Cos. Pick Gelco ExpenseLink
<H1>Cos. Pick Gelco ExpenseLink</H1>By Mary Ann McNulty
<I>Eden Prairie, Minn</I>. - Two companies have selected Gelco Information Network's new ExpenseLink to help their travelers process expense reports more quickly without reading manuals.
One of the major benefits both companies cited in selecting the product is the ease of use that allows travelers to start using ExpenseLink with little or no training.
ExpenseLink is a Windows-based offering that allows travelers to submit their expense reports via modem to Gelco's computers in Minneapolis. Gelco reimburses travelers within three days and routes the report to an appropriate manager, where a series of automated edits and highlights can raise flags for instant review and adjustment on a future expense report, if necessary. The electronic audits are one of the major enhancements ExpenseLink offers over Gelco's previous software, TLink. Once a month, Gelco will download all expense reporting data to a company's general ledger system.
Atlanta-based Sonoco Engraph, a printer of coupons and other value-added packaging, began testing ExpenseLink in June with about 30 employees in its Atlanta office, according to Debbie Lawless, a financial analyst at the company.
"We had people who never used a PC before, and they picked up on it right away," Lawless said. Now, Lawless is working on rolling out the software to about 300 people in business units and sales across the country. "We want to gain the most benefits by rolling it out to the sales staff," she said.
For the reps located outside Atlanta, where expense reports are processed, reimbursement time is expected to be slashed from six weeks to three days. Sonoco also anticipates saving 20 to 25 percent of accounting clerks' time that was previously spent entering expense data. Until now, travelers filed paper expense reports, sending them first to a superviser and then to accounts payable, where they were coded into the company's general ledger system.
At American Fidelity, an Omaha-based insurance company that specializes in benefit plans for schools, traveler convenience has been the driving force for the selection of ExpenseLink, according to Mike Leviant, field automation project manager for the Educational Services Division.
A user of Gelco's TLink software, Leviant expects to deploy ExpenseLink to his 200-person field sales force starting in January, when everyone will be equipped with new laptops loaded with Windows 95. Gelco spokesman Dick Schirber said the company should have an ExpenseLink version certified for use with Windows 95 by year-end.
Leviant believes ExpenseLink will speed up the input of expenses to his company's general ledger system and hasten reimbursement for travelers. Reimbursement now takes anywhere from 10 days to a month as reports find their way through various departments. However, American Fidelity already has a process in place that will reimburse travelers immediately and correct any errors on future reports.
Leviant said he enters expense data on a daily basis, often spending 90 seconds or less. "It takes longer to open the software than to put your expenses in," he said.
Once a report is complete, it takes the software 30 seconds to configure the data for transmission. The software then dials a toll-free number to Gelco's computers, downloads the data and hangs up.
Managers are encouraged to dial into the system every day to retrieve all reports awaiting their approval. Working offline, managers can approve or reject reports and request additional documentation. Companies can opt to send managers only those reports with policy exceptions.
The software also allows companies to set two limits: one that generates a warning message about the amount being over policy, and a second in which the company refuses to reimburse.