The following enhancements are included in the following release (version 10.0):

Learning Expense Types for Corporate Card Transactions

Purpose: Provide a method for learning and then pre-populating the expense type for corporate card transactions in the Digital Wallet.

Benefit: Simplifies creating expense reports with corporate card transactions by remembering the expense type assigned previously.

Note: Not available for self-service sites. This feature supports corporate cards issued by Visa, MasterCard, or American Express.

When a Visa, MasterCard, or American Express corporate card transaction in the Digital Wallet is chosen for an expense report line item, the system checks to see which expense type was previously assigned by submitters for a similar transaction — one that used the same Merchant Category Code (MCC) provided in the corporate card feed. If the system finds a previous transaction using the same MCC, it pre-populates the Type field with the previous transaction's expense type, so that the submitter doesn't have to choose it from the dropdown menu.

The submitter can override this default expense type by choosing a different one from the dropdown menu.

Selecting Cost Allocations Faster and Easier

Purpose: Provide search fields with type-ahead suggestions, including the most recently used options, for selecting cost allocations in an expense report.

Benefit: Makes it faster and easier for submitters to select a cost allocation when creating and editing expense reports, which improves the submitter's experience and the accuracy of the report.

Previously submitters had to choose from nested cost segments in one dropdown menu, and then scroll through another dropdown menu to select a cost allocation code description. The cost segments now appear as subheadings, and the submitters can now start typing the cost allocation code for a cost segment and choose one of the type-ahead suggestions that appear, including the most recently used cost allocation codes. This greatly reduces the complexity and makes it easy for submitters to choose the appropriate cost allocation code within nested cost segments.

When creating or editing an expense report, submitters can now select cost allocations by starting to type the cost allocation. Suggestions appear for easy selection:

This feature improves the ability to select a cost allocation within nested cost segments, which was more cumbersome using dropdown menus.

Assigning Approvers to Cost Allocations

Purpose: Include an approver field in cost allocation setup so that Expense administrators can assign approvers to cost allocations, and route expense reports to cost allocation approvers as well as to submitters' approvers.

Benefit: Companies can control spending by project or other specific cost allocation by assigning approvers who must approve expense reports that reference the project or other specific cost allocation.

Overview

In addition to assigning approvers to submitters, the Expense administrator can assign approvers to cost allocations, such as projects. Each submitted expense report that references the cost allocation must then be approved by the cost allocation approver as well as by the submitter's approver. If, in an expense report, the submitter selects more than one cost allocation that has an approver, the expense report is routed in parallel to the approvers for those cost allocations. The expense report must be approved by all approvers in order to be paid.

The cost allocation approver can only approve or deny the report and can't make adjustments. Denying the report triggers a review by all approvers upon resubmission.

Note: If the cost allocation approver is the same as the user's approver, the approver needs only to approve or deny once, and two records are added to history: one for the submitter's approver and one for the cost allocation approver.

Exported reports show the "cost segment approver" and Expense administrators can upload cost allocations with each cost allocation approver included.

Setting Up the Cost Allocation Approver

To set up cost allocation approvers, follow these steps:

Click the Admin Access tab (visible only to Expense administrators) at the top of the Home page, and choose Expense from the Services drop-down menu. The Services | Expenses page appears.
Tip: Site administrators can also reach the Services | Expenses page from the Partner Dashboard, as described in Deem Expense.
Click the Cost Allocation link in the left column of the Services | Expense page, and set up your cost segments as described in "Setting Up Cost Allocation" in the Help content.
Select the Cost Segment (such as Project, a child subsegment of Travel) to see the segment's cost allocation codes:
Click the Edit link for a cost allocation code ("Chrome" in the Project List above), or click the Add button (Add New Project above) to add a new cost allocation code for this segment. The cost allocation code's details appear for editing:
Choose the approver for this cost allocation code from the Approver dropdown menu. This assignment establishes the cost allocation approver.
Click Save to save your changes.

When a submitter assigns the cost allocation code ("Chrome" project in the above figure) for an expense report line item and then submits the expense report, a notification is sent to the cost allocation approver, who must approve the expense report line item before the expense report can be routed to the submitter's approver.

Linking Cost Segments to Profile Fields

Purpose: Link profile fields to related cost segments in order to automatically set defaults for a user's cost segments based on the user's profile information.

Benefit: Reduces manual data entry for an expense report, improving the submitter's experience and the accuracy of the report.

Cost segments that are linked to profile fields will automatically be set for users based on their profile information. Users need to change this field only if they are submitting an expense report using different cost segments than listed in their profiles.

Configuring More Cost Segments

Purpose: Enable Expense administrators to configure as many cost segments as needed.

Benefit: Companies can track expenses in finer detail with more cost segments that closely match their accounting systems.

There is no longer a limit to the number of cost segments an Expense administrator can create, and all cost allocation codes can be uploaded. Administrators can override an uploaded cost allocation code by changing it on the Cost Allocation page. (To learn how to create and edit cost segments with allocation codes and to upload cost allocation codes, see "Setting Up Cost Allocation" in the Help content.)

Generating Reports for Monitoring and Evaluating Spending (Phase 1)

Purpose: Provide a set of reports for Expense including an executive summary and departmental spending.

Benefit: Financial stakeholders can use the reports to monitor, manage, and evaluate spending.

Note: Not available for self-service sites.

Site administrators can access the Partner Dashboard Reports tab to view and export Expense-related reports to monitor, manage, and evaluate spending. After clicking the Reports tab, the Scheduler and Expenses tabs appear. The Scheduler is automatically selected:

Click the Expenses tab to access the spending reports. Choose the report from the Report dropdown menu:

Executive Summary

Choose this report for an overview of spending that shows reimbursable, non-reimbursable, and billable amounts, the total spend by month, the total spend distribution, and top expense types to show spending trends.

To set the dates for the report, click the calendar icons for the Start Date and End Date. Click Refresh to refresh the report dates and view the report.
You can hover your pointer over a portion of the distribution pie charts to see more detailed information:

Department Spend Detail

Choose this report for a summary of expense reports per department:

To set the dates for the report, click the calendar icons for the Start Date and End Date. Click Refresh to refresh the report dates and view the report.
To see an employee's reports, click the amount link in the Total Expense column. You can then click the amount in the Total Expense column for each report to see line item details.
You can export the report to an Excel worksheet, a comma-separated values (CSV) file, or a PDF file, by clicking the Excel Export, CSV Export, or PDF Export button at the bottom of the report.

Adding a Custom Payer Batch Export

Purpose: Enable an organization to integrate a custom export file into the Expense Payer Batch file export flow. The file can be designed to fit the requirements of third-party financial ERP or payroll systems, eliminating the need to modify the exported report before importing into those systems.

Benefit: Saves time and eliminates manual errors when importing exported information into third-party systems.

Note: Additional one-time cost applies. Not available for self-service sites.

Organizations can add a custom report to Expense and define its format.

After a payer finalizes a batch, the payer can initiate the export function from the Finalized Batches view. After clicking Export, the batch IDs are pre-populated in the Enter IDs field. The payer can choose the Custom Batch Export option to show all line items in the custom format.

Navigating Corporate Cards

As an Expense administrator, you can use Admin Access to assign users to corporate credit cards, as described in “Setting Up Corporate Card Feeds” in the user help. This enhancement improves navigation of corporate cards. In the Assign / Un-assign Accounts section, you can now sort the Account Number column on the last four digits, and the Assigned To column by last name (with unassigned at the top of the list). You can also jump to another page by modifying the page number.