How to Get Started with Travel Requests (For the Traveler)
Purpose: To help you submit a all your travel requests efficiently. The guide intends to:
- Show you (the traveler) what to look for on your Traveler Profile to make sure you're ready to submit travel requests.
- Give Tips on How to Fill out a Travel Authorization, Cash Advance (if needed) and an Expense Report efficiently.
Audience: Any employee preparing to request authorization to travel and receive reimbursement.
Navigation: Main Menu > Employee Self-Service > Travel & Expenses > Review/Edit Profile
Your Traveler Profile in the Travel & Expense system helps speed up the travel request process by storing default settings and personal information.
- The system automatically updates basic employee data from HR, but your Travel Coordinator may need to manually add extra details—especially for expense reimbursements.
- If you haven’t traveled recently or have worked at multiple colleges, it’s a good idea to review and update your profile before submitting a travel request. This ensures your info is accurate and helps avoid delays in approval.
- When you're newly hired, the system tries to fill in your basic HR info automatically. If something blocks that update, your Travel Coordinator can fix it by setting up your profile manually.
- If you get an error when accessing your profile, it likely means the HR info isn’t complete. Just ask your Travel Coordinator to add your college’s General Ledger (GL) Unit—that should unlock the page so you can review it.
Your Traveler Profile is made up of several tabs, each with a specific purpose.
New Travelers: Review ALL sections of the Traveler Profile for accuracy.
Repeat Travelers: Focus on these 3 tabs:
- Organizational Data Tab: Business Unit and Default "Budget" (chartfield) relate to THIS travel request.
- User Defaults Tab: Check your EXPENSE DEFAULTS and EXPENSE TYPE DEFAULTS are appropriate for THIS travel request.
- Bank Account Tab: Is the Bank Routing and Account Information accurate and where you want your reimbursement sent?
1. EMPLOYEE DATA (Tab)
- Does your display name at the top of the page appear correctly? If yes, no action is needed. If you have a "preferred name" and it is not showing, contact your Travel Coordinator.
- Is your address and phone number correct?
The Employee Data tab stores your name, address, and phone number so the Finance Office can mail reimbursement checks to your desired mailing address (if EFT is not an option) and contact you with any questions—without needing access to HR records.
Your "Display Name" appears above all the tabs. This is not the only name data that exists on your profile, but all the other name fields are not visible to you, the traveler. Only the Travel Coordinator can see all the name fields.
If you have a "preferred" name that differs from your legal name and it is not showing up on your traveler profile contact your Travel Coordinator to ensure that this appears accurately on your Traveler Profile. Name data is synchronized from the HCM pillar, so all changes to your legal name should start there, but manual updates can be made to the Traveler Profile by the Travel Coordinator if you're just editing the display name.
Employee Data Tab - Employee Information section, viewed as the Traveler:
Employee Data Tab - Employee Information section, viewed as the Travel Coordinator:
Indicates where reimbursement checks are sent if automated deposit to a bank account is not an option. Home Address is the default, but an an alternate address may be entered as set as the default for mailing reimbursement checks. The Send Payments To radial dial buttons in the section above control the mailing address used to print on mailed checks.
2. ORGANIZATIONAL DATA (Tab)
- Does your profile show as "Valid for Expenses? = Yes"
- Have you checked with your supervisor to confirm what default budget (chartstring) would likely pay for your travel and is it set in your profile? If not, you could be forced to enter it for every line in the request.
- If you work at more than one college, is the correct profile for the Business Unit you're expecting to pay for your travel expenses set as the "default?" If not, your request could be routed to the wrong person, denied (making you start over), or (if approved accidentally) charged to the wrong college.
- Check your Cash Advance Level limit before submitting your request for advance funds.
The Organizational Data tab stores all the information needed for routing travel requests for approval and ensuring the travel expense is charged to the correct budget.
Valid for Expenses:
- If this field shows “Yes” you are good!
- If it displays “No,” contact your Travel Coordinator to complete your setup.
