However, as more work takes place outside the office and across the globe, one challenge that companies face is getting documents signed in a timely manner.

Obtaining wet signatures can take days or even weeks for paper-based processes, leading to a backlog of work and stalled projects.

Fortunately, there’s a better way to collect wet signatures.

In this article, we’ll explain what a wet signature is and when you should use it. We’ll also look at how you can use frevvo’s digital signature software to modernize your signature processes.

Click the links below to navigate to the section you want to learn more about:

• What Is a Wet Signature?
• When Do You Need a Wet Signature?
• Can Electronic Signatures Replace Wet Signatures?
• What’s the Difference Between Electronic and Digital Signatures?
• Why Use Electronic or Digital Signatures Instead of Wet Signatures?
• How to Create an Electronic Signature Workflow in frevvo

What Is a Wet Signature?

A wet signature is when you physically sign a paper document with a pen or seal. It refers to the fact that “wet” ink needs time to dry, hence the name.

Wet signatures have been used for hundreds of years to form legally binding contracts and prevent fraud. One example is the Statute of Frauds of 1677, an Act of the English Parliament that required signatures for documents like contracts and wills.

Even today, some documents still require wet signatures. However, there are numerous downsides to collecting handwritten signatures.

These include:

• Long lead times: Obtaining wet signatures can take days or weeks because you have to print and mail out the documents.
• Higher costs: Direct costs for collecting signatures include paper, ink, and postage, while indirect costs include lost productivity from processing extra paperwork. 
• Increased risks: Failing to secure paper documents properly can lead to loss, misuse, or even theft of confidential information.
• Potential roadblocks: Getting signatures can present roadblocks for prospects who may not be able to print or mail forms on time.

Despite these drawbacks, there are some instances when you must obtain wet signatures. 

When Do You Need a Wet Signature?

A Notary Public in the U.S. may require a wet signature to verify the signer’s identity when drawing up legal documents like promissory notes and deeds of trust.

Other documents that require wet signatures include:

• Wills
• Mortgages
• Court orders
• Power of attorney (POA)
• Advanced directives

Some business documents may also require verified wet signatures, which include:

• Articles of incorporation
• Memorandum of understanding
• Commercial leases
• Construction agreements
• Loan agreements

If you’re unsure whether certain documents require a physical signature, it’s best to seek legal counsel to be on the safe side. Finally, while it may sound old-fashioned, some recipients may insist on using wet signatures when formally endorsing an agreement.

Can Electronic Signatures Replace Wet Signatures?

Yes, but it depends.

As more business goes digital, many new laws and regulations give electronic signatures the same legal effect as wet signatures.

In the U.S., Congress passed the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce (ESIGN) Act into law in 2000, along with the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA). Both laws grant legal recognition to electronic signatures.

Other laws that make electronic signatures legally binding include the Electronic Identification and Trust Services Regulation (eIDAS) in the European Union, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in Canada, and the Electronic Transactions Act (ETA) in Australia.

Thanks to these laws and regulations, more companies are adopting electronic signatures to get important documents signed.

However, electronic signature laws and requirements for their use vary across jurisdictions, so you should be familiar with the laws in your country before adopting them.

Click here to learn more about e-signature laws around the world.

What’s the Difference Between Electronic and Digital Signatures?

There are two types of electronic signatures — standard electronic signatures and advanced digital signatures.

Electronic and digital signatures are often used interchangeably, but they’re different in many ways. Understanding these differences will ensure you adopt the right processes and reduce compliance risks.

Electronic Signatures

Electronic signatures are a way to electronically obtain approvals for documents like sales contracts, vendor agreements, and change orders.

An electronic signature is defined as:

“Any electronic sound, symbol, process that is attached to or somehow associated with a record or contract and executed by a party with intention to sign.”

This definition encompasses different ways to sign a document electronically. For example, you can type your name, upload an image of your signature, click a checkbox to signal your intent, or use your finger to draw a signature if you’re on a mobile device.

Electronic signatures offer a convenient way for recipients to sign documents without printing a form or running to the post office. However, the downside is there’s no authentication process to verify the signer’s identity. 

That is where digital signatures come in.

Digital Signatures

Digital signatures are electronic signatures that provide a more secure and tamper-proof way of signing documents.

Only a certificate authority (CA) can issue a digital certificate, which uses Personal Key Infrastructure (PKI) to verify and authenticate each party signing a document. 

These types of signatures are generally recommended for any situation where it’s crucial to protect the integrity of the document being signed, as there are built-in mechanisms in place to protect against tampering. 

Digital signatures also create audit trails that provide traceable information like who signed a document and when they signed it.

In frevvo, valid signed sections are displayed with a green background.

If the system detects any evidence of tampering, the signature is removed, and the section displays a red banner with an error message.

These security measures ensure the integrity of a signature.

Why Use Electronic or Digital Signatures Instead of Wet Signatures?

77% of organizations say that electronic signatures support business resilience.

What’s more, companies that have digitized their document processes report fewer at-risk customers and less at-risk revenue than those with paper-based processes.

Here’s why more modern businesses are embracing digital processes that support electronic signatures and why you should too.

Reduces Turnaround Times

To collect a wet signature for a physical form, you’d have to print a document, mail it to a recipient, and wait to receive it. The entire process can take days or even weeks.

Any delays can give potential clients or new hires a chance to consider other opportunities. That could mean lost revenue for your company.

With a digital signature workflow, you can collect signatures in a matter of hours rather than weeks. It’s as easy as opening a document and drawing your signature or clicking a button to add a digital signature.

Saves Resources

Collecting wet signatures isn’t cheap, as it requires tons of paper and expensive printer ink. You also have to consider storage costs and the time it takes to retrieve documents.

37% of organizations say that reducing printing and storage costs is the most important benefit of digital document processes.

By using frevvo to digitize your processes, you can cut down and even eliminate costs that are associated with paper forms altogether.

Provides a High Level of Security

Paper forms can get lost or stolen. They’re also susceptible to damage and even theft if they’re not stored or handled properly.

Digital signatures use advanced encryption to create a virtual “fingerprint” that verifies a signer’s identity. The technical protocols used to encrypt signatures also protect against tampering.

If your company is audited, ensuring that documents are safe and free of any tampering is critical to avoid lawsuits and fines.

Centralizes Your Documents

Another problem with traditional paper filing systems is the amount of time that employees spend retrieving a document. 85% of employees say they waste time during the workday searching for documents.

With frevvo’s digital signature software, you can integrate your workflows with electronic document management system (EDMS) platforms like Google Drive, Microsoft SharePoint, Ricoh DocuWare, and more.

These integrations allow you to centralize your documents and simplify retrieval. If there’s a dispute regarding a sales order, an employee can search through the EDMS and instantly pull up the right file to clarify any details.

Increases Visibility

Documents like contracts and service-level agreements typically go through multiple steps before they’re approved. But tracking these steps can be difficult with a paper-based process. 

A digital signature workflow gives you full visibility across your processes, allowing you to track which documents have been signed and which still need signatures. This level of visibility enables you to keep processes on the right track and send follow-ups to the right parties.

Electronic signatures offer clear benefits, as described above. 

However, there are four major requirements that you must meet to ensure electronic signatures are legally binding under the UETA and the ESIGN Act.

These requirements are:

• Intent to sign: Signatures are only valid if each party demonstrates a clear intent to sign. Using a mouse to draw a signature or clicking a button fulfills this requirement.

• Consent to do business electronically: All parties must agree to do business electronically. In most cases, selecting an “I agree” checkbox meets this requirement.
• Association of signature with the record: Electronic signatures must be clearly associated with or affixed to specific documents to prove their validity.
• Record retention: All documents must be retained for future retrieval. Digital signature software addresses this requirement by letting parties download a copy of the document.

As long as you adhere to these requirements, your company can adopt electronic signatures into its processes and enforce their validity.

Now let’s look at how you can create a workflow for electronic signatures using frevvo.

How to Create an Electronic Signature Workflow in frevvo

Creating automated electronic signature workflows can help your company speed up its processes and deliver huge savings. Follow these steps to get started.

1. Create Your Form

Start by using the form builder to create a form that fits your needs. With the drag-and-drop interface, you can easily add text boxes, radio buttons, and more to your forms.

Alternatively, you can also install a template to kickstart your efforts. Each template comes with a basic form, dynamic routing, and business rules already pre-created.

2. Add a Signature Control

If you’re creating a form that doesn’t require the same level of security as a digital signature, you can add a regular signature control to your form.

With these signature controls, users can click anywhere in the signature field and use their mouse or finger to add a “wet” signature.

However, for documents like sales contracts and vendor agreements, you’ll want to use a more secure method of signing.

In addition to basic electronic signatures, frevvo supports two types of digital signatures:

• Email verification: Recipients open a link from an email and click a button to sign the form. frevvo will verify that the recipient entered the correct email address and lock the data in that section once it’s signed.
• Identity verification: Signers must authenticate to frevvo using the built-in login system or a single sign-on (SSO) method like Active Directory. Once authenticated, a user clicks the Sign button, and the section will lock down to prevent any tampering.

Here’s an example of a signed section with email verification:

Here’s an example of a signed section with identity verification:

Use the chart below to help you determine which signature controls you should add to your forms.

When you’re dealing with sensitive documents, you’ll want to use digital signatures with identity verification to ensure those signatures are legally binding.

Make sure the Lock Signed box is checked. That ensures that the data in a section cannot be altered or changed once signed. You can check the Must Sign box to make these signatures required.

You may wish to collect wet signatures for PDFs like W-4 forms. With frevvo’s digital signature software, you can map and transfer signatures to a PDF.

3. Customize and Deploy Your Workflow

Most forms require approvals from multiple parties before they can be processed. Use the code-free workflow builder to customize your workflow to fit your business requirements.

Here’s an example of a time-off request workflow:

Once an employee completes and signs a time off request form, it automatically routes to their manager for review and then to HR for final approval.

Test your workflow and iterate a few times. Then deploy across your organization and continue to monitor your workflow to seek out areas where you can improve.

Create Automated E-Signature Workflows Today

Paper-based processes just aren’t practical in the long run — they’re slow, expensive, and insecure. Switching to electronic signatures can help your company speed up approvals and save valuable resources.

frevvo’s digital signature software supports both electronic and digital signatures. You can use the software to create automated workflows and fast-track approvals for any process. 

The best part is that you don’t need any coding experience or a huge I.T. budget to digitize and automate your processes.

Get started today with a free 30-day trial to add electronic signatures to your workflows.

The post What Is a Wet Signature? (And Why Modern Businesses Are Going Digital) appeared first on frevvo Blog.

Keeping track of expenses that employees incur is vital to managing your cash flow. It also allows you to properly reimburse your employees for any expenses they make.

But any missteps in this process could lead to problems — inaccurate claims, unclear policies, and even fraud are common expense reporting issues that organizations face.

So how can you streamline the expense reporting process and make it easier for employees to receive reimbursement? How can you reduce errors and prevent expense reimbursement fraud?

Start by implementing an expense automation system. 

In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at the automation process for expense reporting, including how it works and its benefits. We’ll also look at how you can automate the expense approval process.

