Expense Reporting Best Practices Using Microsoft Dynamics SL
Project-driven businesses face many unique challenges. From different rates to multiple contractors, from client-specific considerations to simply meeting deadlines, it’s important for these organizations to get all the help they can get.
This is especially true in one area of finance that even product-based businesses have a difficult time–and that is expense reporting.
While many businesses use Microsoft Dynamics SL to bridge the gap between project management and accounting, there are still more lines to connect that any expense reporting software won’t just cut it. Read more
Evolve Your Business with Gorilla Expense for Microsoft Dynamics NAV
A mid-sized organization has its share of challenges especially in this era of technology and globalization. Particularly in business travel and expense management, finance managers in these organizations can find several pain points that eventually trickle its way to company operations, and finally the bottom line. Therefore, it goes without saying that an effective expense management tool is necessary for any organization if they want to succeed in what they do and find this success reflected in their financials.
Enter Gorilla Expense. Read more
Make Expense Reporting for Dynamics GP so Much Easier with Gorilla Expense
Gorilla Expense makes travel and expense reporting a breeze with an easy, seamless, and scalable solution for businesses of all sizes. It provides smooth and automatic integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP. In fact, with Gorilla Expenses proprietary integration software, it all happens in just one click of a button. Read more
Shopping for a T&E Expense Reporting Software? Here are the Must-Haves
There is always room for improvement when it comes to anything, and so, you’re probably reading this because you want to improve the current expense management system and processes you have.
So before shopping and procuring an expense management software, you have to look at the specific requirements of your organization. What does the day to day operations look like from an expense standpoint? Is the software going to scale and adapt to your needs? Do you deal with international travel and booking that needs to be addressed? Does your business use corporate credit cards?
Now that you have figured out your unique requirements, you have a better idea of what to look for to make your expense management so much more efficient. Take a look at these expense management software must-haves:
- Corporate credit card integration. This avoids corporate credit card expenses from slipping through the cracks, which can cost the company a lot in the long run. The software should be able to automatically import corporate card expenses and provide to the user for reconciliation.
- Mobile apps for Real-time tracking. Today’s technology makes it easy to capture receipts with just a click of a smartphone camera. This should be a standard feature of your software, in addition to easy mileage tracking using maps. If there is OCR in the mobile app, that would be a bonus!
- Real-time reporting. Time is money, and reports should be easy to create and submit without any delay. The software must be able to organize reports while providing a clear picture of T&E spend, which helps with improved visibility for the organization.
- Timely reimbursements. Reimbursements must occur in a timely manner, and automation plays a big part in this. The software should be able to support reimbursements either via payroll or through the ERP/Accounting system. It also helps to have automatic notifications and reminders for employees to submit their receipts to move things along.
- Easy Accounting system integration. The software must seamlessly integrate with Microsoft Dynamics ERP so that all the data can be automatically pushed into Dynamics and reconciled. This also avoids manual work, duplications and redundancy, while making the finance team’s lives much more efficient.
- Customer support. You should be able to easily implement your system, with solid adoption amongst your employees. If there are any issues, the software vendor must be able to address these promptly and thoroughly.
As you can see, there is not really one perfect solution that it comes down to. The best solution out there is really the one that works best for your company and your needs.
It is also important to understand how the expense management solution can configured to fit your organization. And there is where Gorilla Expense comes in. Gorilla Expense can accommodate various expense management needs, and we specialize in integrating the data into Microsoft Dynamics ERP. We work with various customers across the world and across myriad industries.
If you would like to see a live demo of the solution or have any questions, please contact us at sales@gorillaexpense.com
Make Expense Reimbursement for Dynamics NAV a breeze!
Gorilla Expense’s philosophy is ‘No More Hassle with Expense Reports & Reimbursements!’
With Gorilla Expense, companies can make the expense reporting process super simple, realize savings through automation and gain 100% visibility into corporate spend.
Gorilla Expense was selected from several companies and sponsored by Microsoft to showcase innovation in T&E expense reporting at the DEMO Conference.
Key Customer Benefits:
- Choose between a SaaS (Subscription) model OR On-Premise Licensed-to-Own model
- Use our OCR enabled mobile app to automatically extract data from receipts
- Submit mileage related expenses accurately through our Google Maps integration
- Automatically download AMEX, VISA & MasterCard Corporate Credit Card data
- Push expense data to Dynamics NAV with ‘1-click’
- Gain 100% visibility with expenses using our Analytics & Reporting module
Besides our core T&E Expense Reporting product, Gorilla Expense has also recently launched a new Timesheet product for Time & Expense capture as well as a very cool Purchase Card Reconciliation product for Microsoft Dynamics NAV that fit into our overall vision of creating the premier ‘Spend Management Platform’ for companies.
