T&E Automation Hub
Sapnity implemented a T&E Automation Hub on Power Platform that connects employees, managers, finance, ERP and corporate card data — replacing email-based claims with a guided, policy-aware experience and real-time spend visibility for finance.
1. Business Problem — Email-Driven T&E Chaos
The client had grown through acquisitions. Each region had its own way of submitting travel and expense claims: email templates, PDFs, spreadsheets and a legacy portal no one liked using.
- Employees submitted claims via email with attachments and ad-hoc Excel templates.
- Managers approved via email threads with no central view of pending or approved spend.
- Finance teams retyped line items into ERP and manually reconciled with card statements.
- Policy violations were caught only after the month-end, not at claim submission.
- Audit teams struggled to trace a single claim from request → approval → posting.
The CFO’s directive was simple: “One global T&E experience, one policy brain, one source of truth.”
2. Sapnity’s Mandate
- Design a T&E Automation Hub that can harmonize policies across regions.
- Embed policy checks at the point of submission, not just during audit.
- Reduce finance effort in validating, coding and posting expenses.
- Provide real-time visibility of spend by cost center, project, region and traveler tier.
- Lay a reusable pattern that could extend to corporate cards, advances and allowances.
3. Before — Fragmented, Manual T&E Lifecycle
Before Sapnity, the T&E lifecycle was stitched together by people rather than systems:
- Employees downloaded local Excel templates or reused old ones found in email threads.
- Receipts were attached as JPEGs and PDFs with no standard naming convention.
- Approvers saw only an email and attachments — no side-by-side view of prior trips or policy limits.
- Finance needed 3–4 systems open to validate a single claim (HR, ERP, card portal, travel portal).
- Month-end true-up felt like detective work, not a controlled finance process.
4. After — Sapnity T&E Automation Hub
Sapnity replaced the patchwork with a guided, policy-aware hub — built on Power Platform and wired into ERP, HR and card feeds. Employees see a single experience; finance sees a single truth.
Employees & Approvers
Travelers, line managers, project leads, regional finance approvers.
T&E App (Web, Mobile, Teams)
Guided forms for trips, expenses, per diems and mileage with receipt capture.
Policy & Routing Engine
Checks limits, project codes and approver matrix before submission.
Dataverse T&E Model
Trips, claims, line items, receipts, policy flags and audit trail.
ERP & HR Connectors
Cost centers, projects, employee profiles and postings into GL/AP.
Card & Travel Feeds
Corporate card transactions and travel bookings matched to claims.
Finance & Compliance Cockpit
Real-time dashboards of spend, violations and cycle times by region.
The T&E Automation Hub is now the blueprint for other finance journeys — supplier onboarding, cash advance management and project expense tracking.
5. Implementation Story
Phase 1 — Discovery & Policy Mapping
- Workshops with finance, HR and regional controllers across three hubs.
- Mapped existing policies, exceptions and approval hierarchies into decision tables.
- Identified 5 “painful paths” (international trips, project travel, late claims, cash advances, per diem).
Phase 2 — Dataverse T&E Model
- Designed tables for trips, claims, line items, receipts, policy results, audit events.
- Implemented region, entity and cost-center–based security to protect sensitive data.
Phase 3 — T&E App & Workflow
- Built responsive app usable from browser, mobile and Microsoft Teams.
- Configured Power Automate flows for approvals, reminders, rework and escalations.
- Introduced “manager-lite” view to approve multiple claims in one go.
Phase 4 — ERP, HR & Card Integration
- Synchronized cost centers, projects and employee master data into Dataverse.
- Posted approved claims to ERP with correct tax and GL coding.
- Matched corporate card transactions to claims, highlighting unclaimed spend.
Phase 5 — Rollout, Training & Governance
- Piloted with one region, then rollout in waves with localized policy variations.
- Finance champions trained to adjust policy tables without code changes.
- Monthly governance reviews to tune thresholds and streamline approval paths.
6. Technical Architecture — Layered View
7. Outcomes & KPIs
| KPI | Before | After Sapnity T&E Automation Hub |
|---|---|---|
| Average Reimbursement Time | 21–30 days | 7–10 days for compliant claims |
| Finance Touchpoints per Claim | 5–7 manual steps | 1–2 checks for exceptions only |
| Policy Violations Detected Late | ~35% detected after posting | >80% caught at submission |
| Unmatched Card Transactions | Significant month-end backlog | ↓ 60–70% due to automated matching |
| Employee Effort per Claim | Multiple emails, Excel versions | Single guided flow with mobile receipt capture |
| Audit & Traceability | Scattered across mailboxes | End-to-end trail in one system |
For the CFO, the biggest win wasn’t just faster reimbursements — it was trustworthy, on-demand visibility into how and where employees spend.
8. Sapnity Differentiators
- Pattern-First Finance Approach: T&E Automation Hub delivered as a reusable blueprint for other finance workflows.
- Deep ERP & Card Integration: Designed around SAP/D365/Oracle realities and card providers — not just a standalone app.
- Policy-As-Data: Finance can tune limits, per diems and exception rules without redeploying apps.
- Change Management Built-In: Designed with regional variations, localization and phased rollout from day one.
- Governed Power Platform: Security, ALM and environment strategy aligned with IT controls, not bolted on later.
Sapnity didn’t just digitize claim forms — we turned T&E into a governed, analytics-ready finance process that can scale with new regions, policies and systems.