How do construction companies automate expense reports in Oracle E-Business Suite?

Key takeaways

• The delivered EBS flow is Internet Expenses, Expense Report Export to Payables, then an interface process into Oracle Projects.
• Every step depends on project, task, expenditure type and organization being right on the original line.
• Vergo proposes those values per receipt line and delivers through Payables Open Interface or Expense Report Import.
• Receipts come by text from the field, on the cards crews already carry.

Where should you go next?

• Vergo's Oracle E-Business Suite integration
• What expense management software integrates with Oracle E-Business Suite?
• How to automate expense management in Oracle E-Business Suite
• Get started with Vergo

How does a construction expense reach Oracle Projects today?

Oracle documents a three-stage route. Expense reports carrying project and task are entered in Oracle Internet Expenses or Payables. After approval and audit, Expense Report Export sends them to the Payables invoice tables. Then PRC: Interface Expense Reports from Payables brings the costs into Oracle Projects as expenditure items.

A foreman who picks the wrong task, or leaves the expenditure type at a generic default, does not see an error. The cost simply lands on the wrong line of the job, and because Oracle Projects builds the expense account from the project information, on the wrong GL account too.

How do you automate it, step by step?

1. Connect EBS. Vergo connects through the Integrated SOA Gateway and reads open projects, tasks, expenditure types and organizations.
2. Connect your existing cards. No issuer loader to configure for these cards, and no change to your card program.
3. Collect receipts by text. Crews text receipt photos from the jobsite; Vergo follows up on anything missing.
4. Code to the project. Vergo proposes project, task, expenditure type, expenditure item date and expenditure organization per line, and shows why.
5. Review the exceptions. Route by project, amount or account, or rely on policy flags.
6. Deliver. Vergo writes to the Payables Open Interface with the projects columns filled, to Expense Report Import for reimbursements, or to GL_INTERFACE for overhead journals.

What changes for the project accountant?

• Validation up front. Oracle validates projects columns against Oracle Projects on import, so bad combinations are caught before they post, not at month-end.
• Task and cost code together. Where cost breakdown planning is on, Vergo proposes from the task and cost code combinations on that project.
• Fewer reclasses. Coding comes from how your team coded similar spend, so project accountants confirm rather than re-key.

A practical example

A civil superintendent buys erosion-control wattles and rents a plate compactor on the same day for a highway job. Vergo proposes the highway project with the site-prep task and a materials expenditure type for the wattles, and the same project with the compaction task and an equipment rental expenditure type for the compactor, citing earlier rentals from that supplier. The project accountant confirms, and both lines go to the Payables Open Interface with the projects columns filled.