Contact us to learn more, discuss how we can help solve your challenges, and schedule a live demo of our solution.
Come See Innovation in Expense Management at Microsoft Convergence 2015
Convergence 2015, Booth # 1354
Microsoft Convergence 2015 is around the corner (3/16 to 3/19) and Gorilla Expense is excited to share several new features and updates for our T&E expense reporting solution. We will be doing live demos at booth # 1354. So come by, grab a seat and let’s chat!
Here is a quick recap of some of the new features:
- The new ‘never get in front of a computer’ mobile app
- Automated integration with Project module in Dynamics GP
- Do mileage expenses with integrated Google maps
- Ability to include multiple Dynamics NAV Dimensions
- The ‘FWD and forget’ email feature
- Advanced cost center allocation capability (split expenses across multiple companies, business units and cost categories)
- Plus several other additions and updates
We also have a secret new product launch at Convergence 2015 which will make (hint hint) expense reconciliation for AP a breeze! That is all we can say at this time. But come meet us at Convergence and learn more.
We look forward to meeting y’all in ATL! Follow us on Twitter: @GorillaExpense #CONV for the latest updates.
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Sincerely,
The Gorilla Expense Team
Our 2015 Goal – To Be More Than The Best Expense Reporting Software
Happy New Year and hope your 2015 is off to a great start! We are really looking forward to a very exciting new year with you. Our 2015 plan is to continue excelling in areas where we do really well:
Our #1 priority was, is and will always be our customers & partners
We maintain very strong personal and professional relationships with our customers & partners. The philosophy we live by every day is – ‘We are successful only when our customers & partners are successful’. We look forward to expanding our relationship and continuing to amaze our customers & partners in 2015.
Innovation
Our technology team really pushed the edge in 2014 and released several new features that our customers are raving about (read the raves here). Here is a recap of key features:
- The new ‘never get in front of a computer’ mobile app
- Automated integration with Project module in Dynamics GP
- Ability to include multiple Dynamics NAV Dimensions
- The ‘FWD and forget’ email feature
- Advanced cost center allocation capability (multiple companies, business units and cost categories)
- Do mileage expenses with integrated Google maps
- Plus several other additions and updates
We are going to continue the rapid development pace into 2015. We have exciting new-product launches planned this year. Stay tuned for more ‘Wow!’ news.
Having fun
Even after long days, the entire team at Gorilla Expense enjoys the work and has fun with it. We love working with customers, solving problems creatively and putting smiles on faces. We are ever-enthusiastic in coming up with new ideas to solve unique challenges. And we encourage you to contact us – it doesn’t even have to be expense reporting related! (isn’t that how great ideas are born?)
In conclusion, 2014 was one of our best years ever, and 2015 is going to be even better (and bigger!). We thank you for your support, guidance and friendship. Lets Rock On together in 2015!
PS: And don’t forget, we have a new Star Wars movie coming out in 2015 (a friendly reminder from the Gorilla techies)
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Sincerely,
The Gorilla Expense Team
Expense Tracking for Dynamics GP and Goodbye Business Portal in GP 2015
Microsoft officially announced that Business Portal and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 runtime will be discontinued in Microsoft Dynamics GP 2015. They plan to focus instead on including most of the functionalities directly into the core code base of Dynamics GP 2015.
“The plan is to basically phase out Business Portal as we release apps or modules inside Dynamics GP that replace the same functionality”, said Microsoft’s Kelly Obach, Manager of the Executive Business Center.
Business Portal has been an important and integral part of Dynamics GP for many years. Users could gain a quick peek into a company’s data and run graphical reports quickly. Of course all the goodness did not come without challenges, ranging from software requirements, tricky admin functionality of the module and proprietary architecture. Business Portal also provided a basic non-mobile solution for capturing project related expenses.
GP 2015 Features (Click on Image)
For customers looking to upgrade to Dynamics GP 2015 from older versions or for customers looking to migrate to GP 2015 from other systems, Business Portal will no longer be available. If T&E Expense Management in Dynamics GP is an important requirement for your business, what do you do?
That’s where ISVs like Gorilla Expense fill the gap with our expense reporting software for GP, which integrates with various versions (GP 10, GP 2010, GP 2013). While Microsoft Dynamics brings great features to the core ERP product, we bring the robust expense related pieces which include Mobile Apps, Web Application, Credit Card Integration and seamless + fully Automated Integration into Dynamics GP using our proprietary Integration App.
