State Travel Office- Note: Questions & exception requests are to be routed through the Travel Program Administrators: Susan Clow, x5122 sclow@ulm.edu and Jamie Mondragon, x5115 stahley@ulm.edu for travel cards/CBA, and Beth Weatherford, x5106 eweatherford@ulm.edu for travel authorizations, advances, and expense reports.
PORTALS:
CHRISTOPHERSON BUSINESS TRAVEL - CONCUR:
TRAVEL PRESENTATIONS:
TRAVEL POLICY LINKS:
TRAVEL INFORMATION LINKS:
TRAVEL FORMS -- INTERNAL, :
STATE TRAVEL CARD/CBA INFORMATION & LINKS:
BANK OF AMERICA (BOA) WORKS/WORKFLOW INFORMATION:
OCTOBER 18, 2023
American Airlines now offers a direct flight from Baton Rouge to Washington, DC, option that departs at 5:46 a.m. from BTR and around 7 p.m. from DCA each day. Starting in November, the morning flight out to DCA will leave BTR an hour later at 6:45 AM. Christopherson has increased the visibility of these flights in CBT and has modified the window of time when a traveler chooses to search for "morning" flights. Previously, when "morning" was chosen, the earliest flight displayed would be 6 a.m., but that has been changed to 4 a.m. When booking a flight to DC, the traveler must still follow PPM49 and choose the lowest logical fare.
Per Shelita Woods, State Travel Manager
FY24 Information
The Office of State Travel has published the new travel regulations, which went into effect on July 1, 2023. This updated travel guide, which provides guidelines and establishes procedures for individuals incurring business travel expenses on the State’s behalf, can be located at:
https://www.doa.la.gov/doa/ost/ppm-49-travel-guide/
Here are the two key areas that were updated this year:
Refer to the new 2023-2024 PPM-49 for complete updates, changes, and regulations.
The exemption to utilize personal cards forindividualtravel has been renewed for FY 2024.
Please remember that all travel expense forms are to be submitted within 30 days of the travelers’ return date.
In the event you have any questions concerning state travel, please contact Susan Clow (x5122), Jamie Mondragon (x5115), or Beth Weatherford (x5106).
Effective April 10, 2023 Christopherson will no longer offer State of LA manual approval process when a traveler needs to make changes to a ticket that causes creating a new ticket at a price increase. Changed tickets booked through CBT at an increase cost above the original ticket, will automatically be charged to the agency’s CBA without going through the approval process with the CBA accountholder. Justification will need to be kept on file when a change and/or increase occurs.
Shelita Woods,State Travel Manager,Division of Administration,Office of State Travel
ENTERPRISE
If problems occur with Enterprise booking, please contact Joey Rosenfeld at Joseph.G.Rosenfeld@ehi.com with the information below.
State of Louisiana Vehicle Request
Renters Name |
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Rental Date & Time |
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Return Date & Time |
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Rental Location Needed |
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Size Vehicle Requested |
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Renters Phone # |
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Renters email address |
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Account Number |
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Billing # if applicable |
Shelita Woods,State Travel Manager,Division of Administration,Office of State Travel
FYI from Office of State Travel
UNUSED AIRFARE TICKETS should be utilized before purchasing new tickets. Christopherson is the commercial travel company and must be used.
Shelita Woods,State Travel Manager,Division of Administration,Office of State Travel
Enterprise
CONVENIENCE FEES
The section below is now officially part of the State of Louisiana Corporate Liability “Travel Card /CBA Policy and LaCarte” Purchasing Card/CBA Policy.
Merchants may include a surcharge or convenience fee. VISA and MasterCard have strict merchant guidelines governing the assessment of surcharge fees:
For any charge where the Supplier has charged a surcharge, a cardholder or user should obtain a copy of the acknowledgment letter sent to the Supplier by Visa authorizing the Supplier to impose a surcharge as part of their supporting documentation.
Convenience Fees are charged as a flat fee (regardless of the total cost) when purchases are made via one form of payment channel over another – online or by phone vs. in store or by mail.
The decision to use a State Travel Card/CBA on a purchase that will incur a surcharge or convenience fee should be based on rare and extenuating circumstances such as no other form of payment is accepted, timeliness of payment to avoid late fees, urgency of the needed item or services, lack of other vendors, etc. Agencies are required to carefully evaluate the necessity of the State Travel/CBA Card transactions which are subject to surcharge or convenience fees.
Shelita Woods,State Travel Manager,Division of Administration,Office of State Travel
The travel guidelines require that in-state vehicle rentals (for all travel) and out-of-state vehicle rentals (for group travel) be charged to a state card.This new website will allow the state CBA account (Controlled Billing Account) to be charged directly each time a vehicle is returned to Enterprise. Enterprise will no longer directly bill the University, so it is important that this website be used for vehicle rentals in order for the University to more easily comply with the state travel requirements.Training for the use of this website was provided on May 6thand May 7th.
Important items to note:
Please contact our office with any questions.
Hotels have brought to our attention that travelers staying at hotels in the State of Louisiana are not presenting their tax exemption form.Hotels will begin charging in-state taxes and the employee will be responsible for reimbursement if the tax exemption form was not presented at time of check-in.Please advise all necessary personnel immediately. Thanks for your assistance in this matter.
Shelita Woods,Office of State Travel
Travel Advances/Expense Reports and Check Requests:
Please make every effort to send or deliver the Travel Advances/Expense Reports and Check Requests by the Friday, 11:30 a.m. deadline to Coenen Hall Room 103 so they may be stamped before being distributed to the proper processor. We are working very diligently and expedientlyto process all payments in a timely manner. It is our goal for all completed requests that have been received in Accounts Payable by Friday, 11:30 a.m. to be processed in the check run for the following week; however, incomplete Receivers and/or incorrect/incomplete Travel Advances / Expense Reports will delay payment. No travel expenses will be paid through Check Requests and you must submit your PRIOR travel authorizations for ALL out-of-state travel and in-state conferences.
In order to verify if payment has been made, first access FAIVNDH in Banner and check Vendor History. However, due to the high volume received in AP, please allow two weeks before making an inquiry to AP, preferably by email, as to why payment has not been made.
Questions should be directed as follows:
Travel – Beth Weatherford, (318) 342-5106, eweatherford@ulm.edu
We appreciate your cooperation, patience, and adherencein these procedures.
We will inform you of the training sessions once the dates have been determined.
Nicole Walker, Controller; University of Louisiana Monroe; Phone: (318) 342-1040; Fax: (318) 342-5103