Completing the Travel Authorization Form…

Form must be typed.

Date Submitted – Actual date you are typing document

No. – To be assigned by Travel Account Specialist. This number will be available on-line once encumbered.

Travel for – Indicate by marking appropriate box, type of traveler.

Name of Traveler – Type legal name of individual traveler.

University ID# – Type traveler’s ISU I.D. number.

Department – Indicate the traveler’s department.

Prepared by – Indicate the person typing the form or the travel arranger.

Ext. – Indicate the phone number of the person typing the form or travel arranger we can contact if there is a problem with the information on the form.

Destination – Indicate where the traveler is going or coming from. (City and State)

Departure Date– Indicate when the traveler will be departing. (Day/Month/Year)

Return Date – Indicate when the traveler will be returning. (Day/Month/Year)

Beginning Date of Official Univ Business – Indicate the date of the first workshop, meeting, presentation, etc. (Day/Month/Year)

Ending Date of Official Univ Business – Indicate the date of the last workshop, meeting, presentation, etc. (Day/Month/Year)

Dates of Personal Time Used – List all dates that the traveler will use as personal/vacation days on his trip, if any, that do not pertain to official University business.

Purpose of University Travel – Be specific. Explain the purpose of the trip. (e.g. why is traveler going?) This will be abbreviated to 35 characters for data entry purposes. For auditing purposes an acronym must be spelled out. For example, NACUBO should be written out National Association of College and University Business Officers and referenced as NACUBO for data entry purposes. If department wants the traveler’s name referenced on-line with the description of travel then the traveler’s last name should be referenced here followed by the description of travel. For example: Smith/Speaker at Nat’l Recycling Conference.

Indicate Type of Travel – Mark appropriate box based on following definitions:

Operational/Blanket – Operational travel is defined as travel that your job requires in order to operate the University on a daily basis. A few examples of this type of travel include the delivery of educational programs to off-campus locations, meetings, presenting a paper, and going to the airport to pick up a candidate or speaker.

A blanket travel authorization may be obtained for operational travel that is repetitive and a routine part of an individual’s job. The blanket authorization would be restricted to that specific purpose and would only have to be filed once for a set period of time or a set amount of money to be encumbered.

Although one travel authorization would be required, several travel reimbursement requests could be processed against this one authorization not to exceed the original encumbrance amount. For example, an admissions recruiter may receive a blanket authorization for an entire fiscal year for high school visitations, and process reimbursement requests periodically as needed. Another example would be for a faculty member who is teaching a course in another community.

Student Recruiting – Student recruiting travel is targeted travel that is designed to promote student recruitment.

Professional Development – Professional development travel is designed to expose faculty and staff to developments in their fields and other areas of knowledge that may be utilized to improve our operations. This type of travel focuses primarily on attending conferences and other training opportunities.

Field Trip – Field trip travel is any travel that includes undergraduate students traveling with faculty or alone, including field work.

Misc Travel – Miscellaneous travel should be used if travel does not fit one of the above definitions. Examples of miscellaneous travel include team travel, athletic recruitment, candidate and honorarium travel.

Traveler’s INDEX – List traveler’s Index to be charged.

Activity Code – Indicate an activity code that trip is associated with, if applicable. If department wants travel to be linked with an activity code, the activity code must be referenced on each travel document associated with the trip. (i.e., check vouchers, vehicle permits, travel reimbursement requests)

Expense Items – Mark all expenditures that will be expensed whether reimbursable to traveler or not, prepaid (registrations), or direct billed (airfare).

Transportation – Mark all modes of transportation that traveler will be using.

Personal Car – Mark if traveler will be reimbursed for mileage for use of personal car. Enter estimated dollar amount of mileage reimbursement in the far right column.

ISU Vehicle – Mark if traveler will be using a motor pool vehicle as mode of transportation. Enter estimated dollar amount of rental of ISU vehicle at $6 a day and 40.5 cents per mile in the Estimated Cost or Max Allowable column on far right.

Car Rental – Mark if traveler will be renting a car from an outside vendor. Also indicate if vendor will be billing ISU directly instead of the traveler getting reimbursed. Enter estimated dollar amount of rental of vehicle in the Estimated Cost or Max Allowable column.

Airfare – Mark if traveler will be flying to their destination. Enter estimated dollar amount of airfare in the Estimated Cost or Max Allowable column.