Not only does it solve the challenges and pain points for the customer, it also enhances capabilities within GP. Check out the video of our automated integration with GP (VIDEO)
Our solution is not only powerful but also very easy to use and intuitive. And most importantly, we pride ourselves in providing the best support you have ever seen from an ISV. Our goal is to ‘Wow!’ the customer every time. Don’t believe us? See what our customers are saying about us (TESTIMONIALS)
As a Premium GPUG member, you can also view the webinar we did with GPUG on ‘Make T&E Expense Reporting for Dynamics GP Painless & Paperless’ here (WEBINAR)
GPUG Premium Member
If you are interested in a personalized demo of our expense management software for Dynamics GP, contact us at sales@gorillaexpense.com
Import Credit Card Data into Dynamics NAV Through Automation
Gorilla Expense offers a robust and fully automated integration of credit card data into Dynamics NAV. This is available for NAV2009 and NAV2013. Using our proprietary Gorilla Expense Integration App, the AP Manager can import credit card transactions (or the App can do it 100% automatically), auto-categorize the transactions to specific expense types/cost categories using our mapping algorithm and then send the data to Navision with a click of a button!
Typically the data is sent to the Purchase Journals in NAV (video of integrating expenses to Purchase Journals) so that an invoice is created to pay the credit card company. But we can also send the data to the General Journals (video of integrating expenses to General Journals) as well as Purchase Invoice screen (Visit our main Expense Reporting for Dynamics NAV page for more details). Any relevant information supplied by the credit card company in the data file can also be referenced in the ‘Description’ field within the Journals or Purchase Invoice Lines in NAV.
The advantages that the Gorilla Integration App offers are:
* Send credit card data to NAV through automation
* Complete visibility of credit card expenses in NAV
* Prevent duplicate expenses in NAV
* Improve the reconciliation process through reporting and analytics within Gorilla Expense
* Eliminate time consuming manual work of keying in data
Gorilla Expense supports integration with all the major credit card companies – AMEX, VISA and MasterCard and their various file formats. The flavors of credit cards that we support range from the standard Corporate Credit Card for T&E Expenses to Purchase Cards or P-Cards for making purchases on behalf of the employer.
Here is how the process works:
Step 1> The AP Manager opens the Gorilla Integration App and logs in as the Admin. Here we have selected NAV as the system to send the data to. The Integration App is typically accessed by the Admin user (belongs to Accounting/AP/IT etc.) in a company.
Logging into Integration App as Admin
Step 2> Once logged in we want to select and import the credit card file supplied by the card provider that is typically downloaded by the Admin on a weekly or monthly basis. In this example, we are using a file supplied by our AMEX corporate card on a monthly basis. The following screenshot shows how the Admin can select the respective card and its format.
Selecting the card and format
**Note: Depending on how the credit card program is setup and services offered by the card provider, Step 2 can be fully automated with no human intervention. In that case, the Gorilla Integration App will automatically ‘pick up’ and import the latest file supplied by the card provider from an FTP site. AMEX typically enables this offering by default for all their corporate card and P-card programs and Gorilla Expense supports this approach**
In the screenshot below, the admin has selected the AMEX file – ‘Transactions.csv’ for import. The file was downloaded from our online AMEX account.
Selecting the file downloaded from the AMEX website
Step 3> Once the file is selected, the Integration App automatically associates the expense type and vendor using our mapping algorithm as shown in the screenshot below. This makes the transactions complete and no manual work is need to categorize the transactions.
Auto-allocation of expense type and vendor
Step 4> The Admin can now select all transactions or select specific transactions to import into the system and send to NAV. The screenshot below shows that two transactions were selected to send to NAV. Out of the two, only the one shaded in Green was sent. The transaction shaded in Yellow was already submitted earlier and is highlighted as a duplicate transaction.
The Gorilla Integration App prevents duplicate transactions from being sent to NAV by using the ‘Unique Identifier’ number supplied by the credit card as part of their file. This a is a powerful feature that saves AP Managers lots of time in checking for duplicates and also makes the reconciliation process easier.
Import transactions and prevent duplicates
Step 5> Once all the transactions are imported into the Gorilla application, they are dragged and dropped into a batch and send to NAV through automation using the same Integration App. The transactions show up as invoices within a batch called ‘GORILLA’. Depending on the payment method defined in the Gorilla application, the invoices are created to pay the employee or the corporate credit card.
In this example, our AMEX card has the payment method defined as AMEX which is tied to the ‘American Express’ Vendor ID defined in NAV. Here is a screenshot that show the expense data in Purchase Journals in NAV.
Expenses in Purchase Journals
All the details from the credit card transaction, namely the vendor and the report number are also made available to provide additional visibility for the CFO / accounting manager and to make it easier to search for expense data in NAV.
This explains how credit card data can be integrated into NAV using the Gorilla Expense Integration App. The App is very flexible in allowing credit card data from multiple cards and various formats to be imported into the system. If you would like to see a live demo of the App or have any additional questions, please contact us at info@gorillaexpense.com