Overview

Pre-trip approval offers an automatic method of controlling travel spending by designating travel approvers who can approve or deny a user's travel request. 

Pre-trip approval works by auditing itineraries that include air, hotel, or car rentals. If an itinerary matches one of a number of criteria, it triggers the pre-trip approval process. You can add the JavaScript code for each criteria that can trigger the process, such as international flights, trips that don't include hotels, out-of-policy trips, and so on. The process sends an email to the user's designated Travel approver (or a secondary approver) for notification. The Travel user can provide a reason for the trip to include in the emails to approvers.

You can also configure the feature to not only send a notification email, but also enable Travel approvers to approve or decline the trip before ticketing occurs by clicking a link in the email. Approvers can click a link in the email to approve or decline the trip on a computer or mobile device. You may want to reserve approve-decline emails for specific types of trips that need approval (such as international trips), and use notification-only emails for all other trips that fall out of policy for some reason.

The following are frequent terms used when describing the pre-trip approval process:

• Primary approver: User responsible for approving or declining trips triggered by the process.
• Secondary approver: User identified to take action for trips triggering the process if the primary approver does not take action within the configured amount of time.
• Expired Bookings: Bookings which have not been approved or declined by the primary or secondary approvers within the configured amount of time. These are not automatically cancelled.

Upcoming Reservation Status:

• Waiting for Approval: These bookings have not been approved or declined, and are within the configured amount of time for review.
• Trip Declined: These trips have been declined by the approver and have been canceled (if pre-trip approval is configured to cancel declined trips). Declined flights can be automatically cancelled within 24 hours of purchase, and if the flight is declined within the 24 hour void window, the ticket cost can be fully refunded.
• Cancelled: These trips have been cancelled either manually or by the pre-trip approval process, if pre-trip approval has been configured to auto-cancel. 
  Note: Remember to manually cancel any expired trips if pre-trip approval is not configured to auto-cancel. Although the air ticket is not issued, the trip is not auto-cancelled and could incur hotel penalties.
• Pending Approval: These trips have not been actioned within the configured period of time and are expired.
• Confirmed: Bookings which have been approved by primary or secondary approver and sent to ticketing.

Planning Your Configuration

Note: To request help with the configuration, please enter a support case (see Entering a Support Case). 

Consider the following before configuring pre-trip approval:

• If all trips are funneled through the pre-trip approval process, approvers may not fully analyze the trips. Consider making pre-trip rules focus on specific rather than broad situations to minimize travel impact. Not every trip should fall into the process.
• Decide which email address to use for notification or approval emails. You can use the email stored in the approver's profile, or default addresses you can define (for primary and secondary approvers) in a pre-trip approval custom field described later in this topic.
• Decide the criteria you want to use to trigger the pre-trip approval process, such as international trips, itineraries without hotels, or out-of-policy reservations. You create each criteria as a custom field with JavaScript that triggers the pre-trip approval process.
  Note: Please see our JavaScript sample scripts for these criteria (see Entering a Support Case). 
• Decide whether to send notification-only emails to approvers, or emails that require the approver to approve or decline the trip before it can proceed. 
• Identify which processing queues you want to use (for details on setting up queues, see Adding or Changing Agency Settings):
  • Pending Queue: Best practice is to use a queue where itineraries awaiting approval are placed, to assure itineraries awaiting approval are not ticketed.
  • Approved or Ticketing Queue: Best practice is to use the ticketing queue where approved bookings are placed for ticketing.
  • Declined Queue: Queue where declined bookings will be placed.
  • Expired Queue: Queue were expired bookings will be placed.
• Define any necessary passenger name record (PNR) format(s) that may be required for pre-trip approval reservations in the global distribution system (GDS). You can add or edit fields in the PNR as described in Customizing the Passenger Name Record, and choose Pre Trip Approval for the PNR Field Type. You can then include your PNR edit configuration in the agency configuration, as described in Adding or Changing Agency Settings.

Note: Your Deem implementation manager must enable pre-trip approval before you deploy this for live sites. To contact Deem to start this process, enter a support case (see Entering a Support Case).

Customizing the Passenger Name Record (PNR)

You can customize the passenger name record (PNR) string for pre-trip approval reservations, and then include the new PNR configuration with your agency settings. You must be familiar with PNR scripting for the global distribution system (GDS) you are using.

To customize the PNR, you add a new PNR configuration as described in Customizing the Passenger Name Record  (click here for direct link to PTA PNR Edits scripts).