Click the link below to navigate to the section you want to learn more about:

• What is Expense Automation?
• Why Automate Expense Reporting?
• How to Automate Expense Approvals

What is Expense Automation?

Expense automation is the use of software to automate submitting, approving, and recording expense reports. This lets you replace paper and eliminate the tedious use of spreadsheets to file claims.

Expense automation helps organizations accurately track expenses and maintain compliance with policies. It also allows you to reimburse employees promptly.

If your employees often travel for work, you’ll want to have a system in place to manage all expenses they’ve incurred.

But travel isn’t the only opportunity for automating your expenses. 

Any scenario that involves having to capture, report, and reimburse expenses has the potential to be automated. Some examples include paying out employees for leave and reimbursing business expenses bought on a personal card.

Common types of employee expenses include:

• Transportation
• Lodging
• Meals
• Education/training
• Equipment and supplies
• Phone and internet 
• Postage and delivery

Employees may also incur ad-hoc expenses — expenses that aren’t planned for, but are reasonably incurred while doing business. For example, an employee may decide to overnight a shipment to a client.

Every company has different expense policies. But keeping track of all reimbursable expenses is important to manage costs and keep budgets under control.

Let’s look at why you should implement an expense automation solution.

Why Automate Expense Reporting?

Manual processes can undoubtedly get the job done. But they’re more time-consuming and prone to errors. Here’s how your organization can benefit by automating expense reporting.

Speeds Up Reimbursement

Manual expense reporting bogs down your employees with stacks of paperwork. A manual expense reporting process might look like the following:

1. An employee gathers their paper receipts
2. They fill out an expense report and submit it to their manager
3. The manager reviews the report and checks for out-of-policy items
4. The report is sent over to the accounting team
5. All expenses are entered into the accounting system
6. The payment is authorized and reimbursed to the employee

Performing each step of the expense manually means that the entire process can take weeks or even longer. That doesn’t even factor in the additional time to correct any mistakes. A manager will need to send an expense claim back if it contains items that aren’t covered.

With an expense automation system in place, your employees can take photos of their receipts and attach them to an expense report. You can also create automated workflows that handle all the document routing.

Here’s an example of an automated workflow for expense reports:

Submitted expense reports automatically route to a manager for review and then route to the finance team for final approval and processing. 

Eliminating the time-consuming aspects of printing out forms, attaching paper receipts, and chasing approvals can drastically speed up reimbursements. Employees don’t have to wait weeks to be reimbursed for work-related expenses they incur.

Improves Policy Compliance

Having a clear policy for travel and expenses is crucial to ensuring compliance. It describes in detail what employees are entitled to, including what items are covered and what aren’t. 

But ensuring compliance with expense policies isn’t always easy. Data shows that two-thirds of employees haven’t even read their company’s expense policy. 

That means you’ll have many employees submitting expense reports that likely contain out-of-policy items. Some of those expenses will likely slip through the cracks if the finance team is reviewing each item manually.

Communicating your expense policy and using expense automation software can improve compliance. For example, you can list out-of-policy items and even include a checkbox that asks employees to confirm that they’ve read the company’s travel policy.

Prevents Expense Fraud

Expense fraud occurs when employees deliberately make inaccurate or false expense claims. It represents 14% of occupational fraud in an organization with a median loss of $33,000. 

The most common types of expense fraud are:

• Mischaracterized expenses: An employee requests reimbursement for non-business expenses. An example is an employee seeking reimbursement for a family meal or personal travel expenses.
• Overstated expenses: An employee claims a legitimate expense is higher than it actually is (e.g., an employee pays $50 for office supplies, but writes it as $100 on their expense report).
• Fictitious expenses: An employee submits a fake paper receipt for a business expense that appears genuine. Another instance is an employee taking receipts from a friend or family member and claiming those expenses.
• Multiple reimbursements: An employee submits the same paper receipt multiple times, meaning the accounting department may approve duplicate payments. 

These instances of fraud can have a negative impact on your company’s bottom line. This is assuming you detect them in the first place as expense fraud isn’t always easy to catch.

Here are the top concealment methods that employees use to commit expense fraud:

The top concealment method is through creating and altering physical documents (easy to do with image editing software like Photoshop). For example, an employee can overstate or make up bogus expenses on a trip.

One way to prevent expense reimbursement fraud is to automate the expense approval process. This means employees are unable to create or alter physical documents. 

You can also set up customized workflows that route an expense report to a CFO or other reviewer if it exceeds a certain value (e.g., anything over $500). Implementing these measures can reduce expense reimbursement fraud.

Increases Visibility

Travel and other reimbursable expenses are part of conducting business. Examples include meeting with clients, paying for meals, purchasing office supplies, etc.

43% of organizations are still managing expense reporting manually. Manual expense reporting limits the kind of insight that management needs to make informed budgeting decisions. 

Expense automation solutions enable managers to quickly put together reports in minutes instead of hours. With this increased visibility, managers can see where expenses are going and negotiate better deals with vendors.

Employees can also log in to the system to see where an expense report is in the approval process and receive notifications if anything requires their attention.

To summarize, an automated process for expense approvals improves policy compliance, prevents expense fraud, and increases overall visibility.

Now let’s look at how you can automate and streamline expense approvals. 

How to Automate Expense Approvals

With frevvo’s expense approval software, you can automate your expense reporting and build mobile-ready forms. 

The software is fully visual, so there’s no coding required. Non-technical users can use the software to design expense forms, set up conditional rules, and create automated workflows.

Follow these steps to automate expense claims.

Step 1: Design Your Forms

Paper-based processes are incredibly inefficient and time-consuming. They take up valuable time that could otherwise be spent on higher-value work.

With frevvo’s expense management software, you can easily digitize and customize your forms from scratch with the drag-and-drop form builder. If you’d rather get a head start, you can also use an expense report template.

Here’s an example of an expense report form:

You can use the visual tools to customize your forms. With these tools, you can add additional fields, enable electronic signatures, and much more.

The forms are also mobile-friendly out of the box. Employees can submit expense claims and even attach receipts taken with their smartphones.

Step 2: Create Your Workflow

Expense approvals typically follow the same set of steps — an employee submits an expense claim and a manager reviews it before sending it to the finance team for approval.

With expense management software like frevvo, you can create workflows that route documents to the right approver and notify them that their approval is needed.

Employees won’t have to chase down their managers or constantly follow up about the status of their expense claims. With your forms created, the next step is map out each step of the expense reporting approval process. 

frevvo’s visual workflow builder makes it easy to map out your workflows and define what happens at each step. You can also add conditional rules to make your workflows more efficient.

Here’s an example of an expense claim workflow with a conditional rule:

Having a CFO review every single expense claim isn’t the best use of their time. It can lead to backlogged work and longer processing times.

Conditional rules can address bottlenecks and make your workflows more efficient. The workflow above routes expense claims over $500 to a CFO. Everything else is automatically routed to the finance department.

Step 3: Test Your Workflow

Once you’ve finished creating a workflow, it’s important to run through everything first before deploying it. In frevvo, you can test your workflow and even preview how they’ll look on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

Here’s an example of how mobile previews look in frevvo:

Everything will work out as you designed it, including any conditional rules that you added. Be sure to get input from internal stakeholders and incorporate their feedback into the workflow. 

Consider testing out your new workflow with a small team to smooth out any hurdles before deploying it across the organization.

Step 4: Communicate the New Workflow

Organizations often need to make sweeping changes to keep pace with evolving markets. But any changes you make to an existing process may meet some initial resistance. 

It’s not easy to get employees to change the way they work even if the new way is more efficient. Some employees may be quick to adapt, while others may need more time.

It’s important to develop a strategy around organizational changes. This includes establishing clear goals and providing adequate training for your employees. Consider forming a team to help with the transition and gather feedback.

Take some time to show your employees how to use the new workflow. Once they see how easy it is to fill out and submit expense claims, they’ll be more likely to use it in the future. 

Step 5: Monitor and Optimize Your Workflow

When you implement a new workflow, there may be some hiccups along the way. Keep a close eye on your workflows and solicit feedback from your team.

Make a point to revisit your workflows and update as needed to make your expense reporting more efficient. frevvo offers in-depth reports that you can analyze and identify potential bottlenecks. 

These reports can help you identify bottlenecks in a process. 

For example, if managers are constantly sending back expense claims because they contain out-of-policy items, you may need to make your expense policies more clear. 

That could mean revamping your training program or adding a new section to the form that details what items are and aren’t covered.

Automate Your Expense Reporting

Keeping track of expenses that employees incur is important for managing your cash flow. It also allows you to properly reimburse your employees for any expenses they make.

With frevvo’s expense management software, you can automate expense claims and streamline repetitive tasks. This saves your employees, managers, and finance team valuable time.

Ready to automate expense reporting? Then try frevvo for 30 days to see how easy it is to create your own automated workflows.

The post A Complete Guide to Expense Automation appeared first on frevvo Blog.

But among the more time-consuming are document approvals. Certain documents, such as purchase orders and invoices, must flow through a series of steps to ensure compliance and standardization.

Doing things manually or not having a formal approval process in place at all will cost your business over the long-term.

So, how do you create a document approval workflow? What tools are available that can automate the approval process?

In this article, we’ll look at what document approval workflows are and the elements that make them up. We’ll also look at how you can design an approval process using workflow automation software.

Click the links below to navigate to the section that interests you most:

• What is a Document Approval Workflow?
• Elements of an Automated Approval Process
• Document Approval Workflow Use Cases
• How to Create a Document Approval Workflow

What is a Document Approval Workflow?

A document approval workflow is a process that organizations follow to submit and approve documents. Examples include purchase orders, expense claims, contracts, employment agreements, etc.

Here’s an example of a document approval workflow for a purchase order:

1. An employee creates a purchase order form
2. An employee sends it to their manager for review
3. A manager reviews and signs the PO
4. A manager sends it to the finance desk

There may be even more steps involved. In some cases, a VP may need to review purchase orders with higher values (e.g., $15,000 or above).

Because there are so many steps, doing things manually isn’t practical or efficient. It also leaves a lot of room for error — an employee may not know who to send a form to, or they may duplicate work.

Manual approval processes are also extremely tedious and time-consuming. Workflows can’t move to the next step unless an approver has reviewed and approved a document.

Employees spend 5.3 hours each week waiting for information — that’s time that leads to processing delays and higher operational costs.

The solution is to create and implement an automated approval workflow process for documents like purchase orders and business contracts. 

Creating an automated workflow for the document approval process:

• Improves efficiency: With automated workflows, documents route to the correct individual. Employees won’t have to waste time chasing signatures from an approver.
• Increases visibility: Workflows increase visibility into the approval process — team members know what task they’re responsible for, and managers can monitor progress. 
• Reduces human error: Automated workflows combined with dynamic forms help minimize the risk of human error, such as transcription errors.
• Provides an audit trail: If something goes wrong in the approval process, you can review the logs and see details like when approvals were made and who was responsible for them.

For these reasons, more organizations are transitioning to automated workflows for document approvals — they standardize the process and ensure that everyone follows the same steps.

