{"id":7618,"date":"2023-09-22T09:25:55","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T16:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/?p=7618"},"modified":"2023-09-22T09:53:53","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T16:53:53","slug":"meet-oneexpense-the-automated-expense-reporting-backend-transforming-microsoft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/meet-oneexpense-the-automated-expense-reporting-backend-transforming-microsoft\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet OneExpense, the automated expense reporting backend transforming Microsoft"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MicrosoftFiling expenses exist for pretty much everyone. At Microsoft, employees are now empowered by a no and low touch reimbursement process that uses automation and machine learning to perform micro-actions on behalf of the users. With OneExpense, Microsoft\u2019s new automated expense reporting architecture, the company has transformed the entire expense process while sunsetting its previous solution.<\/p>\n

I like to think about how to make expenses less expensive. We were seeing employees spending 15-20 minutes for a simple expense. Can we automate it or give them a better experience?<\/p>\n

\u2014Amruta Anawalikar, senior program manager, Microsoft Commerce Financial Services<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI like to think about how to make expenses less expensive,\u201d says Amruta Anawalikar, a senior program manager for Microsoft Commerce Financial Services (CFS), the team responsible for expenses in Finance Engineering. \u201cWe were seeing employees spending 15-20 minutes for a simple expense. Can we automate it or give them a better experience?\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether it be travel for business, a working lunch, or supplies for a home office, employees everywhere are familiar with the process of saving the receipt, filling out an expense sheet, and then filing for reimbursement. Depending on how many items a user must sort through, this small-but-necessary piece of housekeeping can take up significant time.<\/p>\n

In rolling out the new OneExpense architecture, Microsoft gains access to automation and flexibility to implement future capabilities in a cloud-based environment that\u2019s supported by Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Azure.<\/p>\n

[Check out how automating expense reporting at Microsoft boosts the company\u2019s employee experience<\/a>. Learn how Microsoft is transforming its corporate expense tools with Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Dynamics 365<\/a>. Discover how Microsoft is creating efficiencies in finance with Dynamics 365 and machine learning<\/a>. Learn how Microsoft migrated critical financial systems to Microsoft Azure<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Making it easier to do more<\/h2>\n
\"Jolma
Easing the transition, employees faced moving to the new OneExpense automated expense reporting platform was pivotal, says Kris Jolma, a group finance program manager in Finance Operations. (Photo by Kris Jolma)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen we think about Microsoft\u2019s mission to empower end users to achieve more, that applies to internal customers as well,\u201d says Ashley Park, a program manager with Microsoft Financial Operations.<\/p>\n

MyExpense, the new expense app that runs on the OneExpense architecture, was developed with that principle in mind. Previously, Microsoft employees relied on a legacy on-premises system to manage expenses. This limited what users could do with the environment and meant that filing was a manual process.<\/p>\n

Built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Operations<\/a> and leveraging Microsoft Azure services, MyExpense is a modern cloud platform with the ability to introduce automated expense reporting through OneExpense.<\/p>\n

When an employee swipes a corporate card, OneExpense will identify which expense category it falls under\u2014travel, home office, or meals, for example\u2014then proactively sends an email a week later asking the employee to confirm.<\/p>\n

From there, users can make micro-changes without having to go into the tool. If there are no changes, the user can submit the expense report, which is automatically delivered to the appropriate destination for approval.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a better experience for everyone, which should see users spending less time on manual documentation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to go from 600,000 hours per year spent on expenses to 300,000,\u201d Park says.<\/p>\n

And CFS has an idea as to how they\u2019ll reach that goal.<\/p>\n

The things you can do with a modern system<\/h2>\n

OneExpense does more than automated expense reporting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are local, national, and international policies to take into account,\u201d Anawalikar says. \u201cWe have to think about automation differently. Dynamics 365 on Azure is such a rich infrastructure; we can make changes to the system that are separate from automation, which makes automation that much easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

A byproduct of the automation is that we can decrease the number of manual touches using AI. This supports compliance by design and reduces the number of audited expense reports downstream.<\/p>\n

