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Shopping for a T&E Expense Reporting Software? Here are the Must-Haves

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There is always room for improvement when it comes to anything, and so, you’re probably reading this because you want to improve the current expense management system and processes you have.

So before shopping and procuring an expense management software, you have to look at the specific requirements of your organization. What does the day to day operations look like from an expense standpoint? Is the software going to scale and adapt to your needs? Do you deal with international travel and booking that needs to be addressed? Does your business use corporate credit cards?

Expense-reporting-for-Microsoft-Dynamics

Now that you have figured out your unique requirements, you have a better idea of what to look for to make your expense management so much more efficient. Take a look at these expense management software must-haves:

  • Corporate credit card integration. This avoids corporate credit card expenses from slipping through the cracks, which can cost the company a lot in the long run. The software should be able to automatically import corporate card expenses and provide to the user for reconciliation.
  • Mobile apps for Real-time tracking. Today’s technology makes it easy to capture receipts with just a click of a smartphone camera. This should be a standard feature of your software, in addition to easy mileage tracking using maps. If there is OCR in the mobile app, that would be a bonus!
  • Real-time reporting. Time is money, and reports should be easy to create and submit without any delay. The software must be able to organize reports while providing a clear picture of T&E spend, which helps with improved visibility for the organization.
  • Timely reimbursements. Reimbursements must occur in a timely manner, and automation plays a big part in this. The software should be able to support reimbursements either via payroll or through the ERP/Accounting system. It also helps to have automatic notifications and reminders for employees to submit their receipts to move things along.
  • Easy Accounting system integration. The software must seamlessly integrate with Microsoft Dynamics ERP so that all the data can be automatically pushed into Dynamics and reconciled. This also avoids manual work, duplications and redundancy, while making the finance team’s lives much more efficient.
  • Customer support. You should be able to easily implement your system, with solid adoption amongst your employees. If there are any issues, the software vendor must be able to address these promptly and thoroughly.

As you can see, there is not really one perfect solution that it comes down to. The best solution out there is really the one that works best for your company and your needs.

It is also important to understand how the expense management solution can configured to fit your organization. And there is where Gorilla Expense comes in. Gorilla Expense can accommodate various expense management needs, and we specialize in integrating the data into Microsoft Dynamics ERP. We work with various customers across the world and across myriad industries.

If you would like to see a live demo of the solution or have any questions, please contact us at sales@gorillaexpense.com

Make Expense Reimbursement for Dynamics NAV a breeze!

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Gorilla Expense’s philosophy is ‘No More Hassle with Expense Reports & Reimbursements!’

With Gorilla Expense, companies can make the expense reporting process super simple, realize savings through automation and gain 100% visibility into corporate spend.

 

Gorilla Expense was selected from several companies and sponsored by Microsoft to showcase innovation in T&E expense reporting at the DEMO Conference.

Key Customer Benefits:

  • Choose between a SaaS (Subscription) model OR On-Premise Licensed-to-Own model
  • Use our OCR enabled mobile app to automatically extract data from receipts
  • Submit mileage related expenses accurately through our Google Maps integration
  • Automatically download AMEX, VISA & MasterCard Corporate Credit Card data
  • Push expense data to Dynamics NAV with ‘1-click’
  • Gain 100% visibility with expenses using our Analytics & Reporting module

Besides our core T&E Expense Reporting product, Gorilla Expense has also recently launched a new Timesheet product for Time & Expense capture as well as a very cool Purchase Card Reconciliation product for Microsoft Dynamics NAV that fit into our overall vision of creating the premier ‘Spend Management Platform’ for companies.

Contact us to learn more, discuss how we can help solve your challenges, and schedule a live demo of our solution.

Come See Innovation in Expense Management at Microsoft Convergence 2015

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Convergence 2015, Booth # 1354

Microsoft Convergence 2015 is around the corner (3/16 to 3/19) and Gorilla Expense is excited to share several new features and updates for our T&E expense reporting solution. We will be doing live demos at booth # 1354. So come by, grab a seat and let’s chat!

