Administration

SAP Concur is currently migrating TMCs to new Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres, a process which affects TMC workflows. SAP will first move TMCs to the new data centres, followed over time by their customers. TMCs will therefore experience a period of time where their customer base is split over the current data centres and the new AWS data centres.

We are migrating from a private platform, where all equipment is owned by SAP Concur solutions, to a third-party cloud platform. This will provide stronger security, improved performance and stability, and faster innovation for our customers.

Flight

Per recent changes made at JetBlue Airways, all seats for all brands are returned from the reservation systems (GDSs) as “chargeable.” For some brands, the seat is listed with a charge of zero dollars, effectively providing the seat allocation free of charge. For other brands, a fee is required.

This change has led to a number of confusing scenarios, such as:

• A seat map display that implies a fee is charged for a seat, when in fact it is free of charge for most of the brands.
• Some GDSs failing to confirm the user’s seat selection.
• Some GDSs displaying a message to users that indicates a seat will automatically be reserved when, in fact, no seat has been reserved.

With the December release, Concur Travel will no longer provide seat information for JetBlue. Instead, Concur Travel will inform users that they have the option to reserve seats directly at JetBlue’s website. Customers with any questions regarding this change should contact their JetBlue representative.

Historically, Concur Travel has sent a “generic” seat request to the GDS if a specific seat has not been selected by the user; this is done to minimise scenarios of denied boarding in cases where the airline has oversold the flight. Concur Travel will continue to do this for all airlines. Customers may wish to consult with their travel management company to confirm seat reservation handling in case a seat charge may be applicable.

This change is being made in Concur Travel to ensure customers are not misled by the display of incorrect information. By directing users to the JetBlue website, they will be able to see all necessary and accurate information, which will allow them to make an informed seat decision.

Historically, Concur Travel has supported the synchronisation of several profile fields to and from Sabre Profiles. The synchronisation of National ID fields was not previously supported. With the December release, Concur Travel will start synchronising this field to and from Sabre Profiles, if one is provided by the user.

In some countries, such as China, there are regulatory requirements for nationals to provide the national identification card number as form of identification for domestic air travel. The ability to synchronise the National ID fields to Sabre Profiles will allow travel management companies (TMCs) to properly service travellers’ flights where a form of identification is required.

Hotel

Concur Travel has certified the American Express Global Business Travel Supply MarketPlace (AmexGBT Supply MarketPlace) as an authorised Custom Hotel Sourcing (CHS) provider. This provider can manage all hotel content in the Concur Travel online booking tool for designated Concur Travel configurations. Specifically, the AmexGBT Supply MarketPlace hotel connector has been verified and found to meet Concur Travel’s standards for custom hotel sourcing.

Customers can access curated content from AmexGBT Supply MarketPlace with hotel rate discounts from many sources, including suppliers, third-party aggregators and GDSs. Travellers are able to shop and book hotel inventory and access supplemental services.

By managing all hotel content, AmexGBT Supply MarketPlace is better able to customise the display and sort order of specific properties and rates.

Train

With this release, users are able to select their seat free of charge when choosing either Tarifa Empresas or Prémium corporate fares.

Previously, users were required to contact an agent to reserve a seat or provide a seat preference of either aisle or window. With this release, when the user selects Tarifa Empresas or Prémium fares, the user is able to select a seat within the user interface.

Exclusions: The Renfe site allows users to select a seat (with additional charges) for fares such as, but not limited to, Básico or Elige. The ability to select a seat with an additional charge for these fares is not included in this release.

Release Note Admin Summaries

Previously, the monthly release note admin summaries were provided in two file formats:

1. As PDF files from the classic landing pages
2. As HTML files from the in-product Help systems and the SAP Help Portal

SAP Concur now provides only HTML files from the in-product Help system and the SAP Help Portal.

A single location provides a consistent user experience for accessing this content and frees resources for work on new content.

SAP Concur User Assistance

This release note is a reminder to all administrators about the resources available for end users to find support. SAP provides many support pathways for many products. The options listed in this release note are the only correct ones for SAP Concur end users. Administrators should send the list of self-serve resources below to their end users for visibility.

