SAP Travel OnDemand is a newly released, cloud-based solution that was designed for business travelers and the way they travel today. It enables companies to control their corporate travel costs, ensure compliance with travel policies, and increase the efficiency of processing expense reports. The solution encompasses all aspects of travel, including planning and obtaining approval for trips; booking trips and managing itineraries; capturing expense receipts and submitting expense reports for reimbursement; and analyzing travel spend.

Here I focus on the different ways in which a travel receipt can be captured, including:

• Capturing a receipt from a mobile device with a dedicated app
• Using the camera and email on a mobile device to send a receipt to the SAP Travel OnDemand system
• Using the expense report app on the iPad to add line items to an expense report
• Using the browser to access the SAP Travel OnDemand solution to add expenses

Capturing a Receipt on a Mobile Device

From a company perspective, when business travelers are able to submit their expenses more quickly, it enables better cash management with reduced accruals for liabilities for the finance organization. In addition, streamlining the process of capturing travel expense receipts and submitting expense reports also reduces the copying, scanning, and physical mailing of expenses, thereby lowering the cost of processing expenses. Finally, SAP Travel OnDemand reduces the time and cost of approvals through automation.

How to Download SAP Travel OnDemand Apps

You can download the apps for SAP Travel OnDemand for your mobile devices from the BlackBerry App World and from Apple iTunes. To begin using the apps, you need to be a user of SAP Travel OnDemand, which is hosted by SAP. You also need to configure the URL to access SAP Travel OnDemand under Options within the app.

The app for your smartphone, specifically for the BlackBerry and the iPhone, allows you to capture expense receipts, including a photo and receipt details. If you are a manager, the app also allows you to approve trip requests and expense reports. As is true for other iPhone apps, the iPhone app can also be installed on the iPad, as shown in Figure A.

Figure A

The iPhone app allows business travelers to manage their expenses

The complete expense report capability, which allows you to manage multiple expense reports and line items, is currently available only on the iPad with SAP Travel OnDemand. The download links are available here:

• SAP Travel OnDemand for BlackBerry
• SAP Travel OnDemand for the iPhone
• SAP Travel OnDemand for the iPad

For more information about SAP Travel OnDemand, visit www.sap.com/travelondemand or read the SAPinsider article “Empower Business Travelers and Control Corporate Costs with SAP Travel OnDemand.

Capture Receipts with the iPhone App

On a smartphone, the SAP Travel OnDemand app allows travelers to capture the details of an expense report. As a traveler, you tap Add Expense and then complete the required information, including the expense type, amount, and currency. You can add information about the location and vendor, as well as additional comments, as shown in Figure 1. You can also take a photo of the receipt as an integrated part of the app. The receipt is stored as an attachment to the expense item.

Figure 1

The iPhone app allows travelers to capture details about a travel expense item, including a photo of the receipt

Use Email to Create an Expense Receipt

Even if you do not have the SAP Travel OnDemand app installed, you can still use standard features of a smartphone — a camera and email — to capture expense details. First, take a photo of your receipt. From your media or photo folder, choose the receipt image and send it to the email address of the SAP Travel OnDemand system. The subject line gives the system additional details about the expense so that these items can be prefilled in the expense line item. The email should come from the email address associated with your SAP Travel OnDemand user. As described in the section, “Configuring Expense Types in SAP Travel OnDemand,” you can also maintain a synonym for the expense type. The subject line format, as shown in Figure 2, is:

 <EXPENSE TYPE> <Amount> <Currency> <Date>

Figure 2

You can send the photo of the receipt from your smartphone to the SAP Travel OnDemand system without an app

After you add the receipt, you receive an email confirmation from the SAP Travel OnDemand system. If you have not yet created an expense report, the receipt is placed into a list of unassigned expenses (Figure 3). This is the same list in which expense items from the credit card feeds are shown. If an expense report has already been created for the date range of the receipt, it is automatically assigned to that expense report.

