Use this screen to schedule travel commitments for accrual to the Project Status Report (PSR) and General Ledger for trips that have not yet been completed. It is especially useful for projects that require extensive travel for service or consulting work.
Once the project manager has approved the trip, enter trip details including traveler, dates, location, account, organization, and project. Once a scheduled trip has been committed and saved on this screen, but not posted, travel expenses will be included on the PSR, but will not appear as an expense on the Income Statement. At month-end, you can accrue trip commitments to the General Ledger by running the Create Travel Commitment Accruals screen in Costpoint General Ledger. For multiple travelers with the same itinerary, you can use Costpoint's clone feature to enter group trips only once. You can customize/edit this data for successive travelers.
To relieve the travel commitment, enter an expense report for this scheduled trip number. You must use the same trip number for both the scheduled trip and the expense report. If you enter the expense report for less than the original trip commitment amount, the commitment will still be relieved. Only the posted expense amount (entered on the expense report) will appear on the PSR after the commitment is relieved. If you enter the expense report for more than the original trip commitment amount, the commitment will be relieved and the actual expense amount will appear on the PSR.
Once you save the trip as a commitment in this screen, you can change it any time until the expense report is submitted. If the planned travel is cancelled, use this screen to create an identical scheduled trip with negative amounts to cancel the original trip.
Use this screen any time after management's approval of a scheduled trip. Before you can enter a traveler in this screen, it must have already been created as a vendor in the Maintain Vendors screen in Costpoint Accounts Payable.
Before you can enter a scheduled trip in this screen, the Trip Scheduling/Commitment Tracking check box in the Travel Settings screen must be selected.
Enter, or use 
to select, the ID of the traveler who
is scheduled to take the trip. After you enter the ID, the traveler ID
will display in the untitled field to the right. The only IDs that will
be available in are those vendors that have already been
created in the Maintain Vendors screen in Costpoint Accounts Payable and
set up as travelers.
Enter up to 10 alphanumeric characters to identify this scheduled trip. Once the trip has been taken, you should continue to use this number to identify this trip. When you use this number on the Expense Report row for this trip, both the scheduled and actual trip are linked together even after the expense report has been reconciled with the trip receipts.
Enter a description of the trip in this field. It can be up to 25 alphanumeric characters in length. It is helpful to choose a name that will readily identify the trip, rather than just a series of numbers. (e.g., 9902DEN015) The description should be unique to prevent duplication, because this description will appear on reports.
Enter the first scheduled day of the trip. This date will default as the start date in each row of the table. No start dates earlier than this date will be allowed in the table.
Enter the last scheduled day of the trip. This date will default as the end date in each row of the table. No end dates later than this date will be allowed in the table.
Use the drop-down list to select either O (Outstanding) or E (Expensed). Use O (Outstanding) when first entering a trip. The status will be changed to E (Expensed) once you have entered an expense report and posted it with the same trip number. Use the E selection only when you are initializing the Costpoint system and entering historical travel data. This data will not be used in any commitment calculations or accruals.
Enter, or use the drop-down list to select, the fiscal year. Only those fiscal years that are open will be available for use on this screen.
Enter, or use the drop-down list to select, the fiscal period. Only those periods that are open will be available for use on this screen.
Enter, or use the drop-down list to select, the subperiod. Only those subperiods that are open will be available for use on this screen.
This non-editable field displays the name of the user who last saved changes in this screen.
This non-editable field displays the date that information was last saved in this screen.
This non-editable field displays the expense report number that relieved this scheduled trip. It will not be populated until you enter and post an expense report with the same trip number.
This non-editable field displays the expense report date that relieved this scheduled trip. It will not be populated until you enter and post an expense report with the same trip number.
Use the drop-down list to select either E (Employee) or C (Company) to designate this row as company or employee-paid. Both employee and company-paid charges will be used to compute the commitment amount.
Enter an expense type, or use to select one. Its description
will default into the Description
column
Enter, or use to select, the account for this expense
line item.
