Introduction

This guide will outline how to submit an expense in the Intranet, subsequent approval process and in which status scenarios a notification will be generated.

The submitter of an expense will only ever see their own submissions and those who are responsible for approving/rejecting/processing this will be users with administrative permissions. Expense administrators can see all submitted expenses, including those in the 'draft' status. Managers/Budget holders will only see expenses for their relative subordinates or associated department. Finance administrators will only see Expenses that have been approved.

These permissions will have been defined on the administrative side of the application as well as all other necessary elements related to Expenses e.g. cost codes, departments, expense types. Therefore it is required to set up the administrative side fully before expenses can be submitted. See articles here and here for help.

Submitting an Expense

When a user accesses the Expense application (Applications > Expenses) the landing page given is called 'My Expense Sheets'. This will list all the expenses submitted by themselves previously, or will be blank (as below) if none have yet been added. 

'My expenses' area

Click on the 'Submit new expense sheet' button to open a new one. The first area that needs to be filled out is at the top of the sheet, shown in Image 1 below.

Image 1 - New Expense being submitted (top section only shown)

1.  A sheet ID will automatically be generated once the sheet is submitted so this does not require filling out by the user.
2. The status field also automatically populates at the point of initial creation, it will always appear as a 'draft'. At the end of the submission of this sheet we will see where this can be set to 'submitted' when ready.
3. The user can give the sheet a name so the administrators processing the request have a better idea of the expenses theme e.g. Client visit in Chicago, London UX conference.
4. The employee name field also populates based on the user who is logged in, so this doesn't need to be edited either.
5. Next they can select their department, office location and the currency of their expense (the list of available options given in each field dropdown will have been configured on the admin side - any additions to the options need to be configured there in order to appear for users on the front end)
6. The approver field will list the submitters manager by default. The main and substitute budget holders that have been set for the selected department on the admin side will be listed next in the dropdown. This is helpful in cases where the submitter is working on behalf of a different department than their own and needs the budget holder of said department to approve the expense (rather than their usual line manager)

Top section of an Expense sheet has been filled out

Once the preliminary information has been added, the bulk of the expense can now be filled out. The rest of the Expense sheet is shown in Image 2.

Image 2

1. Drag & drop area for receipts. Users can follow this method or click the icon and upload a file from their computer.
2. Attached receipts will appear under this tab once uploaded and can be viewed.
3. The 'Notes' tab allows the submitter to add any extra information required to support their expense sheet.
4. Operational cost area where a user expense can be filled out.
5. Project cost area where expenses that are attributed to a client project can be configured.
6. The total of all expenses so far in the sheet. Automatically updates as each expense is added.
7. At the point of creation an end user has the choice to save the sheet as a draft and complete it later, or to submit it for approval if complete. Upon saving the status of the expense will change to reflect any modifications.

Please note: Expense sheets can contain Operational Costs and/or Project Costs and multiple line items may be submitted for both. Make sure you click the ‘Save’ button for each line item.

Operational Cost Area

Click the 'New line item' button and a dropdown menu will appear.

Operational cost drop down area given when 'add new line item' is clicked

• Description: Input an appropriate description of this expense
• Vendor: Type in the vendor that processed the expense transaction
• Cost Code: Select the relevant cost code from the dropdown
• Expense Date: Select the date expense incurred
• Amount: Input the amount
• Dept: Select the applicable department
• Expense Type: Select the applicable expense type
• Receipt is attached: Tick this if a relevant supporting receipt has been attached to the expense
• Click 'save' once completed and the line will appear under the 'Operational Cost' heading

Operational costs being filled out and added to the Expense sheet

Upon saving the total will update to reflect the monetary costs of the entries added. This expense sheet can now be submitted, saved as a draft or have additional Project Costs entered.

Operational costs added ready for submission

Project Cost Area

The process to enter project costs is the same as Operational Expenses as above, however instead of a department a client and project name will be selected. You can also select whether this cost is billable to the client.

• Description: Input an appropriate description of this expense
• Vendor: Type in the vendor that processed the expense transaction
• Cost Code: Select the relevant cost code from the dropdown
• Expense Date: Select the date expense incurred
• Amount: Input the amount
• Client: Select the applicable client
• Expense Type: Select the applicable expense type
• Project Name: Select the appropriate client project
• This item is billable: Tick this depending on whether or not the line item is billable
• Receipt is attached: Tick this if a relevant supporting receipt has been attached to the expense
• Click 'save' once completed and the line will appear under the 'Project Cost' heading.

Project Cost being added to an Expense sheet

Once the expense is saved as a draft or submitted, it will now appear in the 'My Expense Sheets' area of the application with the appropriate status label.

A submitted sheet listed from the view of the submitter

Submitters in this area can:

• Click into Expense to view and now have the option to download the sheet as a PDF or CSV file (only when submitted and not in draft)
• Edit the contents of the Expense or change the status between submitted and draft.
• Copy the Expense (Icon on the right when viewing expense list)
• Delete the Expense (Icon on the far right)
• Submit another Expense sheet.

The Approval Process

Once an Expense has been submitted this becomes available for administrators, budget holders and managers to see in the 'Manage Expenses' area. Users in these roles will be able to see every Expense submitted regardless of status. Filters at the top of the page can be used to locate specific expense sheets.

• Expense Administrators will be able to change the status of expense sheets to any other status.
• Managers/Budget holders will be able to change the status of expense sheets to ‘Approved’, ‘Returned’ or ‘Rejected’, if the status is currently ‘Submitted’.
• The Finance Team administrators will be able to change the status of expense sheets to ‘Processed’, if the status is currently ‘Approved’.

In this way, any combination of these administrators, budget holders and managers can approve/process expenses. It is your choice how you would like to configure the Expenses workflow by assigning users to each area as appropriate. e.g. You may just use Expense admins (who can move Expenses through all statuses available) as the main processors alongside Budget holders/managers, not implementing the finance admin feature at all.

The 'Manage Expenses' area available to administrators

To approve an expense as an administrator/manager:

• Navigate to the 'Manage Expenses' area
• Click on the name of the Expense sheet you wish to view.
• Review the Expense information in line with your company policy.
  • You can download the expense as PDF or CSV by clicking the relevant button if required.
  • The ‘Add Note’ text area can be used to supply any additional information or feedback to the submitter if the Expense is to be returned. Type your note into the text area and click 'Save'.
• Change the status of the expense sheet as appropriate.
  • Select the required status from the ‘Change Status’ field at the bottom of the sheet and click 'Save'

The Expense status change will now be reflected in the 'Manage Expenses' area as well as the 'My Expense Sheets' list from the perspective of the submitter. 

An Expense sheet being approved by an administrator

The Expense that was previously approved is now set to processed by a finance team administrator

Notifications

These will be generated when a status change is carried out as below:

• Status changed to ‘Approved’: Expense submitter and Finance Team receive notification
• Status changed to ‘Rejected’: Expense submitter receives notification
• Status changed to ‘Returned’: Expense submitter receives notification
• Status changed to ‘Processed’: Expense submitter receives notification

Please note: The type of notification sent out by the Expense application will depend on the default/per application notification type set per user. Each individual can check/edit their settings by clicking on the cog in the in system messenger.