SAP Concur solutions end users receive support in one of the following ways:

• User Support Desk (USD): If your company has purchased User Support Desk, end users can access support within the SAP Concur application. Click Help > Contact Support to access the User Support Desk Portal and begin support via phone or chat.
• Internal support: If your company has not purchased USD, end users work with internal contacts to support their SAP Concur solution, and supplement with the self-serve resources in the next section.

Miscellaneous

On 20 September, a new permission, SAP Fiori Theme Preview, was added to the list of permissions in Concur Travel Professional edition. When the SAP Fiori Theme Preview permission is assigned to a user, the user sees a new switch in the header of their SAP Concur site. They will also see a New Theme info bubble.

The switch enables the user to switch from the SAP Concur standard theme to the SAP Fiori Theme. The info bubble displays a brief message about the switch.

The new theme includes changes to visual elements such as fonts, colours and icons. In addition, some top-level tabs and menu items are relocated to the SAP Concur Home menu. These changes are site-wide and apply to all of the user’s SAP Concur products.

Clients who opt-in to preview the SAP Fiori Theme and who want to provide feedback can register on the following page to participate in the SAP Continuous Influence program:

SAP Customer Influence

After registering or logging in, clients can request to participate in the following opportunity:

Hands-on system Approach of Consistent User Experience based on SAP IE Scenario Travel-to-Reimburse

The opportunity is targeted to run from November 2021 to May 2022. Registration for this SAP Customer Influence opportunity is limited and might close prior to the targeted end date.

The SAP Fiori theme harmonises the look and feel of the SAP Concur UI with the look and feel of other SAP products, providing a more consistent user experience. The permission enables a client admin to allow designated users to preview and test the SAP Fiori theme.

This release note is intended for technical staff responsible for file transmissions with SAP Concur products. For SAP Concur customers and suppliers participating in data exchange through various secure file transfer protocols, SAP is making changes that provide greater security for those file transfers.

As of 10 April, 2021, non-SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) protocols and SFTP password authentication are not allowed to connect to SAP Concur for file transfers:

• Non-SFTP file transfer accounts must switch to SFTP with SSH Key Authentication.
• SFTP file transfer accounts that use password authentication must switch to SSH key authentication.
• SFTP password reset requests require the client to provide an SSH key for authentication.

On 12 April, 2021, SAP started disabling non-compliant file transfer connections. The process of disabling non-compliant accounts will continue throughout 2021. If you have multiple file transfer connections configured, this change applies to all of your file transfer connections.

This announcement pertains to the following file transfer DNS endpoints:

• st.concursolutions.com
• st-eu.concursolutions.com
• vs.concursolutions.com
• vs.concurcdc.cn

These changes provide greater security for file transfers.

Files transferred to SAP Concur products must be encrypted with the SAP Concur public PGP key, concursolutionsrotate.asc.

• Key file is available in client’s root folder.
• Key ID 40AC5D35.
• RSA 4096-bit signing and encryption subkey.
• Key expires every 2 years.
• Client is responsible for replacing the key before it expires.
• • Next expiry date: 4 September, 2022.
  • SAP Concur plans to replace the current rotating public PGP key in the client’s root folder 90 days before the expiration date.

The SAP Concur legacy PGP key (key ID D4D727C0) remains supported for existing clients but will be deprecated in the future.

SAP Concur strongly recommends that clients use the more secure rotating public PGP key for file transfers. To facilitate the use of the more secure rotating public PGP key for file transfers, SAP Concur added the key to existing client’s home folders on Friday 15 January 2021.

This announcement pertains to the following file transfer DNS endpoints:

• st.concursolutions.com
• mft-us.concursolutions.com
• vs.concursolutions.com
• st-eu.concursolutions.com
• mft-eu.concursolutions.com

The rotating public PGP key provides greater security for file transfers.

In Q4 2021, SAP Concur began redirecting clients to a new homepage. The appearance of the new homepage is identical to the previous SAP Concur homepage. The new homepage has enhanced functionality when services become temporarily unavailable.

The roll out of the new homepage is phased:

Phase 1: At the beginning of Q4, SAP Concur began redirecting Concur Expense, Concur Invoice and Concur Request clients in the US Datacentre to the new homepage.

Phase 2: In December 2021, SAP Concur will begin redirecting Concur Expense, Concur Invoice and Concur Request clients in the EU Datacentre to the new homepage.

