8 things to do before implementing a new expenses system

#1 Treat it like a project

This is very important because if the whole exercise isn’t done in a methodical and organised way then you will make mistakes and introduce issues that really don’t need to arise at all.

For example, having a project sponsor may seem like overkill but if the Financial Director or the Head of IT are not on board then you could find your resources being diverted onto other tasks halfway through the project.

The simple aspects of project management are there for a reason – they work!

#2 Decide what you want before you start

This may seem like a simple thing that everyone does but you’d be surprised how few people clearly say what they want the end product to look like.

Do you want a fully automated system?

Will you link it up to the nominal ledger?

Are you wanting to have an automated payment system?

Sitting down with the key stakeholders and mapping out exactly what you want your new system to do may seem like a bit of a waste of time at the start, but we can tell you from experience that it saves you a ton of time later on when you don’t take that wrong turn or configure an option that nobody even wanted in the first place.

#3 Get a task list

Speak with your software advisor and get them to give you a list of tasks that you need to do for the project.

Some of them will be things you can do, like producing a list of users or choosing which nominal codes you will want to post to.

Other tasks will be things that you may need help with particularly if they are requiring IT or Software provider input.

At this point, you can start to see the magnitude of the task ahead.

#4 Choose your team

So you know what you want, you have your plan, but who is actually going to do the work?

Do they have time?

Have you spoken to their line manager to make sure they can be committed?

Do they want to do a project? (not everyone enjoys working on projects).

When you know what resources are at your disposal and for how long then you can start to plan when specific tasks are going to have to be done.

#5 Make your plan

This needs to be realistic and achievable.

You can split your task list down into three sections; Pre-project, Project and Post-project.

Your Pre-project tasks are the things you can do in advance of the start of the project that will ensure that there are no unnecessary hold-ups along the way.

For example, you could speak with the CFO, FD, FC and Financial accountants and check whether they are happy with the way expenses are posted to the nominal ledger and what changes they would like to see. There’s no point in implementing a system that simply replicates annoyances from the old system.

Project tasks are things that you need to do to get the system up and running. This will be driven mainly by the software implementation partners and some may not require any involvement from you at all.

Others will be things that do require your input like setting up a training programme (see point 7).

Post-project tasks are things that don’t need to be done during the project as such, but still need to be carried out such as writing up a lessons learned report (see point 8).

#6 Give your tasks a sensible time for completion

It’s important to be realistic with your plan.

Although it might take 2 days to make a list of all the users of the system, for example, in reality other things get in the way.

Make sure you plan in things like bank holidays, training commitments, month-end and remember that projects always take longer through the summer months because of annual leave.

Make sure everything has enough time for completion and then add a 20% contingency.

Avoid the temptation to over-promise. Your motto needs to be “under-promise and over-deliver”. After all, if you promise a system will be up and running by June and it turns up in July then you’ll be a villain, but if you promise it will be here by August and it goes online in July then you’ll be a hero.

#7 Plan your training

Training is vitally important for your expenses system.

You have 5 categories of people you are going to need to train;

Users – the people who actually want their expenses to be paid

Finance users – the finance staff who process the expenses claims and organise payment

Administrators – the people who manage the configuration of the system, changing things like nominal or VAT codes.

IT administrators – people who will manage the back-end of the system and make sure that people can use the software effectively.

Reporters – these may be the same as the finance users but you will probably need someone who is going to manage the reporting process for expenses management purposes.

If you train people properly in advance, they will feel confident with the system and you will get less change resistance as you go live.

#8 set up your lessons learned log

Some of the main benefits of doing any project are the lessons you learn during the process.

The problem is that often these lessons get forgotten and the value they contain is lost.

Professional project managers always write up a ‘lessons learned’ report at the end of a project which allows anyone who is embarking on a new project within the company to review these and anticipate the issues that they may face.

It doesn’t matter whether the lessons are learned on an expenses or HR system project, they are often the same things such as not allowing enough time for tasks or not having stakeholder buy-in.

Set up a log that anyone involved with the project can contribute to. Something like a Google sheet or a shared Excel document work well. This allows you to capture lessons as you go along and will be used later to inform your report writing.

We hope that these points have given you some food for thought and if you use them you can be confident that your project is more likely to go smoothly and that you will switch to your new system on time.