How do construction companies automate expense reports in SAP Business One?

Key takeaways

• Business One ties spend to a job through the project code; the Project Management module rolls linked documents up by stage and subproject.
• Card spend that posts without a project code is missing from the job, and one with the wrong code overstates another job.
• Vergo proposes G/L account, project code and distribution rules per receipt line.
• Crews text receipts; entries post through the Service Layer.

Where should you go next?

• Vergo's SAP Business One integration
• What expense management software integrates with SAP Business One?
• How to automate expense management in SAP Business One
• Get started with Vergo

Why do construction expenses slip past the job in Business One?

Business One lets you set a project code on the header of a document or on each row, and row codes carry through to the journal entry. That is flexible, but it depends on the person entering the transaction choosing the right project for each line. When card statements are keyed in at month-end, the accountant keying them rarely knows which job the hardware store receipt belonged to.

The Project Management module makes the gap visible. SAP's guide describes subproject actual cost as the sum of linked A/P invoices, and lets you assign journal entries and A/P invoices to a project. Spend that never got a project code simply does not appear.

How do you automate it, step by step?

1. Enable the Service Layer. IT enables access on your Business One server once. Vergo reads your chart of accounts and projects.
2. Connect existing cards. No card applications, no re-issuing and no banking change.
3. Collect receipts by text. Superintendents text a photo from the jobsite; Vergo chases missing ones.
4. Code each row. Vergo proposes the G/L account, project code and distribution rules for every receipt line, with the reason shown.
5. Approve if you want to. Route by project, amount or account, or let policy flags catch exceptions.
6. Post. Vergo posts journal entries, or A/P invoices for vendor-billed spend, through the Service Layer.

How should you set up project codes first?

Use one project code per job, and if you use Project Management, link each managed project to its financial project so stages and subprojects pick up the documents. Rename the five predefined stages to your own phases if that is how your project managers report. Vergo then learns which job and distribution rules each kind of spend belongs to from what you have already posted.

A practical example

A roofing contractor's crew lead buys underlayment for one job and fasteners for another on a single receipt. Vergo proposes the roofing materials account on both rows, with each job's project code, and the crew distribution rule your team uses for that crew, citing the last order from the same supplier. The office manager confirms and the journal entry posts with two rows and two project codes.