Core Time and Expense Workflows
Costpoint time and expense activities generally begin with entering accurate transaction details and continue through validation, submission, approval, and downstream accounting. Employees may record regular hours, overtime, leave, project assignments, travel costs, meals, mileage, or other business expenses according to organizational policies.
- Time entry: Record hours against the appropriate project, activity, labor category, or charge code.
- Expense entry: Capture transaction dates, amounts, categories, business purposes, and supporting documentation.
- Validation: Review required fields, accounting classifications, policy requirements, and system messages.
- Submission: Send completed time and expense reports into the applicable approval workflow.
- Approval: Supervisors or authorized reviewers confirm that submitted transactions meet organizational requirements.
Good support documentation should explain each stage clearly so users understand whether an item is still being prepared, awaiting approval, returned for correction, or ready for downstream processing.
Expense Documentation and Data Capture
Supporting documents provide evidence for business expenses and help reviewers validate the transaction. Real Time Expense Documentation describes maintaining expense evidence close to the time a transaction occurs, making receipts and business-purpose information available while details are still current.
Real Time Expense Capture describes recording expense information promptly so amounts, dates, categories, and supporting details enter the finance workflow without unnecessary delay. Timely capture can improve the completeness of project cost information and support more current financial reporting.
For recurring questions, help materials should explain which fields employees must complete, what documentation is required, and how to correct information before submission. This creates a consistent process across employees and projects.
Costpoint Accounting and Financial Reporting
Approved time and expense information can feed project accounting and financial reporting. Accurate account and project classifications are especially important when transactions are posted to the chart of accounts. During invoice or expense processing, validation, matching, GL coding, approval, and posting, consistent classifications help maintain reliable accounting records.
Finance teams should also understand how gl coding connects expense details with the correct general ledger account, project, department, or cost category. Clear coding instructions can help reviewers identify classification issues before approved transactions reach downstream reporting.
Time and expense information can also support month-end processes. For example, accounts payable teams may use related transaction information when identifying unrecorded expenses, estimating accruals, reviewing goods received not invoiced, and applying appropriate period cut-off procedures.
Integrations and Connected Finance Processes
Costpoint time and expense workflows often operate alongside other finance and operational systems. integrations can connect ERP and finance applications so approved information can move between systems with appropriate synchronization and data controls.
When organizations extend finance workflows around a named ERP, integration design should account for master data, transaction ownership, approval status, and posting requirements. Teams planning ERP migration or workflow extensions can also review Why ERP Implementations Fail for considerations around ERP implementation and finance process design.
Connected processes can extend beyond employee expenses. For example, procurement workflows can coordinate purchasing activities with financial controls, while Budget Control can monitor budget usage and provide alerts as procurement activity approaches defined spending thresholds.
Vendor and Accrual Workflows
Time and expense support can intersect with vendor-related finance activities when employees submit expenses involving suppliers, travel providers, or other third parties. Notifications For Vendor Management can provide updates concerning onboarding, invoices, purchase orders, and payments, helping internal teams maintain visibility across vendor workflows.
Expense and purchasing information can also contribute to period-end accounting. accruals workflows can support identifying expenses that belong to the current accounting period, recording appropriate entries, and maintaining supporting audit information through close activities.
These connected workflows make it useful for help documentation to explain not only how users enter information, but also how approved transactions contribute to project costing, procurement controls, vendor processes, and financial close.
Common Support Issues and Resolution Practices
Most Costpoint time and expense questions can be organized around access, data entry, validation, workflow, and accounting issues. A structured support process should first identify the transaction type and current workflow status before changing any information.
- Incorrect project or charge code: Verify the authorized project and charging instructions before correcting the entry.
- Missing documentation: Attach the required receipt or supporting evidence and confirm that the expense description is complete.
- Rejected submission: Review the rejection reason, make the requested correction, and resubmit through the defined workflow.
- Approval delay: Confirm the assigned reviewer, approval status, and applicable workflow routing.
- Accounting classification issue: Verify the account, project, department, and expense category before posting.
Maintaining a Real Time Expense Audit Trail can further support control reviews by preserving relevant transaction activity and changes throughout the expense workflow.
Best Practices for Costpoint Time and Expense Help
Organizations can improve support quality by combining clear user instructions with defined ownership for approvals, accounting questions, and system administration. Help materials should use the same terminology as the Costpoint configuration and explain the business reason behind important fields.
Teams should periodically review recurring support requests to identify opportunities for clearer instructions, better workflow configuration, or additional training. They should also maintain documented escalation paths for transactions involving project accounting, contract requirements, accounting periods, or specialized approval rules.
A well-organized help framework ultimately connects accurate employee submissions with dependable project costing, financial reporting, budget monitoring, vendor coordination, and period-end processes.
Summary
Costpoint Time and Expense Help supports users throughout time entry, expense capture, validation, approval, correction, and accounting workflows in Deltek Costpoint. Practical guidance should address both system actions and financial context, including project charging, documentation, GL coding, ERP integrations, procurement, accruals, and audit trails. Consistent procedures help organizations maintain accurate transaction data and support efficient financial operations.