Model Changes

The Current Date All Quarters field was removed from the Cognos model.

DESCRIPTION: The Current Date All Quarters field was used to display all quarters when creating reports, regardless of the amounts for each quarter. This field was removed from the model because it is no longer needed. This data item was created for use by Concur in Standard Reports and, although visible by clients, was not intended for use on client created reports.

The removed fields were located in the following folders:

• Expense > Expense Claims > Report Dates and Statuses > Keys > For Internal Use
• Invoice > Payment Request Dates and Statuses > Keys > For Internal Use

With this release, the Meals Rate field (Expense > Travel Allowances > Fixed Travel Allowance > Amounts) was updated to accurately reflect the meal rate that is shown in Expense.

With this release, there are new budget manager and company bill statement approver-related fields for Expense.

DESCRIPTION: These fields allow users to report on the name, employee ID and email address of budget managers and the default company bill statement approvers.

A budget manager is the manager whose budget is consumed when a user submits requests, expense claims and invoices. A company bill statement approver is a person designated to approve company bill statements.

The new budget manager and company bill statement approver-related fields are located in the following folders:

• Expense > Lists > Employee Information > Additional Details
• Expense > Lists > Employee Information > Default Approvers
• Expense > Lists > Employee Information > Keys

With this release, there are new fields that were previously available in the Cognos model for Expense.

DESCRIPTION: These fields were added to be used for reporting purposes.

The expense tax and employee-preferences-related fields are located in the following folders:

• Expense > Expense Claims > Expense Taxes > Expense Tax > Additional Fields
• Expense > Lists > Employee Information > Preferences

With this release, fields added to the model for the September 2017 release were removed from the model for Configuration and Expense, because it was determined that the fields were redundant.

DESCRIPTION: The Is System Record Flag, Policy Name and Is Active Flag Key fields are no longer needed in the current Cognos model.

The removed fields were located in the following folders:

• Expense > Lists > Employee Information > Keys
• Configuration > Expense Type & Categories, Payment Types > Expense Types
• Configuration > Policies > Invoice Policies

With this release, there are new fiscal-calendar-related fields for Expense, Invoice and Travel.

DESCRIPTION: These fields allow users to report on the fiscal calendars defined in the enhanced Fiscal Calendar feature.

For more information about the Fiscal Year Name fields, refer to the September 2017 Analysis / Intelligence release notes.

For more information about the Fiscal Year Sequence fields, refer to More Information Regarding the Enhanced Fiscal Calendar in the October 2017 Analysis / Intelligence release notes.

The fiscal-calendar-related fields are located in the following folders:

• Expense > Expense Claims > Claim Dates and Statuses > First Submitted Date Attributes
• Expense > Expense Claims > Claim Dates and Statuses > First Approved Date Attributes
• Expense > Expense Claims > Claim Dates and Statuses > Sent for Payment Date Attributes
• Expense > Expense Claims > Claim Dates and Statuses > Paid Date Attributes
• Expense > Expense Claims > Claim Dates and Statuses > Current Date Attributes
• Expense > Expense Claims > Entry Information > Transaction Date Attributes
• Expense > Expense Claim Audit > Audit Service Details > Audit Date Attributes
• Expense > Lists > Employee Budget
• Expense > Lists > Employee Budget > Current Date Attributes
• Expense > Lists > Dates
• Invoice > Payment Request Dates and Statuses > Current Date Attributes
• Invoice > Payment Request Dates and Statuses > Invoice Date Attributes
• Invoice > Payment Request Dates and Statuses > First Submit Date Attributes
• Invoice > Payment Request Dates and Statuses > Process Payment Date Attributes
• Invoice > Lists > Dates
• Travel > Reservation and Ticket Dates > Start Date Attributes
• Travel > Reservation and Ticket Dates > Purchased Date Attributes
• Travel > Lists > Dates
• Meetings > Meetings > Meeting Start Date Attributes

The fiscal-calendar-related filters are located in the following folders:

• Expense > Expense Claims > Common Claim Header Filters > Filters Based on Sent for Payment Date
• Expense > Expense Claim > Common Claim Header Filters > Filters Based on Paid Date

Localisation Changes

With the June release, Concur added support for Dutch, Italian, Korean and Swedish in the Analysis/Intelligence reports, model and archive.

