District Trips - Requester Manual

U.S. Computing Inc 2026 Assembly Street, Suite 103, Columbia, SC 29201.

District Trips Requester Manual

Author Date of Last Modification Version

Information contained in this document may be proprietary to U.S. Computing Inc and its customers and may not be used or engineered in any form or fashion without the express and written permission of U.S. Computing Inc. District Trips - Requester Manual

Contents 1 INTRODUCTION...... 3

2 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS...... 3

3 SYSTEM WORKFLOW...... 3

4 LOGIN...... 4

5 WELCOME...... 5

5.1 INBOX...... 5 5.2 NEW TRIP REQUEST...... 5 5.3 SEARCH REQUEST...... 5 5.4 CHANGE PASSWORD...... 5 5.5 REPORTS...... 5 5.6 CHECK BUS AVAILABILITY...... 6 5.7 ESTIMATE TRIP COSTS...... 6 5.8 MESSAGES FROM THE ADMINISTRATOR...... 6 6 E-MAIL ALERTS...... 6

7 INBOX...... 7

7.1 PERMIT(S)...... 8 8 REQUEST FORM...... 8

8.1 TRIP INFORMATION...... 9 8.2 BILLING INFORMATION...... 9 8.3 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION...... 10 8.4 SUBMITTING NEW REQUEST...... 10 8.5 SUCCESSFUL SUBMISSION OF NEW REQUEST...... 11 9 SEARCH REQUEST...... 11

10 ESTIMATE TRIP COSTS...... 12

11 CHECK VEHICLE AVAILABILITY...... 13

11.1 VIEW PERMITS BY DAY...... 14 12 GLOSSARY...... 15

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District Trips Requester Manual 1 Introduction The purpose of this document is to describe in detail the various feature / functionalities available for the Requester in the District Trips Application.

2 System Requirements 3 This application requires Internet Explorer 6 or higher 4 It is best viewed 1024 x 768 resolution

5 System Workflow Workflow involved in the field trip system is as follows 5.1.1 Trip Requester places a new trip request 5.1.2 Approvers, if any, approve or reject the request* 5.1.3 Transportation User adds one or more permits (Vehicle and Driver assignments) based on the number of passengers (students and adults) 5.1.4 Transportation User approves request (confirms vehicle, driver assignments) 5.1.5 Trip Requester can view the permits (bus, driver assignments)

Requester receives e-mail alerts whenever approver approves or rejects the trip request

*See Flow chart for more details.

6 Login Application can be accessed using the Internet explorer and typing the application login in the address bar. Please contact administrator for the application login url. It is typically http://fieldtrips

This is the first screen that the user sees opens the application url. Each user must have a valid username and password to authenticate and make use of this application.

School LogoSchool Logo

Fig. 1 – Login

7 Welcome After a successful login, a Welcome screen is displayed displaying available options. The user can click on any of these options which will open the relevant window.

Fig.2 - Welcome 7.1 Inbox Redirects the user to the Inbox screen which lists out all the requests with several attributes like trip start date, trip end date, requesting school, current status etc 7.2 New Trip Request Redirects the user to the Request form for filling in the new request 7.3 Search Request Redirects the user to the Search Request screen to pull up only the needed requests from the inbox based on the Search Parameter 7.4 Change Password Redirects the user to the Change Password screen which allows the user to change the Password 7.5 Reports To be used only by the Administrator.

7.6 Check Bus Availability Redirects the user to the Bus Allocation Calendar screen where the current Vehicle allocations and vehicle non-availability dates can be viewed.

7.7 Estimate Trip Costs Redirects the user to the Cost Estimates screen where an approximate calculation of the expense for the trip can be made.

7.8 Messages from the Administrator These are the instructions from the Administrator, if any.

8 E-mail Alerts When an approver takes some action on new Trip Request, an Email alert is sent to the Requester which can be seen in the Fig. below.

