Stop Drowning in Spreadsheets: Why TripsWare is the software platform of choice for expense allocation
Let’s face it: expense allocation is nobody’s favorite task.
For many businesses, ‘expense allocation’ conjures images of complex spreadsheets with endless rules, manual data entry, and constant worry of errors impacting the bottom line. If your team is still juggling spreadsheets, trying to track travel costs across projects or breaking out expenses by cost center, you know how quickly things can spiral… slow processes, inconsistent data, and late nights trying to reconcile across various sources.
We’ve been building TripsWare fix these problems. Over the past 20 years, we’ve worked closely with accounting teams, CFOs, and operations leads to solve some of the most frustrating expense allocation challenges across funds, entities, properties, departments, and projects. The result? A platform designed for how finance teams actually work.
The Problem with “Good Enough” Allocation Tools
Most companies start with general tools — a mix of legacy software, entry-level apps, or even popular platforms like Concur. They might work for basic expense tracking, but when you try to allocate across multiple dimensions (especially for project-based work or travel-heavy teams), the cracks start to show:
- Rigidity and Complexity: Many tools force you into a narrow set of rules. Want to split an expense across multiple GL codes based on travel segments? Good luck. We often hear from our clients that switch from Concur that they had to ‘jerry-rig’ Concur to fit their needs before leveraging TripsWare and streamlining the expense allocation process.
- Lack of Specialization: Basic tools often treat all expenses the same. They struggle with the nuances of travel and project costs – oftentimes there are different rules for different expense types / project types. TripsWare, on the other hand, specializes in custom mapping of specific business rules to general ledger accounts.
- Manual Effort: Many solutions still require significant manual intervention – importing data, matching receipts, and manually splitting costs. This isn’t just time-consuming for the accounting team; it’s a recipe for costly errors that require significant time to correct.
- Poor Integration: Getting data out of these systems and into your core accounting or ERP software can be a headache in of themselves. Reporting capabilities are often basic, failing to provide the granular insights needed for strategic decision-making. In a best case scenario, many companies hire an implementation partner who doesn’t have the domain expertise to fit your business needs, resulting in hours of manual work to actually import the data into your accounting system.
Introducing TripsWare: Allocation Without the Agony
We built TripsWare specifically for complex allocations. Whether you’re managing project budgets, fund expenses, or multi-segment travel, our platform simplifies it all — without sacrificing accuracy.
How TripsWare Stands Apart:
- Built for Complexity, Especially Travel & Projects: While generic tools might handle simple splits, TripsWare excels where complexity increases. Our software intelligently handles multi-segment travel, project-specific costs, intricate cost center allocations, and other various allocation methods, ensuring precision where it matters most.
- Clean Interface Backed by a Powerful Engine: Unlike the often clunky interfaces of other commonly used systems, TripsWare boasts a user-friendly experience. But don’t let the easy-to-use interface fool you. Beneath the surface lies a robust engine capable of handling complex allocation rules effortlessly.
- Automation at its Core: Say goodbye to hours of manual data manipulation. TripsWare automates key parts of the allocation process, pulling in data from various sources (like corporate credit cards or personal credit cards), applying predefined rules, and minimizing the chance of human error. This frees up your finance team for more strategic tasks. Our clients typically save 10+ hours a week using TripsWare versus other expense allocation solutions.
- Seamless Integration & Insightful Reporting: TripsWare is designed to work with your existing accounting infrastructure. We offer smooth integration capabilities with popular accounting platforms like Quickbooks, Sage, Netsuite, Yardi, etc. We are able to create intricate rules to better map expenses to specific general ledger accounts with information-rich journal entries.
The TripsWare Difference
Choosing an expense allocation tool isn’t just about ticking a box; it’s about empowering your business with accurate financial intelligence. While generic tools offer a basic level of functionality, they often create hidden costs through inefficiency, errors, and lack of insight.
TripsWare provides a specialized, automated, and intuitive solution specifically designed to conquer the complexities of modern expense allocation, particularly for businesses with complex travel or project-based expenses. Stop wrestling with inadequate tools and discover how TripsWare can bring clarity, accuracy, and efficiency to your expense allocation process.