Here is a quick recap of some of the new features:

  • The new ‘never get in front of a computer’ mobile app
  • Automated integration with Project module in Dynamics GP
  • Do mileage expenses with integrated Google maps
  • Ability to include multiple Dynamics NAV Dimensions
  • The ‘FWD and forget’ email feature
  • Advanced cost center allocation capability (split expenses across multiple companies, business units and cost categories)
  • Plus several other additions and updates

We also have a secret new product launch at Convergence 2015 which will make (hint hint) expense reconciliation for AP a breeze! That is all we can say at this time. But come meet us at Convergence and learn more.

We look forward to meeting y’all in ATL! Follow us on Twitter: @GorillaExpense #CONV for the latest updates.

–
Sincerely,

The Gorilla Expense Team

Make Expense Tracking for Dynamics ERP Painless in 2015

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Take the pain out of year end expenses!

It’s December, it’s cold and it’s time to hibernate. Yet, finance and AP departments are busy closing the books, reconciling data and checking receipts. And guess what – this process is a last minute rush every year for employees, managers and AP.

But there are better ways to manage this work at the end of the year. And we’ve got the expense claims + receipts side of things taken care of for you. How do we do this? By being creative and smart with technology.

Smartphones are for more than Instagram

Most travelers own a smartphone and this is a very convenient medium for travelers to submit expenses in a few clicks. Receipt capture is the most common feature used on Gorilla Expense’s mobile app. We make it easy to also attach those pesky multi-page PDF receipts from our mobile app by syncing with Dropbox.

The magical cloud

Web based, accessible anywhere, data at your fingertips…..That’s how the Gorilla Expense web application works. Companies are increasingly looking towards web based solutions to tackle their expenses including getting manager approvals done sooner. The availability of analytics and reporting modules makes it super convenient to analyze the entire year’s data and review trends.

No joy in manual data entry

Finally, once all the expenses are submitted and approved, AP has to key in the data manually into Dynamics ERP (GP / NAV / AX / SL). Not anymore! We make the process seamless and as automated as possible. Click a button on our integration app, grab some egg nog and 5 minutes later all the data is in the ERP. Simple right? (well, we recommend egg nog after 5pm)

In conclusion….

December can be a very busy time for most finance and AP departments with plenty of things to juggle already. To ease the workload when it comes to expenses, receipts and mainly to reimburse employee sooner, look at automating T&E in your company. This could be one of the best investments in 2015!

Expense Tracking for Dynamics GP and Goodbye Business Portal in GP 2015

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Microsoft officially announced that Business Portal and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 runtime will be discontinued in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015. They plan to focus instead on including most of the functionalities directly into the core code base of Dynamics GP 2015.

“The plan is to basically phase out Business Portal as we release apps or modules inside Dynamics GP that replace the same functionality”, said Microsoft’s Kelly Obach, Manager of the Executive Business Center.

Business Portal has been an important and integral part of Dynamics GP for many years. Users could gain a quick peek into a company’s data and run graphical reports quickly. Of course all the goodness did not come without challenges, ranging from software requirements, tricky admin functionality of the module and proprietary architecture. Business Portal also provided a basic non-mobile solution for capturing project related expenses.

GP 2015 Features (Click on Image)

For customers looking to upgrade to Dynamics GP 2015 from older versions or for customers looking to migrate to GP 2015 from other systems, Business Portal will no longer be available. If T&E Expense Management in Dynamics GP is an important requirement for your business, what do you do?

That’s where ISVs like Gorilla Expense fill the gap with our expense reporting software for GP, which integrates with various versions (GP 10, GP 2010, GP 2013). While Microsoft Dynamics brings great features to the core ERP product, we bring the robust expense related pieces which include Mobile Apps, Web Application, Credit Card Integration and seamless + fully Automated Integration into Dynamics GP using our proprietary Integration App.

