The pressure on companies to become ever 'leaner' and optimize the business processes is higher than ever. Investors demanding higher profits, customer's demands for lower prices and greater quality and regulators demand for better controls and more transparency force organizations to improve, optimize and streamline their entire business process. The benefit of streamlining these processes has an immediate positive impact on the bottom line. The Improvements within manufacturing, including just in time production and material management have dramatically improved the bottom line.

While the focus on optimizing the logistic and production processes remains strong, optimization of administrative costs need similar attention. Companies actually realize productivity levels in their administrative sections today that are lower than before the introduction of IT solutions. The higher use of IT systems, while improving the amount and availability of information, is not being strategically used to lower costs associated with the administrative function.

The vision of a 'Real Time Enterprise' allows companies to instantly utilize available information from within and from outside the organization to enable management to act instead of react to changing conditions. To become ever leaner and more flexible, companies need to optimize, streamline and automate business processes throughout the organization including their administrative functions. Many organizations today are structured as project offices and use project portfolio management to run their business units. This approach has unleashed unknown resources and optimization capabilities never before realized. Using this project approach allows companies to implement a set of proven controls and best practices to reap the benefits of streamlined processes.

One of the control mechanisms to be implemented is automated timesheet and expense management. Automated, IT based timesheet and expense management will allow for efficient, optimized and timely reporting of project resource allocation and spending. Additionally, it increases the accuracy of the collected data. In light of the pressure coming from government and regulatory agencies, e.g. Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, this would solve an important compliance issue for a company.

A study performed by the Aberdeen Group concludes that expense management automation will reduce the cost per expense report from $48 to $18 (http://www.aberdeen.com/2001/research/07020007.asp). This savings alone would justify an investment into automating the timesheet and expense management processes within an organization.

Additional benefits of Timesheet and Expense Management automation: * Faster reimbursement for employees leading to improved morale. * Reduction of clarification requests back to the submitter as information is instantly available for everybody in one location. * Improved data availability and higher accuracy of information about expenses allows stronger positions, price and service negotiations with vendors. * Optimized and streamlined controlling as a result of higher accuracy and timeliness of information.