Data from travel providers such as SAP Concur can be seamlessly integrated into Travel Registry and AlertTraveler®. This integration offers immediate advantages like global location visibility and reporting, real-time alerts to inform travelers about potential emergencies, a check-in feature for swift location and communication with travelers, and a help-request feature that allows travelers to seek assistance promptly in the event of an incident or injury.
Below is a list of topics included in this article. For a main index of Travel Registry articles, return to the Travel Registry Table of Contents.
User Matching Processes
Travel Registry uses an import matching process, where the data from Concur is compared against the data in the Terra Dotta and Student Information System/HR Data (SIS/HR) systems to match the traveler with a user with two pieces of data. At each of the five steps, the outcome is determined to be one of three options:
- No Match: If there is no match, the process proceeds to the next step of comparison.
- Success: If a single match is made with the data fields at any of these steps, then the user is successfully matched.
- Failure: If there are multiple matches at any point or no matches after all of the steps of the matching process, then the import fails, and the data is moved to the "Failed Trips" section of the Admin Action area.
Steps of the Matching Process
This chart outlines each of the ways in which the system attempts to match the traveler data with a user. The matching process follows these five sequential steps of attempting to match two data points with existing users. For example, in the first step, the system attempts to match the email address and last name using Terra Dotta Keyword Search.
Data Point 1 |
Data Point 2 |
Searching Via |
|
1 |
Concur Login* / Concur User Email |
Last Name |
TD Keyword Search |
2 |
Concur Login* / Concur User Email / Email Text |
Last Name |
SIS/HR Username Search |
3 |
Concur Login* / Concur User Email |
Last Name |
SIS/HR Keyword Search |
4 |
Last Name |
First Name |
SIS/HR Keyword Search |
5 |
Last Name |
First Name |
TD Keyword Search |
* Concur Login matching used in cases where an @ symbol is included.
This diagram visually outlines the five steps of the matching process, starting on the left side and proceeding toward the right. Trips that are not matched after all five stages appear on the Travel Admin > Admin Action > Failed Trips page. For more about managing imported trips and trips that have failed to import, see Travel Registry: Trip Importing through Travel Provider Integrations.
Best Practices
To ensure data comes across correctly, every traveler should have a profile in the travel provider system (such as Concur) and use that profile when booking for the traveler (including when a delegate books on a traveler's behalf). Booking as a guest can lead to unexpected mismatches in the traveler data.
Troubleshooting
If it appears that users should be matching but there are numerous errors, admins should check with their institution's IT to see what information is in included in the SIS/HR data file provided to the system. If you need any more help, please open a ticket.
Manual User Creation
When automatic matching processes have failed, admins can manually create users from the Failed Trips page. This is useful for cases of limited data or a data mismatch, such as if a user enters their travel information into the travel provider system using a different email address from the one being used for the Travel Registry. The benefits of Manual User Creation include:
- The admin has control of data to ensure trips are entered correctly into the system and can be tracked by the institution
- The admin can identify trends and take action to reduce future errors
Manual User Creation Steps
- Find the trip on the Failed Trips page and click on the trip to open it.
- Click the "Create User" button (silhouette of a person next to a plus sign), which opens the "Create New User" window.
- The first name, last name, username, and email address received with the trip are displayed.
- Edit the fields as needed, and then click Create User. Note: Because the system uses matching of last name and email address, this information must be specific to the traveler. Once a user has been created, future trips for the user will fail to import if the email address and last name do not match.
Creating the user automatically adds them to the failed trip, resulting in the trip being successfully imported.
Automatic User Creation
The automatic creation of users, if enabled, allows the system to create new users if they are not in the SIS/HR or data file.
Important Note: As the user creation process is automatic, email addresses that are entered into the travel provider's system will be automatically assigned to the user. Situations like someone purchasing airline tickets for someone else and entering their own email instead of the traveler's could cause that email address to be associated with the wrong user. Travel admins should be confident that users will enter the data accurately in the other travel system before activating this feature. For this reason, the Automatic User Creation option will be disabled by default, but superuser admins can enable this feature through Travel Admin > Settings > Other