Elements of an Automated Approval Process

Document workflows vary for every organization, depending on specific needs and requirements. However, document approval processes tend to include the following elements.

Documents

Documents that need approval (purchase orders, budget approvals, contract renewals, project proposals, legal documents, etc.) are created — often from a standardized template or form — and submitted.

Approvers

Approvers are individuals (managers or supervisors) who review submitted documents and decide whether to approve or reject them. An approver may send a document back to the submitter if data is missing or filled out incorrectly.

Permission Levels

For any document workflow, it’s important to set permission levels for each user. This allows you to determine who can view, edit, approve, and reject submissions. Setting permission levels also ensures that employees don’t bypass an approval step. 

For example, you don’t want employees to approve their own vacation requests or expense claims. For these documents, it makes sense to have multiple approvers to minimize the risk of fraud.

Due Dates

Each task in a document workflow should have due dates. Otherwise, there would be no sense of urgency, and employees would simply take their time. Due dates ensure that documents are submitted and approved in a timely manner.

Alerts and Notifications

Alerts are an important element of the document approval process. These can include status updates or approval requests that alert users when documents require their attention.

Conditional Rules

Conditional rules specify what happens when certain conditions are met. They can make a business process efficient when used correctly.

For example, having a VP review every single purchase order isn’t the best use of their time. It can lead to a backlog of work and result in longer processing times. A conditional rule can be added to route a purchase order to a VP only if it exceeds a certain value.

Signatures

Collecting signatures is another key element of the approval process. Signatures show that a supervisor or manager has reviewed and approved a document.

Logs

Recording each step of the approval process increases transparency and provides an audit trail. Reviewing these logs can help identify bottlenecks in case of a discrepancy.

Document Approval Workflow Use Cases

Practically every organization has to deal with paperwork. But this doesn’t mean you have to get bogged down and lose countless hours to this process.

Here are different use cases for document approval workflows.

Purchase Orders

Purchase orders allow your organization to procure the necessary goods and services you need to operate. In other words, they play a crucial role in your organization’s profitability.

Yet, many businesses don’t have automated workflows in place for this process. Employees fill out forms by hand and waste time chasing approvals. 

By creating an automated workflow for purchase orders, you can remove paperwork entirely and reduce cycle times.

Creative Approvals

Creative approvals are typically used for creative assets that need to be approved before publication. Examples include content for a website or artwork for a marketing campaign.

For an article, the content approval process might include steps for drafts and revisions until the piece is finally approved. Workflows help you manage this process from the first draft to the final publication.

Sales Orders

Sales orders are commercial documents that are issued to customers to confirm the sale of goods. These include details like delivery dates, payment methods, and more.

As with any business-related document, sales orders consist of many steps and typically require approvals from certain individuals before they’re processed.

With a workflow in place, you can ensure that sales orders are automatically routed to the right individuals and collect their signatures.

Contract

Businesses may enter contractual agreements with clients or suppliers. These documents detail the scope of work and budgets, and are considered legally binding.

Work typically can’t start unless a contract has been agreed upon and signed by both parties. Manual processes can prevent projects from moving forward in a timely manner.

Workflows can drastically reduce the time it takes to prepare contracts and get the appropriate signatures.

Annual Budgets 

Most companies prepare an annual budget of projected expenses for the following year. These budgets typically need to be reviewed and approved by the finance department before funds are released.

A document approval workflow is especially helpful for annual budgets. You can set up a budget system, define approval rules, and set conditions with a workflow.

Expense Reports

Manually submitting expense reports is extremely tedious. You print the expense form, chase signatures, and then wait to get reimbursed. It’s a process that can take weeks or even longer.

With workflow automation software, you can create an automated approval workflow for expense reports. It’s far more efficient and less prone to fraud.

An estimated two-thirds of employees haven’t read their company’s expense policy. Having a workflow helps employees understand what they’re entitled to and encourages them to submit claims.

How to Create a Document Approval Workflow

Your organization likely already has a document approval process in place. But any inefficiencies in that process are eating away at your bottom line. 

Workflow automation software allows you to automate the document approval process and improve efficiency. Follow these steps to create and implement a document approval process workflow.

1: Map Out a Document Approval Workflow

The first step to creating an approval process is to map each step of a workflow. 

While you can use a pen and paper for this step, you’ll find it much easier with frevvo.

Use the software to build a workflow from scratch by adding and configuring each step. Or you can choose from one of the available pre-built templates. 

Here’s a look at some of the templates we have available.

Simply click the “Install” link to get started with a template. For this guide, we’ll use expense reports as they’re necessary for cash flow purposes.

Here’s an example of a document approval workflow for expense reports.

An employee submits an expense claim and sends it to their manager for review. The manager sends it over to the finance team, who then reviews the claim and processes the reimbursement.

2: Digitize Your Forms

If your organization is still relying on paper forms, then it’s time to go paperless. Digitizing paper forms cuts down on paper usage and makes your document approval process more efficient.

With the intuitive online form builder, you can build a form entirely from scratch. If you’re using the expense report template, you can use and customize the pre-built form.

Here’s an example of an expense report form.

The form builder is easy to use and doesn’t require any coding. You can also make individual fields required. This is useful for signature fields.

3: Set Conditional Rules

Conditional rules make your workflows more efficient. Having a CFO review and approve every expense report isn’t the best use of their time. It can also lead to a backlog of work.

In frevvo, you can easily set conditional rules for your workflows. For example, you could have expense reports routed to a CFO if it exceeds a certain value.

Here’s what the precondition rule builder looks like.

With this conditional rule, an expense report will only be routed to the CFO if it exceeds $10,000. All other expense reports under that value will go straight to the finance team.

4: Test Your Workflow

There may be some hiccups along the way as you build your document approval workflow. In frevvo, you can test your workflows and even preview how they will look on mobile devices.

Here’s how mobile previews look in frevvo.

Everything will work exactly as you designed it, including any conditional rules you added. Be sure to run through each step to ensure that everything is working as intended.

Have your team go through the workflow as if they were submitting an expense report. If they run into any issues, you can always go back to the visual designer and make new changes.

5: Monitor and Refine Your Workflow

Once you’ve tested your approval workflow, it’s time to finally deploy it. It’s important that you provide guidance to your team on how to use the new workflow.

Continue to monitor your new workflow and encourage feedback from your team. Do they have suggestions on how it could be improved? Are any steps not clear? 

frevvo’s workflow automation software provides in-depth reporting that allows you to measure productivity.

Here, you can see how many workflows are active and how long each takes. With this data, you can refine and improve your workflows.

Automate Your Document Approval Workflow

Document approvals can be rather tedious and time-consuming when you factor in time spent preparing forms and routing them to the right person for their signature.

Performing these tasks manually is not only inefficient, but also increases the risk of data entry errors and even lost paperwork — both of which lead to unnecessary delays and frustration for everyone involved.

If document approvals at your organization are getting bogged down by manual processes, it’s time for a change. With frevvo’s workflow automation software, you can use the visual editor to design forms and create automated workflows.

Try frevvo for free today to see just how much better document approvals can be when you use our software to automate them.

The post How to Create an Automated Document Approval Workflow appeared first on frevvo Blog.

Employees that take vacations are more motivated and produce better quality work. It seems smart, then, to encourage your team to take days off to recuperate. 

However, 6 out of 10 workers don’t feel like their employer encourages them to take time off.

While there are multiple reasons staff feel discouraged, a big problem lies in how vacation request processes are set up. 

Employees get nervous about asking for time off in person. They’re worried about looking replaceable and uncommitted to their jobs, and this fear can stop them from asking for time off altogether. 

To solve this, you need to make it easier for staff to ask for time off. Dynamic, digital vacation request workflows are the ideal way to do this.

Read on to discover why vacation time is so crucial to your team’s wellbeing and how to more effectively manage time-off requests.

Want to jump ahead? Click here to skip to the section that interests you most:

• Why is vacation time important for teams?
• 6 Ways to Make Managing Time-Off Requests Easier
  1. Encourage employees to take time off
  2. Don’t judge how people spend their vacation
  3. Establish a clear vacation policy
  4. Make it a team effort
  5. Digitize vacation requests
  6. Automate the process

Why is Vacation Time Important for Teams? 

Just like a car that needs to refuel, employees need vacation time to restore their energy levels. If employees aren’t taking this time to revitalize themselves, they run the risk of burnout.

The issue is that lots of employees aren’t taking their allotted vacation time. In fact, more than half of US workers report having unused vacation days.

Many say that this is because their workload is simply too heavy, while 61% say they fear that they’ll look replaceable to their superiors.

With plummeting unemployment rates, the very real fear of unemployment leaves employees scared to ask for vacation time.

But, when your team fails to take the break they need, you’ll start to see negative impacts on their work.

Studies show that employees who work when they’re meant to be taking time off feel less intrinsic motivation for their job than those who rest on their days off. 

In other words, if you want a more motivated team, you need to let them rest.

Not only that, but those who use the majority of their vacation time have a better outlook toward their work. 

Research shows that workers who use up more than 75% of their vacation allowance are happier with their company and their job than those who don’t.

In a more practical sense, vacations can help teams organize themselves better. Teams that know how to cover for each other and do so willingly are naturally more collaborative. Ultimately, if no individual is a single point of failure, it makes for a much stronger team. 

After all, you might lose that individual permanently because they take a new job or relocate. 

When they take time off, you’ll lose them temporarily. Let your team treat it as an opportunity to learn how to work together more effectively. 

It could even be a welcome respite from their regular tasks so they can learn to do something different. It’s a win-win for all.

6 Ways to Make Managing Time-Off Requests Easier

If you want to inspire your team to take time off to recuperate, you need to create a time-off request process that makes it easy for them to book vacation days.

Here are six key tips for efficiently facilitating time-off requests.

1. Encourage Employees to Take Time Off

Since vacation time brings such valuable rewards to your organization, it’s in your best interest to encourage employees to take it.

Despite the benefits of employee leave, 60% of firms don’t encourage employees to take vacations. 

This leads to a negative feeling around vacation time, with a quarter of workers admitting that they feel guilty when they take time off. On top of that, one in five workers is frightened that they’ll seem less committed to their job if they take a vacation.

But here’s the kicker.

(Image Source)

Employees that feel like their company encourages vacation time return to work feeling more positive, energized, motivated, and productive. They’re also less stressed, and their quality of work is higher than those who don’t feel that their company is supportive about taking time off.

That’s why it’s important that you encourage workers to take a vacation.

As Paul McDonald, Senior Executive Director of Robert Half, the world’s largest staffing firm, put it, “Managers should encourage employees to fully disconnect from work to focus on themselves and family and avoid burnout.” 

This encouragement starts at the top. 

Whether you’re the CEO of the organization or the leader of a small team, it’s important to set the proper tone. 

Don’t just pay lip service to the “vacations are important” idea. If you’re promoting and encouraging employees to take breaks but neglecting to take time off yourself, you have the opposite effect.

If people see that you’re not taking breaks, they get anxious and start thinking that the only way to keep their job or get that promotion is to put in long hours without ever taking a vacation.

