Administrator’s Installation Checklist

May 15, 2006

Copyright 2006, R. James Holton, All rights reserved

 

 

The system has been physically setup.  ESS is delivered with a database and setup that may or may not meet your needs. You have to make some changes.  At a minimum you’ll need to add users to the system.  But realistically, you’ll want to change the system so that it contains your expense types, maps to your G/L, routes reports for approval according to your rules, etc.  When installing ESS, here are the items that you’ll want to deal with:

 

  1. Understand the default data.
  2. Document  your expense process
  3. Understand your G/L account numbers and their structure
  4. Specify your report approval process in Status.xml
  5. Define your departments in the audit module
  6. Define your expense types in the audit module
  7. Define your payment types required in the audit module
  8. Specify you mileage reimbursement rate
  9. Java script profile generation
  10. Populate the user table
  11. Define auditors and support personnel in security.xml
  12. Tailor guidelines
  13. Look a offset and process entries in System.xml
  14. Other control tables
  15. G/L  and A/P feeds
  16. ACH Payments
  17. Expense log
  18. Professional services installation checklist

 

Here they are covered in more detail

 

Understand the default data

 

ESS is installed with default data in its database tables.  The expense types, payment methods, routing rules and guidelines shipped with the system can be used as a starting basis for tweaking the system to meet your needs.  To take a look at the default data, you’ll need to log into the audit module as the ‘admin’ user.  If you have used an installer to install ESS, the login information can be found in the ‘ConfigurationInfo.txt’ file.  The login email of the admin user is ‘admin@’ plus your normal email domain.

 

Once logged in, you will notice that the audit menu contains two sections that, at this point, are important to you.  They are:

 

  1. File Editors – These menu choices let you review and change any of your control tables, such as expense types, payment types, departments, guidelines, etc.  You can access each item’s edit screen by clicking on the item (e.g., click on ‘Departments’).  You notice that each screen has a button on the bottom labeled ‘… List’.  Click on this to get a list of all the items in the table.  You can then select an item to review.
  2. User File – The user table functions similarly to the other file editors.  However, since the user table has a large amount of columns, it is broken down across several screens.  Also, the list buttons require that some selection criteria be entered to narrow down the search for users.

 

Once you have reviewed the default data you’ll be ready to change or modify it to meet your organization’s requirements.  More detailed information on the edit screens is found below.

 

Document your current expense process

 

Next step is to document your current expense approval and audit process.  Ask yourself these questions:

 

  1. Before a report is paid, what signatures are required on the report?  Does it depend on the department, reason, or user?
  2. What receipts are required on your report?  Do all expenses require a receipt or are their minimum amounts?
  3. Do you have an expense policy that establishes maximum and allowable expenses?  Can you quantify the policy?
  4. Do you audit each report?  Will you only pay a report if it meets certain criteria?
  5. Do reporters enter their own reports or are they entered by an administrative assistant?
  6. How often do you pay reports?  How do you pay a report?  Is it through a separate check, part of payroll, or via your bank?  Do you treat reporters as A/P vendors?
  7. What G/L and A/P system do you use?
  8. What changes would you like to make in the process?

 

You may want to write these answers down and possibly draw a workflow diagram of what happens to a report and the associated processes within your organization.

 

 

Understand you G/L account number

 

Normally expenses are booked to your G/L system.  This may be done directly or as part of the A/P process.  G/L numbers usually have a defined structure to them.  Certain digits represent certain things.  For example, while one part of the number will represent the expense type, say ‘meals’, another part of the number may represent which group originated the expense, say ‘department’.  In some G/L systems, the number may occur over several fields.  For example a G/L entry may specify the expense type and cost center in two different fields for one system, but combine them in another.  It is important that you understand how your G/L classifies entries.  With the default set of screens, you can classify an expense with the following fields:

 

  1. Department the expense is tied to.  The department can represent a department, cost center, profit center, etc.
  2. Department the user is associated with.
  3. Department the report is tied to.
  4. Client a travel purpose is tied to.
  5. Project or product a travel purpose is tied to.
  6. An auxiliary or secondary reason for the travel purpose.
  7. A special code assigned to the employee for tracking purposes.
  8. The employee’s personnel number.
  9. A location that is associated with the report.
  10. A location the employee is associated with.

