Travel authorisation

Itiner Digital Travel Authorisation & Claim Settlement Module
Travel authorisation Itiner Digital

he Itiner Digital Travel Authorisation and Claim Settlement Module manages the request and approval steps related to organizing employees’ business trips, as well as travel claim settlement in an integrated way, aligned with the company’s financial processes. The system processes the full lifecycle of incoming invoices and card transactions, from registration through cost allocation, approval and verification all the way to automated posting to ERP systems.

The aim of the module is to ensure that organizational units can initiate and approve travel requests in a transparent and controlled way while employees can quickly and easily process card transactions and cash invoices incurred during travel. Managers and specialist areas can follow and verify in real time the validity and status of incurred costs.

Highlights

Multi-level, complex approval system
a flexible and adaptable approval matrix for travel requests and claims supported by cost and budget control.
Support for group-level operation
unified, central handling of parent company and subsidiary environments with separate authorisation and settlement rules.
Flexible master data management
management of employee, organizational, project and cost centre data as well as per diem and claim settlement rules, and loading from MS Excel, if necessary.
Automated notifications and deadline tracking
automatic email alerts or notifications on the user interface for upcoming deadlines, required approvals and missing information.
Simple reporting and financial statements
management and financial reports can be easily compiled from travel and claim settlement data along with visualizations, if needed.
Management of related documents
attaching and organizing receipts, invoices, booking confirmations, confirmation receipts of advances, and allocations.
Different approval and claim settlement procedure types
multiple corporate policies are supported (travel with advance, settlement of card spending, handling of cash invoices, per diem calculation etc.).
Digital handling of relationships
travel budgets, project assignments, cost centres, management approval permissions and the logical relationship of corporate policies on a unified digital interface.
Export to Excel
All data can be exported to MS Excel with the click of a button.
AI-supported digitisation
automatic recognition of receipts, categorisation of card transactions, indicating spending anomalies and intelligent suggestions to accelerate claim settlement.

Travel authorisation & claim settlement

Organising travel – step by step
Travel authorisation Itiner Digital

Travel authorisation module

The purpose of the Travel Authorisation submodule is to allow employees to request prior managerial and financial approval for any travel related to work, trainings or customer visits. When submitting the request, the employee provides the following:


  • Trip purpose and justification,
  • Related project,
  • Cost centre bearing the travel cost,
  • Planned trip duration and destination country,
  • Expected costs (accommodation, travel, per diem, meals etc.),
  • Amount of advance required to finance the trip, if needed.

Request and authorisation

While compiling the request, the traveller may also be supported by a travel organizer, for example to request offers related to hotel bookings, flight tickets or car rentals. The related materials may be attached to the process too.

After submission, the travel request proceeds through the approval matrix defined by the company. Typically, approval is required from the direct manager, the managers of cost centres concerned in the trip, finance, and above certain thresholds, for example, the COO or CFO.

Following approval, the system allows the travel organizer to make the bookings and confirm them back to the employee. If an advance has also been approved, the finance department ensures it is paid out (either from petty cash or via bank transfer).

After an approved trip, the system automatically starts the claim settlement process. It is open for a certain number of days after the trip (as defined by the company) for the employee to begin recording and claiming costs.

Travel authorisation Itiner Digital

Travel claim settlement module

The purpose of the Travel Claim Settlement submodule is to ensure that the travelling employee can record all costs incurred during the trip, support them with legally compliant receipts, settle the received advance and ensure accurate and compliant settlement of per diem according to the company policy.

The claim settlement process starts automatically after travel approval but can also be started manually if there was no formal travel authorisation for the trip

01

Claim submission process

Recording the travel period and advance

As a first step, the employee records the exact duration of the trip. If not entered previously, they also provide the amount of the received advance and its currency.

Two ways of recording costs

 1. Employees with a company credit card


Company card transactions are automatically loaded to the system for the given period. Data are obtained by processing MT940 format bank statements.

The employee has to:
• attach the appropriate receipts,
• provide the justification,
• perform categorization (e.g. accommodation, travel, meals, other),
• verify the legitimacy of the spending.

 2. Spending without a company card

The system allows for manual entry of all incurred costs (item, amount, currency, category) as well as attaching the related receipts and indicating the cost centre for settlement of the item.

Advance, cost and per diem calculation

After recording the claim, the system automatically:

  • summarises the costs,
  • determines the difference between the received advance and the actual costs,
  • calculates the per diem defined in the policy, if applicable.

Taking both values into account, the system determines the portion of the advance that has been settled or must be repaid.

02

Approval workflow and ERP integration

Approval workflow and ERP integration

The claim summary is approved in multiple steps:


  • Financial verification – format and content review.
  • Manager approval – the direct manager and, if necessary, other managers defined in the policy.

The approved and verified items are automatically posted to the ERP system.

03

Settlement of the advance difference

If the employee is entitled to additional payment, finance initiates a bank transfer in the appropriate currency or pays the amount from petty cash. In case of overspending, the employee reimburses the difference.

Travel authorisation Itiner Digital

Integration and related systems

The Travel Authorisation and Claim Settlement module can be integrated with several corporate systems, ensuring
process automation, data consistency and financial compliance.

Request and authorisation

01

The module can be connected to the company’s mailing system, enabling sending of automatic notifications, approval requests and status changes, initiating certain approval steps from email, as well as providing real- time information to travel organizers and managers.

02

Connection with the HR system ensures that up-to-date employee master data is available.

03

The ERP integration connects to the company’s ERP system at multiple points including the following:

  • Transfer of advance payments: automatic posting of approved advances to finance,
  • Posting of settled invoices and costs: transferring coded and approved items in general ledger, cost centre or project-level breakdown,
  • Handling of per diems and foreign-currency items.
04

Integration with the banking system is also able to process bank transaction data, for example it allows for importing company bank card transactions (from MT940 or other standard formats) or import the invoices of subsidiaries, while subsidiaries can only record and approve their own invoices.

Travel authorisation Itiner Digital

Reports and analytics

The module provides real-time statistics and reporting functions to support finance and management decision-making. It measures processing times, approval lead times and expenditures assigned to cost centres. Managers are provided a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the company’s finance processes, the status payments, and process efficiency.

tiner Workspace is not simply a digital tool, but a strategic platform that increases the company’s transparency, efficiency and flexibility.

Used by many brands around the world

Business benefits

Faster travel authorization and settlement processes
by digitally aligning data entry, cost categorization, transaction matching and approval and control steps, manual administration is significantly reduced.
Transparency and full traceability
every travel request, cost item, receipt, control and approval can be traced back so financial and managerial controls are available in one place.
Risk reduction and compliance
automated approval levels, built-in financial rules and checks tied to budgets and per diem calculation minimize errors and the risk of unauthorized spending.
Mobility and flexibility
employees and managers can manage authorization and settlement from mobile devices so travel processes can be handled quickly from anywhere.
Integration with corporate systems
approved advances, settled costs and receipts can be automatically forwarded to the ERP financial module as well as to banking and HR systems, ensuring process continuity and consistent data management.
Travel authorisation Itiner Digital