April 2019 Budget Standard Edition Admin Summary
Initial Post
Release Note Summaries
All Products
Import and Extract Budget Item Data Now by Employee IDClients should now import and extract budget item data (budget owners, budget viewers, budget approvers and budget managers) by using employee ID instead of email address in the Budget Owner and Budget Viewer columns, for example, of the Budget Item import.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This feature makes it easier for clients to map employee to budget role, because an employee ID is unique, whereas an email address might not always be. In addition, most import files that have user information use employee ID, so this enhancement will make it more consistent.
**Ongoing** Email Infrastructure Change - Add IP Addresses to Safe Sender ListSAP Concur is transitioning to a new email infrastructure for outbound email from our services to SAP Concur users. Because of this, companies who filter inbound email based on the sending IP address must add new IP addresses to their Safe Sender list to ensure that their users receive email from SAP Concur.
Initially, the issue described here affected only companies that use Concur Expense. Starting in January, email from other SAP Concur services (such as Concur Travel and Concur Pay) will move to the new email infrastructure.
We will continue to add other services. Please monitor the release notes for more information about the timing of the additional changes.
Reminder: No Personal or Sensitive Data in Custom FieldsAll companies must take all reasonable steps to protect the personal and sensitive information of their employees. Per recommended security-related best practices, custom fields should not contain personal or sensitive data.
Concur Expense, Concur Invoice and Purchase Request
Workflows for Budget Now AvailableWorkflows are now available for Budget. Workflows define how the system routes invoices, expense claims and requests through approval and processing steps. The flexible workflow feature for Budget that SAP Concur offers allows companies to design workflows specifically tailored to their unique needs.
Without budget review, budgets may become fully consumed well before the end of a period or year leaving an organisation with limited options and budget owners with, for example, exceeded budgets. In addition, early spending means that more important (to the organisation) spending will be declined because lesser important spending consumed the budget early on.
Combining budget review in the workflow adds value. Audit rules and workflow step rules can help organisations to add in controls when it makes sense to fine tune to an organisation's specific needs.
Equally important is the determination when a spending item is regarded as committed toward a budget. In most organisations, the commit is when a spending item is paid; it went through most if not all approval steps. In other organisations, the commit occurs much earlier. As soon as a purchase request or an authorisation request is approved, it is regarded as committed.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This feature will provide clients with control over the budget spend to, for example, avoid exceeded budgets too early in a budget period or budget year.
Concur Invoice
Payment Request(s) Renamed to Invoice(s)SAP Concur has replaced instances of the term "payment request" and its iterations with the term "invoice" and its iterations. These changes will be made in the user interface, the Concur Invoice documentation and in all other SAP Concur product documentation where it appears.
The following terms will also change names:
Request ID -> Invoice ID
Payment Request -> Invoice
Request Name -> Invoice Name
Payment Request Type -> Policy
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This change helps to ensure that the terminology used in SAP Concur is consistent with industry standard terminology.
Planned Change Summaries
All Products
**Planned Changes** SAP Concur Product Access ChangesBeginning in a future release (targeted for June), clients will access SAP Concur products and services via the following domains:
*.concursolutions.com
*.concurcdc.cn
This change is targeted for 8 June 2019.
Please contact appsec@sap.com for any questions regarding this change.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This change will allow customers to access SAP Concur services in a consistent, secure manner.
**Planned Changes** Forgot Password Feature, Security Questions and Password Custom TextThese changes are part of the SAP Concur continued commitment to maintaining secure authentication.
In a future release, a new Forgot Password feature will be added to the SAP Concur Sign In page, providing an updated experience for users who log in with user name and password credentials.
Currently, depending on a company's configuration, there might be several other options available for the forgotten password process. When the new Forgot Password feature becomes available (targeted for 11 May), those additional options will be removed. The additional options that will be removed are as follows:
Security Questions: Users will no longer receive security question prompts for login authentication.
On-page text: Company custom text will no longer display.
Password hints: The Send me an email with my password hint option will no longer be available.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This feature provides greater security for user passwords and streamlines the user experience.
**Planned Changes** No Future Bulk Password Resets or Updates via Import FileIn a future release, the ability to reset or update user passwords through the User Import and Employee Import features will be removed. The ability to set the password for new users during the initial import through the User Import and Employee import features will still be available.
USER IMPORT
The password field will remain available in the downloadable Excel template, but will only be read during an initial import of the file or when creating a new user in the system. Subsequent uses of the field will be ignored by the system.
For general information about this functionality, refer to the Shared: User Import User Guide (English Only).
EMPLOYEE IMPORT
The password fields will remain available in the 100, 300, 305 and 310 record sets, but will only be read during an initial import of the file or when creating a new user in the system. Subsequent uses of the field will be ignored by the system. The update and replace password features on the 100 record will no longer be used.
For general information about this functionality, refer to the Shared: Employee Import Specification (English Only).
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This change provides greater security for user passwords.
**Planned Changes** Single Sign-On (SSO) Self-Service Option Coming to SAP ConcurThese changes are part of the SAP Concur continued commitment to maintaining secure authentication.
Single Sign-On allows users to access multiple applications using one set of login credentials. Currently, SAP Concur has two methods for signing in: with a user name and password or using SSO with identity provider (IdP) credentials, such as a user's login credentials for their organisation.
SAP Concur is planning to add a Manage Single Sign-On (SSO) feature to SAP Concur products that provides clients with a self-service option for setting up SSO for their organisation. SSO is currently supported for Concur Expense, Invoice, Request and Travel.
The new Manage Single Sign-On (SSO) feature is a replacement tool for clients using existing SSO configuration and a new tool for clients that now want to implement SSO at their organisation. Existing SSO configuration and the new SSO Self-Service tool will both be available until everyone has migrated to the new SSO Self-Service tool.
Other SAP Concur products and services are outside the scope of this initial release.
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This feature provides SAP Concur clients with a self-service option for setting up SSO.
**Planned Changes** New SAP Concur Sign In PageSAP Concur is planning to add a new Sign In page, providing an updated login experience for users who log in with a user name and password credentials. Current Single Sign-On (SSO) users will be able to start the SSO login process at www.concursolutions.com. This feature is planned for 2019.
The new Sign In page feature includes the following:
Two-step login: provides enhanced security, meets current industry standards and provides a better login success rate
Multi-account login: allows administrators to log in with multiple accounts (planned for a future release)
User avatar: enhances the user experience (planned for a future release)
Business Purpose / Client Benefit: This feature provides better security and a faster, convenient experience for users logging in to SAP Concur products and services.
Client Notifications
SAP Concur Non-Affiliated Subprocessors
The list of non-affiliated subprocessors is available here: SAP Concur list of Subprocessors (English Only)
Monthly Browser Certifications
Monthly browser certifications, both current and planned, are available with the other SAP Concur monthly release notes, accessible from What's New - Standard Edition