 

There are other options, but you get the picture, the default system is capable of classifying your expenses in a multitude of ways.  You need to determine the simplest way that will fulfill your recordkeeping requirements.

 

 

Specify report approval process in Status.xml

 

The routing process is complex as it is very flexible and powerful.  The default installation is delivered with three routing rules:

 

  1. default (routing rule not specified or does not exist) - All reports are forwarded to the individual specified in the USER table manager column of the individual who is submitting the report.  The manager will receive email notification of any report pending approval. After the manager’s approval, the report is ready for audit unless the manager’s approval limit is below the amount of the report.  If the report exceeds the manager’s limit, the report will be forward to that manager’s manager. This person must have the limit required to approve the report or else the report will require their manager’s signoff.
  2. STD – Reports are forwarded to a person’s manager, as determined in the manager field of the person’s user record, for approval after which they are ready to audit unless the report was cross charged to a department other than the one the reporter belongs to.  If this happens, the report must also be approved by the manager of the department being charged, as determined by the personnel number in the manager field in the department record.  Note: This setup doesn’t use limit checking.  To evoke limit checking you’ll need to modify the Status.xml  file.
  3. SPECIAL – Reports must be approved by the reporter’s manager, as determined in the manager field of the person’s user record, and by the department’s administrative assistant, as determined by the personnel number is in the administrative assistant’s field of the department.

 

Setting up a new routing rule is covered in the “ESS Professional Services Manaul.”

 

 

Define your departments in the audit module

 

Each expense is eventually assigned to a department.  Users are also assigned to departments for expense tracking and report routing rules.  Under the ‘File Edit’ section you can enter a new department or modify and existing one.  The department screen contains the following information:

 

  1. Dept Code – This is a reference to the department that will appear on the report or that the user will enter.  This must be unique. (Required – can be the same as the GL# in most cases)
  2. Description – A description or comment about the department.
  3. G/L# (Cost center) – This is the code that will be passes along to your general ledger. (Required)
  4. Company code – Classifies the department as belonging to a specified entity. This can also be passed along to the G/L.
  5. Part of Department – This is the department (i.e., Dept Code) that this department belongs to.  For example, “accounts payable” may belong to “accounting” which may further belong to “finance.”  This is used by certain routing rules to route reports. 
  6. Admin Assistant# - This is the personnel number of an administrative assistant or auditor that is assigned this department.  This is used by certain routing rules to route reports or assign audit functions.
  7. Location code – Not currently used.
  8. Manager# - This is the department manager’s personnel number. This is used by certain routing rules to route reports.
  9. Routing rule – This is the routing rule that is used to route reports that are charged to this department. (Required)

 

You need to have your departments defined before you can assign reporters to them.

 

 

Define your expense types in the audit module

 

ESS comes pre-loaded with a list of expense items.  You can have as many expense types as you want, but you should tried to keep to the minimum number of expense types necessary as fewer choices are easier on your reporters when they enter data.  You must have expense types for mileage, lodging and personal expenses.  We recommend that you stick to the defaults for these.  Here are the fields that make up the expense type record:

 

