Objective
The Book Then Approve process in Concur helps ensure accurate budget tracking by linking travel bookings directly to a request. This workflow allows you to book travel before obtaining final approval, with the trip cost immediately reflected in the budget as Pending spend. This gives better visibility into committed funds while maintaining control over expenses.
Let's review two scenarios to identify the type of alerts the approver will see under View Budget.
Use this scenario if your company wants to track the exact amount of the booked segments in the request—these amounts will display in the budget as Pending spend. Funds associated with the request are returned to the budget only when the request is canceled.
Configure the Concur Request workflow to return any requests with expired PNRs to the employee. The employee must then cancel the request to release the funds back to the budget.
Set the Approval Time Expired Actions to Send Back to Employee. Your company will determine the appropriate number of days for this action.
If your company requires approval for all travel segments, include an approval step to address expired PNRs—but do not set the Approval Time Expired Action to Send Back to Employee. Instead, set it to No Action.
The only way to release funds back to the budget is by canceling the request. Users have the following options to cancel a request:
