Employees spend hundreds of hours a year applying for and settling travel claims off manual or semi-automated systems. This leads to many inaccuracies in amounts, budgets, and grant allocations.
Premier Analytics offers a Travel and Expense Management solution in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central that automates the process from travel requisition and approval to claims, changes, and reporting. It saves your team hours, giving you better control and visibility over expenses.
Key Features For Travel Management in Business Central
Travel Requisitions: Team or full users can create travel requisitions with multiple items such as accommodations, flights, meals, and incidentals. Procurement can source flight tickets and update the requisitions.
Automated Travel Request and Approval Workflows: Approvals can be configured to flow to line and budget managers as per the organization’s policies and procedures.
Manage Travel Requests Items in Multiple Currencies: Business Central enables organizations to handle flight tickets, accommodations, and conference fees in foreign currencies FCY.
Set up Reminders: Organizations can set up reminders with due dates for users to settle their claims upon return.
Detailed Reports: Businesses can generate detailed reports, analyze spending patterns in real time, and make adjustments.
Classification of one-off expense items vs settled on a claim: Classifying one-off expense items versus those that must be settled on a claim is crucial for accurate financial tracking and reimbursement processes. One-off expenses can be entered directly into the system using general journals. For settling claims, employees submit expense reports for planned travel expenses, these reports are reviewed and approved before being processed for reimbursements.
Ability to Integrate to mobile expense management tools if required: This integration optimizes the process of recording, submitting, and approving travel expenses, making it more efficient and user-friendly.
Compatible with Dynamics NAV and Dynamics BC’s latest versions: If your organization is transitioning from Dynamics NAV to Business Central, compatibility ensures that your travel management process is uninterrupted and with a consistent user experience. Compatibility with Business Central means leveraging new features and improvements in Business Central.
Integration with Travel Vendors: Business Central integrates with popular travel vendors, allowing businesses to manage bookings, payments, and invoicing from one platform. This ensures that all travel-related transactions are captured and recorded.
Benefits of Using Business Central for Travel Management
Centralized Data Management: Store all travel-related information, including bookings, expenses, and policies, in a single, accessible location.
Improved Financial Control: Business Central gives businesses greater control over their travel expenses by providing real-time visibility into spending and offering tools for accurate budgeting and forecasting.
Integration with other modules: Businesses can Integrate with other modules like HR and finance to get a holistic approach to travel management.
Cost Reduction: Through detailed and real-time reporting, organizations can identify opportunities to optimize travel costs through data-driven insights and automated processes.
Improved visibility: Gain real-time insights into travel spending, compliance status, and employee travel patterns.
Time-saving Automation: By automating tasks such as approval workflows and expense reporting, Business Central saves both employees and managers significant time, allowing them to focus on more important tasks.
Enhanced Visibility: Gain real-time insights into travel spending, compliance status, and employee travel patterns.
Implementation of Travel Management
Setting up travel management in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central involves several key steps to ensure seamless tracking and processing of travel-related expenses. Here is a general guide to get you started.
- Set up expense policies: This involves defining expense categories, creating categories for different types of expenses, and setting approval workflows to ensure compliance and control.
- Configure expense management: This involves enabling employees to submit expense reports through Business Central, ensuring they can attach receipts and other necessary documentation, and automating reimbursement processes to streamline employee payments.
- Integrate with the Travel booking system: This entails implementing travel requisition processes for reviewing and authorizing travel expenses before they are incurred. It also involves integrating with preferred travel vendors to manage bookings and negotiate rates.
- Track and analyze expenses: Use Business Central to track expenses in real time, providing visibility to spending patterns and generating reports to analyze travel expenses and identify areas of cost savings.
- Ensure compliance: Ensuring that all travel and expense policies are enforced through Business Central and maintaining audit trails for all transactions to ensure transparency and accountability.
Best Practices for Managing Travel with Business Central
Establishing Travel Policies: Clearly define your organization’s travel policies within Business Central, ensuring employees understand and adhere to the rules.
Training Employees for Efficient Use: Make sure all employees are trained on how to use Business Central’s travel management features. This will ensure that requests, approvals, and expense reporting are handled smoothly.
Integration with Third-party Applications
Connecting with Travel Booking Tools: Business Central can integrate with third-party travel booking platforms, allowing employees to book travel while ensuring all expenses are captured within the system.
Integration with Payroll for Expense Reimbursements: Business Central’s integration with payroll ensures that employees are reimbursed for travel expenses quickly and accurately.
Future Trends in Travel Management Software
AI and Predictive Analytics in Travel Planning
AI-powered tools can help businesses predict future travel costs and optimize travel planning to ensure cost-effectiveness.
Mobile Solutions for On-the-Go Approvals
With more employees working remotely or on the go, mobile solutions that allow for travel request approvals and expense reporting from anywhere are becoming increasingly important.
Conclusion
By leveraging the power of NAV/Business Central, businesses can significantly improve their travel management operations. From streamlining expense reporting to ensuring policy compliance, these ERP systems offer a comprehensive solution for optimizing travel costs and enhancing employee satisfaction. By following the best practices outlined in this guide, you can unlock the full potential of NAV/Business Central for your travel management needs. If you want to get started book a free consultation.
