Concur Request – Handling variable cancellation costs after request approval

[LauV]

Hello,

We are currently looking for the best way to handle train ticket cancellation costs in Concur Request, for invoicing purposes.

Our current process is the following:

• A travel request is approved.
• The train ticket is booked by our internal travel team.
• The employee may later need to cancel the trip and therefore the travel request.
• Depending on the fare conditions and the date of cancellation, cancellation costs may apply. In some cases, the ticket may no longer be refundable.
• The exact amount is therefore not known in advance and cannot be included as a fixed fee in the original request.

Our issue is that we need a way for the travel agency / call center to record the actual cancellation cost, while still keeping this cost linked to the original travel request.

The solution we are currently considering and investigating is the following:

Cancellation requested → Goes to Travel team who determines and enters the actual cancellation cost then validates → Request is finally cancelled

Has anyone implemented a similar process using Concur Request only (without Concur Travel)?

In particular, we would like to understand:

1. Is it possible to have a workflow or approval step triggered when cancelling an already approved request?
2. Can the request still be updated during this process, for example to add the actual cancellation cost?
3. Is there another Concur Request functionality or recommended approach for handling variable costs that only become known when an approved request is cancelled?

Any feedback or examples of similar implementations would be very helpful.

Thank you!

Thank you in advance for any guidance or examples.

[samasuraj]

Hi  @LauV 

Topic: Concur Request – Handling variable cancellation costs after request approval

Please check the below. Hope this helps.

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SAP Concur Request – Variable Cancellation Costs

1. Cancellation Approval Workflow: There is no confirmed standard Concur Request functionality that automatically triggers a new approval workflow when an already approved request is cancelled.
2. Updating an Approved Request: Modification depends on the request status, configuration, and available recall/change functionality. A cancelled request is not editable.

Check:

• Keep the original approved request for audit traceability.
• Have the Travel Team determine the actual cancellation charge.
• Record the charge through a supported request modification process or a separate cancellation-cost request, if configured.
• Reference the original Request ID for reconciliation and invoicing.
• Cancel or close the original request according to company policy.

Thanks & Regards

--

Samantha Prathikantam

SF_EC & ECP / SAP Concur Consultant

[KevinD]

@LauV one thing in your post puzzled me, so I hope you can clarify. Why is the variable cost only known when an approved request is canceled? The cancelation cost is independent of the Request and its status, is it not? Canceling a Travel Request doesn't cancel the booking as the booking lives outside of SAP Concur. 

Can you help me understand this better, please?

[LauV]

Hello Kevin,

With some train companies, such as SNCF in France for example, the cancellation fees depend on when the ticket is cancelled: could be 15€ if you cancel less than 7 days before, than a percentage of the ticket cost if you cancel less then a couple days before, then the full ticket amount if you cancel on the day of the trip... and each train company has its specific cancellation policy, so that'd be a lot of rules to implement...

[KevinD]

@LauV okay, but canceling your train ticket doesn't cancel the Travel Request and canceling the Travel Request doesn't cancel a confirmed train ticket. Am I missing something? Couldn't a traveler cancel their train ticket today and then cancel the travel request a few days later? They are independent actions.