Keep in mind the following:

• Name the configuration something meaningful, such as "PTA PNR", so that it is recognizable when selecting the PNR edit configuration while creating the agency configuration (as described in Adding or Changing Agency Settings).
• After adding the PNR line, choose Pre Trip Approval from the PNR Field Type dropdown menu, choose Script from the Requirement Type dropdown menu, and enter the appropriate JavaScript in the Custom PNR Requirement box.
• Note: For assistance with JavaScript for scripts, enter a support case (see Entering a Support Case) and request configuration assistance with PNR edits.
• Be sure to click Save to save the new PNR configuration, so that you can select the PNR configuration while creating the agency configuration (as described in Adding or Changing Agency Settings).

Configuring Agency Settings

To set up pre-trip approval, you need to configure the travel agency settings, not only to include a new PNR edit configuration as described above, but also to define the queues and time windows for pre-trip approval. Follow these steps:

1. Sign into the Partner Dashboard as a site administrator, and click the Services tab. The Services | Overview page appears.
2. Click the Travel Agency link and then click the Agency Settings link. 
3. Add or change agency settings as described in Adding or Changing Agency Settings, keeping in mind the following:
   • You can click Add A New Agency Setting to add a new agency configuration that enables pre-trip approval, or click the name link of an existing agency setting (one you have already set up) to enable pre-trip approval. If you are creating an agency configuration for the first time, be sure to enter all of the information as described in Adding or Changing Agency Settings.
   • If you customized the PNR as described in the previous section, select the PNR edit configuration from the Booking Configuration dropdown menu.
   • Read the "Pre-trip Approval" section at the bottom of Adding or Changing Agency Settings. You will be defining the following:
     • The pseudo-city and queue for each type of passenger name record (PNR): Approved Bookings, Declined Bookings, and Expired Bookings. (For details about setting up queues, see Setting Queue and Delivery Options.) 
     • The time window for the primary approver to approve or decline the trip, and the time window for the secondary approver. The primary approver window is best set to 4 – 6 hours, with the alternate approver well before the 24 hour void window.
       Tip: The time windows should total less than 24 hours. Declined flights can be automatically cancelled within 24 hours of purchase, and if the flight is declined within the 24 hour void window, the ticket cost can be fully refunded.
4. Click Save to save all of your agency setting changes. 

Note: To commit all of your changes, click the changes not applied link at the top of the page. The Commit Changes page appears. Click the Commit button.

Configuring Custom Fields

The next step is to configure custom fields that define the criteria for triggering the pre-trip approval process. The custom fields can be set to appear during the purchase flow in order to notify the user of the pre-trip approval requirement, and enable the user to enter a reason for the trip.

Creating a Collection

Create a Custom Field Collection that defines the custom fields, as described in Creating and Managing Custom Fields. Keep in mind the following:

• A custom field collection defines related custom fields and where (on which page) they should appear. 
• If you intend to set up both a notification-only process and an approve-decline process, create one collection for generating only a notification, and a separate collection for generating approve-or-decline requests with the notification. The same collection can't contain a notification-only field and an approve-decline field. 
• Enter a collection name in the Name field for each collection, such as "pretripapproval" or "pretripnotification". Use a label such as "Pre-Trip Approval" or "Pre-Trip Notification" for each collection.
• Be sure to click the checkbox for Ask for User Input on Purchase Page. This will show the collection on the Trip Purchase page.

Click Save to save the collection.

Adding Custom Fields

Next, add one or more custom fields to the collection, as described in Creating and Managing Custom Fields. Keep in mind the following:

• If you need to trigger the pre-approval process using different criteria, such as international trips and trips without hotels, create a field for each separate criteria. The field display order determines which criteria is acted upon first. To update the display order of custom fields in the collection, enter a display order number in the Display Order column, and click Update Display Order.
• For example, if you create the field “International” with number 1 as its display order, and "No Hotel" with number 2, "International" (number 1) will be the first check to trigger pre-trip approval. If the trip passes the criteria for number 1 (the trip is not international) but does not include a hotel, "No Hotel" (number 2) would trigger pre-trip approval.

Create a custom field for each separate criteria for triggering the pre-trip approval process. You can include a custom field to enable the user to enter a reason for the trip (to send to the approver). You can also define a tooltip that appears when the user hovers a pointer over the field, providing a hint about how to enter the reason.

