Expense Requests Efficacy Dashboard
The OBI Expense Request Efficacy (ERE) Dashboard helps business unit managers monitor their units' expense request processing accuracy and cycle times. Use this dashboard to help identify trends and issues that create opportunities for training, policy discussions and resource allocation.
Approval and Rejection Tracking
- Summarized approval and rejection counts and rates by organization
- Shows rejection points in the approval process (local approval or audit)
- Displays rejection reasons by frequency for each organization
- Breaks down data by preparer, supplier/payee, or approver to support targeted training
Processing Time Metrics
- Average submission, approval, and total processing times by organization
- Trend line charts to visualize performance changes over time
- Focus options for specific expense request categories
Detailed Analysis
- Drill-down capability to examine individual expense requests behind summary count
- Displays information in both tabular and graphical formats
The Expense Request Efficacy (ERE) Dashboard is not listed independently in the OBI Dashboards menu and is instead accessed as a link from the OBI Expense Request (ERR) Dashboard home page.
Launch OBI Expense Request Efficacy Dashboard
| Select this link... | ...for reports about | |
|---|---|---|
| ER Rejection Stats | Shows rejected or returned transactions before final approval. Displays expense requests by preparer, approver, auditor organization, and rejection reason. | |
| ER Rejection Detail by Employee | Shows expense request approval and rejection/return counts by preparer, approver, and supplier/payee. Calculates the percentage of transactions that were rejected or returned. | |
| ER Processing Stats | Shows expense request transaction counts and average processing times for submissions and approvals. Displays trend charts showing how these averages change over time. | |
| ER Detail by Employee | Shows expense request spending amounts and transactions counts for approved and rejected/returned transactions by supplier/payee, preparer and approver. |
Expense Request (ER) Rejection Statistics
This report displays rejection rates for expense requests by organization, preparer, approver type (local or auditor), and rejection/return reasons. Results help identify areas that need additional training to reduce rejection and return rates.
Sample Business Questions
Rejection and Return Analysis
- How many expense requests have been rejected or returned before final approval?
- How many rejections come from departmental approvers versus auditors?
- What rejection rate differences exist among organizations, and do rejection reasons explain the variations?
Training Support
- What common rejection and return reasons occur most frequently?
- What issues do auditors find that approvers miss?
Processing Performance
How do expense request processing throughput and resubmission volumes look at a high level?
Selection Criteria
To view results, select a Budget Unit or Organization and date range.
When selecting a Perspective:
- Preparer Work Assignment Org returns the expense request activity for the preparers who are assigned to the specified organization or lower organizations in that hierarchy.
- Task Org returns the expense request activity that charges PTAs that belong to the specified organization or lower organizations in that hierarchy.
Report Views
The ER Rejection Statistics report has five sections that displays different perspectives on expense request rejections/returns.
In the reports and graphics, rejection counts include both rejections and expense request returns to the preparer.
Rejection Summary
Displays rejection summary counts and percentages by who rejected: approver, auditor or both. If the expense request was rejected by both approver and auditor, it is not double counted in the other categories.
Rejection Summary by Organization
Displays rejection summary counts and percentages by organization based on the organization perspective selected. Shows who rejected: approver, auditor or both. If the expense request was rejected by both approver and auditor, it is not double counted in the other categories.
Rejection Summary by Expense Request Category
Displays rejection counts and percentages by expense request category (i.e. easy pay, expense report, visitor reimbursement, etc).
Approver Expense Request Rejection Count By Reject Reason
Displays, in two different views, expense request rejection reasons by approver.
The Approver Expense Request Rejection Counts by Reject Reason may not match the Rejected by Approver counts because the approver used more than one reject reason or chose no reject reason.
Auditor Expense Request Rejection Count by Reject Reason
Displays, in two different views, the reasons for expense request rejections by the auditor.
The Auditor Expense Request Rejection Counts by Reject Reason may not match the Rejected by Auditor counts because the auditor may have selected more than one reject reason or may have chosen no reject reason.
Expense Request Detail Drills
For each of the ER Rejection Statistics sections, you can drill on the expense request transaction counts or the pie chart slices to display the Expense Request Detail on the related expense requests. You can further drill on the Expense Request Transaction Number to view the Expense Request Approval Detail or the Expense Request Dashboard.
Expense Request (ER) Rejection Detail by Employee
This report displays rejection and return rates of expense requests by preparer, approver and supplier/payee.
Sample Business Questions
Preparer Performance
- For each preparer, what quantity and percentage of expense are rejected or returned?
- Which preparers need additional guidance and training?
- How is the expense request workload distributed among preparers?
Audit Analysis
- What reasons do auditors reject an expense request that an approver approved?
Supplier/Payee Analysis
- What number and percentage of expense requests get rejected or returned per supplier/payee?
- What reasons cause these returns?
Selection Criteria
To view results, select a Budget Unit or Organization and date range.
When selecting a Perspective:
- Preparer Work Assignment Org returns the expense request activity for the preparers who are assigned to the specified organization or lower organizations in that hierarchy.
- Task Org returns the expense request activity that charges PTAs that belong to the specified organization or lower organizations in that hierarchy.
Report Views
The ER Rejection Detail by Employee displays the counts of expense requests that have and have not been rejected/returned and the percentage of those rejected/returned. This report has three sections that displays different perspectives based on transaction stakeholder (preparer, approver and supplier/payee).
