Our tool is as powerful as it is customisable. In this section, we will help you understand what each function is for and how to configure them to get the most out of each.
Section contents:
- First steps: Personal information
- Preferences
- Categories
- Payment methods
- Custom fields
- Workflows
- PDF configuration
First steps
First of all: Welcome to Captio! You are about to learn to set up your environment to be able to manage your travel expenses in the most efficient way.
To access your administration panel, go to login.captio.net and use the data sent to you by our Client Success department. If you do not remember it, or cannot find it, write to us at help@captio.com and we will help you.
Personal information
Every time you enter your admin account, we will send you directly to the Reports tab because – take it from us – it will be one of those you will use the most. The first time you log in, go to the "Settings" tab, which you will see in the horizontal main menu. You can also use the drop-down in the upper right corner.
(1) The first section you can set up is "Personal info". To start, you can change:
- Email address: the account associated with the login cannot be changed, but you can add another one where you receive alerts and communications from Captio.
- Password: you can change the password for one that is simpler to remember, always following the security advice.
(2) In the "Set my account" subsection, you can:
- Add your company’s name or trade name.
- Choose the language in which you prefer to see and use Captio.
- Select your time zone (so your reports are in this format)
- Indicate your culture: this influences the way in which some data is displayed. For example, in Anglo-Saxon culture, decimals are presented using periods instead of commas, and dates are formatted as month / day / year
Preferences
One of Captio’s best characteristics is its adaptability to meet the needs of different types of companies. In the "Preferences" section you can customise the following fields:
1. Currency
For your information, here we show you the accounting currency that you chose and that will be used by default in your reports. Expenses in foreign currency will be converted to this one for accounting purposes.
2. Mileage
Here you can add the mileage rate you use at your company. This way, when someone manually reports an expense, based on mileage, Captio will automatically calculate the final amount of the expense.
Important: This rate applies to the users that you create from now on. If you change the rate and you need to update it for your users, you will have to do it manually, in the file.
Do not forget to indicate:
- The default payment method
- The default categories (we recommend leaving "mileage" marked).
- Prevent this expense from being applied to another category (we recommend that you check the box).
An alternative way to manage this issue is by creating mileage/km groups.
2.1 Advanced features: Predefined routes
People who travel for work often regularly go to the same places. We have set up a function that allows you to add these routine trips to facilitate the calculation of mileage expenses.
To add a new trip:
- Click on "Create Route", give it a name (for example: Office - Airport)
- Indicate the distance between those two points.
Whenever you need to, you will be able to edit both the name and the distance; you just have to click on the fields, change whatever you want, and hit ENTER to save the changes.
Are you interested in this feature? Ask our team about it
2.2 Advanced features: Mileage groups
Some people may have different mileage rates at your company than others (depending on their professional level, for example). Edit the general preferences of your mileage rate to create as many groups as you need.
Are you interested in this feature? Ask our team about it
3. Receipt Options
3.1 Receipt editing
In this section, you can decide whether to allow your users to modify the tickets associated with an image. This means that the fields that Captio recognizes automatically cannot be edited.
3.2 Basic fields
Here you can mark which fields you want to activate or hide from your users, and which ones will be required. When you mark a field as mandatory, the system will not allow you to save the ticket until it is complete.
4. Advanced feature: Advances
It may be the case that some people need to receive cash, and in advance, to cover their travel expenses. For these situations, you have the Advances (advance payments) feature.
You can decide which people can request advances by adding them to a workflow or approval flow.
But, first of all, let's see what parameters you can set up with regards to requests for advances:
- Settlement days: establishes a period of days after which we will notify the person that the advance has not been paid back.
- Settlement email alert: add the email address of the person you want us to notify that the advance has not been paid back.
- Minimum control amount: if you indicate a value in this field, all requests for advances that are the same or lower will be approved automatically, avoiding the intermediate workflow phases.
- The number of receipt copies: you can configure how many copies of the settlement receipt you want to print.
- Base currency: that is, the currency of the advance.
- Currency exchange values table: you can manually set the currency exchanges that will affect advances, or check the next box.
- Automatic update: we will update the currency values automatically in accord with information from the European Central Bank, with whatever periodicity is desired.