Not only does it solve the challenges and pain points for the customer, it also enhances capabilities within GP. Check out the video of our automated integration with GP (VIDEO)

Our solution is not only powerful but also very easy to use and intuitive. And most importantly, we pride ourselves in providing the best support you have ever seen from an ISV. Our goal is to ‘Wow!’ the customer every time. Don’t believe us? See what our customers are saying about us (TESTIMONIALS)

As a Premium GPUG member, you can also view the webinar we did with GPUG on ‘Make T&E Expense Reporting for Dynamics GP Painless & Paperless’ here (WEBINAR)

GPUG Premium Member

If you are interested in a personalized demo of our expense management software for Dynamics GP, contact us at sales@gorillaexpense.com

Import Credit Card Data into Dynamics NAV Through Automation

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Gorilla Expense offers a robust and fully automated integration of credit card data into Dynamics NAV. This is available for all versions of NAV. Using our proprietary Gorilla Expense Integration App, the AP Manager can import credit card transactions (or the App can do it 100% automatically), auto-categorize the transactions to specific expense types/cost categories using our mapping algorithm and then send the data to Navision with a click of a button!

Typically the data is sent to the Purchase Journals in NAV (video of integrating expenses to Purchase Journals) so that an invoice is created to pay the credit card company. But we can also send the data to the General Journals (video of integrating expenses to General Journals) as well as Purchase Invoice screen (Visit our main Expense Reporting for Dynamics NAV page for more details). Any relevant information supplied by the credit card company in the data file can also be referenced in the ‘Description’ field within the Journals or Purchase Invoice Lines in NAV.

The advantages that the Gorilla Integration App offers are:

* Send credit card data to NAV through automation

* Complete visibility of credit card expenses in NAV

* Prevent duplicate expenses in NAV

* Improve the reconciliation process through reporting and analytics within Gorilla Expense

* Eliminate time consuming manual work of keying in data

Gorilla Expense supports integration with all the major credit card companies – AMEX, VISA and MasterCard and their various file formats. The flavors of credit cards that we support range from the standard Corporate Credit Card for T&E Expenses to Purchase Cards or P-Cards for making purchases on behalf of the employer.

Here is how the process works:

Step 1> The AP Manager opens the Gorilla Integration App and logs in as the Admin. Here we have selected NAV as the system to send the data to. The Integration App is typically accessed by the Admin user (belongs to Accounting/AP/IT etc.) in a company.

Logging into Integration App as Admin

Step 2> Once logged in we want to select and import the credit card file supplied by the card provider that is typically downloaded by the Admin on a weekly or monthly basis. In this example, we are using a file supplied by our AMEX corporate card on a monthly basis. The following screenshot shows how the Admin can select the respective card and its format.

Selecting the card and format

 

 

**Note: Depending on how the credit card program is setup and services offered by the card provider, Step 2 can be fully automated with no human intervention. In that case, the Gorilla Integration App will automatically ‘pick up’ and import the latest file supplied by the card provider from an FTP site. AMEX typically enables this offering by default for all their corporate card and P-card programs and Gorilla Expense supports this approach**

In the screenshot below, the admin has selected the AMEX file – ‘Transactions.csv’ for import. The file was downloaded from our online AMEX account.

Selecting the file downloaded from the AMEX website

Step 3> Once the file is selected, the Integration App automatically associates the expense type and vendor using our mapping algorithm as shown in the screenshot below. This makes the transactions complete and no manual work is need to categorize the transactions.

Auto-allocation of expense type and vendor

Step 4> The Admin can now select all transactions or select specific transactions to import into the system and send to NAV. The screenshot below shows that two transactions were selected to send to NAV. Out of the two, only the one shaded in Green was sent. The transaction shaded in Yellow was already submitted earlier and is highlighted as a duplicate transaction.