If the expense request was rejected/returned by both approver and auditor, it would not be double counted in the other categories.
In the reports, rejection counts include both rejections and expense request returns to the preparer.
- Displays the last approver and the approver's work assignment organization
- "Unknown" for approver indicates the expense request awaits approval
- Shows the payee for each expense request
- "Unknown" for supplier indicates pending supplier setup
Expense Request Detail Drills
For the Expense Request Approval Frequency sections, you can drill on the expense request transaction counts or bar chart segments to display Expense Request Detail on the related expense requests. You can further drill on the Expense Request Transaction Number to view the Expense Request Approval Detail or the Expense Request Dashboard.
Expense Request (ER) Processing Statistics
This report displays expense request average processing times and trends over time.
Sample Business Questions
Processing Time Analysis
- How long does an organization take on average to submit and approve expense requests?
- How does throughput vary by expense request type?
- What trends exist within the organization for processing times?
Submission Performance
- How long do preparers in the organization take on average to submit expense requests for approval?
- How long do expense requests take on average for each supplier/payee to reach submission?
Approval Performance
- How long does the organization take to approve expense requests?
- Which requests take longer to approve and why?
Workload Distribution
- How does expense request workload distribute among preparers?
Selection Criteria
To view results, select a Budget Unit or Organization and date range.
When selecting a Perspective:
- Preparer Work Assignment Org returns the expense request activity for the preparers who are assigned to the specified organization or lower organizations in that hierarchy.
- Task Org returns the expense request activity that charges PTAs that belong to the specified organization or lower organizations in that hierarchy.
Report Views
The Expense Request (ER) Processing Statistics report contains three sections that display statistics about the processing of expense requests.
Aging of Paid Transactions
Based on the selected view, displays the count of paid expense requests, the average number of days to submit, the average days for local approval and average total number of processing days.
By organization and expense request type, displays the average number of days for paid expense requests to be submitted, locally approved and total processing days.
By organization and preparer, displays the average number of days for paid expense requests to be submitted, locally approved and total processing days.
By supplier/payee, displays the average number of days for paid expense requests to be submitted, locally approved and total processing days.
By organization and preparer, displays the count of paid expense requests in aging buckets for the number of days until submitted for approvals.
Aging of Paid Transaction Detail Drills
Within the Aging of Paid Transaction reports, you can drill into the Expense Request Transaction Count to get a list of the related expense requests in the Expense Request Aging Drill screen. Within that screen, you can further drill into the Expense Request Transaction Number to view the Expense Request Approval Detail screen which displays details about the expense request, including business purpose, line item details and approval history.
Average Submission Time
These reports show submission and approval time trends over the selected time range.
Displays trend line of average time to submit expense requests for approval.
Average Approval Time
Displays trend line of average time between submission and local final approval of expense requests.
Average Submission and Approval Detail Drills
For both the Average Submission Time and Average Approve Time sections, selecting the Average Processing Time (Days) numbers in the table displays ER counts by aging buckets. You can then drill on the bucket transaction count to get details on the individual ERs.
Understanding the Data
To understand the dates used to determine the processing metrics, refer to the following table.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Expense Incurred Date | The date the actual activity occurred that is entered in the line item detail of the expense request. |
| Expense Request End Date | The latest expenditure item date of all the transactions included in the expense request. |
| Expense Request Submitted Date | The date the expense request was most recently submitted for approval. |
| Expense Request Last Approved Date | The date of the most recent local approval. Does not include time used for central approval. |
Expense Request Processing and Aging Flowchart
Expense Request (ER) Detail by Employee
This report displays transaction counts, dollar amounts, and rejection data by organization for payees, preparers, and approvers.
Sample Business Questions
- How is the workload of expense request processing and approving distributed throughout my organization?
- Which supplier/payee has the highest dollar amount of expense request submissions over a period of time?
- Where should I focus my training on when it comes to minimizing expense request rejections and reducing resubmissions?
Selection Criteria
To view results, select a Budget Unit or Organization and date range.
When selecting a Perspective:
- Preparer Work Assignment Org returns the expense request activity for the preparers who are assigned to the specified organization or lower organizations in that hierarchy.
- Task Org returns the expense request activity that charges PTAs that belong to the specified organization or lower organizations in that hierarchy.
Report Views
The Expense Request (ER) Detail by Employee displays in both tabular and graphical form the volume of expense requests for each stakeholder: supplier/payee, preparer and approver. The reports display the data from four different views.
By organization, displays the expense request amounts and percentages by supplier/payee, preparer and approver within the selected date range.
By organization, displays expense request transaction counts and percentages by supplier/payee, preparer and approver within the selected date range.
Displays the expense request amounts and percentages, expense requests that have not been rejected/returned or have been rejected/returned by an approver, auditor or both.
Displays by transaction counts and percentages, expense requests that have not been rejected/returned or have been rejected/returned by an approver, auditor or both.
Expense Request Detail Drills
You can drill on the expense request total dollar amounts or transaction counts to get Expense Request Details on the related expense requests. Within the Expense Request Detail screen, you can select the Expense Request Transaction Number to drill to Expense Request Approval Detail or the Expense Request Dashboard.