Don’t just support work-life balance for your staff; live it. You’ll be happier, your family will thank you, and your staff will be better off knowing that you truly mean what you say.

What’s more, as a team leader, you should foster a culture of taking periodic time off and shut down negative comments like “Lucky you! I wish I wasn’t too busy to take a vacation”.

Beware of rewarding employees for not taking time off. Rewards for performance, delivering on time, exceeding client expectations are all fine but never explicitly reward the no-vacation-warrior. It sets the wrong tone and expectation in your team.

Finally, make it clear that you don’t expect people to “be available” while on vacation. It’s insidious and again creates the expectation that work preempts all. 

Time off should be a break — resist the urge to reply to emails when you’re taking a break yourself. Trust your team to take care of things — after all, that’s why you hired them.

2. Don’t Judge How People Spend Their Vacation

Everyone is different — some people want to go relax at their favorite beach resort, while others might just want to kick back at home.

Some people may feel that it’s not worth taking vacation days if they’re just going to sit at home. Often, other co-workers and bosses add to this pressure with personal judgments on how team members spend their vacation time. 

However, Ellie Green, jobs expert at Totaljobs, stresses the importance of taking care of mental wellbeing, advising workers: “If that means using up some of your holiday allowance and doing what you can to relax or do something you enjoy at home — you can.”

As a manager, it’s not your job to interfere or judge what’s best for employees. Tell them to take the time to rejuvenate themselves and come back refreshed and ready to tackle future challenges.

3. Establish a Clear PTO Policy and Write it Down

It’s vital that you have a clear paid-time-off (PTO) policy so that staff know the process for taking leave.

You need to establish the rules around time off and how it works. You also need to communicate the protocols for applying for time off.

When creating rules around vacation time, you need to consider the boundaries for your team members, so they know when and how often it’s appropriate to ask for vacation.

Consider these thoughts:

• How often can staff request time off?
• How close together can periods of vacation leave be?
• What is the maximum number of days that employees can take off in a row?
• Are there any particular dates of the year that staff can’t take time off?
• Are there any dates which staff must take off, such as major holidays?
• Can a staff member make multiple requests at once?
• How will you communicate this leave policy?

Next, think about the process that employees must go through to request time off and how you communicate this.

Ask yourself:

• Who should employees speak to?
• What documentation do they fill out?
• When should requests be submitted?
• Who needs to approve requests?
• How will you communicate this process?

4. Consider Making it a Team Exercise

Sure, you as the leader of the team might have the last word on approval, but employees are more likely to step up and be flexible if they know that they’re solving problems jointly as a team. 

The message should be that you encourage and value breaks from work and that you want everyone to truly unplug while on vacation.

For example, “Let’s sit down and collectively figure out how we schedule vacation so that we don’t have overlapping requests. Equally, how can we cover for each other so that the person who’s off doesn’t have to monitor email and can genuinely break off from work?” 

People will feel better knowing that colleagues have their back and are less likely to be resentful when others take a longer bucket list vacation or dream trip.

5. Digitize Vacation Requests

Consider digitizing your PTO request workflow to streamline the process.

With vacation request management software like frevvo, you can create a dynamic, mobile-ready, online time off request form that enables your staff to complete vacation requests from any device.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel — simply use an existing request form template to create your dynamic PTO request form and vacation approval workflow.

By integrating these forms with your current HR systems, you can automatically pull data from existing databases. This speeds up the process and helps prevent errors.

These holiday requests are automatically routed to approvers, who can electronically sign the forms. This avoids delays and unnecessary frustration.

There’s no need for any manual printing, signing, or scanning for signatures, nor does the staff member have to email it manually.

For example, check out this Employee Leave Request form — it uses a Google Sheet to reduce data entry.

It has a dynamic picklist, pulls available vacation days dynamically from the sheet, and validates them. The user can also sign electronically.

You can also integrate a Google Sheet with a frevvo form or process for dynamic behavior. 

To make the process quicker and more accurate, forms auto-populate with relevant data, such as sick, annual, and floating paid-time-off days. Automatic validation makes sure that users can’t make data entry mistakes.

As you can see, by digitizing the process with this dynamic form, requesting time off is quicker, easier, and less prone to error.

6. Automate the Process to Remove Friction

Work [and life] is already pretty stressful. Employee leave is meant for renewal and wellness, and you want employees to unplug. The last thing you want is for them to start their vacation on a frustrating note by dealing with a tedious and confusing process for requesting time off and getting it approved.

Worse, you definitely don’t want them wasting time at work. 

Time-off requests usually require formal approval from a manager (even if you’re handling them as a team) and data entry by the HR team. 

When employees are chasing down managers for signature and HR is manually performing data entry into internal systems, they aren’t spending time on the things you hired them for.

Automate the entire process with a modern, visual platform like frevvo that features vacation request management software. 

With frevvo, you create fully automated vacation request workflows that can be accessed from any device.

This enables you to configure complex automatic routing, so request forms head straight to the appropriate approver. This means staff can request time off from anywhere — without having to run back-and-forth to the human resource department.

Approvers will automatically receive a notification of a travel request, which they can sign online with an e-signature. If approvers forget to sign, they’ll be sent an automatic reminder so that all vacation requests are approved on time.

Not only will automated cloud-based vacation request processes make it easier for staff and approvers, automatic validation and system integration means that there are fewer data entry errors. 

Whether you’re starting from scratch or integrating an existing process, frevvo is straightforward to implement and easy to use. 

This means staff can feel confident that their vacation plans are confirmed, so they’re better able to focus on the things that matter while at work.

Automate Your Time-Off Request Process Now

If you want a truly motivated and productive team that produces top-notch work all year round, you need to make sure you’re encouraging staff to take vacation days.

The problem is that if your leave management process is clunky, the team may feel discouraged from applying for time off. Properly managing time-off requests is the best way to facilitate a better vacation culture within your firm.

To streamline your time-off request process, digitize and automate your workflows with frevvo. Try the 30-day free trial now to see just how much easier managing time-off requests can be.

The post How to Make Managing Employee Time-Off Requests Much Easier appeared first on frevvo Blog.

Accounts payable (AP) plays a vital role in any organization, whether it’s a one-person accounting operation in a small business or a whole finance department in a large enterprise. And at the heart of any AP department is the invoice approval workflow. 

What Is an Invoice Approval Workflow?

Quite simply, an invoice approval workflow is the process of approving invoices before payment is processed. 

It’s a simple sequence of events to ensure that the invoice is legitimate and that there are no discrepancies between the invoice and the original purchase documents, such as the purchase requisition, purchase order, order confirmation or other procurement/sales documents. 

Here’s what a typical invoice approval workflow looks like:

Invoice Approval Workflow Steps

These are the steps involved in a typical invoice approval process:

1. Invoice Received

The business receives an invoice from a vendor or supplier.

2. Invoice Verified

The invoice is verified by the staff member responsible for procuring that particular type of product or service. Verification typically involves matching the invoice with the appropriate purchase order (PO) for the product or service.

3. Irregularities/Exceptions Flagged

Invoice irregularities can include pricing discrepancies and missing information such as a PO number. The invoice is sent to the relevant parties to address/correct the irregularity, after which it’s sent through the approval workflow again.

4. Invoice Approved

The invoice is sent to relevant personnel for approval. Depending on the products and services being ordered or the billed amount, this approval chain can be dynamically determined.

5. Payment Released

The approved invoice is sent to the person/department responsible for accounts payable for processing and the vendor is paid.

6. Bookkeeping

A permanent record of the transaction is added to the organization’s books. 

That’s it – the whole process in six quick steps. The invoice approval process may seem simple, but multiply this by dozens or hundreds of vendors and thousands of invoices and you quickly have a complex situation on your hands. 

Challenges of Manual Invoice Approval Workflows

Performing invoice approvals manually comes with a number of challenges that can have a considerable impact on your organization’s ability to conduct its business as effectively and efficiently as possible. 

Wasted Time

Manually processing invoice approvals is enormously time-consuming. Accounts payable personnel spend many precious hours reconciling invoices against purchase orders (invoice matching), following up on invoices – via email, over the phone or even in-person – to confirm the accuracy of invoices and track down missing documents. 

Missing Documents

When dealing with large numbers of invoices in different formats (paper-based, email-based, PDFs, Faxes, etc.), it’s not unheard of for invoices to get misplaced and forgotten about, or even for the original purchase order document to go missing, making it much harder for Accounts Payable employees to do their work effectively. 

Slow Approvals

Without workflow automation, invoice approvals can take a long time, particularly when they end up lying on the manager’s desk or sitting in their email inbox for days or weeks. This situation can get even worse if multiple approvers are involved and there isn’t clear visibility into who is responsible for the approval or which stage of the workflow the invoice is currently in. Meanwhile, the person responsible for paying invoices has to keep following up to keep the process running. 

Lack of Visibility and Exposure to Fraud

Manual invoice approval workflows result in greater exposure to fraud due to the fact that there is far less oversight and visibility into the accounts payable process. This leaves the gate wide open for fraud. Now, you might be shaking your head, thinking that your employees would never steal from your organization – and that might be true! – but email fraud is on the rise, with fraudsters imitating legitimate vendors and sending fake invoices. 

Late Payments

These kinds of bottlenecks can result in late payments, which can sour supplier relationships and even lead to delays in your own product or service delivery due to materials, products or services not being delivered as a result of missed payment deadlines. As a result, late invoice payments can have a ripple effect and result in damage to your organization’s reputation among your own customers. 

Missed Savings Opportunities

Many vendors offer early payment discounts, allowing businesses to save money if they pay their invoices in a timely manner, within the first ten days of the invoice. While this may not seem like much – it’s usually around 2% of the total invoice – it can add up to a considerable sum over time, particularly when dealing with big orders or a large number of suppliers.

Costly Errors

Human error can result in invoices being overpaid or underpaid and/or bookkeeping inconsistencies due to manual data entry. Think about the repercussions of a misplaced decimal point! Aside from the obvious problems of lost money or disgruntled suppliers, these kinds of errors can cause additional problems further down the line if your books get audited and there are discrepancies. 

Benefits of Automating Your Invoice Approval Workflow 

Automating your invoice approval workflows offers a number of benefits.

Save Time and Eliminate Errors

Digitizing and automating your invoice approvals workflow means your AP team no longer has to chase down invoices and other documents such as purchase orders and manually compare them to ensure the legitimacy of each invoice. Instead, these documents are contained within the same workflow and can be matched against each other easily.

Automated workflows can also integrate with databases or other accounting systems and even perform this matching automatically without any human action.

Now instead of spending countless hours on the phone or sending endless emails, your finance professionals can focus on more meaningful tasks – such as analyzing your expenditure for efficiency gains – while your workflow automation software ensures that each invoice is routed where it needs to go for approval. 

No More Missing Documents 

When everything’s digital and automated, you never need to worry about missing documents or forgotten invoices again. In fact, you can configure rules in your workflow that ensure that forms cannot be submitted unless all the information and attachments you need are included. You can also easily integrate your workflows with your document management system and your bookkeeping software to update your records automatically. 