Fig.3 Approval/Rejection Alert

Fig.3 displays sample e-mail alert received by the requester when an action has been taken by the trip approver. Requester can view his Inbox for details.

9 Inbox Inbox consists of a detailed list of all the requests with the following columns:  Request Number – A request number is associated with every request.  Date of Submission – this is the date on which this request was submitted by the Requester  Start Date Time – this is the trip start date and time  End Date Time – this is the trip end date and time  Origin – this is the place from where the trip begins  Destination – this is the place where the event will be held  School Name – this is the School making the request  Requester – this is the person who is making the request  Status – indicates the current status for that request which can be “New” or “Under Processing” or “Permit(s) Granted” etc. Notice that for the last request the status is Permit(s) Granted; when a request has been granted a permit (assignment of a Vehicle and a Driver), you can click on the Permit(s) Granted Status which then takes you to another grid showing all the details about the Permit (Fig.5)  The last column is the View Details Column which allows the user to review all the segments of the request but cannot edit it

The screenshot for Inbox is shown below:

Fig.4 – Inbox 7 Confidential, U.S. Computing Inc. District Trips - Requester Manual

9.1 Permit(s) The screenshot below is of the Permit associated with Request Number 76 shown in the Inbox above (Fig.4). The number of entries in this grid will depend on the number of Permits associated with the request. The grid shown below contains the following information:  Request No. – The request number with which these Permit(s) are associated  Permit No. – Each permit is also assigned a number which may depend on one or more things  School – is the school requesting for the trip  Origin – is the place from where the trip begins  Destination – is the place where the event will be held  Activity – is the section going for the trip  Trip Supervisor – this is the person supervising the trip  Supervisor’s Email – contains the email address of the supervisor  Supervisor’s Phone – contains the phone no. of the supervisor  Vehicle – this is the number of the Vehicle which will be carrying the students  Driver – this is the person who will be driving the Vehicle  Bus Mobile No. – this field contains a phone number in case somebody wants to have contact with the Bus

Fig.5 – Permit(s) associated with a Request

10 Request Form The request form here has been shown in three different sections. Each section is of equal importance and must be filled out by the Requester before submitting the request.

Note – Please refer to the Glossary for detailed explanation about the terms used in the application.

10.1 Trip Information

Fig.6 – Trip Information

This segment consists of all the necessary information about the trip.

10.2 Billing Information

Fig.7 – Estimated Expenses & Billing Information

This segment is for filling in all the billing details for the Trip. 9 Confidential, U.S. Computing Inc. District Trips - Requester Manual

10.3 Additional Information

Fig.8 Additional Information & Attachments

User can fill any additional information regarding the trip like educational information, lesson plans etc., in this segment.

10.4 Submitting New Request After all three sections have been filled in, select submit request from the dropdown list shown in the fig. above (Fig.8) and click the Submit button. The user will then be asked to review the request details again. If the user wants to make any changes use the Back button or click Confirm button to submit the request.

Fig.9 Confirm Request

10.5 Successful Submission of New Request If the request is submitted successfully, then the Requester will see the following success notification along with a unique request number. This unique request number must be noted down and used in all future references and communications with District and Transportation Offices. Ex:

Note: Requester can create another request with same information by clicking on the Create Another Request with Same Information button

Fig.9a Request Submitted Successfully

11 Search Request

Many times the Inbox can be flooded with requests and hence it can be painstaking to look for a particular request. The Search Request screen is then used to pull up only the required requests based on the search parameters provided.

Fig.10 – Search Request

12 Estimate Trip Costs

This screen is used to get an approximation of the expenses involved in the trip including transportation and non-transportation charges.

Fig.11 – Cost Estimates

*Note – This is an optional feature and may not be used by your School District.