As part of the June release, most, but not all, of the reports in the Analysis – Standard Reports folder for Analysis customers, and the Intelligence – Standard Reports folder for Intelligence customers, were made available in Dutch, Italian, Korean and Swedish for users that have their content language set to Dutch, Italian, Korean and/or Swedish.

With the October release, the following reports in the Intelligence – Standard Reports folder are now available in Dutch, Italian, Korean and Swedish:

• Persona Dashboards ‎> Invoice Management Overview ‎> Detail Reports> Aging Payables Details
• Persona Dashboards ‎> Invoice Management Overview ‎> Detail Reports> Invoice Spend by Payment Method and Supplier - Details
• Persona Dashboards ‎> Invoice Management Overview ‎> Detail Reports> PO and Non-PO Spend - Details

REPORTS NOT YET LOCALISED

Some of the reports in the Analysis – Standard Reports folder for Analysis customers and the Intelligence – Standard Reports folder for Intelligence customers are not yet available in Dutch, Italian, Korean and Swedish. Concur is aiming to complete the localisation of these reports in a future release.

Until these reports are localised, these reports will continue to display in US English.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about language settings in Cognos, refer to the Localisation for Analysis/Intelligence fact sheet.

Report Changes

The following TripLink reports were updated to include data from additional TripLink Itinerary Sources:

• TripLink Air Supplier Summary
• TripLink Car Rental Supplier Summary
• TripLink Hotel Property Supplier Summary
• TripLink Spend Summary by Traveller

LOCATION OF THE REPORTS

With the release of the enhanced fiscal calendar, Concur enhanced the Department Manager Overview dashboard to align with a company’s fiscal year.

We also took this opportunity to optimise the performance of the dashboards when reporting across large data sets, and to improve the appearance of the dashboard when the dashboard is emailed.

To best accomplish this, Concur divided the Department Manager Overview dashboard into two dashboards: Department Manager Spend Overview and Department Manager Expense Claim Overview. Both dashboards support fiscal years.

FISCAL CHANGES

The Department Manager Spend Overview and Department Manager Expense Claim Overview dashboards and their detail reports now support the enhanced fiscal calendar.

DETAIL REPORTS UPDATED

The following detail reports for the Department Manager Spend Overview and Department Manager Expense Claim Overview dashboards now support the enhanced fiscal calendar:

• Average Life Cycle Details
• Credit Card Adoption Details
• Current Quarter Spend Details
• Employee Spend Details
• Policy Exceptions by Employee Details
• Spend Overview Details

The detail reports are located here:

• Intelligence - Standard Reports ‎> Persona Dashboards ‎> Department Manager Overview‬ > Detail Reports‬

DEPARTMENT MANAGER SPEND OVERVIEW

The Department Manager Spend Overview dashboard contains the dashboard information from the Department Manager Overview dashboard's Spend tab. The Spend Overview section displays the last six quarters if the six quarters fall within the current or previous fiscal year configured for your company.

DEPARTMENT MANAGER EXPENSE CLAIM OVERVIEW

The Department Manager Expense Claim Overview dashboard contains the dashboard information from the Department Manager Overview dashboard's Expense Claims tab.

QUICK ACCESS MENU

Both dashboards are available for selection on the Quick Access Menu.

LOCATION OF THE DASHBOARD

You can access the Department Manager Spend Overview and Department Manager Expense Claim Overview dashboards from the Quick Access Menu page on the Persona Dashboard. Clicking Department Manager opens the Department Manager Spend Overview dashboard. Clicking Department Manager Expense opens the Department Manager Expense Claim Overview dashboard.

The Persona Dashboard is located here:

The Department Manager Spend Overview and Department Manager Expense Claim Overview dashboards are located here:

For more information about the Department Manager Spend Overview and Department Manager Expense Claim Overview dashboards, refer to Chapter 16: Folder – Persona Dashboards in the Standard Reports by Folder guide (English only).

