The Life of a Typical Report

May 16, 2006

Copyright 2006, R. James Holton, All rights reserved

 

 

The purpose of this document is to describe the steps that a “typical” ESS report goes through during its life cycle.   The ESS workflow process can be specified for each site differently and is highly configurable.  Below, we’ll assume that the default report-manager-audit workflow is being used. Here are the steps:

 

  1. With the Reporter module, a traveler will create a report.  There are various options including “Click Here to Start” and the “Day Trip Wizard” that are used to launch the creation process.  The best option depends on the menu that you are using.  The “Click Here to Start” option is available on the default menu for the “reporter@your_email_domain” user.
  2. A user may save their reports and come back to complete them later.  To save a report, without submitting it, select the “Save Report to Server” option.
  3. When a user has completed their report and is ready to submit it for management approval and payment, they select the “Submit for Reimburse” option.  The ESS workflow engine will route the report for approval according to rules specified in the rules.xml file.  At this point, the user will also deliver any required documentation (i.e., receipts) to the expense report processing area. Sometimes receipts are stapled to paper printouts of the report, or placed in a receipt envelop, or faxed/scanned.  After a user submits a report, they will receive an email that their report is being processed.
  4. Once a report is submitted, an email message is sent to the designated approver. In the default workflow that is shipped, this will usually be the manager as specified in the reporter’s user record.  The approver approvers the report with the “Approve Reports” option on the Reporter’s (and approver) module.
  5. The approver may either approve a report or reject it.   If the manager rejects a report, they must specify a reason and an email will automatically be sent back to the reporter about the rejection.  The reporter can then “fix” the report and resubmit it.  Approved reports, under the default workflow, are placed in the audit queue for expense report auditor.
  6. If a report doesn’t have any receipts that are required, the report will show in the “Fast Track” queue in the “Audit” section of the Audit module.  Auditors can approve these reports for payment without waiting for receipts to be delivered.  Fast Track reports as often created, approved and paid in the same day. 
  7. All reports ready for auditor review are shown in the “Edit and Audit” queue under the “Audit” section of the Audit module.  Expense report auditors will usually wait to audit a report until they receive receipts from reporters.
  8. Receipts are checked against the report.  The screen that the auditors use highlights each receipt that is required.   The auditor will check off each receipt.  Auditors can also edit a report if adjustments are required.
  9. Once the auditor has finished processing a report, they have three options.  They can reject a report.  In this case, the reporter will need to “fix” the report before resubmitting it.  The auditor may save their work and come back to the report later.  They often do this if they need to contact the reporter or approver for more information or maybe a missed receipt.  The auditor may also approve the report for payment.
  10. After a report has been approved, it must be added to the end-of-day batch.  The ESS default allows expense reports to be paid daily through the batch process.  To batch reports for payment, the auditor uses the “Release for Payment” option under the “Process” section of the Audit module.  Only reports that can be paid are shown in the “Release for Payment” list.  Reports that are being held because of a missing payments status, a hold status, etc. do not appear in this list.  The reports that will be shown in the list are controlled by the SQL statement that is found in the listsql subelement of the endofday element in the system.xml file.
  11. After all the reports for the day have been added to the batch, an auditor will generate the feeds for that day.  Usually there are site specific processes that are also run to move the ESS feeds to proper locations for further processing by the companies G/L and payment systems.
  12. As part of the end-of-day process, the auditor will run the “Payment Messages” option under the “Process” section of the Audit module.  This option will inform reporters that their report has been processed and they can expect payment.
  13. Sometimes a report will be in limbo because a manager is not approving or rejecting it.  The “Follow-up Notifications” option under the “Process” section of the Audit module will generate email for these reports to managers, and after a specified period of time, will escalate the approval process to the manager’s manager. To adjust the number of days for follow-up and escalation, to change the message text, you need to change sub-elements in the delinquentmessages element of the system.xml file.

 

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