Additionally, by eliminating paper documents from your AP processes, you can save a fair bit of money on paper, ink and document storage, with the added benefit of making your operations more sustainable.

Faster Approvals

With automated notifications and reminders, you can virtually eliminate bottlenecks caused by invoice approvals going unnoticed or getting put on the backburner. What’s more, with fully mobile-responsive forms and electronic signatures, managers can approve invoices on-the-go, so being out of office needn’t cause delayed approvals and payments anymore.

Improved Vendor Relationships & Early Payment Discounts

By automating your invoice approval workflow, you can eliminate late payments and be proactive about taking advantage of early payment discounts. This can help you to establish better relationships with your suppliers, which can result in better deals in the future. 

Improved Business Intelligence

With fully digital workflows, you’ll gain access to valuable data about your business processes and expenditure, allowing you to implement better reporting mechanisms and make more informed strategic decisions, which can, in turn, result in higher profit margins.

Effortless Regulatory Compliance

Automating your invoice approval workflow gives you access to a full audit trail of every transaction, making regulatory compliance much easier to achieve. Additionally, using an automation solution with built-in accessibility features makes ADA and WCAG compliance effortless. 

Reduce Fraud Exposure

Automating your Procurement and AP processes can significantly reduce your vulnerability to fraud by increasing visibility across the board and putting additional checks in place. Automatic comparisons between POs and invoices can help flag irregularities, and other measures such as information change request forms with authenticated electronic signature verification can prevent bad actors from making off with your business’s hard-earned money. 

How to Automate Your Invoice Approval Process in Three Easy Steps

As we’ve seen, automating your invoice approval workflow has numerous benefits for business. But how do you go about automating your invoice approvals in the first place?

With frevvo’s automated invoice approval software, you can set up your account in minutes and automate your invoice approval process in a few days. With its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, you don’t need any coding knowledge or help from I.T. to set it up. It’s as easy as 1-2-3. 

What’s more, it’s free for the first 30 days.

1. Start with a Pre-Built Template or Create a Form from Scratch

Start out by installing a pre-built invoice approval workflow with a single click. Customize it using frevvo’s drag-and-drop form designer to create a dynamic digital form that contains all the fields and rules your organization requires. If you prefer, you can also start from a blank form and customize it using the same intuitive designer.

It’s worth noting that frevvo allows you to export the data from forms to PDFs and that you can customize these to look exactly as you want them to by customizing your form design and previewing the resulting PDF.

2. Design a Workflow

With your form ready, it’s time to map out your approval process with frevvo’s workflow designer wizard. Just like the form builder, this tool is 100% visual, allowing you to drag-and-drop the various steps (and parties) of your approval workflow into place. You can also configure conditional routing rules such as additional approval spend thresholds.

3. Run Your New Invoice Approval Workflow

Now it’s time to watch your new invoice approval workflow in action and see how much simpler the whole process is when it’s automated. As you collect data on invoice approvals and analyze it using the built-in reports, you can easily identify bottlenecks and optimize your workflow in real-time to improve efficiency.

For best results – and added security – consider a complete procurement automation solution to automate your entire procurement workflow and make invoice approvals a subsidiary workflow within that larger process. 

Why frevvo? 

frevvo’s best-in-class workflow automation software is suited to meet all your invoice processing requirements, whether you prefer to work in the cloud or with an on-premise solution. 

• frevvo is affordable even for small and medium-sized businesses, and because it’s so easy to use, you don’t need an enterprise I.T. department (and budget!) to run it.
• frevvo is securely encrypted and offers seamless integration with authentication systems like SAML and Active Directory to keep your sensitive financial data safe from illegitimate access. 
• We pride ourselves on the fact that our solutions promote accessibility and are ADA and WCAG-compliant right out of the box.

Sound good? Try frevvo absolutely free of charge for 30 days.

The post How to Automate the Invoice Approval Workflow in 3 Easy Steps appeared first on frevvo Blog.

Expenses are an unchangeable fact for every organization or business, and for enterprises and small businesses alike, expense management is an important operations process. 

Expense management refers to a set of procedures that allow businesses to monitor and optimize (minimize) their spending—and raise their profit margin. This process encompasses the expense approval workflow in which employees submit expenses they have incurred for reimbursement.

A robust expense approval process helps to ensure that the organization’s spending doesn’t exceed its means. An automated digital expense approval process not only allows you to streamline approvals and save time but also arms you with data that can be used to gain critical insights that can be used to reduce costs. 

On the other hand, managing your expense approval process manually (using emails, spreadsheets, and paper invoices and receipts) takes a lot of time and can result in late payments, which can ruin your organization’s reputation among suppliers and impact your timelines if materials you needed are not procured on time. Paper and manual data entry also result in frequent errors and even missing documents that your finance team has to spend precious hours hunting down.

How to Fine-tune Your Expense Approval Process

In a typical expense approval process, each employee sends the finance department a spreadsheet detailing their expenses, accompanied by a folder full of scanned, photographed, and emailed receipts. 

A finance professional must then manually reconcile the receipts against the spreadsheet and approve or deny the claim, process payment (or adjust the employee’s next paycheck accordingly) and create a record of the claim and payment. This takes a lot of time and effort, particularly when employees attempt to claim reimbursement for expenditure that doesn’t align with the company’s expense policy, in which case the finance department has to selectively approve and deny individual items. 

An automated expense approval workflow can streamline this process by implementing business rules so that claims are automatically approved or denied and routed to the next phase of the workflow. For instance, if an employee submits a claim for an expense that doesn’t meet the business’s requirements, it is automatically returned to them with a comment asking them to alter their claim or provide additional documentation. Similarly, if a claim exceeds a predetermined amount, the claim might be routed to a higher level manager for approval before being routed to finance for reimbursement approval.

Here are a few of the hallmarks of a good expense approval automation software:

• Easy-to-use and set up: If you need to be a developer or an accountant to use the software, only developers and accountants will use it. You want a tool that’s easy to set up and even easier to use on a day-to-day basis.
• Scalable: Your expense automation tool needs to be able to grow with your organization.
• Third-party integrations: Make sure that your workflow automation software supports integrations so that you can connect any existing or future software your accounting team uses without complications. 
• Custom workflows: Some automation programs come with preset workflows. Make sure you choose one that offers you the flexibility to fully customize your workflow to meet your organization’s unique requirements.

Why Automate Your Expense Approval Process?

• The average expense report takes 20 minutes to process.
• One in five expense reports are filed incorrectly. 
• Two-thirds of employees have not read their organization’s expense claims policy.
• Expense fraud costs US companies $2.8 billion per year.
• Sixty percent of UK employees have failed to claim reimbursement for expenses. 

Automating your expense approval process reduces manual data entry and frees up your finance team to do more meaningful work. It may seem like a small thing, but for finance professionals, this can be the difference between daily frustration and job satisfaction—and it can even be a differentiator in the recruitment process when trying to attract top talent. 

Making the expense process more intuitive and less administration-heavy also makes the process much easier for your other employees to navigate, which is an important consideration considering the fact that 60% of UK employees say they have failed to file expense reports in the past and 48% of employees spend their own money on business costs without reimbursement. 

Aside from the obvious benefits of saving time and effort (and money!), here are some of the advantages of using frevvo to automate your expense approval workflow:

• You’ll get exactly the look & feel and workflow that suits your business needs. No need to shoehorn your operations to fit the software.
• All calculations are performed automatically, massively reducing the incidence of errors.
• Expenses are categorized automatically, making the finance controller’s job much easier.
• Employee information fields are populated automatically.
• It’s easy to attach receipts (including photographs taken with a smartphone).
• The report can be originated and signed on mobile devices.
• The form automatically validates fields and flags errors.
• Automated routing means no more mile-long email threads.
• Automated reminders keep the process flowing = no more bottlenecks and follow-ups!
• A built-in audit trail makes tax season a breeze.
• Rich data gives visibility into the company’s financial health and improves strategic capabilities.

Sound good? Let’s take a closer look at how to reap all these benefits.

How to Implement an Automated Expense Approval System in 3 Easy Steps with frevvo

With frevvo, you can make your expense approval workflow effortless with thoughtful automation. While the word “automation” might have you shaking your head, thinking you don’t have the I.T. resources for that, fear not! frevvo’s software is 100% visual and doesn’t require any coding knowledge.

Here’s how it’s done.

1. Create Your Expense Report Form

Start by creating your expense approval form. You can kickstart your expense approval automation with a template, which you can fully customize to meet your organization’s unique needs. 

Or, you can start on a fresh page and use frevvo’s fully visual drag-and-drop form builder to build the perfect expense report for your business. You can easily enable electronic signatures and attachments, allowing employees to upload smartphone photos of receipts. You can also configure rules to ensure that only accurately completed reports are submitted.

2. Design Your Expense Approval Workflow

Once you have your fully mobile responsive form in place, the next step is to build your expense approval workflow to automatically route the expense claim from one stage to the next. You can apply conditional rules, for instance, sending the form to the CFO to sign off in the event that expenses exceed a threshold amount.

3. Introduce Your New Expense Approval Workflow to Employees

Like any expense approval process, an automated expense approval process only works if everyone uses it and if they use it correctly. Take time to introduce your new system to your staff and show them how to use it. 

Once they see how easy it is to use frevvo, even your most admin-averse employees will gladly use the new digital workflow when it comes to submitting expense claims. Your finance department will thank you for making their lives so much easier.

That’s it!

Once you’ve set things up, here’s what happens in your new, automated expense approval process:

1. Employee submits expense report – The employee completes the digital form electronically on any device and simply attaches their receipts as PDFs or photographs.
2. Automatic routing – The workflow does its job, routing the expense report to the appropriate person. Notifications, reminders, and escalations occur automatically so manual phone calls are eliminated. With a built-in audit trail, anyone can view the current state of the workflow online, so there’s no need to check up on the status of the claim.
3. Assess claim – The employee’s supervisor approves, queries or rejects the claim online, never needing to print the form. They can even approve expense claims on their mobile devices with ease, so being out of office no longer needs to cause bottlenecks.
4. Process reimbursement – Only once it has been approved is the expense report routed to the financial controller to process the reimbursement.
5. Bookkeeping – Finally, the expense claim is documented in the organization’s books. With frevvo’s database and business system connectors, this step can also be automated by linking the expense forms to your SQL database or accounting system.

Ready to start automating your expense approval workflow?

Why not try frevvo’s expense approval software free of charge for 30 days? Get set up in minutes.

The post Automating the Expense Approval Process in 8 Simple Steps appeared first on frevvo Blog.

Some companies get by with manual approval processes, perhaps relying on the strength of a highly effective operations manager. They email Excel spreadsheets around for signatures, or worse, rely on physical paper forms. But the modest amount of money saved by forgoing a more sophisticated or automated approval solution can quickly evaporate through missed documents, lost discounts, and other human errors common with manual processes.

Savvier businesses have an automated approval process workflows.

Join us as we explore the basics of workflow approval, what business processes to automate, how to streamline the process, and how to use one software to do it.

The Basics of Approval Processes

So what even is an approval process?

