Release 12.1
Part Number E13454-03
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This chapter covers the following topics:
With Oracle Internet Expenses, employees can enter and submit expense reports using a standard Web browser or a Web-enabled mobile device. Oracle Workflow automatically routes expense reports for approval and enforces reimbursement policies. Oracle Internet Expenses integrates with Oracle Payables to provide quick processing of expense reports for payment.
This chapter provides an overview of the features and processes in Oracle Internet Expenses.
The key components of Internet Expenses work together to provide a complete service for entering and managing expense reports:
Expenses Setup
Expenses Administration
Expenses Entry
Expenses Audit
Expenses Analysis
Expenses-related Workflows
Manager Approvals
Integration with Other Applications
Expenses Setup. Use the Internet Expenses pages to set up rate and policy schedules, exchange rates and location information, and other important features that go into the completion of expense reports. Perform the related setup tasks in the applications that work together with Internet Expenses to create an integrated environment for expenses reporting. See: Chapter 2, "Setting Up Applications for Oracle Internet Expenses" and Chapter 3, "Oracle Internet Expenses Setup and Administration" for more information.
Expenses Administration. Internet Expenses provides many tools to administer your expense reports. The Internet Expenses setup lets you automate many administrative tasks, including company policy compliance for expense reporting, expense account defaulting, per diem and mileage rate calculations, and end user notifications.
Expenses Entry. The intuitive user interface lets employees and contingent workers enter and submit expense reports with minimal reliance on documentation or online help. In addition, end users have access to various tools for their expense reporting needs. The Expenses Home page lets users track all of their current and previously submitted expense reports, as well as duplicate or withdraw expense reports. The automatic display of open credit card transactions helps users select and submit their credit card expenses; users can also dispute individual transactions. All workflow notifications are also displayed from the Home page. The Expenses Preferences page lets users configure their expense reporting environment according to their needs.
Expenses Audit. Internet Expenses automates many aspects of the process of auditing expense reports. Audit Automation works together with your rate and policy schedules to ensure that expense reports comply with the policies of your company without having to audit all expense report submissions. See: Chapter 4, "Setting Up Audit Automation" for more information.
Expense Analysis. Internet Expenses analysis and reporting provides managers with a dedicated tool for reviewing expense reports and company policy violations. Managers can generate reports online and review company expenses and policy violation trends among their employees. A Search function displays expense report and policy violation data, and displays data according to the selected view.
Expenses-related Workflows. There are five workflows related to Internet Expenses: Expenses, Credit Cards, Expenses Analysis, Expense Receipts, and Expense Holds.
Expenses Workflow manages the notifications between managers, accounts payable, and users related to reviewing and approving expense reports.
Credit Cards Workflow manages the notifications related to the processing and management of credit card transactions.
Expenses Analysis Workflow sends notifications when proxy reporting access is granted.
Expense Receipts Workflow manages the notifications related to submitting receipts and missing and overdue receipts.
Expense Holds Workflow manages the notifications related to placing and releasing holds on expense reports.
Manager Approvals. Internet Expenses works together with Oracle Approvals Management (AME) and Oracle Workflow to automatically route expense approvals and notifications to cost center owners, cost center business managers, project managers or award managers. Approval notifications provide managers with all information with which to make informed decisions, including the reimbursable amount displayed in the approver's currency and expense lines that were split and charged to their own cost centers. For more information, see Request Approval Process. Use Oracle Approvals Management to build routing rules for expense reports based on header or lines information. Use the Expenses Workflow to manage the routing of notifications to and from managers, auditors, and users.
Integration with Other Applications. Internet Expenses works together with other applications to provide a full array of services devoted to managing and streamlining every aspect of the expense report process. These include:
Oracle Payables. Use Payables to create expense report invoices and to manage the processing of credit card and procurement card transactions.
Oracle Projects. Internet Expenses integrates with Oracle Projects to enable users to add project-related information on expense reports.
Oracle Grants Accounting. Oracle Grants Accounting extends the functionality of Oracle Projects and integrates with Internet Expenses to enable users to enter award information on their expense reports and collect reimbursement from the award that sponsored the activity.
Oracle Approvals Management. Use Oracle Approvals Management to build routing rules for expense report approvals.
Oracle Application Framework. Oracle Application Framework lets you personalize the display of Internet Expenses without modifying the underlying code.
This section provides an overview of the Expense Report Workflow process. This illustration demonstrates the complete process flow of expense reports from creation to payment.
Employees can create expense reports in these ways:
Online using their computers and a standard Web browser.
Offline using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets from a configured template.
Employees must have the Internet Expenses responsibility to create an expense report. If you implement the credit card functionality, employees can include credit card transactions in their expense reports. See: Credit Card Process Flows.
Note: Employees can withdraw a submitted expense report until both manager and Payables approvals are received. The user can either correct and resubmit the withdrawn report, or delete it.
After an employee submits an expense report, Internet Expenses displays a confirmation page with instructions for the employee. For example, you may want to inform the employee that a notification will be sent when the report is approved by management and at that time all original receipts must be sent to the accounts payable department. Most companies require original receipts for verification before reimbursing employees for business expenses.
When an employee submits an expense report for approval, the Expense Report workflow process begins. The Expense Report workflow is used to obtain manager and Payables approvals on expense reports. The Manager (Spending) Approval process routes expense reports to managers for approval. When an expense report receives approval, the workflow transitions to the AP Approval process. If a manager rejects the report, the workflow transitions to the Rejection process.
The AP Approval process first determines whether an expense report requires the approval of the accounts payable department. If approval from the accounts payable department is not required, the process automatically approves the expense report. If the report requires approval from the accounts payable department, the process waits until it receives a response from that department before continuing.
Once the workflow process is complete, the expense report in the Payables Expense Reports window has a number of restrictions on user interaction.
See: Oracle Audit Management and Expense Reports Window Reference, Oracle Payables User Guide for information.
Oracle Payables pays invoices only, so before an approved expense report can be paid, it must be converted into an invoice. The Oracle Expense Report Export converts expense reports created in Internet Expenses into invoices in Oracle Payables. An expense report can be processed by the Expense Report Export program only if it receives approval from both the approval manager and the accounts payable department during the Expense Report workflow process.
After the Expense Report Export program creates invoices for expense reports, you can create payments for the invoices using the same method as for other invoices.
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