Traveler’s Checks – Mark here if traveler wishes to acquire $40 per day in traveler’s checks from IT Travel toward their allowable per diem. Please indicate the number of full days of travel at $40 per day. Amount will automatically calculate based on these two fields and populate dollar amount in Estimated Cost Column.

Lodging – Mark here if traveler will be requesting reimbursement for overnight lodging during travel. If traveler shares a room or takes a guest that is not an ISU employee or student then they must only claim the Single Occupancy Room Rate. ISU will only reimburse the single room rate. Indicate the number of nights and rate per night. Amount will automatically calculate based on these two fields and populate dollar amount in Estimated Cost Column.

Registration Fee – Mark here if travel will require a registration fee to be paid. Enter estimated dollar amount of registration in the Estimated Cost column.

Subsistence – Mark here if traveler will be claiming subsistence for their travel. Do not include days in which traveler is requesting traveler’s checks to cover expenses. Indicate # of days subsistence will be claimed and subsistence rate based on CONUS. Amount will automatically calculate based on fields and populate dollar amount in Estimated Cost Column.

Miscellaneous – Mark here if any additional reimbursement will be claimed for this trip. Types of miscellaneous expenditures include ground transportation, taxis, parking, phone calls, etc. Reasonably estimate these expenses to the best of your ability. Enter the estimated dollar amount of these expenses in the Estimated Cost column.

Account Code: The Travel Account Specialist will assign account codes based on Travel Account Code Categories and descriptions.

 Signature of Traveler – Traveler signs authorization certifying that travel is necessary and directly related to University business, and that if requesting reimbursement that they agree to submit a travel reimbursement form with original receipts within 30 days of their return.

Authorization –

University Funds Requested – Mark here if requesting University funds for reimbursement for any part of travel expenditures.

Maximum of $_____ – Mark here if traveler’s department head has agreed to pay up to a maximum dollar amount towards travel expenses. Indicate dollar amount that department has agreed to reimburse traveler.  The amount should be the same as the total dollar amount on the Estimated Total Cost of Trip or Maximum Allowable line column.

No University Funds Requested – Mark here if traveler will not be requesting any University funding for this trip or if travel is being funded through the ISU Foundation office. Travel must be pre-approved and authorized by appropriate officials whether funds will be reimbursed out of ISU funds or not.

Dept Chair or Administrative Head – Signature of traveler’s Department Chair or Administrative Head or designee is required indicating approval of travel and that adequate funding is available within their travel budget area.

Dean – Dean’s signature or designee, if applicable, is required indicating approval of travel and travel estimates.

Vice President/President – Vice President’s or designee signature on all Dean/ department head travel and also travel that equals $2,000 or more. No one can sign to authorize own travel except for President of the University. Vice President travel requires President’s signature. 

International Travel – Signature of International Affairs Center approving an international travel grant if applicable.

SPECIAL SITUATIONS

Additional estimate of expense needs to be added to Travel Authorization prior to trip – If traveler knows ahead of time of an expense s/he will have prior to trip but after a Travel Authorization has been submitted, approved, and encumbered, they will need to prepare an Addendum (if the dollar amount is over $100.00) asking that the additional estimate be added to the encumbrance of the original TA. The original TA number must be referenced and all authorizing officials’ signatures must be obtained before forwarding memo to the Travel Account Specialists in the Office of the Controller for additional encumbrance. If the dollar amount is under $100.00 you can email the Travel Account Specialist at bussale@isugw.indstate.edu with the information.

Maximum Allowable for reimbursement – If the individual traveler has been issued a maximum dollar amount from their department head for a trip, then the Travel Authorization Form should not exceed that dollar amount. For example if the traveler is granted a $500 maximum toward a trip then the maximum dollar amount should be noted on the form and the Estimated Cost or Maximum Allowable Column should equal $500. The maximum allowable dollar amounts should be allocated in the following order: Registration Fees, Airfare or other mode of transportation, lodging, and then subsistence. If traveler requests reimbursement that exceeds the maximum dollar amount on the original TA, then a memo must accompany the travel reimbursement form, signed by their vice president, authorizing payment to exceed the original maximum allowable.

Travel Expenditures that are not approved on the Travel Authorization prior to trip may not be reimbursed and are the responsibility of the traveler. If requesting reimbursement for an item that was not pre-authorized the traveler must ask for reimbursement via a memo that references the original TA number and all authorizing signatures, and original receipts are required before reimbursement can be processed. This memo should be attached to the travel reimbursement form.

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