Reason for Status: If "Yes" above, reflects that your information passed all checkpoints when the system loaded your employee table data from Human Resources (HCM). If "No" above, this will be blank.
Default Profile (check box):
- If you show 1 of 1 on the profile page, verify that the Default Profile checkbox is checked.
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If you show more than 1 profile page, scan through each profile to find the one for the college and department that is paying for your travel and make sure that Default Profile checkbox is checked.
- Without a default, expense transactions can’t be entered.
- If the wrong profile is selected, the travel request may route through the incorrect college and approval workflow.
Ignore Authorized Amounts (check box): This should be unchecked, unless you're very special. If checked it means that you're exempt from authorized amount spending limits on expense transactions, as the system will overlook expense location amounts defined for Expense Types, such as hotels or meals.
Per Diem Amount Type: In ctcLink this should be set to "Active Amounts."
If the Valid for Expenses = No the Travel Coordinator can run the Validate process by clicking the Validate button. It will confirm that the minimum required data exists for processing. It may not reflect the usage of all optional settings that could optimize the user experience, but will reflect the base profile definition to allow for creating travel requests.
Once the Travel Coordinator has validated the profile, it will display as "Valid for Expenses - Yes"
- Verify that this information is accurate.
- If you have more than one job record, is the correct profile set as the "default?"
- Have you recently transitioned to a new position or supervisor? Does your HR job data reflect that change?
This information is synchronized from the Human Capital Management (HCM) system. Changes to this information should be made by working with your HR office, however the Travel Coordinator does have update access.
Why does this data matter?
Approval Workflow: Your college’s approval path may involve your supervisor, budget manager, or other department roles. AWE uses your profile to route requests—so if your supervisor or department info is wrong, expect delays. Spot an issue? Alert your Travel Coordinator before it slows you down.
Submitting a travel request can be tricky—especially when you're unsure who’s covering the cost or which budget code (chartstring) to use. The easiest fix? Connect with your supervisor ahead of time to pick a default chartstring for your profile. It’ll auto-fill on each transaction, saving you time. You can always update it per travel request, but having one in place makes the process smoother.
Pro Tip: Setting a default chartstring in your Traveler Profile doesn’t lock you in. You can:
- Assign a different default chartstring when creating a Travel Authorization (TA).
- Use unique chartstrings for individual expense lines.
- Copy a detail line with a specific budget to duplicate it across similar entries (e.g., hotel charges over multiple days).
Unsure which budget to use? Check with your supervisor or Travel Coordinator.
There are three options that your travel coordinator can choose for you that align to how your organization participates in Cash Advances.
An organization that participates in Cash Advances will either set up employees on a general limit for the Business Unit (amount defined in your college's configuration), or will create a unique limit just for that individual traveler and set that to a Specific Amount that differs from the Business Unit standard.
An organization that does not do Cash Advances will have all employees set to None.
3. USER DEFAULTS (Tab)
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Do you have your default creation method for Expense Reports set to copy from an existing Travel Authorization?
- If not, you would have to re-enter all the transaction lines again when you go to ask for reimbursement.
- Have you established default values for your Expense Defaults so you don't have to click the detail link on every line to enter these values?
The User Defaults tab has multiple sections for defining default values and behaviors. The Expense Defaults and Expense Type Defaults create the greatest value in time savings from reduced data entry on each transaction line.
Use the Default Creation Method section to specify how the system behaves when you create a Travel Authorization or Expense Report (Time Reports aren't used in ctcLink).
For example, the following options are available for Expense Reports:
- Open a Blank Report – Creating an expense report will not prompt the creator to copy any existing data.
- RECOMMENDED: Copy From a Travel Auth – Creating an Expense Report will prompt for a Travel Authorization to copy.
- Copy from a Template – Will prompt for a Template to copy.
- Copy an Existing Report – Will prompt for an Expense Report to copy.