Company averages were removed from the Average Spend section on the Department Manager Expense Claim Overview dashboard.

Over the past few months we have been announcing that fiscal calendar support is coming soon. This feature is a highly requested feature that we are very excited to be able to offer. In order for us to be able to release this feature this year, we made a decision to remove the comparison of the department's Average Spend to the rest of the company that is located below the Average Spend metric. The decision to do this was strictly based on weighing the value that fiscal year support would provide versus the value a department manager would find in being able to compare his/her Average Spend to the rest of the company.

WHAT THE USER SEES

The comparison between the company averages and the department averages for each spend category is no longer calculated or displayed in the Average Spend section.

BEFORE

The company average comparison results were displayed below each spend category.

AFTER

Only the department averages are displayed for each spend category.

LOCATION OF THE DASHBOARD

The Persona Dashboard is located here:

The Department Manager Expense Claim Overview dashboard is located here:

For more information about the Department Manager Expense Claim Overview dashboard, refer to Chapter 16: Folder – Persona Dashboards in the Standard Reports by Folder guide (English only).

The Expense Management Overview dashboard and its detailed reports now support the enhanced fiscal calendar.

DETAILED REPORTS

The following detailed reports for the Expense Management Overview dashboard now support the enhanced fiscal calendar:

• Cash Expense Transaction Details
• Payment Type Details
• Personal Transaction Details
• Policy Exception Details
• Top 10 Spending Employee Details

LOCATION OF THE DASHBOARD

You can access the Expense Management Overview dashboard from the Quick Access Menu page on the Persona Dashboard by clicking Expense Management Overview.

The Persona Dashboard is located here:

The Expense Management Overview dashboard is located here:

The detailed reports for the Expense Management Overview dashboard are located here:

For more information about the Expense Management Overview dashboard, refer to Chapter 16: Folder – Persona Dashboards in the Standard Reports by Folder guide (English only).

The Invoice Management Overview dashboard and its detail reports now support the enhanced fiscal calendar.

DETAILED REPORTS

The following detailed reports for the Invoice Management Overview dashboard now support the enhanced fiscal calendar:

• Invoice Spend by Payment Method and Supplier - Details
• PO and Non-PO Spend - Details
• Top Invoice Supplier Spend - Details

LOCATION OF THE DASHBOARD

You can access the Invoice Management Overview dashboard from the Quick Access Menu page on the Persona Dashboard by clicking Invoice Management Overview.

The Persona Dashboard is located here:

The Invoice Management Overview dashboard is located here:

The detailed reports for the Invoice Management Overview dashboard, except for the Top Invoice Supplier Spend – Details report, are located here:

The Top Invoice Supplier Spend – Details report is located here:

For more information about the Invoice Management Overview dashboard, refer to Chapter 16: Folder – Persona Dashboards in the Standard Reports by Folder guide (English only).

Other Changes

Now that the Expense Management Overview dashboard and its detail reports support the enhanced fiscal calendar, we have included a reminder about viewing fiscal year information on reports and dashboards.

There were four Year fields that were changed to key fields in the August release for which a corresponding Year Name field had not yet been created. With the October release, the Year Name fields were created.

Also in this release, there are new Fiscal Year Sequence fields added to the model to support the enhanced fiscal calendar.

VIEWING REPORTS AND DASHBOARDS THAT SUPPORT FISCAL CALENDAR

To view fiscal year information on reports and dashboards that support the enhanced fiscal calendar, the Default to fiscal year in reports that support fiscal year check box must be selected (enabled) on the Preferences tab in Reporting Configuration (Professional only).

When the check box is selected, the reports and dashboards that have been enhanced for the fiscal calendar will align with the fiscal year. This check box is a global setting for the entire company.

When the check box is selected (enabled), the message Fiscal Calendar Enabled: Date periods correspond to the fiscal calendar configured by the administrator is now displayed at the top of dashboards that support the fiscal calendar.

