Add New Template - Automatic Report & Expense Creation

Feature Overview

This feature allows you to automate your expense management experience in two key ways:

1. Automatic Expense Creation: Automatically generate expenses from credit card transactions based on transaction templates, saving time and reducing manual entry.

2. Automatic Report Creation: Configure how reports are automatically generated, including options for statement cycle grouping, naming conventions, and automatic report submission.

How to Add a New Expense Creation Template to Your Transaction Templates

1. Access the Add Template Option
   From the Template navigation menu on the left side of the screen, select Add.
   
   

2. Check "Automatically Create Expenses"
   

   In the General tab, within the Options section, check the box labelled "Automatically create expenses". This will make the Expense Creation tab visible at the top of the window.

   

3. Select the Expense Creation Tab
   At the top of the window, click on the Expense Creation tab.
   
   

4. Configure Report Options
   These options allow you to define how the report will be interpreted when imported into the ExpensePoint system. If your organization has a specific naming convention, set it here. 

   1. Create Reports According to: Choose from various options of when you’d prefer reports to be created.
      1. Import Date: Expense Reports will be created on the date that the Credit Card statement is imported.
      2. Billing Period: Expense Reports will be created according to the billing period. Allows the option to set a cut off date after a selected number of business days and add any holidays if needed. Also allows the option to use the statement start date.
         
      3. Weekly Period: Expense Reports will be created for Sunday to Saturday every week. Allows the option to use the first day of the week.
      4. Biweekly Period: Expense Reports will be created for two-week blocks ending every other Saturday, starting on January 1st. Allows the option to use the first day of the bi-weekly period.
         

   2. Default Report Title: Choose from various options to customize report naming for better readability, including:  

      1. Month (1-2 digits or 2 digits) 

      2. Month abbreviation 

      3. Month name 

      4. Year (2 digits or full year) 

      5. First name 

      6. First name abbreviation 

      7. Last name 

      8. Last name abbreviation 

      9. Project Number 

      10. Report Number 
          

5. Set Authoring Options
   Control user permissions within the report by enabling or disabling the following:

   1. Allow users to add more expenses.

   2. Allow users to delete expensed transactions.

6. Configure Submission Options
   Manage how and when reports can be submitted:

   1. Prevent report submission until after cut-off-date: Check this to restrict submissions before the statement cut-off. You can specify the number of days after the cut-off before submissions are allowed, accounting for transaction posting delays (typically up to 2 days).

   2. Automatically submit report at this time: Enable this to have the report automatically submitted on the cutoff date.

For a step-by-step visual guide, watch the video below about the Expense Creation option for Adding a New Template.