13 Check Vehicle Availability This page displays the calendar with current vehicle allocations and also non- availability of the vehicles on certain dates when all vehicles/drivers are busy with other requests etc., This screen could be used by 1. Trip Requesters: to check the vehicle availability dates and make requests accordingly 2. District Officials and Transportation Officials: to review current vehicles allocations and their details

Fig.12 – Vehicle Allocation Calendar

Note: Use > to navigate to next month and < to navigate to previous month

13.1 View Permits by Day

To view the permits that have been granted on a particular day, click the Permit Granted link for a particular date in the Calendar (shown in Fig.12) to view the following screen (Fig.13).

Fig.13 – Permit(s) by Day

The information contained in this grid is the same as shown in Fig.5, except that here the permit(s) have been displayed for a particular day whereas in Fig.5 it was for a particular request.

14 Glossary

Term Description Activity/Group List of activities/groups Bill Item The item currently being billed Bill To The School/Org. that will pay for the trip Bus Lot to School The trip time and mileage information in going from the Bus Lot to the School Bus Type List of available vehicle types Calc Amt The calculated amount Calc Type The type of calculation involved; like flat rate or hourly rate etc. Comments comments by Requester, approver or processor Date Range The Start date and the End date for the Trip Destination Location where the bus will be going Destination to The trip time and mileage information in coming from the School Destination to the School Estimated Driver Estimated driver cost per vehicle. It is equal to driver time Cost/per bus (hours) multiplied by driver hourly rate. Estimated Monitor Estimated monitor cost per vehicle. It is equal to monitor time Cost/per bus (hours) multiplied by monitor hourly rate. Estimated Mileage Estimated mileage cost per vehicle. It is equal to number of Cost/per bus miles multiplied by rate per mile Estimated Total Estimated total trip cost per bus is the sum of driver, monitor and Trip Cost/per bus mileage charges per vehicle involved in the trip. These include transportation costs only. Estimated Total It is the sum of transportation costs for all vehicles Trip Cost Educational Info Information about the trip like what is the objective of this trip, what things are required, what is the planning for the trip etc End Date Date on which the trip ends End Time Time at which the trip ends Entire Trip The entire round trip time and mileage from the Bus Lot Intermediate Stops Places where the Requester wants to stop before reaching the final destination Lesson Plans are the attachments containing information that goes along educational info Location The bus-lot/site to which the Vehicle belongs Total Male Total Number of male students Students Total Female Total Number of female students Students Origin The place where the trip starts Overnight Trip Whether this trip is going to be overnight or not? 15 Confidential, U.S. Computing Inc. District Trips - Requester Manual

Payment Method Mode of payment like Purchase Order, Check, Fund Account etc., Permit(s) Assignment of Vehicle(s) and driver(s) to request. One or more permits are associated with each request based on the number of passengers (students and adults) Permit ID Unique ID associated with a permit (vehicle and driver assignment) Pick Up The Place from where all the students/chaperones etc. will be picked up for the trip Request No. Each submitted Request is associated with a unique request number. One or more permits are associated with each request based on the number of passengers (students and adults) Requester Name of the person making the request School lists all the schools allowed to make trip requests School to Bus Lot The trip time and mileage information in coming from the School to the Bus Lot School to The trip time and mileage information in going from the School Destination to the Destination Special Instructions Any special instructions like number of wheelchairs, football equipment etc., Start Date Date on which the trip starts Start Time The trip start time on the trip start date Status Current status of the request like New, Accepted for Processing, Permit(s) Granted, Billing Complete, Invoice Generated, Payment Received, Cancelled etc., Trip for Whether this trip is for some competitive event or not? Competitive Event Trip on Approved Whether this trip is on the Approved List of trips by School List District or other District Authorities? User Amt The amount paid by user out of pocket and needs to re-imbursed. Ex: Food, Damage, Clean-up Fee, Lodging and other miscellaneous expenses Vehicles Needed Preferred vehicle type requested by the Requester Transportation Includes the expenses for Driver, Monitor, Mileage etc. Expenses Lodging Expenses Includes expenses for having to stay overnight or some similar expenses. Registration Expenses for registering the student group to participate in an Expenses activity Other Expenses Other miscellaneous expenses.

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