Enter, or use to select, the organization for this
expense line item.
Enter, or use to select, the project for this expense
line item.
This non-editable column displays the description of the expense type.
This non-editable column automatically displays the name for this row's selected account.
This non-editable column automatically displays the name for this row's selected organization.
This non-editable column automatically displays the name for this row's selected project.
Use this optional field to select a country. provides
access to the Country table.
Enter, or use to select, the state or province for
the scheduled trip. Use this field only if a trip is scheduled where the
person will be traveling under government or alternative per diem rates.
If your company has its own per diem rates, the location of the trip is
irrelevant, and you can leave this column blank.
Enter, or use to select, the locality for the scheduled
trip. Use this field only if a trip will be scheduled where the person
will be traveling under government or alternative per diem rates. If your
company has its own per diem rates, the location of the trip is irrelevant,
and you can leave this column blank.
Enter, or use to select, the city for the scheduled
trip. Use this field only if a trip will be scheduled where the person
will be traveling under government or alternative per diem rates. If your
company has its own per diem rates, the location of the trip is irrelevant,
and you can leave this column blank.
Enter a reference number for this scheduled charge line. If your company has designated a label for this field, it will display as the field heading.
Enter a reference number for this scheduled charge line. If your company has designated a label for this field, it will display as the field heading.
This field automatically displays the Ref 1 name upon entry of Ref 1.
This field automatically displays the Ref 2 name upon entry of Ref 2.
Enter, or use to select, an abbreviated code for the
organization number. If you enter transactions by organization abbreviation,
move this column before the Org
column to simplify data entry. Then, when you enter the organization
abbreviation code first, the organization number will be automatically
entered in the Org
column. The organization abbreviation of the previous line defaults to
new and inserted lines.
Enter, or use to select, an abbreviated code for the
project. If you enter transactions by project abbreviation, move this
column before the Project
column to simplify data entry. Then, when you enter the project abbreviation
code first, the project number will be automatically entered in the Project column. The
project abbreviation of the previous line defaults to new and inserted
lines.
Enter, or use to select, the project account abbreviation
code for this project/account combination. After you enter the project
in the Project column,
select the abbreviation to have account number default into the Account
column. The project/account abbreviation of the previous line defaults
to new and inserted lines.
This field displays the Start Date field from the header. The start date must fall within the Start and End Date fields in the header. The date in this column is editable and should represent the start date of the expense item on this row.
This field displays the End Date field from the header. The end date must fall within the Start and End Date fields in the header. The date in this column is editable and should represent the end date of the expense item on this row.
Enter (in military time) the start time of the scheduled trip. The system uses the times in this column to calculate partial days. Use this column only if you selected the Partial Per Diem check box in the Travel Settings screen.
Enter (in military time) the end time of the scheduled trip. The system uses the times in this column to calculate partial days. Use this column only if you selected the Partial Per Diem check box in the Travel Settings screen.
Enter a ticket number of up to 30 alphanumeric characters in this optional row. You can use this column for more than just ticket numbers - you can also use it for rental car agreement and hotel reservation numbers for easy expense matching.
Enter, or use the drop-down list to select, one of the four per diem methods (ceiling applied code or method).
A- This indicates that the Alternate Maximum rate is typically applied to the expense report for daily maximum rates.
C - This indicates that a Company Maximum rate is typically applied to the expense report for daily maximum rates.
J - This indicates that the JTR (Joint Travel Regulation - U.S. Government only) is typically applied to the expense report for daily maximum rates.
N - This indicates that no ceiling is to be applied.
Enter the estimated amount to be spent on this expense. This number can be positive or negative. If the traveler is making the trip on a per diem basis, the estimated amount to be spent will be the per diem rate multiplied by the number of days in the trip. If the length of the trip is less than or equal to one day, the estimated amount to be spent will be the daily per diem rate divided by 4, then multiplied by the number of quarters in the trip. To accomplish this, select the Partial Per Diem check box in the Travel Settings screen.
Select this button to enter notes about the scheduled trip.