Working with Forms and Fields

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to demonstrate configuring Forms and Fields in Concur Request based on the customer's business requirements.

Introduction

In this training, you will refresh your knowledge of the Forms and Fields configuration tools that you learned about in the Concur Request Configuration Tools unit. Then you will learn about the specifics of configuring Forms and Fields based on CVI's requirements.

Note

It is strongly recommended that you have a copy of CVI's business requirements available as you complete this unit.

After completing this unit, you will be able to:

Demonstrate configuring Forms and Fields in Concur Request based on the customer's business requirements.
Configure Connected Lists.
Create the Request Header Form.
Create the Request Entry Form.
Configure the Request Allocation Form.

Concur Request Forms Types

The Form Types available in Concur Request are similar to those used in Concur Expense. You can configure forms to capture information about users, their requests, the details of those requests, and the allocations of those requests.

Employee

These forms are used to capture information stored about each user. They are shared by Concur Request, Concur Expense, and Concur Invoice. Select Employee from the Form Type dropdown menu to capture information stored about each user.

Request Header

These forms are similar to the Expense Header forms in Concur Expense. They are used to capture high-level information about a request, such as the request name and business purpose, as well as a trip's start and end dates.

Request Entry

These forms are similar to the Expense Entry forms in Concur Expense. They are used to capture details about expected expenses that will be incurred while traveling, such as the date and estimated amount.

Request Travel Segment

These forms are used to capture information about specific travel segments such as air, rail, car rental, and hotel. Each segment will have its own form to capture the unique data for each type of travel, such as departure and arrival dates for air and rail segments.

Select Request Air Segment from the Form Type dropdown menu to capture information about specific travel segments such as amount, arrival, currency, air, rail, car rental, and hotel.

Request Segment

If you need to create custom segments in your configuration, you can use this form to capture the relevant information for each custom segment.

Request Segment Custom Info

The standard segment forms do not have the ability to capture custom fields. If you need to capture custom data about a travel segment, you can create forms of this type, and associate them to the travel segments on a policy.

Request Allocation

Just like expense reports in Concur Expense, requests in Concur Request can be allocated to one or more cost objects. These forms are used to allow users to allocate their requests.

Note

Request segments are always allocated as a group. That is, if any segment is allocated, then all segments are allocated the same, with the same percentage or amount.
Expected expenses can be allocated individually. This is controlled by the Allow Expected Expenses to be allocated individually Site Settings. If this option is activated, then:
- All segments are allocated as a group, with the same percentage or amount.
- Expected expenses can be allocated individually, so they are different from segments or different from each other.

Select Request Allocation from the Form Type dropdown menu to allow users to allocate their requests.

Cash Advance

Since requests often involve getting permission to travel, they can be configured to include a Cash Advance Request as part of the process. You use these forms to define the data you want included with a cash advance, whether it is associated to a request or not.

Working with Form Types

When working with Form Types, pay special attention to the following items:

The Form Types are arranged in a type of hierarchy, following this order: Employee, Request Header, Request Segment and Request Entry, and Request Allocation.
Just like in Concur Expense, you can copy data elements down the hierarchy to set default values. For example, the default cost center for a request can be the same as the user's cost center. You can allow users to modify these values at the lower levels to facilitate cross-charging.
You must choose the appropriate Form Type for each tab before you begin configuring.
To minimize rework and repetition, SAP Concur recommends configuring from the top of the hierarchy downward, whenever possible.

Forms and Fields Configuration Tabs

The forms and fields functionality of Concur Request is similar to that of Concur Expense, so the following information will not be new to you. Once you select the proper Form Type, you can then configure the Fields, Forms, and Form Fields within.

Fields

These are the fields used to capture specific data about an item related to a request. Each field can be configured to be modifiable, read-only, or hidden by the traveler, approver, TMC agent, and administrator.

Forms

A form is a collection of fields that display on the screen at the same time and are used to capture information about an item such as the request header or a specific segment.

Form Fields

The Form Fields tab lets you define how the fields appear on each form. You can define the label of each field, if the field is required, and the order the fields appear, among a number of other items.

Each field on a form can be configured to be modifiable, read-only, or hidden by the traveler, approver, TMC agent, and administrator. The settings here override those on the field.

Select Form Fields from the Forms and Fields configuration tab to define the label of each field, if the field is required, and the order the fields appear, among a number of other items.

Connected Lists

If any of the lists you created in List Management are Multi-Level lists, you use this tab to define what fields will be used to capture the values in those lists. This should be done before you configure any other tabs in this area.

Validations

If you defined any fields to use the Text data type, you can apply a Validation to force the user to enter the text in a specific format. Validations are configured using Regular Expressions and are not commonly used. The most commonly used validations are built into the system.

Forms and Fields Best Practices

There are several best practices to keep in mind when working with forms and fields:

To minimize rework and repetition, SAP Concur recommends configuring the tabs in this order whenever possible: Fields, Forms, then Form Fields.
Do not use custom fields to capture personal, sensitive, or uniquely identifying information. These fields are not encrypted in the database and are displayed in full in Concur Request and in the reporting data.
The data types available in Concur Request are the same as those in Concur Expense and Concur Invoice.
Take care when defining data types. After data is added to a field, you cannot edit the data type.
When creating a new form, use the copy form function to copy an existing form. This preserves the original form for subsequent use.

Resources

Select the guide to view the system documentation for each topic.

You now know the basics of the Forms and Fields configuration tools. In the next lessons, you will see the process to set up the forms needed for CVI, starting with connected lists.

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