The Gorilla Integration App prevents duplicate transactions from being sent to NAV by using the ‘Unique Identifier’ number supplied by the credit card as part of their file. This a is a powerful feature that saves AP Managers lots of time in checking for duplicates and also makes the reconciliation process easier.

Import transactions and prevent duplicates

 

Step 5> Once all the transactions are imported into the Gorilla application, they are dragged and dropped into a batch and send to NAV through automation using the same Integration App. The transactions show up as invoices within a batch called ‘GORILLA’. Depending on the payment method defined in the Gorilla application, the invoices are created to pay the employee or the corporate credit card.

In this example, our AMEX card has the payment method defined as AMEX which is tied to the ‘American Express’ Vendor ID defined in NAV. Here is a screenshot that show the expense data in Purchase Journals in NAV.

Expenses in Purchase Journals

All the details from the credit card transaction, namely the vendor and the report number are also made available to provide additional visibility for the CFO / accounting manager and to make it easier to search for expense data in NAV.

This explains how credit card data can be integrated into NAV using the Gorilla Expense Integration App. The App is very flexible in allowing credit card data from multiple cards and various formats to be imported into the system. If you would like to see a live demo of the App or have any additional questions, please contact us at info@gorillaexpense.com

Dynamics GP Credit Card Integration

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Gorilla Expense offers a robust and fully automated integration of credit card data into Dynamics GP. This is available for all versions of GP (GP10 and above). Using our proprietary Gorilla Expense Integration App, the AP Manager can import credit card transactions (or the App can do it automatically), auto-categorize the transactions to specific expense types/cost categories using our mapping algorithm and then send the data to GP with a click of a button. Any relevant information supplied by the credit card company in the data file can also be referenced in the ‘Memo’ field in GP, within Payables > Distributions.

The advantages that the Gorilla Integration App offers are:

* Send credit card data to GP through automation

* Complete visibility of credit card expenses in GP

* Prevent duplicate expenses in GP

* Improve the reconciliation process through reporting and analytics within Gorilla Expense

* Eliminate time consuming manual work of keying in data

Gorilla Expense supports integration with all the major credit card companies – AMEX, VISA and MasterCard and their various file formats. The flavors of credit cards that we support range from the standard Corporate Credit Card for T&E Expenses to Purchase Cards or P-Cards for making purchases on behalf of the employer.

Here is how the process works:

Step 1> The AP Manager opens the Gorilla Integration App and logs in as the Admin. Here we have selected GP2013 as the system to send the data to. The Integration App is typically accessed by the Admin user (belongs to Accounting/AP/IT etc.) in a company.

Logging into Integration App as Admin

Step 2> Once logged in we want to select and import the credit card file supplied by the card provider that is typically downloaded by the Admin on a weekly or monthly basis. In this example, we are using a file supplied by our AMEX corporate card on a monthly basis. The following screenshot shows how the Admin can select the respective card and its format.

Selecting the card and format

**Note: Depending on how the credit card program is setup and services offered by the card provider, Step 2 can be fully automated with no human intervention. In that case, the Gorilla Integration App will automatically ‘pick up’ and import the latest file supplied by the card provider from an FTP site. AMEX typically enables this offering by default for all their corporate card and P-card programs and Gorilla Expense supports this approach**

In the screenshot below, the admin has selected the AMEX file – ‘Transactions.csv’ for import. The file was downloaded from our online AMEX account.

Selecting the file downloaded from the AMEX website

Step 3> Once the file is selected, the Integration App automatically associates the expense type and vendor using our mapping algorithm as shown in the screenshot below. This makes the transactions complete and no manual work is need to categorize the transactions.

Auto-allocation of expense type and vendor

Step 4> The Admin can now select all transactions or select specific transactions to import into the system and send to GP. The screenshot below shows that two transactions were selected to send to GP. Out of the two, only the one shaded in Green was sent. The transaction shaded in Yellow was already submitted earlier and is highlighted as a duplicate transaction. The Gorilla Integration App prevents duplicate transactions from being sent to GP by using the ‘Unique Identifier’  number supplied by the credit card as part of their file. This a is a powerful feature that saves AP Managers lots of time in checking for duplicates and also makes the reconciliation process easier.

