energySEA Pty Ltd specialises in power transmission and distribution with a mission to assist modern EPC engineers and energy developers in transmitting and distributing quality electricity to the world - seamlessly. This is accomplished by enhancing client electrical networks, reducing losses and making energy consumption more efficient.

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EnergySea: Submit Employee Expenses: Expense Submission Solutions

Calculating and processing employee expenses is an admin task that most businesses have to deal with on a regular basis – a task that's just too time-consuming. This scenario was very familiar to energySEA.

For that reason, their goal became to reduce the time spent on expenses and minimising physical paperwork. Dynamic Aspect managed to help energySEA go through a careful selection process to pick the perfect expense Management solution to work with their Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central ERP system.

CONTINIA EXPENSE MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY

Day-to-day Challenges

For energySEA, one of the problems involved employees and contractors having to waste time on keeping track of their paper receipts, and then having to return to the office to bring in their travel reports.

Additionally, the finance department relied on spreadsheets and paper-based forms in their expense processing.

For that reason, energySEA wanted to automate the way they handled and processed expenses to reduce time and improve business processes for their staff and their clients.

DYNAMIC ASPECT

The SOLUTION

To solve these problems, they began searching for an expense management solution. Rather than relying on spreadsheets and paper-based forms, as energySEA had done up until now, expense management solutions leverage the power of mobile apps or web-based applications, centralising the relevant data.

Furthermore, Dynamic Aspect had already helped deploy Dynamics 365 Business Central as energySEA's primary Finance platform. That's why it was essential to find an expense management solution that would work seamlessly with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central – allowing them to post expenses with no rekeying.

Continia Expense Management by Continia Software

The choice landed on Continia Expense Management – an add-on solution developed specifically for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central that doesn't require any separate applications.

The solution is designed to remove much of the administrative overhead when dealing with employee expenses, and to create a seamless end-to-end experience. With this solution you get a clear overview and easy management of all types of incoming expenses.

Submission of receipts on the go

Employees and contractors no longer need to return to the office to bring in their travel report with paper receipts. Through the Continia Expense App (available on iOS, Android and Windows devices), staff can do their expense reporting from anywhere in just a few steps: they take a picture, fill out required fields and send directly to bookkeeping. Once the expense report has been sent in by the traveller, all digital receipts will be visible in Business Central. This eliminates the need for paper. .

Mileage

Mileage registration is also handled through the app. Integration with Google Maps allows users to enter journey start and end points and automatically calculate the distance between them. When mileage expenses appear in Business Central, a map of the journey is attached, providing further visibility to back-office.

Automatic credit card matching

Continia Expense Management enables you to import employees' credit card transactions directly into Business Central and automatically link the individual spending line with a registered receipt. GST is also recognised and tracked.

Per Diem

Per diem, or daily allowance is an integrated part of Expense Management and allows users to send in reports directly from the mobile app, by specifying travel period, accommodation, and meals per day. Reimbursement rates, posting account and rules are all configured in Business Central.

Access documentation directly from Business Central

Continia Expense Management will daily collect the employee's activities and send it to Business Central. This will give you a complete overview of expenses for the company in real time.

In both Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and the web approval portal, users get a complete view of expenses with approval status, comments and attached files, as well as a digital archive. Any missing receipts are flagged, and a notification is sent to the relevant employee.

Approval workflows for everyone

You can approve expenses either directly in Business Central or online using Continia Web Approval Portal through a web browser. This enables everyone in the organization to access the approval workflow.

Approvers can see the original expense on the screen and either accept, reject, place it on hold, or forward it to another person for review or approval. Comments and attachments can easily be added too.

DYNAMIC ASPECT

The RESULT

At energySEA we're always striving to work smarter and to use technology and automation to improve the way to do business for our clients, and also our staff. This solution continues to build upon that objective as we continue to move the business forward with the help of partners like Dynamic Aspect.

- Anthony Johnston

Managing Director at energySEA Pty Ltd