To create a custom field for pre-trip approval, choose PTA (pre-trip approval) from the Field Type dropdown menu, as described in "Field Type: Pre-trip Approval (PTA)" in Creating and Managing Custom Fields. Keep in mind the following: 

• Decide whether or not to require approval or to send a notification only: Click the radio button for "Approval required" or "Notification only".
• Decide whether to send the approval email to the email address in the approver's profile, or to a default approver email address defined in this custom field. Click the radio button for Yes to use the email address in the approver's profile. If you click No, the default approver email address will be used.
  Note: If the approver does not reply within the defined timeframe, the secondary approver default email address will receive a notification or approve-decline email regardless of the setting for "Send approval email to traveler’s profiled approver". 
• Enter the email addresses for the default approver and the secondary approver.  If the default approver has not approved or declined the itinerary within the defined timeframe, an email is sent to the secondary approver default email address.
  Note: If the setting for "Send approval email to traveler’s profiled approver" is used, the default approver email value is ignored unless the traveler doesn't have a profiled approver (secondary approver field is still applicable).
• Decide whether or not to automatically cancel declined itineraries; click the radio button for Yes to do so.
  Note: Offline-generated or offline-changed PNRs and itineraries with expired approvals are not auto-cancelled.
• Click the Advanced link at the bottom of the Field Type Preference section to enter the JavaScript criteria for this field. 
• Note: Please see Pre-Trip Approval Use Cases and Scripts for a variety of PTA scripts.

Changing the Display Order of the Custom Fields

Be sure to click Save to save your custom fields and return to the Custom Fields page, which shows a list of custom fields in the collection. 

 The display order determines which criteria is acted upon first. It defines the order the trip will funnel through the approval process. For example, if the field “International” has number 1 as its display order, and "No Hotel" has number 2, "International" (number 1) will be the first check to trigger pre-trip approval. If the trip passes the criteria for number 1 (the trip is not international) but does not include a hotel, "No Hotel" (number 2) would trigger pre-trip approval. To update the display order of custom fields in the collection, enter a display order number in the Display Order column, and click Update Display Order.

 After creating custom fields in your collections, you can add the collections to a Custom Field Set, as described in "Adding Collections to a Set" in Creating and Managing Custom Fields. Although a collection of pre-trip approval custom fields can't contain both notification-only and approve-decline fields, a set may contain both notification and approve-decline collections. You will then be able to attach the custom field set to service rules to define what groups of users will see the custom fields.

Enabling the Travel Service Rules

You need to bind the newly added or edited configurations as Travel service rules for one or more specific groups of users. For an overview of how rules and groups work, and to define groups, see Groups Tab for Managing Groups.

Follow these steps to add or edit the Travel service rule for a group:

1. To add or edit a Travel service rule for a group, click the Add or Edit link in the Travel column for the group row, as described in Service Rules.
2. Agency configuration: Select the agency configuration you saved (as described in Adding or Changing Agency Settings) from the dropdown menu in the Agency Configuration section as described in Enabling Travel Rules. 
3. Custom field set: Choose the previously configured custom field set from the dropdown menu in the Custom Fields subsection, as described in"Custom Fields" in Enabling Travel Rules.
4. Click Save at the bottom of the page to save the rule. 

Note: To commit all of your changes, click the changes not applied link at the top of the page. The Commit Changes page appears. Click the Commit button.

Defining Approver-User Relationships

You can designate some users as a travel approvers who can approve or deny other user travel requests, and you can assign an approver to each user — typically the employee's manager. You can  designate approvers manually and assign approvers to users by editing their user profiles, and you can also prepare a user upload file to upload approver-user relationships automatically.

Designating an Approver Manually

To designate a user as an approver, follow these steps:

1. Edit the user's profile, as described in Editing a User Profile and Setting Delegates.
2. Click the Account Permissions link on the left side of the profile page.
3. Click the Travel Approver Permission checkbox to define the user as a travel approver, as described in "Setting or Changing the User's Account Permissions" in Editing a User Profile and Setting Delegates.
4. Click Save to save your changes.

Assigning an Approver to a User Manually

1. Edit the user's profile, as described in Editing a User Profile and Setting Delegates. 
2. Click the Personal and Employee info link on the left side of the profile page.
3. In the Employee Info section of the page, choose the approver for this user in the Travel Approver Name dropdown menu, as described in "Personal and Employee Info and Approvers" in Editing a User Profile and Setting Delegates. 
4. Click Save to save your changes.

Preparing a Profile Upload with Approver-User Relationships

As a site administrator, you can update or add multiple users to your site at once. You can also upload user-approver relationships. You can use the templates provided in the Partner Dashboard, and upload the file as described in Uploading User Profiles and Delegates.