Once you have set up the advances, you will have to add the users who need it through workflows.
Are you interested in this feature? Ask our team about it
5. Advanced feature: Cash control
When advances are issued, it is advisable to create a cash control account, responsible for tracking the settlements and returns of cash advances. For practical purposes, it is an administrative user that does not report expenses or have authority at the configuration level. Its mission is to register the whole process in Captio to carry out proper accounting.
Are you interested in this feature? Ask our team about it
Categories
Creating new categories
To create a new category, just click on the "Add" button to open the wizard (1).
In it, you will have to fill in the following information:
- Category name: use a descriptive name that helps users when categorising their expenses.
- Subcategory: if you want to place it inside another one, do keep in mind that when you make a category include others, the first one is emptied of characteristics.
- Account: you can add the account to that which you want to assign the expense, which will help you with the accounting later.
- Internal code: as in the previous option, add here the internal code information that you have.
- Self-limited: If you check this box, you can indicate a maximum amount to be refunded in this category. When you do, you can indicate that amount in the following field: "Maximum amount". This means that although the user can upload expenses of a greater amount, only this maximum amount will be refunded.
- Active: By default the categories are active, but you can deactivate them if at any time they are no longer useful to you, but you still don't want to eliminate them.
- Category just for mileage (km): if you check this box, this category will only be visible when a mileage expense is added.
When you have completed all the information, click on "Save".
Once you have created the category, you will be able to see it on the Main Panel. On it we show you, at a glance, the relevant information: name, maximum amount, if limited; internal code, and accounting code.
If you want to EDIT CATEGORY (2):
Click on the pencil icon that you will find in the Actions column to reopen the wizard and make the appropriate modifications.
To DELETE CATEGORY (3):
Click on the Trash icon, which you will find in the Actions column. You will get a confirmation message. Click on "Accept" to remove the category and its associated subcategories.
Advanced features: Subsistence allowance
Subsistence allowance is still a category, but with a pre-defined daily amount and for which, depending on how you configure it, and depending on your company's expense policy, it may not be necessary to provide a receipt.
When adding allowance expenses, you will have to provide the following information
- Name: tell us what you want to call the meal expense. For example breakfast
- Amount: Set an amount for this meal expense
- Currency. In what currency are you establishing the meal expense?
- Accounting account: if you need to, you can indicate the account to which you want to assign the expenses in this category.
- Code: add, if appropriate, whatever internal ERP code you want to use for this category.
- Activate: You can activate or deactivate the categories, which determines whether they are visible or not in the app for people reporting expenses.
Are you interested in this feature? Ask our team about it
Payment methods
Each expense, in addition to being categorised, may be linked to a payment method. You can define what payment options you permit with regards to your company's travel expenses, and specify whether they are reimbursable for those who report the expense or not (fundamental for the grouping of expenses in the reports, and for their use in advanced features, such as reconciliation and advances.)
To add personalised payment methods, all you have to do is give it a name (1), mark the "reimbursable" option, or not, and click on Save.
If at any time you wish to edit your payment methods, you just have to click on the pen that appears (2), make the changes, and hit Enter.
You can also delete the payment methods created by clicking on "Delete" (3).
Custom fields
By default, our app automatically captures the amount, supplier and date fields of photographed expenses. If you wish, you can ask the user for additional information related to each expense using the custom fields. If your account is medium or large in size, you can also use these same custom fields at the report level.
Custom field types
- Custom “Text” field
Custom text field: allows you to ask the person reporting the expense about something in particular. For example: you can ask for details related to a specific expense that has been assigned to the "other expenses" category.
- Custom “Date” field
Although it is not common to use it at the expense level, you may want to set up a custom “Date” field at the report level. For example: start date of the congress.
- Custom "Integer" field
The response to this custom field is numeric; for example you can ask the person who is reporting the expense or report to indicate the corresponding internal project number.
- Custom “Decimal Number” field
You may want to receive an exact numerical answer, such as when asking one to add the kilometres and the decimal on a car odometer, to report fuel costs; to do this, you can ask them to add numbers with decimals.
- Custom “List of values” field
This field serves shows one reporting an expense a predefined list of possible answers. For example, if a sales call is made, you can show a list of your clients, for them to select the appropriate one.
