To save travel costs, travel requisitions need to be filled out in advance, their justification evaluated, approvals given after knowing which cost centres are going to pick up the cost, and then ways to minimise the cost need to be seen.

Travel Expense Management enables you to enforce the discipline of filling in Travel Requisitions prior to travel.

It requires that the justification is given, and the manager who approves it is aware of the cost allocations.

Details like how many days the trip is for, and what is the estimated cost of the trip are calculated. This includes not only the amount which the employee expects to incur from his own pocket, but also expenses which he anticipates that the company will need to incur, for example hotel expenses, air tickets, car hire charges, per diem charges, etc.

This gives you a complete visibility into the expense amount expected. When you analyse the travel costs you get a granular MIS which helps you save costs.

If an advance is required, the employee can specify how much and for what.

The employee can track past Travel Requisitions and their status of approval with ease.

For the process of submission and approvals, and disbursal, please see the Business expense claims section.

For the finance department, it becomes convenient to track all Travel requisitions and the advances given. This provides a better control on advance recovery.

International Travel requires additional travel related coordination and approvals.

For one, international travel costs more, and hence the need for better control on expenses in this category.

These expenses need to be evaluated carefully for their justification and the allocated into the right cost centers. Travel Expense Management allows you to do this.

For international travel you also require to maintain passport details, visa details, special requirements like vaccinations required.

Ticketing itineraries and hotel bookings require closer coordination.

Foreign currency arrangements and accounting are also taken care of.

The logistics of travel requires close coordination between the traveller and the travel desk. It also requires a systematic way of doing bookings, in which you can get the best rates.

The travel desk can view the itinerary of the person, and book tickets, hotels, or arrange car drops/ pickups.

The communication and changes in the travel arrangements are coordinated with ease through Travel Expense Management

Travel Desk can also handle foreign currency and travellers’ cheques etc.

This gives the Travel Desk coordinator one consolidated view of all travel coordination required, in one place, thereby reducing slip-ups.

This also eases the process for the employee.

You can now enforce a discipline wherein a travel claim can be submitted only if there is a travel requisition.

Since this is an automated system, it ensures that all employees fill in the travel requisition form first, and then after travel, they submit their expenses claim via the Settlement form.

The settlement form enables you to capture the expenses of the entire trip, which have been incurred by the employee.

They help you calculate the amount to be reimbursed after deducting advance. In case of international travel it also calculates foreign exchange conversions.

You can also enforce controls like a travel settlement form cannot be filled in too many days after the travel – it has to be filled on time.

You can also ensure that past advances are settled before new advances are given out.

In case there were any deviations from the original travel plan, these can be tracked too, so that any cost impact can be assessed.

The employee can attach supportings and send his form for approval. For details please see the Business Expense page, on how approvals take place, and reimbursements happen.

Extensive MIS of how much has been incurred on air travel, hotels, meals etc is tracked. For example if you know exactly how much spent last quarter on air travel you can plan our air tickets better for better discounts.

For employees, their managers, as well the finance team – this streamlines the process of disbursals as well as accounting entries.

Integration with your Accounting System / ERP

NEXSTEP Expense Management provides an integration layer which makes it easy to integrate with your accounting system.

You could integrate with various systems like SAP, Oracle Financials, or SUN Accounting, amongst others.

This offers you the benefits of:

• you save time in creating accounting entries

• you leverage your investments in the Accounting System you own

• you ensure that data is not re-entered, if it exists in the Accounting System, thereby simplifying the management of master data.