Figure 3

The emailed receipt is shown in the list of unassigned expenses; the paper clip symbol indicates an attachment, which is the photo of the receipt

Create a Line Item in an Expense Report with the iPad

On the iPad, the SAP Travel OnDemand app allows you to create and manage entire expense reports, not just individual expense receipts. You can create expense reports, as well as add and change line items within existing expense reports, and then submit them for reimbursement.

After logging on, you are taken to the category of expense reports that have not yet been submitted (Figure 4). Other categories include pending (submitted but not yet reimbursed) and reimbursed expense reports.

Figure 4

Expense reports that have not yet been submitted for reimbursement are shown on the initial screen of SAP Travel OnDemand on the iPad app

You can add new expense line items within the expense report. The options include adding a receipt manually and assigning an expense from the queue of unassigned expenses (Figure 5). There are also special categories, such as adding mileage.

Figure 5

You can add new expense receipts within a travel expense report

When you create a new expense item, certain fields are required, such as the expense type, amount, and currency. You can also provide additional information, including the location, vendor, and other comments. You can also designate an item as being a personal item, such as a charge from a hotel bill that is not allowable by your company policy. In addition, you can take a photo of the receipt within the expense report, which is then shown as an attachment (Figure 6).

Figure 6

You can add new expense receipts within a travel expense report

See the video demonstration of how to add expenses from within a travel expense report using the iPad and SAP Travel OnDemand:

Create a Line Item in an Expense Report with Your Browser

Finally, you can create expense reports, including line items, using Web browser access to the SAP Travel OnDemand solution. The Home page is shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7

From the browser, you can access your trip requests, bookings, and expense reports within SAP Travel OnDemand

When you open an expense report, you can see the line items that have been created to date, change details, add attachments, and create new line items. The source of each line item is shown, whether the source is an email of a receipt, the mobile app, a manual entry, or a receipt from a corporate credit card feed (Figure 8).

Figure 8

You can add expense receipt items to an expense report

If an expense item is assigned from a credit card, as shown in Figure 9, the information is brought into the expense item detail. Some companies directly pay for the charges on corporate cards, so the expense report process assigns those charges to particular trips. Other companies ask business travelers to pay the corporate credit card balance themselves; in this case, the employees claim the expenses and are reimbursed for business charges on their corporate credit cards.

Figure 9

Expense details of a line item within an expense report

For all receipt line items, including those that come from credit card feeds, you can still attach images, such as photos or PDF documents, and add comments. In addition, you can itemize bills. For airline expenses, this process may involve breaking out the flight costs from the travel agent booking fees; for hotel expenses, you need to separate room charges from meals (Figure 10).

Figure 10

You can add receipt details, including itemization and images, to expense report items

Once your expense report is complete, you can submit it for approval, either from the iPad app or from the Web browser. With integration to SAP ERP, approved expenses are reimbursed by leveraging existing payroll or accounts payable processes, including assignment to controlling objects such as cost centers, internal orders, projects (work breakdown structures, or WBS elements), and sales orders.

Configure Expense Types in SAP Travel OnDemand

Once your expense report is complete, you can submit it for approval, either from the iPad app or from the Web browser. With integration to SAP ERP, approved expenses are reimbursed by leveraging existing payroll or accounts payable processes, including assignment to controlling objects such as cost centers, internal orders, projects (work breakdown structures, or WBS elements), and sales orders.

You can define the categories of expenses, and the limit defined for each, that are specific to your company. The administrator role has access to perform this configuration, which is used instead of a complete Travel Management implementation in an on-premise implementation of SAP ERP.

Follow menu path Admin > Settings. You see configuration options for each country version that is installed. The country versions contain the compliance logic required for a particular country to meet company, legal, and tax regulations. For example, in the US, customer entertainment is treated differently from a tax standpoint than a team dinner. In Germany, a series of rules is associated with per diems, how they are calculated, and when they are reduced — for example, daily per diem rates are reduced if breakfast is included in the hotel room charge.