Approval Process Workflows, Defined

Simply put, an approval process can be anything that an organization utilizes to approve documents for everyday business activities like travel requests and purchase orders. It can also apply to new processes or systems that a company might want to implement. The better the approval process, the greater the odds that operations keep running smoothly.

Workflow approval processes are also codified within business structures, even informally, to ensure that the documents receive proper vetting and that nothing slips through the cracks. It can keep payments and documents from going missing, helping companies stay in compliance with strict regulatory guidelines.

The Downsides of Manual Approvals

For companies that don’t automate their approvals, it means that every purchase order, contract, employee timecard, or any number of other documents must be manually reviewed by an employee and forwarded on to everyone in the approval chain.

As can probably be imagined, a manual approval process can easily become an inefficient, time-consuming, and frustrating process. It can also quickly become costly, with the average paper invoice costing anywhere from $12 to $30 to process according to Sterling Commerce.

Other key challenges associated with manual approvals include a lack of centralized knowledge about where items, documents, and other things needing approval are in the process.

There can also be delayed deliveries, missing payments to clients and from vendors, and slipshod management of documents.

The biggest gap might relate to production. A study by iPayables found that employees could process 12 times as many invoices electronically as manually, or 479 to 42 in a day, respectively.

Using Software to Create Tailored, Uniform Approval

A better option than relying on an outdated, manual approval process is turning to software for a tailored and uniform workflow.

The software can guide users through the approval process, helping ensure that work gets done the same way for businesses every time. Benefits include time saved, increased efficiency, and greater assurance that a company will remain in compliance with whatever it’s doing.

Basic Steps of an Approval Process

Companies will of course want to customize their approval processes depending on a variety of factors from compliance requirements within their specific industry to the particulars of their company culture. Where one company might insist that their chief financial officer approve every purchase order over $500, another might set the limit at $10,000. You never know.

That being said, there are some common basic steps for many approval processes. Companies will need a submission portal, as well as ways to set who receives the submissions. Due dates can also be set, with reviewers receiving automatic notifications and alerts for when approval must be completed. Finally, most solutions have ways to automatically store anything that’s approved within them, ensuring that documents are safely, reliably, and centrally maintained.

Business Approvals: 6 Processes to Automate

Now that we’ve covered the basics of approval processes, here are six processes that businesses can automate today to start saving time and money.

1. New Hire Onboarding

Nothing can feel like a drag on company growth like hiring and onboarding. 

Generally, when you need new employees, it means that you’re already overloaded with work and need new help to keep everything running smoothly. So, the tedious process of handling onboarding paperwork can seem like a mile-high hurdle for growing companies.

Automating the new hire onboarding process — tax documents, payroll processes, and legal paperwork — can help your business quickly staff-up when you need it the most, and make sure nothing gets missed in the process. 

3. Sign-Offs on Creative Work

Many companies these days have freelancers or junior staffers creating fine work that, unfortunately, disappears into a void once it’s done. Perhaps the work is attached to an email and sent to a random manager. Maybe it gets uploaded to a general channel on Slack and people who need to see it miss the notification.

On the other hand, with approval workflow software, creative department submissions can be automatically routed to managers, directors, and other team members who must review them. Nothing goes missing.

Creative workers get credit for their work and companies get what they paid for. Everyone’s happy.

3. Expense Reports

Why have employees waste time roughly 1/5th of the way into the 21st century on walking old handwritten expense reports over to the accounting or human resources department? Even forcing people to attach and send Microsoft Excel spreadsheets is arcane and can lead to wasted time and money.

Many workflow approval platforms these days include expense report automation, which allows automatic submission of expense reports with receipt PDFs included. Aside from efficient design, it’s also far cheaper to process expense reports electronically, with Abacus calculating that it costs $20.65 to do it manually and $7.50 with software.

4. Vacation Requests

The same thing goes for vacation requests as with expense reports. Sure, companies can have employees email their managers or the HR department requesting time off on certain days. For smaller companies, this might work alright. Modest and larger-sized firms, though, can face a nightmare allowing for the manual submission of vacation requests.

Vacation requests that go through automated time-off request approval software on the other hand, get to the right manager, are approved or denied within minutes, and store automatically for when the vacation comes.

An efficient request process might also benefit employees. The U.S. Travel Association found that employees forfeited 212 million vacation days in 2017, equal to $62.2 billion in lost benefits.

5. Invoice Approvals

When a company purchases goods or services, they often have the business or independent contractor that they’re buying from submit an invoice. But if a company merely waits for an accounts payable clerk to receive and pay that invoice, they’re setting themselves up for trouble.

Companies will want to have an approval process that automatically incorporates their standard payment window for invoices, be it 10 working days, two months, or whatever it is. The right automated solution can also ensure that invoice numbers and other pertinent information are included and reviewed.

Automated invoice approval software doesn’t just encourage uniformity, it saves money. A study by Concur found that automation led to a 29 percent reduction in invoice processing costs.

6. Sales Orders

Many businesses will need a predictable number of inventory in a given period. Supply Chain Management Review noted that manually processing such orders, “can lead to significant disruptions caused by order input errors, a lack of integration between the order database and other internal systems, and a lack of visibility into the end-to-end process of creating, filling and delivering orders.”

Automated sales order software fulfills orders quickly and accurately, allowing your sales team to focus on selling instead of chasing paperwork, approvals, and order fulfillment.

Six Steps to Automate Purchase Order Approval with frevvo

Not only are there many manual approval processes that can be automated to save time and money, but there’s a simple solution.

frevvo provides an all-in-one, no-code solution for automating most of your most critical business processes.

Here’s how it works.

Step 1: Start with a Pre-Built Workflow Template

Start by logging into frevvo, which is available for a free one-month trial for businesses. From there, frevvo offers more than 30 workflow templates. For our purposes, select the “Purchase Order Approval” template.

Step 2: Customize the Pre-Built Purchase Order Form

As noted earlier, no knowledge of coding is needed to take advantage of frevvo. Simply drag and drop to customize forms as needed.

Step 3: Use frevvo’s Visual Rule Builder to Set Business Rules

With frevvo’s Visual Rule Builder, conditional logic can be applied as needed for specific purchase orders and workflows, ensuring that they’re properly handled at each stage of the approval process. Visual business rules can auto-fill fields, perform calculations automatically, and show fields only when they’re relevant. That makes it easier for employees to complete the purchase order faster and with fewer errors.

Step 4: Configure Workflow Steps

It’s also easy with frevvo to configure each step in the workflow, to make sure that the process runs smoothly from one step to the next. Once again, simply drag-and-drop and use visual wizards to configure each step. It’s painless to visually add and remove steps, including business logic.

Step 5: Determine What Happens When the Workflow Finishes

It’s also possible to customize within frevvo where a workflow ends, be it when certain approval conditions are satisfied or a client signs off.

Check within “Flow Properties” for: “Flow Actions,” which sets the message a user will receive when they submit their form; “Document Actions” to determine where the document will automatically be stored: and “Settings” to enable time-saving tools such as “Fast Finish.”

Step 6: Add the Workflow to a Space

frevvo provides a built-in portal to deploy and use your automated workflow.. Look in the “Spaces” tab within your account. Spaces enforce authentication and authorization, work automatically on smartphones and tablets, and provide a single portal from which users can access all your workflows. 

That’s it. In mere minutes, anyone can use frevvo to create an automated workflow approval process which works on any device, from smartphone to tablet to desktop computer. The software generates documents, supports digital signatures, is ADA compliant, and much more.

Try frevvo at no cost for your first month. Sign up for a free 30-day trial today.

The post How to Create an Approval Process Workflow appeared first on frevvo Blog.

But this process can become a nightmare for HR without a system in place. Employees aren’t happy either, when they can’t easily submit leave requests or when errors mess with payroll.

So how can you manage leave requests with minimal disruption to productivity? How can you make it easier for your employees to track their leave balance and take time off?

Optimizing your employee leave management process is a good place to start.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the leave management process, including what it is and common challenges that organizations face. We’ll also cover how you can optimize this process with leave management automation software. 

Click the links below to navigate to the section you want to learn more about:

• What is the Leave Management Process?
• Challenges With the Leave Management Process
• How to Optimize Your Leave Management Process
• Leave Management Best Practices

What is the Leave Management Process?

The leave management process is a set of policies for managing time-off requests, such as vacation days, sick leave, medical leave, parental leave, and personal time.

This process typically entails submitting leave request forms, routing them to managers for approval, notifying the HR department for payroll purposes, and logging employee records.

A leave management process helps you manage each step while ensuring sufficient staffing for the day and complying with labor laws.

You can also assure employees that they’ll have the time off they need to celebrate special occasions, handle personal issues, or simply take a break when needed.

Why is leave management important?

A survey from Gallup found that 23% of employees reported feeling often or always burned out, while 44% reported feeling sometimes burned out.

Employees who are burned out are 2.6 times more likely to seek a different job. And if they do stay, they feel 13% less confident in their work.

High employee turnover rates incur significant costs. If an employee quits, there are direct costs, like fees paid to recruiters, and indirect costs, like lost business from reduced capacity.

While you want your employees to be productive, you also want to give them time to recharge and recuperate. 

Encouraging employees to take leave allows them to maintain a healthy work-life balance. It can also increase retention rates and reduce absenteeism. 

Employees rate paid vacation (45%) as the second-most important benefit after health care (53%). Getting the leave management process right is crucial for attracting and retaining talent. 

But first, it helps to understand the challenges that many organizations face.

Top Leave Management Process Challenges

The leave management process is anything but simple. A single mishap could mean being understaffed for the day or even result in legal repercussions.

Here are some of the top challenges that organizations face when managing employee leaves of absence.

Poor Communication

Companies aren’t doing enough to communicate their leave policies. 62% of employees say their company either sends mixed messages or nothing at all about vacation time.

This can leave employees feeling uncertain about how leave policies work and asking questions like: 

• How does time off accrue?
• Are leave benefits unpaid or fully paid? 
• What is my leave balance?

If the answers aren’t clear, employees get caught up in the lengthy process of requesting leave, which can lead to wasted time and delays.

Poor communication can also lead to scenarios where an employee planned (and even paid) for a vacation, but didn’t have the time off they expected. An HR manager would need to diffuse the situation or figure out how to manage workloads if the employee left.

Outdated Processes

Another common leave management challenge is the complexity surrounding it. Without a leave management system in place, it’s easy for employees to get caught up in a convoluted process. 

Complex and outdated processes only lead to unnecessary delays and leave employees feeling frustrated. One study found that 44% of workers for “technology laggard” organizations expressed frustration.

The process of filling out employee leave forms, chasing signatures, and waiting for approvals just isn’t appealing. Addressing this issue is important to encourage employees to take leave.

Payroll Errors

Leave management naturally goes hand-in-hand with payroll. Some employee leaves are paid (or partially paid), while others are unpaid, depending on company policy.

Without a reliable way to track time off, you run the risk of making payroll errors. This means you’ll waste time fixing any mistakes (assuming you catch them).

Let’s say an employee submits a leave request, but their HR manager accidentally types in the wrong dates. The employee in question won’t be compensated correctly until the issue is resolved.