Before preparing your profile upload, consider the following:

A profile upload can be damaging if not managed correctly. See Preparing a Profile or Delegate Upload File, and keep in mind the following:

• Save the upload file template as a new file before adding or changing rows and columns.
• Follow the template instructions to enter information in the new file. 
• Follow these general steps to designate approvers:
  1. Consulting the User Profile Fields page, locate the Role column (roleSet.role) in the new file for each approver. 
  2. Enter ROLE_TRAVEL_APPROVER in the Role column (roleSet.role) for each user to be designated as a travel approver. Other roles may also appear in this column, such as ROLE_PURCHASE_APPROVER and ROLE_APPROVER (for Expense).
  3. Upload this new file to establish the approvers in your site.
• Follow these general steps to assign approvers to users:
  1. After uploading the file to establish approvers in your site, you can then assign approvers to users.
  2. Consulting the User Profile Fields page, locate the Travel Approver ID column (userInfo.travelApproverID) in the new file for each user. 
  3. Enter the external ID of the approver for this user, defined previously as ROLE_TRAVEL_APPROVER in the Role column (roleSet.role). For example, if the userInfo.travelApproverID value is 28846, then the user whose external ID is 28846 should already have been uploaded and already have been assigned the role of Travel approver (ROLE_TRAVEL_APPROVER) in the Role column (roleSet.role).
  4. Upload this new file to establish the approver-user relationships.
• Ensure that all custom fields, corresponding collections, and custom field sets are created first before uploading profiles containing custom fields. If not, the upload will fail.

Generating a Report

You can generate a pre-trip approval detailed report to review in order to ensure that the appropriate trips are going through this process.

The Reports tab, as described in Reports Tab for Generating Reports, lets you schedule detailed reports for later viewing. Follow these steps:

1. Click the Reports tab. The Reports | Overview page appears.
2. Click the Schedule a Report link. The Schedule a Report page appears.
3. Schedule Options: Choose Now, Monthly, Periodically, or Weekly from the Schedule dropdown menu. Depending on frequency selected, additional fields will open to more finely define when the report should run.
4. Choose Other from the Service dropdown menu. The Report dropdown menu changes to include all "Other" reports.
5. Choose Pre_Trip_Approval_Detail from the Report dropdown menu.
6. Enter the report data range in the Report Data From and Report Data To dropdown menus.
7. Enter a name for the report in the New Job Name field. Include adequate information to identify this report when all reports are in a list.
8. Enter an email address where a job completion email can be sent.
9. Click Submit.

The following is an example of a pre-trip approval detail report, split into three sections to show all column headings of the report:

Pre-Trip Approval Messaging

Several different emails and messages are generated during the PTA flow:

Pending approval message

To Traveler – ‘Your trip is pending approval for travel. You will be notified once it is approved and the trip will be sent to [agency name] for processing. Online changes are not allowed until the tip is approved for travel, please contact your agency directly for changes.’

To Approver 1 – ‘Pre-trip approval required. [rules description].’

Reminder approval message

To Approver 2 – ‘Pre-trip approval required. Primary approver did not respond within expected timeframe. [rule description.]’

Approved message

To Traveler – ‘Your trip has been approved for travel.’ Existing confirmation message – Your reservation has been completed.

Sabre Cert is processing your ticket. You will receive an itinerary and confirmation shortly.’

To Approver 1 – ‘Pre-trip approval has been received and the trip has been sent to [agency name] for processing.’

To Approver 2 – ‘Pre-trip approval has been received and the trip has been sent to [agency name] for processing.’ 

Declined message

To Traveler – ‘Your trip has been declined for travel. The trip has been sent to [agency name] for processing.’

To Approver 1 – ‘This trip has been declined for travel and sent to [agency name] for processing.

To Approver 2 – ‘This trip has been declined for travel and sent to [agency name] for processing. 

Declined auto cancel message

To Traveler – ‘Your trip was declined for travel and auto canceled. [existing auto cancellation message]’

To Approver 1 – ‘This trip was declined for travel and auto canceled.’

To Approver 2 – ‘The trip was declined for travel and auto canceled.’

Expired approval message

To Traveler – ‘Pre-trip approval was not received for this trip. The approval process has expired, please contact your agency for further assistance.’

To Approver 1 – ‘Pre-trip approval was not received for this trip and the approval process has expired.’

To Approver 2 – ‘Pre-trip approval was not received for this trip and the approval process has expired.’

Notification only email

To primary email recipient – ‘You are being notified that this trip has been sent to [agency name] for processing. [rule description]’