Expense Agents in Dynamics 365 FO

 Expense Agents in Dynamics 365 FO

  

Expense management is one module in Dynamics that I know Microsoft has been doing a lot of improvements on, from introducing OCR to read receipts and create expense lines to automatic settlement of workspace using the Expense management reimagined.

In this post, I just want to do an overview of how the Expense agents works. Although there are limitations which range from several factors: like receipt quality, technical glitches that may still require human intervention.

The Expense Agent automates the end-to-end expense management process by using intelligent workflows to handle receipt processing, expense line creation, and report generation. Its functionalities can be summarised as below:

1. Receipt Processing - Focus on Efficiency (Direct and Active)

Receipt processing is streamlined and automatic. Users simply forward receipts to a shared mailbox or upload them directly into the finance and operations apps. The system then automatically extracts key details like the amount, merchant, and location, eliminating the need for manual data entry.

     2. Expense line creation - Focus on Automation and Reliability (Active Voice)

Expense line creation is handled by the agent, which periodically uses the extracted details to generate individual expense lines. These lines are then stored and tracked by the system, ensuring reliable and consistent expense management.

     3.   Expense Report Generation - Focus on Streamlined Reporting (Benefit-Driven)

Automated Expense Reports: The system intelligently groups related expense lines into comprehensive reports, logically organizing them by project or trip. These reports are generated on a regular schedule that seamlessly aligns with your organizational workflows. For even greater accuracy, if users share their work calendar with the shared mailbox, the agent can leverage this data to pinpoint the correct trips or projects automatically.  Users can access and manage generated expense reports directly in Teams. Users can review, update, attach/detach lines, and modify categories. The system provides policy violation notifications, and reports can be submitted for approval via Teams or opened for direct editing in the finance and operations apps. Report generation configuration is flexible.

 

And to add: It provides flexible report generation configuration:

Flexible Configuration for Administrators: Within Expense Management parameters, administrators gain precise control to configure report generation frequency and select the optimal grouping logic—whether by trip or by project. For instance:

·        If employees commonly tag expenses to specific projects, the system's agent intelligently analyzes active projects to assign expenses accurately.

·        For expenses incurred during work-related travel, the agent uses location data (like city or country) to automatically group them into relevant trips.