Vancouver Airport Authority

The Challenge

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) was in search of an easy-to-use, mobile expense claim solution to automate its manual processes. Previously, YVR had a completely manual expense management process. Users had to complete an Excel expense sheet, print it and attach hard-copy receipts. The expense sheet then needed to be walked to the appropriate manager for approval, and then walked or mailed to the accounts payable department. Accounts payable staff had to review every line against the receipt and manually enter the expense claim into the Oracle ERP for payment. YVR decided it was time for a change—time to automate the workflow, increase staff efficiencies, reduce redundant processes and provide data and transparency for accurate spend analysis.

The employees really like the ‘Snap & Send’ feature, and we encourage them to use it, so they don’t have to worry about saving or losing their receipts while traveling.

Diana Vuong, Vice President, Finance and CFO, Vancouver Airport Authority

The Chrome River Solution

Five solutions were considered before YVR made the decision to select Chrome River EXPENSE as its expense claim solution. Simplicity of the user interface, partnership with U.S. Bank for corporate cards, mobile capabilities, and comprehensive spend analytics were key factors in the final decision. It was important to YVR that Chrome River EXPENSE provided seamless integration with YVR’s U.S. Bank corporate cards. Another important technology consideration was that Chrome River needed to easily integrate with YVR’s Oracle E-Business Suite R12 financial system so the duplicative process of entering expense claims into the financial system after claims were submitted could be eliminated. YVR’s training and ‘go-live’ was a two-phase process. In the first phase, 100 employees received training before they started using EXPENSE. Three weeks later, the remainder of YVR’s employees went live. The trainers conducted 45 ninety-minute training sessions. Corporate card users received an additional 30 minutes of training. During training, employees found they liked the intuitiveness and simplicity of the user interface, making training a breeze and allowing trainers to keep reference materials to a minimum.

Our organisation views this as being a very successful implementation, including buy-in from the CEO to staff-level employees.

Benefits Across the Organisation

Employees like the simplicity of the software and the automated approval process that allows them to check the progress of their own expense claim approval. They also like that they can enter expenses, and “Snap & Send” receipts on their mobile devices while traveling. Management appreciates that built-in compliance checking lets the software allow or deny an employee expense. They also like the ability to quickly and easily approve expenses on their mobile devices. And, management uses the analytics tool to further analyse spend for trends and fraud, and flag them for continued review. Accounts Payable (AP) is much more efficient now that expense are automatically loaded into the Oracle financial system. The functionality that allows employees to attach receipts at the line item level really simplifies AP’s process of checking expenses. AP also likes the built-in compliance rules that run expenses through compliance checking before ever landing on their desks. YVR has also been impressed with Chrome River’s support during and after implementation, and is confident the team will continue to go above and beyond to ensure YVR’s long-term success.