  1. Expense Type – Unique identifier for the expense type.  This will be displayed in dropdown lists as well as be used in all records regarding this expense.  In the default database, this can be up to 20 characters.
  2. Description – Further description of the expense.  Only used within the edit module.
  3. Guideline Category – Guideline category of the expense.  For example: “Meals” may be used for expense types “breakfast,” “lunch” and “dinner.” 
  4. Show in dropdown – A “yes” is required to show in a dropdown. Some expense types, such as mileage or lodging, are usually excluded from dropdown lists as they are automatically assigned by the mileage screen and the hotel receipt screen.
  5. Merchant Required – A “yes” indicates that a reporter will be required to specify the merchant that the expense was incurred with.  This can be used to accumulate data on specific expenses that can be used for purchase decisions or negotiations.
  6. Attendees Required – A “yes” will require that the reporter indicate all other persons present when the expense was incurred. Entertain related expenses usually require this information.
  7. Comment Required – A “yes” will require the reporter to provide further explanation for the expense.  The default required length is 10 characters.  It is often used for miscellaneous expenses or for supplies.
  8. Omit Depart G/L Code – A “Yes” omits passing special information along to a G/L feed.
  9. Omit Special Employee Code – A “Yes” omits passing special information along to a G/L feed.
  10. Show Category 1 – The user record has a show list field.  A reporter will only see the expenses that are assigned to their show list value.
  11. Show Category 2 – see above.
  12. Show Category 3 – see above.
  13. Show to auditor – expense type will be accessible to auditors in the audit module.  Should normally be “yes” to provide to the flexibility most auditors need.
  14. Receipt required at – The dollar amount that if exceeded, will indicate that a receipt is required for this particular expense.  A zero means that a receipt is always required.
  15. Order in List – relative order in the drop-down list.
  16. Department – reserved.
  17. G/L Account – Account to debit when this expense type is specified.
  18. Dedicated Payment Method – Ties this expense to a specific payment type. Note that this payment type may then only be used with dedicated expenses.
  19. Special Handling – “HOTEL” indicates that this will appear on the hotel receipt expense breakout lists.  A “NOSPLIT” indicates that this expense cannot be on a split receipt or hotel receipt.

 

 

Define your payment types required in the audit module

 

This describes the various ways a reporter will pay for an expense.  It is best to stick with the default types and add others that are needed.

 

  1. Charge Type – Name used to track this payment type.  “Cash” and “Visa” are examples of commonly used types.
  2. Description – Further description field.
  3. G/L Account – This is the G/L account to credit when this charge type is used
  4. Reimburse employee – A “Yes” indicates that a reporter is reimbursed when they use this charge/payment type.  A “No” is usually used for prepaid items or company paid credit cards.
  5. Show in dropdown – A “No” will hide this payment type from normal usage.
  6. Order in List – Relative order in the drop-down list.
  7. Department – reserved.

 

Specify mileage rate

 

ESS allows default mileage rates to be tied to time periods.

 

Profile Generation

 

See the “JavaScript Profile Generation” under Audit Documents.

 

Populate the user table

 

Each reporter, approver and auditor must have an entry in the user table.  The following information is entered on the primary screen:

 

  1. Personnel # - Personnel number that must be unique
  2. Last Name – last name
  3. First Name – first name
  4. Location/Grouping – can be the city, department, building, etc of the reporter
  5. Phone – user’s telephone number
  6. E-Mail – email address, must be unique.  Used for login ID.
  7. Department – Department number from department table
  8. Employee Tracking Code – special accounting code (optional)
  9. Bill Expenses – “Yes” will default bill fields on screens to “Yes”
  10. Menu Level – Corresponds to the desired content(n).html that shows on the left side of the report/approver module.
  11. Approval Limit – Dollar limit that an approver can sign on
  12. Guideline Category – Guideline category that this user should be checked against
  13. Reimbursement Method – Method by which this reporter should be paid for expenses
  14. Show Expense Categories – Tells the system what expenses should be displayed in pull-down list.  See the expense type description
  15. Profile Active – if “No” the user cannot log into the system
  16. Password – Used to reset the user’s password
  17. Password Last Changed – Date the password was issued of last changed
  18. Manager # - Personnel number of this user’s manager

 

 

There are other screens available to control additional user attributes.  They will be covered in a future updates to this document.

 

Define auditors and support personnel in security.xmls

 

The security.xml file controls access to important ESS functions.  The functions are:

 

  1. Audit – Any user who uses the audit module must have their email address in this section of the security.xml file.  Audit menu information for each user is also entered here.
  2. Generate Profile – To run the ESS profile generation utilities, a user’s email address must be in this section.
  3. Reset Passwords – To reset passwords, normally a help desk function, a user’s email address must be in this section.