Import transactions and prevent duplicates

Step 5> Once all the transactions are imported into the Gorilla application, they are dragged and dropped into a batch and send to GP through automation using the same Integration App. The transactions show up as invoices within a batch called ‘GORILLA’. Depending on the payment method defined in the Gorilla application, the invoices are created to pay the employee or the corporate credit card.

In this example, our AMEX card has the payment method defined as AMEX which is tied to the ‘AMEX’ Vendor ID defined in GP. Here are a couple of screenshots that show the expense data in GP > Payables.

Invoice in Payables

When Distributions is opened, the details from the transactions, namely the vendor and the report number are also made available to provide additional visibility for the CFO / accounting manager and to make it easier to search for expense data in GP.

Distributions in GP

This explains how credit card data can be integrated into GP using the Gorilla Expense Integration App. The App is very flexible in allowing credit card data from multiple cards and various formats to be imported into the system. If you would like to see a live demo of the App or have any additional questions, please contact us at info@gorillaexpense.com

On-Premise Expense Software or SaaS Expense Software – The Big Debate

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When it comes to T&E expense management, the cloud has inspired a new and quick way of thinking about mobile and online expense tracking with integration to various accounting and ERP systems. Of course the ‘old’ model of companies having to purchase licenses to own the software and have the ability to deploy it on their servers still exists but faces solid competition from cloud solutions.

The Gorilla Expense software can be delivered as a SaaS or on-premise when it comes to our online T&E solution. Of course, when the SaaS solution is purchased, it comes as a complete turnkey package that includes software and the entire delivery mechanism.

The inter-webs is ripe with discussions on the pros and cons of on-premise vs SaaS when it comes to expense reporting and several topics on how best to assess the costs. With SaaS, the business pays less upfront while on-premise requires higher initial costs because you buy the software in terms of licenses and maintenance. However, the details lurk below this cursory assessment – the often heard concept of ‘Total Cost of Ownership’ a.k.a TCO. Let us explore this in more detail by segmenting the comparisons by company size relative to our customer base.

Expense Reporting for Small Business

With small businesses, the initial cost of licensing the expense reporting software on-premise is usually several orders higher than a SaaS expense solution. Plus the on-premise solution will require additional internal infrastructure and may incur personnel costs to maintain the solution. So, for small businesses SaaS cloud based expense reporting may offer better ROI and quicker value than on-premise.

Mid-Market Expense Management

For mid-sized businesses, the comparison between the two approaches can be closer to break-even. The costs usually level out because the cost of the fixed license and recurring SaaS payments typically increase proportionately while the infrastructure cost remains fixed. However, the big difference is labor costs – the standard assumption is that mid-sized business would have the cost of paying for 1/2rd to 1/4th of an IT team’s (consisting of anywhere from one to ten people) salary to maintain the server, OS and ancillary software applications; so these costs may mean that the on-premise deployment could potentially be more expensive.

When is SaaS Better?

The biggest benefit of going the SaaS route is when companies cannot dedicate IT resources and personnel to install and manage the applications. The general rule of thumb for on-premise is that upgrades are needed at least four times in a year and require several hours to install and manage up-time.

In addition, with SaaS, the expenses are deferred (the classic CAPEX vs OPEX debate), so, from a cash flow standpoint, the model becomes attractive for cash strapped small businesses.

