Connexions Lincolnshire and Rutland is a service that provides information, advice, guidance and support services to young people in the region. They have over 200 staff spread over the two counties that spend their time in contact with colleges, schools and specifically with young people.

With a geographically widespread workforce and a highly manual and administratively burdensome expense claim system, Connexions Lincolnshire and Rutland decided to implement an automated system that would streamline and reduce expense administration and would also overcome hurdles associated with a diversely located employee base. Connexions Lincolnshire and Rutland chose ExpenseOnDemand to provide the solution.

Within a month of implementation, the solution was made available to all staff at the service. Users were equipped with guides and operations managers provided handholding and dealt with query responses for the first month of usage. During that time the Connexions finance team collected and collated feedback and suggestions either for resolution, process change or potential incorporation into the product.

Mark Siddy, Finance Manager for Connexions, said, "It's intuitive and easy to use. The need to support staff reduced rapidly after just the first month and we rarely had to resolve the same issue more than once."

Connexions now have about 230 people using the system on a regular basis of which some 170-180 make a claim every month.

"Despite an initial period of expected resistance to change, the solution is now, even after such a short period of time, embedded as part of the organisation's culture," comments Mark. "The process of claiming expenses only through ExpenseOnDemand was enforced from day one and as a result it is now engrained into the organisation; we never want to go back to using a manual system."

He adds, "Over time it will enable us to run management reports and to isolate areas where expense savings can be made through operational changes."

The implementation of an automated expense management solution has made a real difference to the working practices of employees and managers at Connexions and tangible benefits are already being recognised.

As well as gaining acceptance of ExpenseOnDemand from within the employee base, other levels in the hierarchy have also reaped benefits. The system has enforced a more stringent approach to compliance, with managers assuming responsibility for checking expenses whilst Finance oversees the claims themselves.

Mark concludes, "I am confident that this solution will save us money within the first year of use."

For further information about how ExpenseOnDemand can help your business manage its expense, please visit www.computersinpersonnel.com.