Payroll errors can also occur if HR forgets to update an employee’s leave balance or enters the wrong leave type into the system. Fixing these issues can delay approvals, which can be time-consuming for your HR department and frustrating for your employees.

Optimizing the leave management process can reduce or even eliminate many of these challenges described above. Let’s look at how in the next section.

How to Optimize Your Leave Management Process

Automated leave management software helps address common challenges that organizations face when managing employee leave.

With frevvo’s visual leave management software, you can set up automated workflows to manage leave requests. Employees can submit a leave request, and managers can plan work schedules accordingly.

You can also use the software to:

• Build a custom online leave management system
• Configure each step of the approval workflow
• Create dynamic forms and go completely paperless
• Set notifications to ensure requests are quickly reviewed
• Connect forms to a database and fetch leave balance data
• Reduce manual data entry with auto-fill
• Send documents to a data to create an audit trail

Our software is easy to use and doesn’t require complex coding. It can also integrate with your existing HR software.

Here’s how you can use frevvo’s workflow automation software to streamline the entire leave management process. 

Step 1: Digitize Your Forms

Paper forms are incredibly inefficient — employees waste time printing them out and making sure they reach the right person. Forms also take up physical space when they’re filed away for record-keeping.

With the no-code visual form builder, you can build an employee request form entirely from scratch, or you can install a pre-built template.

Here’s an example of a basic time-off request form:

The visual form builder offers a rich palette of controls on the left side that you can drag and drop into your form.

You can also change individual settings for each field. If forms are frequently sent back because of missing signatures, you can make this field required.

Forms can’t move forward unless they have a signature. Try out the time-off request form here to test it out yourself.

Step 2: Create a Leave Request Workflow

The leave management process has a lot of moving parts. Creating a workflow streamlines this process and ensures things don’t slip through the cracks.

Here the steps for a basic time-off request:

1. An employee fills out and submits a leave request
2. A manager reviews and approves the request
3. The manager sends the request over to HR
4. HR reviews, approves, and files the document

With frevvo’s leave management software, you can build automated workflows that route leave forms to the right department — no need to waste time chasing approvals.

Here’s an example of time-off request workflow in frevvo:

The workflow builder makes it easy for you to add, remove, or edit steps. You can also add conditional leave rules. For example, you can have certain types of employee leave route to a VP for further review.

Step 3: Set Up Email Notifications

Chasing down signatures gets old really fast. With frevvo’s workflow automation software, you can have the system automatically notify someone when a leave request has been sent.

Employees won’t have to email and attach their leave requests for approval. The workflow routes the request to their manager, who can then review and approve the request. Then the form routes to HR for final processing.

Step 4: Route Documents to the Cloud

It’s important to file leave requests for record-keeping purposes. With frevvo’s leave management software, you can have forms sent to your SQL data or cloud-based solutions like Google Drive.

Here’s how you can route leave request forms to a cloud based file service like Google Drive:

If HR needs to confirm certain details when processing payroll, they can quickly search through the database and retrieve the forms they need.

Step 5: Test and Deploy Your Leave Request Workflow

The last thing you want is to deploy a workflow that doesn’t work as intended. Any errors in your workflow will only lead to unnecessary delays, so it’s better to test everything first.

In frevvo, you can test your workflow and even preview it on mobile devices. This gives employees the flexibility to submit leave requests, even on the go.

Here’s an example of how mobile previews look in frevvo:

Your forms and workflow will work as you designed, including any conditional routing you might have added. Be sure to solicit and incorporate feedback from your team. 

Leave Management Best Practices

Even the healthiest employees may need to take leave. A solid leave management process ensures that employees can take time off when needed.

Here are four best practices to follow as you optimize the leave management process.

Ensure Compliance With Labor Laws

First, you need to ensure that your organization complies with federal and state laws.

For example, FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) requires that employers provide eligible employees with 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Failure to comply could land your organization in serious legal trouble.

In one case, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled against an employer who violated FMLA and upheld a $1.3 million award in damages and attorney fees.

Don’t forget about state laws. In California, PDL (Pregnancy Disability Law) states that employers must provide four months of unpaid leave to eligible employees who are unable to work because of pregnancy or childbirth.

Check with all federal and state leave laws to ensure compliance.

Clearly Communicate Your Leave Policy

Communicating your leave management policy is important to prevent any misunderstandings. It also lets managers arrange workloads without hurting productivity.

Your leave policy should make the following clear:

• How paid time is accrued
• How sick days work
• What holidays are observed
• Who is eligible for leave
• What happens to unused time
• Other types of leave available
• How employees can submit requests

Once you establish a leave policy, make it clear to all employees and be sure to stick to it. You should also train managers, so they can communicate those policies to their teams. 

Document Everything and Maintain Records

Record-keeping is a crucial part of the lead management process. Everything related to employee leave should be properly documented to maintain compliance and protect against legal issues.

Records should be accessible to both employees and managers. This allows employees to check their leave balance and makes it easier for managers to clear up any confusion.

Automate Where Possible

77% of employees expect easier ways to complete routine tasks. It goes without saying that you should automate as much of the leave management process as you can.

Instead of having employees print request forms and chase down approvals, use leave management software to automate these steps. This makes things more efficient for your employees and HR.

Conclusion

Leave management is all about managing time-off requests in an efficient manner without affecting productivity. Managing this process manually can result in more payroll errors and even legal action.

With frevvo’s leave management software, you can create automated workflows that streamline employee leave requests and comply with regulations.

Sign up for a free frevvo trial today to see how easy it is to automate the leave management process for your business.

The post Complete Guide to an Optimized Leave Management Process appeared first on frevvo Blog.

And yet, people are stressed about taking vacation. A survey through Healthline found that ~62% of 2,280 readers said that they experienced “very or somewhat” elevated stress levels during the winter holidays — which means employees came back to work just as stressed as before.

Employees might stress about the process of requesting vacation, or about what coworkers think about them for taking it. This creates feelings of guilt and anxiety, which can prevent them from using their paid time off.

Employees are often caught up in the “what ifs” too easily. “What if my vacation request doesn’t get approved,” or “What if I don’t finish enough work before I leave,” or “What if I leave and somebody needs me?” Questions like these can lead employees away from much-needed vacation time, resulting in overworked employees who don’t produce as much high quality content.

What Can You Do to Take Control of Your Vacation?

Plan Your Vacation in Advance

Research shows that a big boost in happiness comes from planning a vacation, and a person can feel the effects up to eight weeks before the trip. In contrast, planning a vacation last-minute actually negates a lot of the benefits of taking one in the first place.

Let Coworkers Know What You Need From Them

Proactively collaborate with coworkers in advance of your departure. Let them know exactly when you’re away, and exactly what they’ll need to do to keep project(s) on track. This ensures that you can completely detach from work while on vacation. Let them know of any changes in advance, and trust in their ability to cover for you.

Plan Your Transition Back Into the Office

Employees usually plan ahead when heading out of the office, but don’t pay enough attention to their needs when coming back in. The American Psychological Association (APA) states that if you do not set up adequate transition time after your vacation, you almost immediately negate the benefits of the time off due to high stress levels.

One way you can ensure transition time is to use a “pre-vacation check-list” like the one here. Ask yourself:

1. What tasks and projects can I complete before I leave?
2. What tasks can’t wait until I come back?
3. What projects require attention while I’m away?
4. What days leading up to my vacation can I work late to make sure these tasks are completed in advance?

Make a checklist of everything you must get done before embarking on your vacation. A great way to reduce stress is to check off those tasks before leaving. Even simple things like these can make you feel more prepared to travel:

• I’ve requested vacation time
• I’ve talked to my colleagues about my absence
• I’ve blocked off my calendar for this period of time
• I’ve set up an automated out-of-office reply.

A checklist like this helps you tie up any loose ends before leaving.

Another way to add transition time is to set aside a specific period of time to check back in with clients and coworkers, but make sure you do not go past the allotted time. This helps slowly transition you back to fuller, stress-free workdays. Or, the APA suggests working from home on your first day back if your employer allows it. This reduces stress by allowing you to catch up on work at your own pace.

What Can HR Do to Help?

As an HR leader, you can help alleviate stress related to “vacation shaming.”  Here are some strategies you can put in place to encourage employees to make use of their paid time off:

Create a “Vacation Friendly” Culture

Statistics have shown that 25 percent of millennials reported feeling nervous when requesting time off from their employers. This is far from ideal, because millenials make up the largest part of the workforce.

This “vacation shaming” culture that exists in a lot of companies is damaging. It has a negative impact on employees and, in turn, on the company itself. Work towards ending the “vacation shaming” culture within the company by outlining all the benefits of vacations.

When “taking vacation” has a negative connotation, companies must work harder to fight it. Make it clear that taking vacation does not make you a bad employee. In fact, you should strongly encourage employees to take periodic time off.

Setup and Communicate Clear Policies

Be extremely clear about the company’s vacation policies. Unclear policies stress employees out and prevent them from using their time off. When employees know exactly when and how to take vacation, you’ll avoid miscommunication and the ensuing bad feelings.

Emphasize the Benefits of Vacation

Taking a vacation has a plethora of benefits; make sure your employees are aware of them.

• The American Heart Association suggests that spending a prolonged period of time outside can lower your risk of heart disease, decrease burnout, and can inspire new ideas in employees.
• The APA adds that vacations reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, and increase quality of sleep.
• Boston Consulting Group found that when companies require employees to take time off, those employees are significantly more productive than those who spend more time working.

These are just a few of the benefits that come with taking vacation, so it’s important to emphasize their importance.

Encourage Employees to Unplug on Vacation

Working while on vacation greatly reduces the benefits associated with taking them. Encourage employees to step away from their phones and computers for the duration of their trip. Don’t require or expect them to answer emails or return phone messages, and make sure the rest of the team has the same expectation.

You could even consider following the example of this company and offer a bonus to employees who stay “unplugged” on vacations. Try brainstorming “tech-free friendly” vacation spots and suggest these destinations to your employees.

Lead by Example

Encourage higher ups to take tech-free vacation time and your employees will do the same. If they see their bosses taking vacation and staying unplugged, it takes away the notion that going on vacation means they are slacking off or are not as dedicated to their work.

Read more: How Effective Managers Handle Time Off Requests

Ease the Process of Requesting Vacation

Similar to unclear policies, a multi-step, complex vacation request process also causes unnecessary stress. To prevent this, set up an easy, automated leave request system.

An electronic time off form allows employees to directly follow their request — from submitted to approved. Instead of wasting time chasing down paperwork, a streamlined process allows them to:

1. Spend time finishing the work they need to do before they leave,
2. Engage with coworkers to ensure they know what to do while they’re gone, and
3. Plan their vacation.

How Your Company Will Benefit

A “pro-vacation” culture has many benefits.

First, recharged and well-rested employees come back much more productive — meaning a higher volume of more creative work.

Second, your company will attract the best talent. People, especially millennials, value vacation. In fact, it’s the #2 benefit that employees look for when weighing job offers. Millennials, in particular, are more likely to work for companies that care about their overall health; they strive to have a good work-life balance, and are more likely to work for supportive companies.