The Receipts Not Required check box will be left unchecked for most,if not all, employees. This is not something you need to request changes on as it's decided by your organization in alignment with OFM requirements.
If the box is check, it indicates that you are not required to attach receipts to Expense Reports. This value overrides the Enforce Receipt option entered on the Receipts Required Page for the General Ledger business unit. Note: Only system administrators have access to this field. Individual employees cannot access this field.
Use this section to control the default values that appear for all your travel authorizations, cash advances, and expense reports. You can override the values on the individual requests if so desired.
Report Description: Enter a description that you want to appear by default onto the header level of your travel authorizations, cash advances, and expense reports. If you only ever go to one conference every year, this makes sense, otherwise leave it blank and fill it in when you do your individual travel requests.
Per Diem Range: Leave blank in ctcLink. PeopleSoft provides this option to select a per diem range ID that is associated with a range type of Daily.
A per diem that is associated with a range type of Daily, on a project or at a site, requires the number of days to appear by default into the expense report for the employee. This field only has values if the user is associated with a SetID that uses a daily range type. Ranges are defined on the Per Diem Range page and the amount for the per diem is defined on the Per Diem Amount page.
Business Purpose: Select from a predefined list (created when your organization implemented the Expenses module). The business purpose that you select will appear "by default" onto the header level of your travel authorizations, cash advances, and expense reports.
TIME SAVER! - Billing Type: Set the billing action to "Billable" and this will appear by default onto your travel authorizations, expense reports. This greatly reduces the workload of entering in transactions and having to click the 'Details' link to add it to each line.
If you use Project Costing, billing codes are required to identify project costs that are both billable and charged to project costing ChartFields. Expenses passes these items to Billing for processing.
Originating Location: Select a city, country, or geographical area (established by your organization during system setup) that you want to appear by default onto your travel authorizations and expense reports. Often if your "office" has an "official workstation" defined for you, this would be location you would be leaving from, or it can be your home, if your travel is in the opposite direction of your "official workstation."
Expense Location: Select a city, country, or geographical area where you will incur expenses that you want to appear by default onto your travel authorizations and expense reports. Not required, but can make it easier if you always go to the same location.
TIME SAVER! - Payment Type: Select how you pay for expenses and enable the payment type to appear by default onto your travel authorizations and expense reports. Note: A payment type must be selected if you are creating a Travel Authorization using Fluid. For more information, see Creating Travel Authorizations Using Fluid.
Credit Card: Select a credit card number that you want Expenses to use as a default for expense transactions with a method that may directly reimburse the vendor. For security reasons, all but the last four numbers for each credit card will be masked. The credit card information for the employee is maintained on the Employee Profile - Corporate Card Information page.
TIME SAVER! - Transportation ID and Transportation Type: The system displays the employee's active transportation IDs from which to choose. Select a transportation ID that you want to appear by default onto your travel authorizations and expense reports. If you always travel by "car" set that as your default.
Number of Nights: Enter the number of nights that you want to appear by default onto your travel authorizations and expense reports for the expense type Hotel/Lodging.
Accounting Detail Default View: Select "Collapsed" or "Expanded" to indicate how the Accounting Detail section should appear on the Expense Report when the expense type is selected.
Allows you set up an "Expense Type" specific default. Meaning, if you have certain types of expenses that don't ever get paid for out of pocket by you (the employee traveling), but rather are always paid by a PCard, you can set a specific default that overrides the default you set for all other expenses under the Expense Default section above.
TIME SAVER! - Expense Type: Specify the Expense Type you want to establish defaults for that differs from your overall default. When you select the Expense Type on your Travel Authorizations and Expense Reports, Expenses will populate the Payment Type, Billing Action, and Merchant Information (optional).
Payment Type: Select how you pay for the expense type. When you select the expense type on your travel authorizations and expense reports, Expenses will populate the Payment Type field with this information.
Billing Type Select the billing action that you want to appear by default onto your travel authorizations and expense reports for the expense type.
