Administration

With this release, SAP Concur added a configuration option to specify how many in-policy or best-available options were declined when a user books against policy.

Currently, the number of options displayed in the rule violation popup window and on the manager's (approval) notification email is generally based on the total in-policy or best-available options displayed to the user or – in the case of flight bookings – could be reduced to include only options within the LLF window. With this release, the new option allows the admin to define – on the company level and overall booking types (flight, rail, hotel, car) – a specific number of options to be displayed (between 0 and 10).

Flight

Virgin Australia has introduced a new fare structure effective 28 October 2018.

Miscellaneous

With this release, we have updated the SAP Concur Travel wait pages to our new theme. In this update, we have lightened our branding to accommodate all customer requirements and to alleviate confusion between SAP Concur and the TMC that will fulfil the traveller bookings.

SAP Concur is transitioning to a new email infrastructure for outbound email from our products to SAP Concur users. Because of this, companies who filter inbound email based on the sending IP address must add the new IP addresses to their Safe Sender list to ensure that their users receive email from SAP Concur.

Concur Expense Only: Be aware that – at this time – the issue described here affects only companies that use Concur Expense and filter incoming email based on IP addresses. (This includes all editions of Expense – whether the company uses Expense by itself or integrated with any other SAP Concur product or service.) Other SAP Concur services (such as Travel and Concur Pay) are not currently affected.

We are currently targeting the first quarter of 2019 to make additional changes. Be aware that all affected companies will be notified well ahead of time and will be provided all possible options for managing this issue.

SAP Concur is in the process of updating the format of all email notifications. These changes will provide a fresher, consistent look and feel across all SAP Concur services. The change will be introduced gradually. Some users will see the updated format immediately; some will see it over the next few months. Be aware that the email content has not changed – just the look and feel.

Planned Innovations/Changes

The items in this section are targeted for future releases. Concur reserves the right to postpone implementation of – or completely remove – any enhancement/change mentioned here.

SAP Concur is happy to announce that Express Checkout is coming in December!

Express Checkout is a new checkout experience that will reduce the checkout process from five pages to two: Review and Book and the confirmation page. Travellers will no longer have to page through multiple screens to complete their Air booking. All the pertinent information required to complete the booking will be collected via the new Review and Book page.

Targeted for March of 2019, XML Profile Sync will no longer be available. SAP Concur recommends that all customers using XML Profile Sync move to Travel Profile API 2.0 at their earliest convenience. Version 2.0 functionality has been in production since May 2015 and affords better security and data validation that will support TMCs in meeting the needs of their travellers. If TMCs need assistance in identifying their customers who are still using XML Profile Sync, SAP Concur will assist with the identification of those customers.

As SAP Concur continues to grow, steps must be taken to enhance and improve the performance of our system so that we can meet customer expectations and the needs of their business.

Our overall goal is to significantly improve the performance of SAP Concur services by reducing the amount of data that is stored in our Production datastore. By reducing the data in the Production system, we can use server memory much more efficiently, which reduces processing time for transactions. For this reason, SAP Concur is developing an archive process for users who have been deactivated by their employers for at least three years. The archive process moves this "deactivated" user data from our Production datastore to a separate Reporting datastore.

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 Concur Travel 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.

SAP 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 log in without having to enter additional credentials. This feature is planned for 2019. This feature provides better security and a faster, convenient experience for users logging in to SAP Concur products and services.

Client Notifications

The list of non-affiliated subprocessors is available here: SAP Concur list of Subprocessors (English Only)

Monthly browser certifications, both current and planned, are available with the other SAP Concur monthly release notes, accessible from What's New - Professional Edition