On the Settings menu, using the US country version as an example, you see the heading TRAVEL AND EXPENSE SETTINGS US with a list of configuration options. The first option is Manage Expense Types (US). Figure 11 shows the following details that you can configure for each expense type:

• Expense Type. Examples of expense types include meal categories such as lunch and dinner and transportation such as airfare and rental cars. Expense types can also include non-travel-related expenses such as office supplies.
• Expense Category. These categories allow you to control additional information that is required. For example, the Lodging category requires check-in and check-out dates, while Entertainment requires the number of attendees.
• Relevant for Report Type. You can determine whether an expense type is relevant only for travel-related expense reports, non-travel-related expense reports, or for both (All). For example, you can designate meals to be allowed both for travel and non-travel expense reports, and allow airfare to be used only for travel-related expense reports. Non-travel-related expense reports do not require a trip date range, and are primarily used for expenses such as data plans and office supplies.
• Tax Group. The country versions for SAP Travel OnDemand are delivered with tax groups that allow you to designate expense types as domestic (exempt or taxable), import, or nontaxable.
• Payment and Taxation Rule. You can designate whether payment is specified individually per receipt and determine whether or not it is taxed. This allows you to, for example, set up entertainment expense types as being taxable.
• The Related Amount Settings tab provides you with these options that you can set, by expense type: Location, Amount Type, and Action When Maximum Exceeded. The Location option enables you to determine, by country, a different maximum amount allowable for an expense type. In the Amount Type field, you can define a default amount — for example, for a per diem or for a maximum amount that you want business travelers not to exceed. With the Action When Maximum Exceeded option, if you have chosen to enter a maximum amount, you can determine the system action when a business traveler exceeds that amount. Options include displaying a warning message; a hard error that does not allow a traveler to expense an amount above the maximum; and the requirement for the traveler to maintain a reason for exceeding the maximum amount.
• Valid From and Valid To. For each rule within the expense type, you can determine the validity date range for the configuration. If there is no limit, you can designate the date range to end with Unlimited. On the Account Determination tab, you can enter the account to which these travel expenses are posted, giving you the flexibility to post to different accounts for different types of expenses, and ensuring a smooth integration into SAP ERP for reimbursement processes.

Figure 11

On this screen, expense types can be created and maintained, along with their configuration options

In the Synonyms tab, you can identify other terms that a traveler can use — for example, Motel can be a synonym for Hotel. These alternative terms provide the business traveler with flexibility when emailing receipts into SAP Travel OnDemand.

You can also determine the types of approvals and audits that are required for expense reports using the configuration option Set Approval and Auditing Conditions for Expense Reports (US) on the Settings menu. Figure 12 shows the configuration that sets both an audit and an approval as required for expense reports that exceed $1,000. In addition, when both an audit and an approval are required, you can determine which takes place first, depending on legal, industry, or company requirements.

Figure 12

Approval and audit settings are made that apply to an expense report as a whole

Finally, the configuration option Set Approval and Auditing Conditions for Expense Reports – Expense Types (US) on the Settings menu allows you to configure whether an audit or an approval is required when a single expense line item reaches a particular limit.

The role of auditor is given to the team members responsible for carrying out the auditing function. Approval requests are routed to the manager that is maintained in the user record of the business traveler; the manager can also define a substitute for out-of-office periods.

Birgit Starmanns

Birgit Starmanns is a senior director in solution marketing at SAP for EPM (Enterprise Performance Management) and Finance solutions. Birgit has more than 20 years of experience across solution marketing, solution management, strategic customer communities, and consulting. Her functional experience is in finance, including core SAP ERP and enterprise performance management, as well as customer relationship management, which has allowed her to focus on the integration of cross-functional business processes. Prior to joining SAP, she was a principal in management consulting organizations, redesigning business processes and implementing SAP R/3 and R/2 for numerous Fortune 500 and SME companies, with a focus on management accounting. Birgit holds a BA and an MBA from the College of William and Mary.

You may contact the author at birgit.starmanns@sap.com.

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