The Overall Process of Travel Management in SAP FICO

Purpose

With the R/3 Travel Management application component, you can perform all of the business processes involved with a business trip efficiently and reliably in one single process. The goal of this process is the complete and integrated administration of travel expenses from travel planning to correct taxation in Payroll Accounting (HR), correct posting in Financial Accounting (FI), and clearing in Controlling (CO) or Funds Management (FM) according to the allocation-by-cause principle.

Within the process, using the Travel Planning component, you can plan business trips quickly and easily, record the basic trip facts and book travel services. After the trips have been taken, using the Travel Accounting component, you can supplement the remaining trip facts, account the trip costs and transfer the accounting results to Financial Accounting, Controlling, Funds Management, and, for possible calculation of taxes, to Payroll Accounting for further processing. As a result of the integration of all of these process segments in one single process, which is extensively controlled and logged by the R/3 System, the overall processing of business trips is significantly streamlined, reducing costs.

Process Flow

The overall process can last a relatively long time, with the actual trip representing the focal point of this process. The Travel Management process can be carried out with or without integration of Travel Planning in Travel Accounting.

Travel Management with Travel Planning (components Travel Planning and Travel Accounting)	Travel Management without Travel Planning (component Travel Accounting only)
You recognize that a trip must be taken.	You recognize that a trip must be taken.
Component Travel Planning: You plan the trip in the R/3 System and record the necessary trip facts.	You plan the trip on paper and submit the trip facts to an external travel service provider (a travel agency that you have chosen). The travel agency is responsible for booking the travel services.
Component Travel Planning: You book the travel services from Travel Management via a global distribution system (currently AMADEUS). The R/3 System creates individual receipts in the trip on the basis of this booking.	Component Travel Accounting: You can then record these trip facts in the R/3 System.
External Service Provider: The travel agency that you have chosen issues the tickets.	External Service Provider: The travel agency issues the tickets.
The trip takes place.	The trip takes place.
Component Travel Accounting: You record the remaining trip facts in the R/3 System.	Component Travel Accounting: You record the remaining trip facts in the R/3 System.
The system accounts the trip.	The system accounts the trip.
You issue trip statements to the employee.	You issue trip statements to the employee.
The system transfers the accounting results to Financial Accounting, Controlling, Funds Management and, possibly, Payroll Accounting.	The system transfers the accounting results to Financial Accounting, Controlling, Funds Management and, possibly, Payroll Accounting.
The system effects payment of the transfer amounts to the employee.	The system effects payment of the transfer amounts to the employee.

The Overall Process of Travel Management with Travel Planning

Result

A single, complete record of the facts of a business trip has been made in the R/3 System. The R/3 System has accounted the trip costs incurred as a result of the trip and forwarded them for further processing in Financial Accounting, Controlling, Funds Management and, if necessary, Payroll Accounting.