FISCAL YEAR FIELD MODEL CHANGES FOR ENHANCED FISCAL CALENDAR

With the release of the enhanced fiscal calendar in the August release, the following Year fields were changed to key fields and now have a new Year Name version of the field located in the same folder as the Year field in the model:

• Fiscal Year (Expense > Lists > Dates)
• Fiscal Year (Invoice > Lists > Dates)
• Fiscal Year (Travel > Lists > Dates)
• Fiscal Year (Meetings > Meetings > Meeting Start Date Attributes)

For more information about the enhanced fiscal calendar, refer to the Enhanced Fiscal Calendar release note in the August 2017 Analysis / Intelligence release notes, and the Shared: Reporting Configuration Setup Guide (Professional) (English Only) or the Shared: Reporting Configuration Setup Guide for Concur Standard Edition (Standard) (English Only).

NEW FISCAL YEAR SEQUENCE FIELDS ADDED FOR ENHANCED FISCAL CALENDAR

The new Fiscal Year Sequence fields are populated with a sequential number based on Fiscal Year. The Fiscal Year Sequence fields can be used to calculate the previous fiscal year and for sorting reports based on the fiscal year.

Example of a calculation to get Last Year based on Paid Fiscal Year:

Fiscal Year Sequence = Current Fiscal Year Sequence - 1

Planned 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.

A number of changes are planned for the Actionable Analytics alerts. Concur will be enhancing the Actionable Analytics platform to provide additional alerting capabilities in the future. These changes include improving the readability of the emails and formatting them to better align with other the email messages sent out by Concur. A key focus will be making the emails more mobile-friendly and adding support for plain text messages.

MANAGER DASHBOARD

In December, Concur will stop automatically sending the Manager Dashboard report when the Manager Dashboard alert is enabled for a BI Manager, and the Manager Dashboard check box will be removed from the Actionable Analytics Set Up tab in Reporting Configuration and from the Notification Settings page (Profile > Profile Settings > Notification Settings) for BI Managers.

The Manager Dashboard report will continue to be available in Intelligence. The report is located here:

Intelligence - Standard Reports ‎> Premium Dashboards > Actionable Analytics > Manager Dashboard.

To continue receiving the Manager Dashboard report after December, BI Managers will need to schedule the report.

PERCENT OF BUDGET

The Percent of Budget alert email will be enhanced to be mobile-friendly and to align with the format used for other Concur email messages.

CREDIT CARD TRANSACTIONS

The Credit Card Transactions alert email will be enhanced to be mobile-friendly and to align with the format used for other Concur email messages.

The Credit Card Transactions alert will also be split into two separate alerts. One for credit card transactions meeting or exceeding the transaction threshold, and one for credit card transactions associated with specific merchant category codes that are flagged for review.

Having two separate Credit Card Transactions alerts will provide BI Managers with more clarity about why they are receiving the alert, and provide additional flexibility regarding which alerts they want to receive.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE UPDATES

With both the Percent of Budget and Credit Card Transactions alerts there will be no disruption when the alerts are moved to the new platform. Any BI Manager currently receiving these alerts will continue to receive the alerts; the alerts will simply be delivered using the new email format.

There will be a disruption with the Manager Dashboard. Any BI Manager currently receiving the Manager Dashboard alert will stop receiving the Manager Dashboard report in December unless the BI Manager schedules the Manager Dashboard report for themselves before the Actionable Analytics changes are released in December.

For more information about Actionable Analytics, refer to the Analysis/Intelligence: Actionable Analytics User Guide. (English Only)

For quite some time, In-Product Messaging (IPM) within Concur products has been available for US customers.

The messaging that is presented to each US user is based on data provided by a well-known US-based "recommendation" engine. That engine, however, is not the best fit for the stricter laws in the European Union (EU). So, in an effort to comply with the EU laws, Concur developed its own recommendation engine for its In-Product Messaging System.

Early Access customers in the EU will be contacted by a Concur representative before enabling this feature. After 60 days, this feature could be enabled for all other customers in the EU. Also, since the new system will provide a better all-around IPM experience for Concur customers, US customers will soon use the new system, too.

Just like today for US users – the content, timing, location and frequency of a message are all defined by each message campaign and by the characteristics of each company and each user.

Client Notifications

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

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