In the evolving landscape of enterprise spend management, SAP Concur offers robust capabilities to automate travel, expense, and invoice processes. However, organizations often require tailored workflows that align closely with their unique business policies, compliance requirements, and operational processes. Building custom workflow integrations in SAP Concur enables companies to extend its standard functionalities, streamline approvals, enhance automation, and create a seamless user experience.
While SAP Concur provides powerful out-of-the-box workflows, many enterprises face challenges that require bespoke solutions, such as:
- Complex multi-level approvals beyond the default hierarchy.
- Cross-system validation and automation involving procurement, finance, and HR systems.
- Customized notification and escalation paths tailored to organizational needs.
- Automated policy enforcement incorporating additional business rules.
- Integration with external systems like SAP S/4HANA, SAP Ariba, or third-party platforms.
Custom workflow integrations not only address these needs but also improve efficiency, reduce manual errors, and ensure compliance.
¶ 1. Workflow Designer and Configuration
SAP Concur offers a built-in Workflow Designer tool that allows administrators to configure approval workflows based on various criteria such as amount thresholds, departments, project codes, or cost centers. Custom integrations extend this by:
- Embedding custom validation rules via APIs or middleware.
- Adding conditional routing based on dynamic business logic.
- Incorporating external data lookups during workflow execution.
SAP Concur’s extensive REST APIs facilitate building integrations that trigger actions in external systems or pull data into Concur workflows. Examples include:
- Automatically triggering purchase order validation in SAP Ariba during an expense approval.
- Sending expense report status updates to an SAP S/4HANA Finance system for accounting reconciliation.
- Fetching employee role or manager information from HR systems to drive approval routing.
¶ 3. Middleware and Event-Based Automation
Using middleware platforms such as SAP Cloud Platform Integration (CPI) or other Enterprise Service Buses (ESB), organizations can orchestrate complex workflows that span multiple systems:
- Event-driven workflows react to changes in Concur, like expense submissions or invoice approvals.
- Middleware handles data transformation, enrichment, and routing between SAP Concur and other enterprise applications.
- Custom notifications and escalations are managed centrally to ensure compliance and timely approvals.
¶ 4. Custom Notifications and User Interactions
Integrations can also extend workflow capabilities by:
- Creating custom alerts and reminders via email, SMS, or collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams or Slack.
- Developing custom user interfaces or mobile apps that interact with SAP Concur APIs to simplify user tasks or capture additional data.
- Integrating chatbots or virtual assistants to guide employees through expense submission and approval processes.
- Document approval hierarchies, policy rules, and integration points.
- Identify systems involved (e.g., SAP Ariba, SAP S/4HANA, HR systems).
- Determine automation goals and user experience improvements.
- Map out data flows and integration touchpoints.
- Decide on event triggers, API calls, and middleware logic.
- Plan error handling and logging mechanisms.
- Use SAP Concur Workflow Designer for baseline workflows.
- Develop custom API integrations or middleware flows.
- Implement security measures such as OAuth authentication for APIs.
- Conduct unit testing on individual components.
- Perform end-to-end integration testing with all connected systems.
- Validate workflow behavior under different scenarios and edge cases.
¶ Step 5: Deploy and Monitor
- Roll out in phases or pilot groups.
- Monitor workflow performance and exceptions.
- Continuously refine based on user feedback and operational data.
- Maintain clear documentation of all custom workflows and integration points.
- Adopt modular design to enable easy updates and scaling.
- Implement comprehensive error handling and user-friendly error messages.
- Ensure compliance with data privacy and security policies.
- Engage stakeholders early to align workflows with business needs.
Building custom workflow integrations in SAP Concur empowers organizations to tailor the spend management process to their specific operational and compliance requirements. By leveraging SAP Concur’s APIs, workflow designer, and integration platforms, businesses can automate complex approval paths, synchronize data across systems, and deliver an enhanced user experience.
Such integrations not only drive operational efficiency and policy adherence but also provide a strategic advantage in managing business spend with agility and precision. As organizations continue to digitalize finance and procurement processes, custom workflows in SAP Concur will be a cornerstone of their success.