← All work

Internal application · Client work

Modernising an enterprise expense workflow

An internal expense platform replacing a legacy system, with employee claims, reviewer approvals and a record of what was submitted and decided.

The company needed to replace a legacy expense system while preserving its approval rules and audit history. Employees needed a clear way to submit claims; reviewers needed the information to make and explain a decision.

The replacement was built and deployed internally, connecting claim entry, review and submission history in one application.

Context
Enterprise expense management · Client work
My role
Requirements, workflow and application engineering, testing and delivery.

Expense workspace

One claim. Every decision connected.

View the claim as
CLM-0248

Client visit

Bengaluru · 12–13 Aug

Total claim₹4,850Draft
ExpenseAmount

Three expenses, ready for review.

Review the submitted claim

Awaiting submission
  • Supporting documents together

    Three expense items and their receipts.

  • A fixed submitted version

    The decision refers to the details under review.

  • A traceable decision

    Approval becomes part of this claim’s history.

Submit the claim from Employee to begin.

The record behind the claim

1 event
  1. Claim prepared

    Employee · Three expenses, ₹4,850

Submission and review decisions will appear here.

  • User workflows
  • Review interfaces
  • APIs and data
  • Access control
  • Integrations
  • Delivery

01

Define the workflow before rebuilding the screens

I reviewed the existing screens and policies to separate required business rules from workarounds. That established who could act on a claim and what information each decision required.

Expenses, totals, submission and review history were grouped around the claim. Employees and reviewers could follow one workflow instead of piecing together disconnected records.

02

Connect the employee and reviewer journeys

Employees could activate their accounts, enter claims and expenses, and submit them for review. Reviewers saw the submitted details and the current review state, with permissions enforced by the application.

Each review decision was tied to the version the reviewer saw. If someone changed the claim in the meantime, the application rejected the outdated action instead of approving different information.

03

Preserve what was submitted and approved

Submitted versions retained the details used in each decision. Policy validity dates made it possible to explain a historical approval using the rules that applied at the time.

A submission, its audit entry and its queued notification were saved together in one database transaction. Email delivery happened afterward, so a notification failure could not leave a partially saved submission.

04

Test the workflow and deliver the replacement

Validation combined automated tests with a browser walkthrough from account activation through claim submission and review. Reloading the application checked that the saved state and history remained available.

The delivered replacement brought employee claims, reviewer decisions and traceable history into one internal application, with the business rules enforced behind the screens.

Explore the work

Engineering notes on claim history, approval rules and notification delivery.

A similar need on your team?

Internal tools and automation

Build internal applications, enterprise integrations and multi-agent platforms that connect your team’s work, knowledge and business systems.

See what an engagement includes

Related writing

Let’s talk

What would you like to build or improve?

Share the problem and what already exists. I’ll reply with questions or suggested next steps.

Describe your project