Automated Expense Report Generation from Travel Itineraries
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems require manual and time-consuming processes for entering per diem expenses into expense reports, leading to inefficiencies and excessive resource usage, as employees struggle to estimate travel costs accurately without sufficient time or resources, and managers lack necessary information for pre-travel budget decisions.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method that automatically identifies travel segments, determines per diem allowances based on digitally stored reimbursement rules, and inserts records into an expense reporting system, enabling seamless data transfer between travel planning and expense reporting applications, reducing manual input and resource consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual data entry is used for per diem expenses, then employees can submit travel requests, but the process becomes time-consuming and inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically populating expense report fields with travel itinerary data before the employee needs to submit. The expense report is pre-filled with trip segments, locations, and dates extracted from the travel plan, eliminating the need for manual data entry at submission time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a copy of the travel itinerary data and transfers it to the expense report structure. The same trip segment information is replicated across multiple fields (trip segments, locations, dates) automatically, rather than requiring employees to manually re-enter the same data.
2Measurement precision
If employees manually review per diem rules before submission, then accuracy can be improved, but the process requires excessive time and resources
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-service by automatically evaluating per diem rules and calculating allowances without requiring employee intervention. The expense report system autonomously determines per diem eligibility, applies the correct rates, and calculates totals based on the trip data and stored per diem rules.
Solution Approach 2:
The manual mechanical process of reviewing per diem rules is replaced with an automated computational system. The system uses algorithmic logic to evaluate trip segments against per diem criteria, substituting human manual review with automated rule-based calculation.
3Adaptability or versatility
If separate travel and expense applications are used, then functional specialization is achieved, but data transfer requires multiple manual steps
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary data synchronization mechanism between the travel and expense applications. The expense report system acts as a mediator that automatically receives trip data from the travel application and transforms it into the appropriate expense reporting format, eliminating manual data transfer steps.
Solution Approach 2:
The expense report system performs multiple functions: it serves as a standalone expense reporting tool while also automatically integrating with the travel application. The system can handle both manual expense entry and automated trip-based expense generation, making it multi-functional.
4Ease of operation
If managers review travel requests with limited information, then approval process is simple, but budget decisions lack accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calculation of per diem allowances and total expense estimates before the manager receives the travel request for approval. The automated evaluation provides managers with pre-calculated cost information, including breakdown by trip segment and location, enabling informed budget decisions.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method uses an expense reporting application for querying a travel planning application to provide a planned trip record and receiving the planned trip record in response. The expense reporting application and the travel planning application are among a plurality of federated applications that are hosted using a multi-tenant distributed computing system. The method further determines event data comprising a plurality of schedule values for each distinct location among a plurality of locations, from the planned trip record. An expense record having travel segments is created or updated based on the event data and associated with the plurality of distinct locations. For each travel segment, one or more daily allowed expense items are automatically determined based on a plurality of digitally stored per diem reimbursement rules and the expense record is automatically updated to specify the allowed expense items as expense line items in the expense record.