If you use Project Costing, billing codes are required to identify project costs that are both billable and charged to project costing ChartFields. Expenses passes these items to Billing for processing.
Preferred Merchant OR Merchant: If your college/agency has a merchant they always go through for certain types of travel activities, for example car rental. You can predefine that merchant specific to the Expense Type.
Enabled: Select to indicate to the system to include the project as a default on travel authorizations and expense reports.
PC Business Unit: Select a business unit for a project that you want to appear by default onto your travel authorizations and expense reports.
Project and Description: Select a project that you want to appear by default onto your travel authorizations and expense reports.
Activity and Description: Select a project activity that you want to appear by default onto your travel authorizations and expense reports. You create activities in Project Costing.
Percentage: If the project is enabled, enter a positive, non-zero amount less than or equal to 100. The sum total of all enabled projects must equal 100 percent.
Note: Expenses does not display this field if Project Costing is not installed. Source Type, Category, and Subcategory If applicable, select for which you want to record time. If you enabled the project default line, PeopleSoft Expenses uses these entries to create the default accounting distribution for travel authorizations and expense reports.
We don't do Time Reports, so these Time Defaults are not used in ctcLink.
4. BANK ACCOUNTS (Tab)
- Double check that your Bank ID (routing number) and Bank Account # are accurate so your reimbursement will be sent (via ACH) to the correct account.
Bank Info & Payment Method: Travelers can’t update their Bank Account or Routing Number— if it's wrong, contact your Travel Coordinator for changes. Once masked in Finance, most of the account number will be hidden. If your organization follows Process Alignment Task Force guidelines, your Payment Method should be Automated Clearing House (ACH), depositing reimbursements directly to your bank.
Do not click the EFT Options link, as this is not relevant in ctcLink.
5. CORPORATE CARD INFORMATION (Skip this Tab)
- Skip - Relates to the Expense Wallet functionality not used in ctcLink.
6. TRANSPORTATION INFORMATION (Tab)
- Have you set a default transportation ID, such as "Car" or "Plane" to track your mileage? You can also see what mileage you've reported in the past using various forms of personal transportation.
Mileage Reimbursement: To claim mileage, you must enter transportation details. At a minimum, add a Transportation ID for your car that you could be driving to and from that conference or airport.
You need to have a Transportation ID established to connect to a description of a Transportation Type.
- Once you have created a Transportation ID, you cannot EDIT it, but you can 'inactivate' it. If you need to change the name of this field, you can delete the line and re-enter a new one, providing that there are no kilometers or miles associated with it. If there are, inactivation is the only option.
Transportation Type: Indicates the transportation category. These values are global configuration elements.
Date Acquired: Indicates the date that the employee acquired the vehicle. You may not edit this field after kilometers or miles are accrued for the transportation ID.
Status: Select Active or Inactive.
Status Date: Indicates the date when the employee received a Transportation Type. Expenses compares this date to expense report transaction dates to determine the availability of transportation ID's on the drop down list on the report.
Lease (Check box): Doesn't apply in ctcLink. If the box is checked it indicates that the employee's car is leased. Washington state agencies will generally reimburse at the IRS standard mileage rate for using a personal vehicle, regardless of whether it's owned or leased.
Car Allowance (Check box): Select to indicate that the employee receives a car allowance. This is informational only, and is designed for the approver and auditor.
Transportation Type Setup (link): Travelers who are not also Travel Coordinators will not have access to the Transportation Type Setup page.The link will appear as gray.
When you click the Save button after adding new Transportation Identification records, the Expenses module creates a new line in the Distances Traveled section. If you delete a row in the Transportation Identification record, it will delete the corresponding line in the Distances Traveled section. This will then calculate the amount of miles reported for each year.
Year: Indicates the year for tracking mileage.
Distance Type: Indicates tracking by Miles or Kilometers.
Total Distance: Indicates the total distance that an employee travels in a given calendar year.
End of Traveler Profile Updates - Next Step - Getting Your Travel Pre-Authorized!
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