INTERACTIVE INTERVIEW/SESSION

MANAGING TRAVEL EXPENSES

QUES 1 What kinds of systems are described here? What valuable

information do they provide for employees and managers? What decisions do
they support?

Firstly, Transaction Processing Systems are in place. The system is seen as

keeping track of elementary activities and transaction such as inputting of the
expense data via a web interface from whether they are working with a
computer, telephone, and palm handled device .In tracking, the system is seen
to automatically import travel and expense data from credit cards.

Secondly, there is also Human Resource System which is seen to capture number
of employees, positions and spell out their job requirements.

Furthermore, there is the Enterprise System which seeks to automate the entire
system to work to work together, thus executing the business process across
different levels to achieve managerial efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Finally, Executive Support System is also seen in place where with just the click
of the mouse, reports approved boosting accuracy and productivity.

From the above, Transaction Process System spells out rules for the staff to
comply with as well as creating a maximum amount for airfare, hotel rooms and
meals. It tracks vendors as well as how expenses are run.

On the part of managements, the Transaction Process Systems helps in

monitoring of expenditure. Management through the help of the Enterprise
system gets a feed back on activities as well as return on investment. It also
assists in making preferences as regarding vendor services.

QUES 2 What problems do automated expense reporting systems solve for

companies? How do they provide value for companies that use them?

With the use of the system, managerial decisions like minimising cost, increasing
efficiency in service, achieving higher profits margins and if possible minimising
or preventing fraud is achieved.

With the inculcation of automation of the system the problem of accuracy of data
has been solved as well as fraud detection. The problem of maximum
compliance to corporate policies and governmental regulations has been a thing
of the past. Problems arising from employees in conjunction with flight booking
have been dismissed. There has also been easy access to data importation from
corporate credit cards.

In pursuance of efficiency, not withstanding excellence the, the system has

catalysed cliental level achieve through satisfaction. Once customers are duly
satisfied, they have full confidence in the company and the result is the number
keep increasing implying higher profit margins.

QUES 3 Compare MarketStar’s process for travel and entertainment

expense reporting with its new process based on Concur Expense Service.
Diagram the two processes?

Comparing time spent in the manual process to time spent in the systemised
process, it is evident that less time is spent as well as reduction in labour.
Therefore, there is cost effectiveness.

MarketStar’s processes for travel and entertainment expense reporting used to

be paper based which involves manual way of doing thing. This was quite time
consuming and labour intensive because six hundred and fifty (650) out of
thousand, two hundred (1,200) employees file the expense reports to the
accounts department regularly. Also, three full time employees were required to
check proper tabulation and coding approval process and audit expense report
per week which delays for several weeks. However, the Concur Expense Service
uses software which automates the travel and expenses reporting process
through data provided via the web interface wherever they are working with
computer, telephone or palm held device which makes them faster, reduces cost
and labour. It also ensures efficiency and effectiveness as the Concur Expense
Service controls and minimises fraud and help companies comply with corporate
and governmental policies and regulation. Consequently, with the Concur
Software, employees who are not working are identified and unauthorised
purchases are detected and the employees are able tie their expense to specific
projects to client specification.

The manual process

 Manageme
nt

Auditors
Feedback

Accountant
s

Clerks

Information
desk

Management

The computerised process

Feedback
Auditors

Reimbursem
ents Data

QUES 4 What management, organisation, and technological issues did

marketStar have to address when adopting Concur Expense Service?
The managerial issues that MarketStar had to deal with includes

 Corporate expenses

 Travel and entertainment expense report

 Expense disbursements

 Coding of expenses

 Personal/skill

The organisational issues that MarketStar had to deal with includes

 Auditors to approve

 Processing time

 Employees who aren’t booking airline flights with their companies

preferred vendors

 Employees who are padding their expense account with fictitious expense
for taxis and tips

 Employees who use their expense account for unauthorised purchases

The technological issues that MarketStar had to deal with includes

 A system

QUES 5 Are there any disadvantages to using computerised expense

processing system? Explain your answer.