Innovex

The problem

• Large volume of manual, paper–based expense claims
• Majority of workforce field–based
• Manual system resulted in poor spend visibility and accountability
• Lack of adherence to expense management policy
• Large amount of time–consuming and potentially inaccurate rechargeable expenses

The solution

• Fully automated T&E expense management for field and office based staff supporting over 40,000 expense claims per annum
• Web–enabled browser technology to enable Internet and Intranet access
• Reporting access to consolidated T&E data
• T&E rules built into the system
• Rechargeable expenses process automated

The benefits

• 70 percent reduction in time taken to process expenses
• Project managers spend 80 percent less time on expenses
• 15 percent of project administrators' time released by being removed from expense process loop
• Finance staff spend more time on value–added projects such as VAT reclaim
• Enhanced data visibility
• Faster reimbursement times and increased employee satisfaction
• Improved compliance to T&E policy
• Increased speed and accuracy in customer billing

Innovex is a leading provider of outsourced services that offers sales and marketing support to pharmaceutical companies through its medical representative teams, nurse advisor teams and product promotion solutions.

The company employs roughly 2000 staff, but only 200 of these are based in its UK headquarters in Bracknell. The rest are field-based – working with customers on their premises and frequently travelling between sites. Like any organisation with a large field work force, Innovex has to manage a significant number of expense claims. Each year they process in excess of 40,000 claims.

In contrast to the innovative world in which Innovex operates, its expense management system still used old-fashioned manual processes, based on a carbon paper based system. Employees had to write expense items manually into a physical expense sheet, which was then sent to an approving manager prior to forwarding to the finance office. Once the claims had been submitted, any queries needed to be followed up and dealt with by Accounts Payable. "The manual processes were hugely time-consuming for both the employees and the finance team" explains Doug Heritage, Project Manager at Innovex.

The previous system did not provide any visibility into expenses, which meant that Innovex did not have a clear overall picture of how and where its money was being spent, and although Innovex had business rules in place with regard to expense management claims, there was a general lack of adherence to these rules.

Innovex's parent company, Quintiles, also uses Concur® Expense to manage the travel and entertainment (T&E) expense management process. Innovex had been involved in the selection process, during which Concur had been chosen from a closely screened shortlist. When it came to choosing their own system, Innovex reviewed a number of options and concluded Concur Expense was the right solution. As Heritage explains, "Not only were there natural advantages to using the same system as Quintiles, but we also felt that it was the best fit for Innovex in terms of our financial, technical and functional needs."

A solution that met the needs of their field-based workforce was essential. "It was important that all our staff could manage their expenses from wherever they were based," says Heritage. "Concur can be accessed via the Internet, ensuring that all our field-based staff using customer machines can access the system."

Concur Expense was piloted in June 2002 with approximately 80 field staff and 30 office staff accessing Concur via the Internet and the company's Intranet. By December 2002, the system was rolled out to everyone at Head Office with the majority of field staff following in Q1 2003 – a total of approximately 1,000 users throughout the UK and Ireland.

"The flexibility of the solution allowed tailoring to match our precise needs. For example, the system maximises data validation upon entry, which accelerates approvals and reduces subsequent coding rework by Finance staff. This has a positive effect on our profit and loss statements and has given us a rapid return on investment," says Heritage.

The claims process at Innovex is now much simpler. Employees enter their expenses electronically and, once submitted, an automatic email goes to the appropriate line manager requesting approval.

Once approval is received, the accounts team checks the receipts against the claims and, once satisfied that there are no discrepancies, the expenses are refunded directly into the claimant's bank account.

Following the implementation of Concur, expense reports can be submitted on both a weekly and daily basis where necessary. The new automated expense management system has reduced the amount of time it takes to claim reimbursement for expenses by 70 percent from an average of ten days down to three days.

"Project managers now spend 80 percent less time on managing expense claims, and project administrators – who used to spend up to 15 percent of their time handling T&E expenses – are taken out of the process loop completely," explains Heritage. "That's led to significant efficiency savings for us."

Not only does this provide a boost for staff morale, it means that rechargeable expenses from client project work are far more accurate. The need to rework expense claims and customer recharge invoices is much reduced and, as a result, customers receive more timely and accurate billing. Accounts Payable can, as a result, assign resources to more value-added tasks such as exceptions and VAT audits on claims, which extend the savings delivered by Concur still further.

Compliance to corporate T&E policy has increased as a result of better visibility to rules. Business rules are written into the system and when an expense is out of policy, a message alerts the claimant to this. Now that staff understand the policy better, compliance has improved.

All the data within the system is now consolidated and Innovex has access to a variety of reports which allow them to analyse their T&E spend better and make more informed decisions.

We're very impressed with Concur Expense so far," says Heritage. "The company has achieved some great benefits from implementing the system and employee morale has increased as a result of a speedier and less complicated expense claim process."