Setup Considerations: Expense Management

Expense Management

provides a redesigned interface and automated workflows that use real-time data to streamline how you create and submit expenses. This includes automatic creation of expense reports, real-time matching of receipts and credit card transactions, and enhanced real-time reporting capabilities.

Expense Management

enables you to:

Streamline the entire expense creation and submission process from start to finish.
Save time and effort by automatically creating expense reports and matching receipts to credit card charges.
Access instant spending insights by using real-time credit card data, rather than waiting days for transactions to clear.
Minimize the risk of errors and fraud by using automatic matching to prevent duplicate payments and real-time alerts.
Achieve better data accuracy by using machine learning to automatically categorize expenses based on past behavior.
Simplify travel tracking by automatically grouping related expenses into specific trips, making it easier for travelers to stay organized.
Keep employees on top of their reporting by sending instant mobile notifications as soon as they use their card.

Question	Consideration
Do you want all employees to be able to access Expense Management features?	You can still deploy Expense Management and manage the complexities outlined under the Limitations section. You can: Take a hybrid interface approach so users can still access the original Expenses interface and features to complete complex tasks or requirements not yet supported by Expense Management . You can also use security group configurations to restrict the Expense Management interface to specific subpopulations, such as US-based employees.
What merchant category code mappings are most critical for your defaulting strategy?	Workday uses merchant category code mappings as a fallback when the machine learning model can't populate an expense item. Accurate mapping ensures a seamless experience even when historical transaction data is limited. Poorly maintained mappings will cause more blank fields, increasing manual effort for users.
When should cardholders receive mobile push notifications for their spending?	You can configure Workday to send notifications immediately upon card use. Immediate alerts prompt users to capture receipts at the point of sale, improving data accuracy and reducing submission delays. Disabling these may lead to a higher volume of lost receipts and unlinked transactions.

Workday recommends that payees clear obsolete credit card transactions and quick expenses before you subscribe to

Expense Management

. Upon enablement, Workday automatically attempts to match and create report lines for all items in the backlog. Managing this upfront prevents the generation of draft reports for irrelevant or historical data.

We also recommend that you update any existing notifications to trigger based on pending credit card transactions rather than new transactions because Workday processes credit card transactions automatically so transactions no longer have a

New

status.

Keep your merchant category code mappings current to serve as a reliable fallback. Workday uses these mappings to default expense items when the machine learning model can’t provide a high-confidence recommendation.

You must purchase the

Expense Management

subscription.

Before implementing, ensure these Workday features are enabled:

Merchant category code mapping for credit card transactions.
Paid with Corporate Card functionality.
Receipt Scanning.
Expense Item Defaulting for Receipts.
Expense Item Defaulting for Credit Card Transactions.
Expenses Hub.

When you purchase the

Expense Management

subscription, you have full access to both our

Expense Management

features and our original

Expenses

features.

You will experience the original

Expenses

functionality when the use case involves:

Expenses with rate tables or travel journals.
More than 1 attachment for each expense.
Unit-based allowance plans.
Default travel profile data.
Default attendees when creating an expense.
Delegate experiences.
Tax functionality.
Per diem expenses.
Linking to spend authorizations.
Automatic itemization for manual expenses.
Automatic population of attendee data.
Add travel booking record to expense report line.
Specifying business purpose codes on an expense.
Charging expenses to another company.
Charging expenses to secondary position.
Displaying exit validations.

If part of your employee population will experience one of the listed limitations, you can still deploy

Expense Management

and manage the limitations through hybrid interface access, where users can still access the original Expense Report view to complete complex tasks or requirements not yet supported by

Expense Management

, or use security group configurations to restrict the Expense Management to specific subpopulations.

You must purchase the

Expense Management

subscription.

Domain	Consideration
Self Service: Automated Expenses	This domain in the Expenses functional area secures the automated expense creation, trip tracking, and manual expense creation interface.
Expenses Third-Party Configuration	This domain secures the ability to configure and manage webhooks with Workday subprocessors such as Astrada. This is required for real-time credit card authorizations.

You can use these report data sources and fields to analyze expense activity:

The
Credit Card Authorizations
report data source enables tracking of real-time spend from authorizations.
The
Expense Report Line Status
report field provides the current status of lines on the Expense Activity page, such as Review Match, Information Needed, and Ready to Submit.
The
ML Defaulted Expense Item
report field identifies lines where machine learning defaulted the expense item.

Integration	Consideration
Credit Card Authorization	You must complete the network registration process to receive real-time credit card authorization data for Mastercard and Visa transactions.

Expense Management

interacts with the subprocessor Astrada to bring real-time credit card authorization data for Mastercard and Visa transactions into Workday.

Workday offers a Touchpoints Kit with resources to help you understand configuration relationships in your tenant. Learn more about the Workday Touchpoints Kit on Workday Community.