Pioneer Travel & Expense

Pioneer Travel & Expense is the system used for all faculty, staff, and students who make business-related purchases. Whether you are using a DU Purchasing Card or paying out-of-pocket and seeking reimbursement, all expenses will need to be reconciled in this system.

All travel should be booked using the "Travel" tab or by booking through Christopherson Business Travel directly. The only exception is conference hotels which should be booked using a P-Card to take advantage of the Conference rate.

Check out the Pioneer Travel & Expense QuickTips webpage for an Overview of the Pioneer Travel & Expense system, to learn the five steps to Expense Reporting and access short tutorials focused on a variety of travel & expense administrative tasks, such as creating an expense report, clearing alerts and submitting reports for approval.

Purchasing Card

The DU Purchasing Card is the preferred method of payment for all business-related purchases. Learn how to order your Purchasing Card and familiarize yourself with the Purchasing Card spending limits.

Approved Purchasing Card transactions are carried into the Pioneer Travel & Expense system. Please allow five to seven business days for Purchasing Card transactions to appear in your Pioneer Travel & Expense account.

Employee Reimbursements

Employees who pay for business-related purchases out-of-pocket must seek reimbursement in Pioneer Travel & Expense. All out-of-pocket expenses require a receipt for reimbursement.

Employees are responsible for reviewing and submitting their expense reports in Pioneer Travel & Expense every 30 days. The best practice is to create and submit non-travel expense reports once per month and create and submit travel-related expense reports once per trip after the trip is completed.

Approvals and Reporting

Business Officers and Supervisors are required to approve expense reports, Purchasing Card requests, and international travel requests as they are received. Approvers have 10 days to review reports and requests. After 10 days without an approval, these items will be automatically approved and move to the next step in the approval process.

Business Officers can run reports in Pioneer Travel & Expense for all employees with a default org within their division. Supervisors can run reports in Pioneer Travel & Expense for their direct employees only.

Check out these tips on how to review and approve expense reports:

Expense Reporting for Supervisors in Pioneer Travel & Expense

Adding an Additional Approver in Pioneer Travel & Expense