Policy Groups

[Josh]

Hey all,

So Policy Groups. I understand that for each Group you can set different Expense Types, and many times these groups often relate to different countries. With the different sets of Expense Types you can set different expense limits, and Audit Rules around them, but what other functions are available?

In particular, I'm interested in finding out if either of the following can be accomplished:

1. Can there be different Cost Tracking fields available only for certain groups? Similar to how a linked list works, but instead of segmenting off values based on the field before it, allowing entirely different lists. For example, field A has these options for one group:
   
   "San Diego (001)"
   "Los Angeles (002)"
   "Bakersfield (003)"
   
   But for another group, the same field has these options:
   
   "Colorado Springs (001)"
   "Denver (002)"
   "Loveland (003)"
   
   This is just one example, but I wanted to know if it was possible. As I understand it, you cannot have two options within the same field that has the same value. Is this possible with a Policy Group? Am I wrong in my understanding and can this be accomplished some other way?
   
   
2. Can different groups have different Compliance Rules? For instance, Group A has the option to send unused company card transaction emails to cardholders after 14 days. Group B has that option turned off. Is this possible?

Any help would be greatly appreciated; thanks!

[arobertson]

Hi Josh,

An excellent topic! You have actually crossed into many different things with your post so I will try and clarify so I am sure I understand your request.

Is the following statement true?

You wish to influence the Concur experience for specific users in your company. Either by controlling the options available to them or by having audit rules in place to help guide them.

• What identifies the group of users you wish to influence? Economic zone? Country? Company Code?
• When you are talking about influence the values of a field by the values of the field before it, this is list mechanics. What is the field before it? Where does the information come from? Employee Profile? User selection?
• What is the business case you are wishing to address with your changes?

In a nutshell, Concur splits configuration on something called Employee / Expense Grouping. It is one of the drivers that determine which information applies to different employee sets. Things like Expense Policy, Audit Rules, Email reminders are just a few of the settings which use Group Configuration.

To answer your questions directly.

"Can there be different Cost Tracking fields available only for certain groups? Similar to how a linked list works, but instead of segmenting off values based on the field before it, allowing entirely different lists. For example, field A has these options for one group:"

Yes, but there might be a simplier way.

"Can different groups have different Compliance Rules? For instance, Group A has the option to send unused company card transaction emails to cardholders after 14 days. Group B has that option turned off. Is this possible?"

Yes, Group Configuration is the driver for Audit Rule configuration. You could, if you wanted break an audit rule all the way down to individual employees! But best practice is either Global audit rules that apply Company Wide or for legal requirements, you can break it down to a country level. It really depends on your needs. One realllllly important point, Audit Rules are incredibly flexible. But they are hard to maintain and too many can have a negative impact on user experience.

By all means, post away, I will give you as much advice as I can as I find this topic especially interesting!

[patilr1982]

Hi Josh,

Angus seems to have already a lot of ground on your query. Let me see if I can add something.

1. Although creating additional policies gives more flexibility, you have to be careful to avoid creating too many as it may lead to additional maintenance in the future. Ideally, you should have one Concur policy for every country. One country should have multiple Concur policies when there are different local T&E policies for different groups of users in that country. This can be different legal entities or different categories of employees like blue and white collar workers.

2. Drop down values are added to lists. These lists are added to expense entry forms. The expense entry forms are assigned to expense types at a policy level. So, technically it is possible to create copies of forms and have separate simple lists linked to them. This will show different values to users in different policies. The other approach is to have a multi-level list where the first few levels are determined by user master data and they are hidden. So the user will only see lower level values that are relevant to them.
The same logic applies to Employee forms/allocation forms.

Policies can be helpful in case you want different copy-down behaviour.

3. Audit rules can be made applicable at a policy level. However, it can also be achieved by looking at user master data. Personally, I prefer Audit rules at the policy level as adding too many conditions in Audit rules may complicate the setup and lead to errors.

However, there are different horses for different courses and the final decision on the best approach to do something is best taken based on the holistic understanding of the requirements.