Submitting expenses by forwarding an email
You can now turn any expense-related email that contains, or is, a receipt, an invoice, or a booking confirmation for example, into an expense in Continia Expense Management. Continia converts the email body, including any embedded images into a PDF, then attaches it (along with any files attached to the email) to a new expense, or adds it to an expense that you already have in progress.
This article explains how to forward an email, what Continia does with it, and how to handle any replies you may receive.
Forward the email
- Check that the email address you are forwarding from is registered in Continia Expense Management. If you send an email from a personal or secondary address, it must already be added as an alias in Settings in the Continia Expense Portal.
- In your mail client, open the email containing the receipt or expense documentation.
- Forward it to the appropriate email listed. You can use these email addresses for both the Expense Portal and the Expense App:
Production: expense@cem.continiaonline.com
Next steps
When Continia receives the forwarded email, it automatically looks for the amount(s) and date(s) of expenses and checks for a matching expense with same amount, currency and date.
Hinweis
If a matching expense is found - Continia attaches the forwarded email is attached files.
After checking the email for expense data, Continia then takes action based on one of the following results:
- No existing matching expense found
- A matching expense was found
- No match was found and you belong to multiple companies
- The email address that you forwarded the expense(s) from could not be found
- The email was sent on behalf of someone else
If no match is found
Continia creates a new expense and attaches the email (and any attachments) to it. You'll be asked to review and complete the expense in the Continia Expense Portal or the Continia Expense App. You will receive the following email:
Hinweis
Credit card transactions can take a few days to post, so if you forward a receipt before the transaction has been imported, Continia may not yet have found a match and will create a new expense instead. When the transaction is received the expense and transactions will be automatically matched.
Subject: A new expense has been created from your email
Dear [Name],
A new expense has been created from your forwarded email.
Your forwarded email, including any attached files, has been attached to the expense.
Next step, review and complete the expense in the Continia Expense Portal, or manage it in the Continia Expense App.
Kind regards, Continia Expense Management
If a matching expense is found
Continia attaches the forwarded email and its contents to that expense as a PDF. You'll receive the following email confirmation listing the merchant, amount, and date.
Subject: Success expense matched
Dear [Name],
We found an existing expense that matches the amount and date.
[Description, Merchant, Amount, Date]
Your forwarded email, including any attached files, has been added to the expense.
Next step, review and complete the expense in the Continia Expense Portal, or manage it in the Continia Expense App.
Kind regards, Continia Expense Management
If no match is found and you belong to more than one company
Continia replies to your mail asking you to pick the correct company from a short list. After you have replied with your selection, Continia then attaches the forwarded email to the expense. Alternatively, you can handle the expense in the Expense Portal, where company selection is required.
You will receive the following email:
Subject: Select a company for your expense
Dear [Name],
We could not find an existing expense that matches the amount and date from your forwarded email, because you have access to multiple companies. Please choose the company where the expense should be created.
Your forwarded email, including any attached files, will be attached to the new expense under that company.
Create an expense for this company:
· CRONUS Company A
· CRONUS Company B
Kind regards, Continia Expense Management
If the email address cannot be found
Continia replies to your mail asking you to register in the system the email address from which the mail was forwarded. You will receive the following email:
Subject: Your forwarded email could not be processed
Dear [Name],
We could not process your forwarded email because the email address is not registered with Continia Expense Management.
Please contact your Continia Expense Management administrator to check that the user has been exported in Continia Expense Management.
If you need to submit expenses from a different email address, you can add an alias in Settings in the Continia Expense Portal.
Kind regards, Continia Expense Management
If the email was forwarded from an alias
Continia replies to your mail to tell you a notification has been sent to your primary email. You will receive the following email:
Subject: Your forwarded email was received
Dear [Name],
We have received your forwarded email.
A notification with the expense details has been sent to your primary email address: [real@account.com].
Kind regards, Continia Expense Management
Submit an expense on behalf of another
If you have been set up as a delegated user, you can forward an email on behalf of another expense user by including a single delegation tag in the forwarded email, in the following format [#user@example.com]. Continia will create or update the expense under the user's account and confirm the result to both of you.
You can only include one delegation tag per email, and delegation must be configured in advance by your administrator. For more information, see Setting up user delegation.
When Continia receives the email you have forwarded on behalf of another, it automatically looks for the amount(s) and date(s) of expenses and checks for a matching expense or imported credit card transaction, then replies to your mail to tell you the email was received and that one of the following scenarios has occurred:
No matching expense was found
A matching expense was found
No match was found and the user belongs to more than one company
Multiple expenses were found with the same data
The email address that you forwarded the expense(s) from could not be found
The email was sent on behalf of someone else
You will receive the following email:
Subject: [One of the scenarios listed above]
Dear [Delegated user],
You are receiving this email because you forwarded an email on behalf of [Manager].
[The email will then continue with one of the scenarios listed]
Kind regards, Continia Expense Management
Delegation not successful
Continia replies to your mail to tell you that the email you sent on behalf of another could not be processed as the delegation was not set up properly. You will receive the following email:
Subject: Your forwarded email could not be processed
Dear [Delegated user],
We could not process your forwarded email because delegation has not been set up for you to submit expenses on behalf of [Manager].
For further assistance, please contact your Continia Expense Management administrator.
Kind regards, Continia Expense Management
Using tags
Refer to the tags in the following table to determine actions associated with Continia processing your expenses. Use must use only one tag per email. The available tags are:
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| [Report] | Use this tag to ensure all files attached to the email/expenses embedded in the email will be extracted, then either be created as new expenses, or matched to existing expenses where appropriate. The expenses will then be moved into an Expense Report, which will use the description in the email for the title of the report. |
| [Split] | Using this tag ensures all files attached to the email/expenses embedded in the email will be extracted, then either be created as new expenses, or matched to existing expenses where appropriate. |
| [#name@example.com] | Use this tag for delegations. If someone else has delegated you to submit their expenses on their behalf, then in the tag replace name@example.com with their email address. |
Troubleshooting
If Continia can't process your email, you'll receive a reply email explaining the problem. The most common reasons are:
- The sender's address isn't registered in Continia Expense Management. If this is the case, ask your administrator to verify the user or add the sender's email address as an alias under Settings.
- The email contains more than one delegation tag. In this scenario, ensure the email only contains a single tag for the person you're submitting on behalf of, and then forward it again.
- Delegation hasn't been configured for the manager you're trying to submit for. In such a situation, contact your administrator to set this up.
If Continia creates a new expense when your email should have matched an existing one, open the new expense, move the attached PDF to the correct expense, and delete the duplicate.
For more information, see Submitting expenses.