\u2014Ashley Park, program manager, Microsoft Financial Operations<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Anawalikar
Microsoft\u2019s focus on automated expense reporting is making filing expenses less time consuming for the company\u2019s employees, says Amruta Anawalikar, a senior program manager for Microsoft Commerce Financial Services. (Photo by Amruta Anawalikar)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By layering automation within MyExpense, Microsoft can process functions separately. Microsoft Dynamics 365 empowers agility, giving the team enough flexibility to make changes without affecting scale. Differences across regions, including tax implications and other reporting requirements that differ around the globe, can be quickly addressed, enabling the team to transition from the legacy platform to MyExpense for over 180,000 users across 112 countries in approximately 12 months.<\/p>\n

It also means the automation can be used differently, leveraging OneExpense and Microsoft Azure services to support several efforts and teams across the expense lifecycle.<\/p>\n

\u201cA byproduct of the automation is that we can decrease the number of manual touches using AI,\u201d Park says. \u201cThis supports compliance by design and reduces the number of audited expense reports downstream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Approvers can now see if something has been flagged.<\/p>\n

When a manager gets an expense report, they\u2019ll see a risk score applied. Using Microsoft Azure Machine Learning and artificial intelligence, OneExpense can look at an employee\u2019s spending history and attributes of the report and identify if it is a low, medium, or high-risk submission.<\/p>\n

Eventually, OneExpense will be able to use AI to understand why a report has a high score, pointing the manager directly to the risk factor.<\/p>\n

This feature helps elsewhere as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cDownstream, the audit will have fewer reports added to the post-mortem,\u201d Anawalikar says. \u201cThe same risk score is part of our audit system. A threshold will show us whether an expense report should be audited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Readying Microsoft for MyExpense<\/h2>\n

To help migrate 180,000 Microsoft employees around the world to the new system, Kris Jolma, a group finance program manager in Finance Operations, focused on the benefits of transitioning to the new MyExpense solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just \u2018Here\u2019s a new tool, have fun,\u2019\u201d Jolma says. \u201cThere are 80,000 Microsoft employees in the United States, there\u2019s a lot of change management as we launch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Acceptance of automated expense reporting will take some time, as users are familiar with the traditional process of manually filling out and submitting sheets. But as employees recapture time and re-allocate it to something meaningful, the value of MyExpense becomes clear.<\/p>\n

This message is helping Microsoft ready users for a new experience.<\/p>\n

While configurations for specific expense categories across different regions will take some time to set up, the result is still improved productivity. This has helped improve adoption, as \u00a0 was recently rolled out in 66 of the 112 countries and regions where Microsoft has offices.<\/p>\n

Saying \u2018Hello\u2019 to a better experience<\/h2>\n

As MyExpense has become the go-to solution for Microsoft\u2019s expense reporting, Microsoft Digital Employee Experience (MDEE) has now retired the old on-premises servers that ran the legacy solution. This has created savings in support, maintenance, and operational costs, and also reduced the amount of time users spend on expenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsers weren\u2019t satisfied with the previous expense tool, it took too much time away from them,\u201d Anawalikar says. \u201cWe cannot provide an automated experience unless they\u2019re migrating to MyExpense.\u201d<\/p>\n

With more and more reports being submitted via automation instead of manual submission, Microsoft will soon reach a tipping point where time saved doing expenses is a measurable outcome. MDEE is closely engaged with new MyExpense users to further refine the process.<\/p>\n

We have scalable automation capabilities for expenses now. We can showcase this to our users and external customers.<\/p>\n

\u2014Kris Jolma, group finance program manager, Finance Operations<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working on features where users can customize their experience,\u201d Park says. \u201cRight now, the automated expenses are sent out to everyone a weekly basis, but we\u2019re adding ways to let users decide their own cadence.\u201d<\/p>\n

New automation and functionality added to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Operations will continue to grow the OneExpense environment, transforming more tasks, making life easier, and strengthening compliance. This will be a big deal at Microsoft and the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have scalable automation capabilities for expenses now,\u201d Jolma says. \u201cWe can showcase this to our users and external customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Key<\/p>\n