Conclusion

While we have reviewed the key piece of the equation which is related to cost, note that this is just one part of the puzzle. The other factors to consider when you compare Saas vs on-premise expense reporting solutions are:

– Level of internal IT expertise and talent to manage on-premise solutions

– Comfort level with outsourcing the work, if not possible in house

– Tolerance for downtime and risk mitigation

– Capability to support requirements from an evolving and growing business operations

– Level of engagement with the solution (SaaS gives you a ‘rent and forget’ approach whereas on-premise requires constant monitoring)

– Cash flow management

At Gorilla Expense, we provide both options and work with the customer to closely understand which format will benefit their business and employees the most. We advise and support our customer’s rapidly changing requirements when it comes to deployment options, since we have seen all the combinations and the respective challenges. If you would like to learn more or would like for us to review your requirements, please send an email to info@gorillaexpense.com

Different Flavors of T&E Expense Integration with Dynamics GP – Series (Intro)

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Dynamics-GP-Expense-Tracking

As we all know Dynamics GP provides an organization with solid agility and flexibility in meeting their business needs today and also into the future. With such flexibility, comes the ability to configure GP in many different ways to meet unique requirements of the organization – and this extends to expense reporting as well.

Gorilla Expense offers a fully automated and seamless integration with GP. We refer to this as ‘1-click’ integration’. We do this by using web services and eConnect, depending on the customer’s preference. While we can do a flat-file based integration, our customers love the way our integration app sends the data from several expense reports to GP with just a click! When it comes to expense reporting, there are multiple ways to integrate the data from our system to GP. In this series, we will be exploring the different flavors of our integration with GP.

Integration with Payables in GP – Series (1 of 3)

This is the standard and most common format of our integration with GP. Here, we send the expense data as a Payable Transaction Entry within the Purchasing module in GP. Expenses sent from our system will show up as invoices. Depending on the payment method defined in our system and the setup of vendors, the invoice will be issued for the employee or the corporate credit card.

Integration with Project Accounting in GP – Series (2 of 3)
Here, we send the expense data from our system to the Project Accounting module in GP, where expenses will be captured against different cost categories and tied to specific open projects. The project workflow is also mapped within our system such that the respective project owner(s) will be approving the expense reports before they are sent to GP.

Integration with Receivings in GP – Series (3 of 3)
Here, we will send the data as a Receivings Transaction Entry within the Purchasing module. The expenses are allocated to different cost categories and the PO number is referenced. Since these expenses will show up as Receivables once posted, this integration is used when the customer is planning to bill back their clients. The customer name /PO number is referenced in our application so that the expenses are tied to it.

Besides these, we can also configure our Integration App to do other forms of integration as needed. In the next article, we will showcase our integration with Payables in GP. Stay tuned!

Sending Travel Expenses with Value Added Tax to Microsoft Dynamics NAV

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Within the Gorilla Expense application, when users create travel expenses, depending on their location additional tax reclaim fields can be enabled and the data can be sent to Dynamics NAV. We provide a total of 4 sub-amount fields in the application. These sub-amounts can also be configured differently to Add-to the value entered in the Transaction Amount.

For our Canadian customers (or customers with users that travel to Canada), the frequently used fields are GST, PST and HST. The user can enter amounts for these fields within the transaction from the receipt, and of course, also attach the receipt. For our European customers, these are the different flavors of VATs, based on the country.

Shown below, as an example, is a completed transaction with the tax values entered for a Canadian customer:

Canadian-tax-reclaim-fields

The Gorilla Expense integration app, which automates the integration between our web application and Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 and above can send the amounts listed in these fields directly to Dynamics NAV with the click of a button.

If the company has different GL codes associated with each of these fields, then those can be setup in the integration app as well. Once done, our integration app will post amounts in the specific fields to the respective GL code(s). Once the data is sent to NAV, then the accounting manager can reconcile it and issue a cumulative report from within NAV for reclaim from the government. This report will usually include the total reclaim amount based on expenses submitted by all users. Typically, the taxation rules are setup in NAV since the tax rates can vary based on province and as the ERP system, it makes sense for NAV to manage that complexity.

To learn more, discuss your requirements and view this travel expense integration with NAV in detail, send an email to info@gorillaexpense.com. We always love hearing from you!