 

 

Tailor guidelines

 

ESS comes with default set of expense guidelines that can serve as a basis for yours.  These guidelines enforce corporate policy by flagging reports that don’t meet policy to approvers and auditors.  The system will also use the guidelines to route reports based upon compliance.  The guideline screen contains the following fields that can be modified to meet your needs:

 

  1. Guideline Group – Each user profile specifies a guideline group to use for compliance checking.  It is possible to have more that one group defined for your company.
  2. Expense Category – This matches the category field in the expense record.
  3. Location – Matches against the report location field.  A blank location is the default.
  4. Check Method – These tell the guideline check process how to check an expense item.
    1. Daily – Check expense amount for any given day.
    2. Days – Check the average expense amount over the purpose.
    3. Nights – equals “b” minus one
    4. Report – total amount of the report
    5. Line – not currently used
    6. Total –Check total of an expense category for the report
    7. Reimburse – total reimbursement amount of the report
    8. Advance – total advance amount on the report.
    9. Weekend – replaces “a” for a weekend date.
    10. Date – checks for old receipts
  5. Limit Amount – amount used in the check method.  For the date method this is the number of days old.
  6. Warning Message – Message that will display on the guideline check if guideline check fails.
  7. Company – not really used.  Select any available company to pass check if edit is enforced.

 

See the “Professional Services Manual” for more information on setting up guidelines.

 

Other Control Tables

 

ESS contains several other control tables that assist in information capture and compliance checking.  These are:

 

  1. Clients – list of clients that will appear on a trip purpose pull-down.
  2. Projects – list of projects that will appear on a trip purpose pull-down.
  3. Merchants – list of merchants that will appear in the merchant pull-down on receipt entry screens.
  4. Company Codes – list of legal entities.  See the professional services manual.
  5. Locations – List of cities or geographical locations that map to the locations used in the guidelines.
  6. State Table – Used for accepting a report and initial routing.  See the professional services manual.
  7. Special Handling – reserved for feed processes. .  See the professional services manual.

 

G/L and A/P Payments

 

ESS is capable of providing feeds to your accounting and payment systems.  Most systems have standard import specifications.  For information on constructing a feed see the “Professional Services Manual” and the “Programmers Manual.”

 

 

ACH Payments

 

ESS comes standard with an ACH feed that will generate a NACHA file for submission to your bank. Consult the “Professional Service Manual” for more information.

 

Expense log

 

ESS logs most significant actions into the expense.log.  The expense.log should be backed-up and then deleted so it doesn’t get too big.  If you have any problems, support personnel will need the expense.log so be prepared to send it with any support request. The log is located in different places, depending on your system and file setup.  You may have to search to find it.  Here are some possible locations:

 

  1. If you have a c:\ess folder on Windows or /var/ess folder on Linux/Unix, the expense.log file will be there.
  2. On Linux/Unix, the log may be in the ~/var/ess folder if one exists and the process that starts Tomcat has access to this folder.
  3. On Linux/Unix, the log may be in the ~ folder if one exists and the process that starts Tomcat has access to this folder.
  4. On Windows, the log maybe in the c:\windows\system32 folder.
  5. On Linux, the log maybe in the {tomcat}/bin folder.

 

 

Professional services installation checklist

 

Although ESS is open and fairly easy to tweak to your needs, you may want to take advantage of having a service professional setup your system.  You’ll need to provide information about your company and you processes.  This list is targeted towards getting a smaller company up and running with a standard package as quick as possible. This checklist assumes that there are no ACH payments, no credit card import data, and no central-paid credit cards.  It also assumes that you will peruse many of the control tables and make modifications on your own.  If the service professional needs more information, they can let you know.

 

At a minimum, the following information should be aggregated for each new installation and given to a service professional:

 

  1. If reports requires more than the signature of the immediate manager and processing by an auditor, provide a description of the desired workflow.
  2. Provide a list of the G/L accounts (i.e., chart of accounts).   If the list is really long it can be limited to accounts related to travel expenses and to the accounts used to reimburse employees for expenses.
  3. Provide an example of an A/P entry.
  4. Provide a list of departments.
  5. What is the current mileage reimbursement rate?
  6. Provide a list of users with:
    1. Personnel number (if they have it)
    2. Last name
    3. First name
    4. Email
    5. Depart they belong to (if they have multiple departments)
    6. Phone number
    7. The person who is their manager
  7. If they have any client or project tracking, provide the appropriate list

 

The service professional will use this information to setup your system.

 

 

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