select abbreviations
for Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. Territories and Possessions (OCONUS/US.)
This code is up to three characters in length. Once you have moved to
another field on this screen, the full name of the country (or non-continental
state or territory or possession) displays in the field to the right.
If you are entering rates for a country other than the United States,
you need to select the OCONUS option in the Pier
Diem Type group box before you enter the country abbreviation.
for this field uses the Country
table established in the Maintain Countries screen in Costpoint System
Administration.
State
Enter, or use to select, an abbreviation for a valid
state. You will need to use this field only if you selected to enter per
diem rates for a Per Diem Type of CONUS.
In other words, if you chose USA as the Country,
you must enter the state abbreviation in this field. If the OCONUS
option is selected in the Per Diem Type
group box, this field is grayed out and unavailable. The state code is
no more than two characters in length. for this field uses
the State table established in
the Maintain States and Provinces screen in Costpoint System Administration.
Locality
Enter the place or surrounding area to which the per diem rates will
apply. For example, the locality could be a county, a parish, or even
a general area within a city. The locality can be up to 25 characters
in length. This is a required field.
Key City
Enter the city of the state already chosen to which the per diem rates
will apply. You will need to use this field only if you elected to enter
per diem rates for the Per Diem Type of CONUS.
In other words, if you chose USA as the Country,
this field is required. If you select the Per Diem Type OCONUS
or OCONUS/US, this field is grayed
out and unavailable.
Per Diem Type
Select one of three options depending on whether you want to enter per
diem rates for the continental United States, for a different country,
or for Alaska, Hawaii, or any U.S. Territory and Possession.
CONUS
Select this option to enter per diem rates for a state within the continental
United States. This is the default per diem type for this screen.
OCONUS
Select this option to enter per diem rates for a location outside the
continental United States.
OCONUS/US
Select this option to enter per diem rates for Alaska, Hawaii, or any
U.S. Territory and Possession.
Table Window
Effective Date
When you use the New Line button
on the toolbar to enter a new line, the system automatically enters the
current date into this column for the new line, but you can change it
to a later date. The correct date format is MM/DD/YYYY. This is a required
field.
Start Date
Enter a date to indicate the beginning of a seasonal period. Use the
first month and day (01/01) of the calendar year if there are no seasonal
periods for this location. The correct date format is MM/DD; there is
no year included in this date. This is a required field.
End Date
Enter a date to indicate the end of a seasonal period. Use the last
month and day (12/31) of the calendar year if there are no seasonal periods
for this location. The correct date format is MM/DD; there is no year
included in this date. This is a required field.
Active
Select the check box in this column to indicate that this line of data
is Active. If you inactivate a line of data, you will not be able to enter
an expense report with the same locality and the same effective date (Expense
Detail subtask of the Enter Expense Reports screen).
Maximum M&IE
Enter the maximum amount for meals and incidentals for this date range.
This amount must equal the total of the meals and incidentals schedule
if there is one assigned to this locality. The default is 0.00. This is
a required field.
Maximum Lodging
Enter the maximum amount for lodging for this date range. The default
is 0.00. This is a required field.
Maximum Per Diem
This non-editable column adds the Maximum
M&IE amount and the Maximum Lodging
amount to arrive at a total maximum per diem amount.
% of Max Rate
Enter the percentage of the maximum per diem rate. This is also known
as the Alternate Maximum Rate that is actually a percentage of the Joint
Travel Regulations (JTR) rate. This rate is used when you select a Ceiling Method code of A (Alternate Maximum
Rate) in the Expense Detail subtask of the Enter Expense Reports screen.
The percentage rate is used by companies that wish to apply internal per
diem ceilings to expenses, when the internal ceilings are derived as a
percentage of the JTR.
If you establish a company-wide alternate rate
percentage, you can automatically upload this alternate rate when you
update the Per Diem Rate table
with the JTR through the Update Per Diem Rates screen. An example of this
would be a company-wide per diem ceiling that is 110% of the JTR rate
of each locality.
M&IE Schedule
Enter, or use to select, a valid M&IE Schedule
code for this per diem location.
M&IE schedules are optional and should be used only by clients that
are required to calculate per diem overage for partial days on a meal-by-meal
basis. The M&IE schedule assigns individual meal amounts to a per
diem rate. For example, the Per Diem
Rate table has a daily per diem rate of $38 for a specific locality
or group of localities. If you need to calculate the per diem over-ceiling
amount by individual meal for a partial day's travel, you must set up
an M&IE schedule that breaks down the $38 per diem into allowable
amounts per meal. In order to calculate ceilings by meal for partial travel
days, you must select a Ceiling Method
code of M and enter individual meal amounts in the Expense Detail subtask
of the Enter Expense Reports screen.
Costpoint requires that the per diem rate established for a given locality
use the same maximum daily rate as the M&IE schedule that is optionally
assigned. In other words, if you established a per diem rate of $38, you
cannot assign an M&IE schedule that allocates a daily maximum of $50
into meal amounts.
M&IE Schedule Description
This field displays the description of the selected M&IE schedule
code that you set up in the Maintain Meals and Incidentals Schedule screen.