Expense Report Management via Transaction Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current expense reimbursement systems are cumbersome for business travelers, requiring manual entry of receipts and often infringing on personal privacy, as they pull all credit card transactions, leading to unnecessary scrutiny and administrative burdens.
Innovation Solution
A system that temporarily pulls account and transaction data from financial entities, allowing users to selectively choose which transactions to include in an expense report, masking other data to prevent employer access, and transmitting only relevant information for reimbursement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the system pulls all credit card transactions for expense reimbursement, then the employer can monitor all transactions for compliance, but the employee's personal privacy is invaded and administrative burden increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments transactions into business-related and personal-related categories. The system automatically identifies and separates business transactions from personal transactions, allowing the employer to view only business expenses while personal transactions remain private. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by enabling compliance monitoring for business expenses without invading personal privacy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts only the necessary business transaction data from the complete credit card transaction history. By pulling out only business-related transactions and excluding personal transactions from employer view, the system achieves compliance monitoring while protecting personal privacy. The extraction principle allows selective data sharing based on business needs.
2Extent of automation
If the system requires manual entry of each expense item, then the employer can have complete control over expense approval, but the employee spends significant time completing forms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by automatically pre-filling expense reimbursement forms with transaction data from credit card statements. The system retrieves transaction details such as merchant, date, amount, and category, and automatically populates the corresponding form fields. This eliminates manual data entry and significantly reduces the time employees spend completing expense forms while maintaining employer control through the approval workflow.
3Reliability
If the system provides visibility to all transactions for reimbursement processing, then the employer can ensure policy compliance, but employees may be discriminated or disciplined based on personal transactions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the transaction portfolio into business and personal categories, with the employer having access only to business transactions for compliance verification. Personal transactions are segregated and kept confidential, preventing discrimination based on personal spending habits. This segmentation enables policy compliance monitoring while protecting employees from unfair treatment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer (the expense management system) that filters and selectively shares transaction data with the employer. The system acts as a mediator by automatically identifying business transactions and presenting them to the employer for approval, while blocking personal transactions from employer view. This intermediary function ensures policy compliance verification without exposing employees to discrimination risk.
Data Source
AI summary
A system, method, and apparatus for managing expense reports are disclosed. An example apparatus includes an aggregation interface configured to receive, from a financial entity, a defined account data subset of account data related to a financial transaction of a user and a defined transaction data subset of transaction data of the financial transaction. The example apparatus also includes a secure transaction engine configured to create an expense object that includes the defined account data subset and the defined transaction data subset and display information from the expense object within a first graphical user interface in conjunction with information from other expense objects related to the user. The secure transaction engine is also configured to create an expense report that includes an expense object selected by the user and selectively excludes the other expense objects to shield the other expense objects from being accessible or viewed by a third-party.