Expense Line Questions

[anthonycwong]

Our Team was working to understand how Expense Line (fm_expense_line) works. In our current environment, the Expense Line is used exclusively with PPM - Project Managers input expense lines, which get tallied up in the Project Cost field.

However, our users noted that Expense Lines get locked after approximately 1 day. Sometimes, they input the wrong value. After exploring the wiki and the table, I found out that a scheduled job (Process Expense Allocation) sets the state from "Pending" to "Processed". Doing so will prevent anyone except for an "admin" role to edit any information.

Our users were requesting that this field be freely editable for X amount of days. I could delay the execution of this scheduled job, but I wanted to see if there were any potential implications of extending this (either immediate or long-term if we plan to use Expense Lines for Asset/Contract Mgmt). Is there any difference between a state of "Pending" vs. "Processed"?

If so, I was thinking about putting a confirmation field before any expense lines ("are you sure you want to submit XYZ expense"). Just looking for general guidance if possible.

[ITSMgal]

Hi Anthony,

Instead of modifying the way this works, what i would suggest is that the PMs get trained to "reverse" any mistakes, instead of correct the original records.

What i mean by that is to create a negative $$ entry to reverse anything that was put in incorrectly.

For example:

1) PM enters an expense line for Capital expense for $1000 and it should be for Operating expense

2) PM Enters a -$1000 expense line for Capital noting the reversal

3) PM enters a $1000 expense line for Operating

Another example:

1) PM enters an expense line for Capital expense for $1000 and it should be for $2000

2) PM Enters a -$1000 expense noting the reversal

3) PM Enters a $2000 Expense

NOTE: You can use the comments field on the expense line or the short description to indicate a correction.

The difference between Pending and Processed is just that - a pending Expense line has not been processed. When its processed, the $$ are allocated and to the project and project reflects the actuals. You really don't want to change this code.

Please mark as helpful and solved if applicable 🙂

Emily

[anthonycwong]

HI Emily,

Thank you for the prompt response. Apologies as I've been working on an ad-hoc basis and have just had the time to revisit this issue.

Our local team asked the question - Why is this job nightly? Why can't it be run weekly, etc? The team was just looking for more flexibility if possible. In addition, the project allocation field automatically gets processed as new expense lines are added. Based on the explanation provided - the nightly run is just meant to finalize any outstanding expense lines and lock them; is this correct?

Other threads note that the state difference is only meant to provide a distinction between a locked and editable expense line. Is this the case?

[Teena Singh]

Anthony,

The Customer Experience team is striving to ensure that customer queries posted from the HI Service Portal are answered in timely and accurate fashion.

If you feel your question has been resolved, please mark the appropriate reply in the thread as being the Correct Answer.

Thank you in advance.

Regards,

Teena Singh
Customer Experience: UX Strategy and Customer Insights
teena.singh@servicenow.com

ServiceNow

[sarahver]

Hello !

As the hourly rate of a user can change throught the year I'm looking for a way to capture the cost generated from the users time card so the reports could reflects the real cost of the resource, otherwhise it will just calculate the total cost based on the current and most recent rate affected to the user in the labor rate card.

I know that expense line could do that but it seems that it's only the case for project task. Is ther a way to do the same with KTLO also ?

Many thanks !

Sarah