<H2> prepopulating expense reports</H2><H1> Upgrade For Card Users</H1>By Stefani C. O'Connor
Redmond, Wash. - A software developer that has been working with corporate card provider GE Capital on an up-and-running prepopulation application for capturing expense data will make that key piece available to corporate accounts using other card providers at the end of May.
Portable Software Corp. said that based on demand from its 200 corporate accounts, it will make a multi-module expense management program with built-in support available to American Express and First Bank Visa customers, as well as GE MasterCard holders.
The system, called Xpense Management Solution, will consist of a group of products configured to trap, consolidate, manage and analyze a corporation's expense report transactions, linking and automating the entire process in what Portable's group product manager Rajeev Singh called a "soup-to-nuts" software solution.
Among the modules linking the process will be Xpense Prepopulation, a component that enables business travelers to automatically fill out their expense reports based on transaction data captured from their corporate credit cards. This capability is viewed by travel managers and accounting departments as one of the most important elements of an electronic expense reporting system.
Up until the rollout, GE Capital will have been the only payment system to have had this capability, having worked with Portable to develop a version of the prepopulation part of the software. That technology allows GE Capital Corporate MasterCard customers to electronically prepopulate their expense reports using QuickXpense, Portable's core product, which collects traveler information.
"The main benefit is in linking the card information with the electronic reporting piece," according to Mitch Gross, vice president of marketing-expense management services for GE Capital. "We're always actively pursuing ways that we can improve convenience and offer productivity gains for a corporation."
"GE has been a trusted and valuable partner for the last year," said Singh. "Our partnership has been a non-exclusive arrangement. GE and Portable Software spend a great deal of time on the marketing and sales side, making sure both of us are well represented within a travel and entertainment reengineering process at any given corporation. But we can work with other credit card companies as well. At the same time, they can work with whomever they like."
When the system is shipped May 31, the prepopulation module will not include links to three other card issuers-Air Travel Card, Citicorp Diners Club or Elan Commercial Card Services. According to company spokeswoman Jill Miailovich, if demand for links to those cards is seen from Portable's corporate accounts, then "we're prepared to build those links."
Each prepopulation module will have an individual format for whatever card is being used, said Singh, thereby not compromising GE Capital's technical-development expertise in a competitive environment.
There are no agreements signed with either First Bank or American Express to co-market their products, noted Singh.
Asked how this service to customers might fly in the face of American Express' own expense reporting software, Expense Manager, Singh admitted, "American Express is certainly not going to recommend that their customers purchase the Portable Software solution. But clearly, American Express has yet to come to market with its solution. So what we're doing is going to our customers and saying, 'if you want a solution and you want prepopulation right now this is the way to do it. Let us know the format that you're receiving the data from American Express in. We'll do the rest of the work in terms of getting that individual cardholder data out to your cardholders.' If the customer demands it, it's in both American Express' and Portable Software's best interest to make sure they get it."
The management solution is anchored on the front end by QuickXpense 2.0, an updated version of Portable's core product that will be part of the rollout. Others include XpenseServer, a 24-hour consolidator that polls e-mail systems for submitted expense reports and transmits the data to a corporation's SQL database, including Oracle, Sybase and Microsoft SQL Servicer; Xpense Processor, which automatically moves expense reports through the approval process based on company-specific criteria; and Xpense Analysis, which allows for tracking and forecasting capabilities. Three other modules, for data integration, auditing and policy enforcement, are scheduled for release in 1996 or early 1997.
QuickXpense is currently available in Windows, Windows 95 and Windows NT versions; there are plans to ship a Macintosh version by the end of the year.
Before the solution comes to market, however, it's being rolled out to 15 beta sites over the course of the next month. Singh said he anticipates that the test participants will adapt the system, and confirmed he already has accounts in place that run the range of corporate card providers being linked.
The test sites include two "very large" publishing companies, a Midwest-based heavy-equipment manufacturer, a pharmaceutical company, three Fortune 1000 companies and one corporation based in Australia. Business travelers within the beta sites ranges from 100 to 4,000 employees.
"The way we're targeting the market is by business travelers," said Singh. "When you hit around the 100 business-traveler threshold, you're going to see cost justification for buying a solution or bringing a solution in-house to control those costs. If you're at 1,000 business travelers, you're really going to have to look at some sort of solution to automate this problem."
Corporations interested in the suite of products can put the entire solution in place or decide which of the module pieces would fit its travel program, thus tailoring the system to individual corporate needs.
Gross said GE would continue to work with Portable on a number of enhancements that will streamline the full expense reporting cycle and have better links, more powerful reporting and greater productivity gains. Toward that end, Gross said GE Capital also was actively exploring desktop reservations systems as being the "next great area of opportunity for streamlining the travel expense management process.