- Custom “Records List” field
Imagine that a person reports an expense in which he invites 4 people to eat, and that you are interested in verifying several details on each one (their company, name, position, for example). To be able to enter these expenses, you can use a custom Records List field, in which each item will be opened in order to respond with different text fields.
- Custom “Yes / No Type” Field
This custom field is very useful when your question is closed, and you just need a simple yes or no. For example: is this expense deductible?
- Custom “Assignment object” field: Advanced feature
A special field of values that are recovered from an external system defined by your company. Some options are displayed that are not in our database, but rather in yours; this is for clients with integrations via API.
- Combined customised field
The combined field allows you to group multiple customised fields of any type to reflect just one item/category. In addition, combined fields can be grouped in dynamic lists.
How are custom fields added?
If you want to add more fields to your expenses, click on "New field" (1), fill in the information about the field (name, what type of data you will collect, if it applies to expenses or reports, in which category you want to add this data, and finally, a brief description), click "Save", and that's it!
Workflows
A workflow or approval flow is the mechanism used to create the different stages through which an expense report must pass to be approved. Each stage will have a person with the role of supervisor, who will issue the green light to move on to the next one.
For example: a person from your sales team sends his report, which must be approved by his area supervisor, then by the Sales Director, and, finally, by the administrative staff. In this case, the approval flow consists of 3 stages, and will have 3 supervisors until final approval.
For your security: all the stages through which the report passes are recorded, so that we can guarantee the traceability of the process.
Types of workflows
- Reports: workflows for the report approval flow.
- Advances: workflows for the advance payment approval flow.
- Travel: workflows for the trip approval flow.
NOTE: The types of workflow available may vary depending on your plan.
First of all: keep in mind that you will need to have created the users of your environment to be able to assign them as supervisors. We explain how to create users in this article.
To create a workflow:
- Go to the Workflow section in the Configuration section and click on New
- Next, provide an appropriate name for the workflow in the Name field (1)
- Select the type of workflow in the Type field.
Workflows are organised into review stages. To add a stage, click on the Add button (2). Next, you can set up:
- Stage: indicates the name of the stage. This text has information for users to identify the approval stage their report is in.
- User: start typing the name or e-mail address of the user with the supervisor role in this review stage, and select him or her from the list.
- Rejection: this is the action that will be triggered if the Report / Trip / Advance is rejected. That is, here it should be indicated the stage to which the report should go returned if rejected in this stage. You can go back to the stage immediately preceding, or return the report to the reporting user for its modification or elimination.
- Permissions : reflects the permits that the reviewer will have with regards to the report at this stage.
- Alerts: defines the alerts that are calculated in this stage.
Important! If you create a workflow without stages, it will be an automatically approved workflow. That is, when the user requests approval his reports will not go to any reviewer, and will be automatically approved.
The permissions available for a stage are the following:
- Minimum amount: Here you can define whether the stage of the workflow you are in needs to have a minimum amount in order to be reviewed. If this field is left empty, the value will be 0, and the other rules set will be applied. (e.g., a Financial Director who only wants to validate expense reports for amounts greater than €500, and that also contain alerts, such as edited expenses.)Alerts: The Alerts section will indicate which alerts the person in charge of supervising the stage can see.
- Alerts: The Alerts section will indicate which alerts the person in charge of supervising the stage can see.
- Delete: The person who supervises the stage can remove expenses from the report. Expenses are not eliminated, they are only removed from this report and returned to the user's pending expense list.
- Edit expense: The person who supervises the stage can edit report expenses, and even edit the data detected by Captio (amount and date)
- Email: The person who supervises the stage will receive an email notifying them that they have a report to review.
- Skip step: The report will go to the next step if none of the alerts defined in the Alerts section are triggered.
Once the stages have been created, one must add which people will be affected by this workflow. For this you must go to the Users section and select the User Management option. The User Assignment window will open. In it, select the users that you want to add to the workflow. Once the users have been selected for the workflow, close the window with the button found in the upper right corner.
Reports (PDF)
In this section you can configure the appearance of the reports downloaded in PDF. You can configure the type of template, the logo and the content, so that it meets your needs.