Phase 3: In Q2 of 2022, SAP Concur will begin redirecting the remaining clients in the US and EU datacentres to the new homepage. The remaining clients include those with Concur Travel standalone or Concur Travel with Expense, Invoice and/or Request.

This change ensures that the SAP Concur homepage is available even when some services are unavailable and improves the consistency of the sign-in experience.

This release note is intended for the technical staff responsible for file migrations with SAP Concur solutions. For our customers and suppliers participating in data exchange, SAP Concur solutions is maintaining our file transfer subsystem to provide greater security for those file transfers.

SAP Concur is in the process of migrating entities that currently use a legacy process for moving files to a more efficient and secure file routing process that relies on APIs.

Clients whose entities are currently configured to use the legacy process will be migrated to the more efficient process sometime between now and 24 January 2022. After they are migrated to the more efficient process, clients will see the following improvement:

• With the legacy process, clients had to wait for the file move schedule to run at a specified time. With the more efficient and secure API-based process, extracts and other outbound files from SAP Concur solutions will be available within the existing overnight processing period shortly after the files are created.

This announcement pertains to the following file transfer DNS endpoints:

• st.concursolutions.com

These changes provide greater security and efficiency for file transfers.

With this release, the Profile menu within the SAP Fiori theme has been updated. This update includes changes to the layout of the menu items and some changes in functionality.

The Profile menu is now functionally more efficient in its design within the SAP Fiori theme and in the ease-of-use for the administrator. Overall, the SAP Fiori theme harmonises the look and feel of the SAP Concur offerings with those of other SAP products, providing a more consistent user experience.

Ground

Concur Travel currently provides travellers the ability to book ground transportation via SummitQwest. SummitQwest is focused on ground transport solutions for New York City but also provides global ground transport solutions (www.hqtravel.com).

Due to its pre-pandemic reduced usage and associated costs of maintenance, SAP Concur decided to decommission the support of SummitQwest in Concur Travel with the January 2022 release.

SAP Concur recognises that some users may still require ground transportation booking capabilities; it is recommended that users switch to the remaining supplier Groundspan.

Periodically, under-utilised features or pages must be removed to improve usability. This is a rarely used feature and no longer supports Concur Travel users.

Concur Travel currently provides travellers the ability to book ground transportation via Talixo. Talixo is an online platform for booking taxis, minicabs and limousines in Germany (www.talixo.de)

Due to its pre-pandemic reduced usage and associated costs of maintenance, SAP Concur decided to decommission the support of Talixo in Concur Travel with the January 2022 release.

SAP Concur recognises that some users may still require ground transportation booking capabilities; it is recommended that users switch to the remaining supplier Groundspan.

Periodically, under-supported third-party features may be removed to ensure usability standards are maintained.

Hotel

Targeted for February 2022, by mutual agreement, Airbnb and Concur Travel will disable the Airbnb Direct Connect as a source of content in Concur Travel and decommission the unique punch-out booking experience within the Concur Online Booking Tool. Existing connections will be removed; no new connections to Airbnb will be made.

Affected clients may work with Airbnb, their TMC and their administrator to arrange Airbnb bookings via alternate channels, and/or to enable alternative hotel content connectors in Concur Travel.

Existing Airbnb itineraries will remain visible in Concur Travel under My Trips.

Periodically, under-supported third party features may be removed to ensure usability standards are maintained. This feature is not fully supported and will therefore be removed.

Profile

SAP Concur will remove the Connected Apps page, https://www.concursolutions.com/profile/ProfileUserOauth.asp, from the Concur Travel and Expense user interface.

Periodically, under-utilised features or pages must be removed to improve usability. This is a rarely used page; it no longer meets its purpose of driving partner application usage.

The XML Profile Sync, which is used to synchronise Concur Travel user profile data with TMC partners, will no longer be available, targeted for Q1 2022. We advise all partners to engage with SAP Concur representatives to adopt the Travel Profile v2 API for managing Concur Travel user profiles.

The XML Profile Sync was officially decommissioned in 2016 due to instability and other issues. The Travel Profile v2 API was built to replace this legacy synchronisation process. It has now reached such a level of stability and maturity that there is no longer any reason to maintain multiple profile sync options.