Benefits like flexible vacation time are a great tool to attract world-class talent – an especially important boost to success in today’s ultra-competitive market.

Third, the company must cross-train employees to ensure that things continue to run smoothly even if a specific person is missing. This increases teamwork and communication within and between teams.

Since people have to cover for each other, they need to have a solid understanding of their colleagues’ jobs. That way, if someone chooses to permanently leave, the company immediately has a pool of potential replacements.

Each employee having an understanding of their colleagues’ jobs makes people walk in each other’s shoes. Knowing the challenges that their coworkers face makes it more likely that they will collaborate better in the future.

How Frevvo Can Help

Using frevvo’s time-off request management solution, you can easily automate your vacation request form and workflow. The software is visual and easy to use so you don’t need to hire experienced programmers.

Our pre-built vacation request templates provide a quick starting point. Simply install a template with a single click and customize to fit your needs.

The forms work intuitively on all devices so there’s no need to spend time on training.

Employees can submit their request and track its progress online. Everything related to the request is in one place, making it easier (and faster) to approve. No more chasing paperwork or missing forms.

frevvo also automatically fills in information when possible (like employee name and ID number), and the employee and employer can both sign electronically. That reduces data entry, printing and lost paperwork!

Read more: A Comprehensive Guide to an Efficient Time off Request Form

Conclusion

Taking vacation is good for both employee and employer. There are proven health benefits for employees. The company also benefits by attracting and retaining the best talent and by having cross-trained and capable employees producing high quality work at a faster rate.

Strive to make vacation and paid time off a priority within your company. Work to end “vacation shaming” culture, streamline the vacation request process, and communicate with your colleagues to prevent projects from stalling.

Taking vacation is incredibly important to every employee’s health and wellness, and companies that make this process easier for employees will thrive in the modern business world.

The post Taking the Stress out of Taking Vacation appeared first on frevvo Blog.

A business lunch with a client. A taxi ride to the airport. Drinks at the hotel bar with a colleague. A trip for a work conference. All these expenses could qualify for business travel reimbursement. 

But how do you make sure everyone’s receipts and records are all accounted for?

The problem is that many organizations don’t.

In fact, on average, employees fail to receive $170 of expenses per year. 

The issue may lie with your travel request processes.

Manually processing travel requests is a slow, arduous procedure that’s littered with errors. The constant back-and-forth and inevitable delays in processing are costly for the business and annoying for employees.

Digitizing and automating your travel request processes solves these issues.

Read on to learn how to automate your travel request processes so staff are reimbursed for expenses quickly, and travel management becomes far easier to manage.

Want to skip ahead? Click here to jump to the most relevant sections:

• What is travel reimbursement automation?
• Benefits of travel reimbursement automation
• How to streamline your travel reimbursement process
  • Digitize the process
  • Increase mobility
  • Route requests automatically
  • Use electronic signatures
  • Invest in integrated systems
• Types of travel request processes

What Is Travel Reimbursement Automation?

Currently, 43% of firms still manage expense reports manually. 

Not only are manual processes slow, but they’re also often riddled with errors and prone to lost paperwork.

If you’re one of the nearly half of all organizations that don’t track the costs of processing each travel expense report, you likely don’t realize how costly these slow, error-prone processes are.

Travel reimbursement automation refers to a 100% digitized process that pulls information automatically so anyone can create, send, and process forms quickly. 

Information gets processed with speed and accuracy through business travel request management software that does all the work.

No more sorting through paper files, watching receipts blow away in the wind, or manually filling out an expense envelope where you can barely read your own handwriting because the spaces are so tiny.

Case study 1: Tech company

Software firm, Pivotal, was managing travel requests through email. Not only was this process slow, travel request emails were often buried in busy inboxes and passed over by supervisors, causing serious delays in travel request approvals.

Eager to get rid of these inefficient practices, Pivotal switched to frevvo to automate its travel request process.

Thanks to frevvo’s dynamic forms and complex routing capabilities, Pivotal was able to significantly speed up the travel request process. What’s more, auto-population and auto-validation of forms, combined with HR software integration, eradicated errors in the process.

Plus, frevvo’s dynamic forms are mobile-ready and accessible from any device. This means Pivotal’s staff can now make travel requests from anywhere, and approvers can electronically sign these requests remotely.

Case study 2: Prep school

What do you do when you need a large number of signatures for travel-related Liability Waivers? Gulliver Schools had just this problem. Its students and staff–students needed these forms signed by their parents, while the staff needed to submit travel request forms for the school’s approval.

After they digitized all forms, switched to e-signatures, and integrated the data with Google Apps, it became dramatically easier for staff to sign in to the cloud, submit their data, and track the forms online. 

Similarly, signatures from parents got a lot easier and quicker to collect and were automatically pulled into Google Sheets.

Organizations like Gulliver Schools need to deal with a large variety of forms and signatures. 

Automation through the cloud not only saves time but also improves accuracy by foregoing forms passing from the hands of students to parents to staff and vice versa. Electronic signature automation makes the process instantaneous.

Benefits of travel reimbursement automation

Before we go over ways to streamline your travel reimbursement process, here are a few benefits of automation:

• Faster and more accurate employee requests
• Easier for accountants to see who submitted the requests & check names on expenses
• Prevention of expense abuse with digital document signing
• Reduction in human error with apps that take photos of receipts, so files are digitized
• Faster reimbursement, so employees don’t feel burdened
• Software integration removes friction between HR systems
• Ability to process requests from anywhere

Manual vs. automated process comparison chart

How to streamline your travel reimbursement process

1. Digitize the process

Manual travel reimbursement processes are slow, error-prone, and susceptible to lost paperwork.

This means staff are either waiting a long time for travel expense reimbursement, or they never get it at all.

For example, 33% of workers don’t claim expenses due to lost receipts. 

By digitizing the process, you reduce the need for manual paperwork, making it less likely that staff will lose key travel reimbursement evidence.

Not only that, but digital processing speeds up the process and cuts out errors by integrating with existing systems to auto-populate forms with relevant data and automatically routing forms to the appropriate supervisors.

Thanks to higher levels of consistency, fewer data entry errors, and more reliable audit trails, 72% of business decision-makers agree that digital processing makes businesses more resilient. 

Choose a user-friendly software, like frevvo, to digitize and automate your travel reimbursement process.

That way, it’s easy and intuitive for everyone to use, meaning less training and quicker implementation. 

An affordable, low-code workflow automation platform, like frevvo, makes it simple for anyone on the team — not just programmers — to build sophisticated workflows to make and approve travel requests.

2. Increase mobility with mobile-ready solutions

For accurate and fast travel reimbursement processing, access to the automation software on-the-go is key. Ensure that your solution works on mobile devices so that employees can request reimbursement as soon as they get the receipt by taking a photo and pulling all the relevant information into the travel request form.

Having a mobile-ready solution means that you don’t have to rely on managers being in the office to get travel requests approved. 

Travel request approval time is drastically reduced when a manager can approve a request via mobile even while they may be traveling themselves or out sick.

This also reduces the problem of missing receipts, as everything is digitized right away. 

As we mentioned before, the average worker fails to claim $170 of expenses per year. Six out of 10 of these claim it’s because they forgot to file their expenses. 

With software that enables workers to claim expenses on-the-go, they can put in travel requests immediately, so they don’t forget later.

3. Route requests automatically

It’s not just travel request paperwork that slows down the travel reimbursement process. Frequently, staff have to wait a long time for supervisors to approve their requests.

Not only do staff often have to submit paperwork by hand, this paperwork sometimes gets buried at the bottom of overflowing inboxes. The same problem occurs when staff submit travel requests by email.

With automated travel request software, you can create complex workflows that automate your approval process so that business travel requests automatically route to the appropriate approver.

Approvers are then automatically notified of each document they need to electronically sign so that they can approve travel requests immediately. If approvers forget, they’ll receive an automatic reminder to let them know that requests are awaiting their attention.

This means staff no longer have to waste their time chasing approvals, speeding up the whole process.

Look at ONEIL, as an example.

Previously, the team had a clunky travel request system built in InfoPath. 

Since switching to frevvo, travel request forms automatically populate to route travel requests to the correct approver. This is done based on the organizational travel request approval structure and cost center data. 

There are no more errors in the documentation, and staff are reimbursed far quicker.

4. Use electronic signatures

Inaccurate expenses can cost you money, but so can expense abuse. Currently, one in five small businesses suffer from expense reimbursement fraud.

Automated forms can safeguard against this kind of abuse by pulling information directly from sources like receipts, but they also come with an extra layer of security through electronic signatures. 

This also prevents faking identities by automatically confirming the signer’s identity and protecting the form from being tampered with by a third-party.

5. Invest in integrated solutions

To save valuable time wasted on duplicate data entry and correcting errors and omissions, use integrated solutions that work across other software you’re using.

For example, you can automatically export data from travel request forms to a SQL database or a payroll system so employees no longer have to manually type in the information. It’s available electronically and can be automatically entered without errors into the form.

It’s also easier for employees to authenticate if the solution is integrated with your existing identity system, e.g. Active Directory. There’s one less password to remember, and single sign-on (SSO) is also often available.

Types of travel request processes

Travel reimbursement requests come in many shapes and sizes depending on your unique business requirements. 

All of frevvo’s forms can be automated, so that employee information is automatically filled in based on the logged-in user. This auto-population feature reduces data entry and cuts out typos.

1. Travel authorization and reconciliation form

You can use a travel authorization form to pre-approve your travel expenses. For example, you can estimate predictable expenses like airfare, lodging, and meals.

Try it now: Travel authorization and reconciliation template

How it’s automated: In addition to pre-filled fields and automatic calculations, if the actual amount ends up exceeding the estimate, your manager will automatically receive a request for additional final approval.

2. Conditional travel request

This basic form collects the employee and travel details for an upcoming trip for the purpose of an advance. But the routing is dynamic depending on your internal business requirements. 

For example, additional approval may be required for amounts exceeding a certain preset dollar limit. Alternatively, the form may need to be routed to the Travel Desk to make particular arrangements.

Try it now: Conditional travel request template

How it’s automated: After filling out the form, it gets automatically sent to the manager for approval. After that, where it’s sent next is determined dynamically, based on business logic visually designed in the process.

3. Mileage reimbursement

As you can see below, this form is pretty straightforward. You can use it to submit any mileage incurred on a rental vehicle, for example.

Try it now: Mileage Reimbursement Form Template

How it’s automated: The form’s connected to the Google API to automatically calculate the mileage between destinations, so users don’t have to type it in manually. It also calculates the reimbursement amount based on the current IRS mileage rate.

Everyone benefits from travel reimbursement automation

Automating travel reimbursement doesn’t just mean employees can get their cash faster. It also helps businesses save time on manual entries and reduces errors on all sides. Not only that, but you’ll see fewer errors and more accurate audit trails.

Gone are the days of long email threads, confusing expense report spreadsheets, and lost paperwork. With automated travel request software, you can streamline your travel request processes in no time at all.

Ready to give it a go? Try frevvo’s 30-day free trial to see just how beneficial modernizing your travel request processes can be. 

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