The Access Group

Access Expense

Access Expense is a cloud based web and mobile expense management solution that makes the process of submitting and approving expenses quick and efficient. Access Expense users can submit claims online, from anywhere and have them approved in moments following all expense policy rules and guidelines.

Features

• Simple and controlled online expense processing including credit card expenses
• Easy and quick employee "take up" with Workspace Apps.
• Enforce policies and calculate actual mileage to reduce spend.
• Integrated approval process accelerates "sign-off" procedures for expense approvers.
• VAT Control, HMRC Compliance and Duty of Care.
• Mobile interface saves time using Apps or browser links.
• Store receipt photos in offline wallet to attach to claims
• Resolve queries quickly with integrated instant messaging.
• Extract data via export interface to 3rdparty systems like finance
• Real time business intelligence dashboard and integrated MS Excel reporting

Benefits

• Improve operational efficiency and save money.
• Quickly build expense claims on the go with easy submissions.
• Policy control to reduce overspend and enable accurate forecasting.
• HMRC Compliance for accurate VAT analysis.
• Mobile and Tablet ready on IOS, Android and Windows.
• Reduces errors and duplication saving time and money
• Fast adoption with minimal disruption.
• Query resolution speeds up processes and reduces bottlenecks.
• Reporting identifies spend reduction opportunities.
• Snap and attach receipts to save time and increase visibility.

£5.50 a transaction a month

• Education pricing available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at tendernotifications@theaccessgroup.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

376806214261182

Contact

Access UK
01206322575
tendernotifications@theaccessgroup.com

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: Yes, but can also be used as a standalone service
• What software services is the service an extension to: Service add-on type; Yes, but can also be used as a standalone service; Other services extension; Access Access Expense, SelectHR, Acces Financials, PeoplePlanner
• Cloud deployment model: Public cloud
• Service constraints: None.
• System requirements: Internet Access via supported browsers (html5 enabled)

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Support is provided on the operation of the software, and is available to users between 9am and 5.00pm Monday to Friday excluding Bank Holidays.; Speed of response depends on the issue level:; P1 - Severe system failure. response within 1 hour, hourly updates; P2 - This would occur when an entire process is down or cannot function and there is a time-critical business need - response within 1 hour, 4 hourly updates; P3 - non-critical incidents. Client would like the ticket closed as promptly as possible but not urgently. Not affecting day-to-day operations. response within 4 hours, daily updates
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: Basic Success Plan - provides you with an on-line support experience with on-line support case submission and self-service Knowledge Base access. No additional cost Standard Success Plan- offers an enhanced reactive service, including telephone and e-mail support, as well as priority response times and longer support hours. Larger customers will also get access to a primary named support analyst who will deal with the majority of your support questions. Charged at 15% of your subscription fee. Premier Success Plan- provides proactive services, including access to a customer success manager with quarterly and annual review. Charged at 25% of your annual subscription fee.
• Support available to third parties: No

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: We have designed our implementation services to help ensure our customers have a great experience and are looked after along the way, so that the whole process is less daunting… this is our FlightPath implementation approach. ; The customers have control, but we are never far from their side.; Each FlightPath implementation programme from Access follows a well-defined journey with key milestones. These can be summarised as:; Getting Started – Familiarise yourself with the process and the product; Preparation –Configure your systems in Readiness; Training – see what the product can do and train your colleagues; Validation – Ensure all is working to your expectation; Launch – get the product into your colleagues hands; Review – Check in to see how you are progressing; We’ll be using these milestones to help us both track and communicate progress towards successfully launching to your users. Our aim is to give you value from your investment as quickly and as fully as possible. This is a journey based on best practice and designed to deliver timely value to you and your colleagues. And while it is ultimately your journey, we are here to support you all along the way.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats: PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: Users can run reports using the custom export facility in the software. Access can also provide a backup of your database in SQL and provide a zip file of receipts submitted before your account data is deleted.
• End-of-contract process: Documentation is provided to help your extract your data at no additional cost. Support can be provided to extract data on a time and materials basis. Data is then deleted 90 days after your subscription end date.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: Yes
• Differences between the mobile and desktop service: Access Expense has an app from which you can snap a photo of your receipt or ticket, record details within the solution and submit the expense while on the move. Claims can be submitted and approved from anywhere.
• Service interface: No
• User support accessibility: None or don’t know
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: Access Expense's REST API can be used to for user, project and VAT rate changes and get approved expense information. Access provides a How To Guide to set up the API.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats: Open API (also known as Swagger)
• API sandbox or test environment: No
• Customisation available: No

Scaling

• Independence of resources: Access Expense is a load-balanced, multi-tenant service. The load balancer monitors the web servers continuously and will dynamically reassign requests.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: Customers can review service usage in real time dashboards from within the software. These show numbers of users, number of claims submitted, etc.
• Reporting types:
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• Government security clearance: Up to Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom
• User control over data storage and processing locations: No
• Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a Tigerscheme qualified provider or a CREST-approved service provider
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with another standard
  • Encryption of all physical media
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type: Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
• Equipment disposal approach: Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: A custom expense export can be easily set up in a range of formats including CSV, XLXS, XLS and delimited text. A range of standard export formats can be set up for standard payroll systems including SelectPay and Liberator.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats: XLSX`
• Data import formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data import formats:
  • XLSX
  • XLS
  • Delimited text

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: We will use commercially reasonable efforts to make the SaaS available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except for unavailability during emergency or routine maintenance.
• Approach to resilience: We operate a dual active-passive environment and all hardware components are provided at N+2 level or greater. More details are available on request.
• Outage reporting: Users can subscribe to email alerts giving updates on scheduled maintenance and outages. We also provide all our users with a live dashboard so you can also review uptime statistics.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: We operate role profile based Access Control - based on least privilege access. This applies to all our services
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users contact the support team to get audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• How long system logs are stored for: At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: ISOQAR
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: 25/08/2017
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: Nothing is excluded from the Standard
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: No
• Other security certifications: No

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards: ISO/IEC 27001
• Information security policies and processes: All controls included within Annex A of the ISO27001:2013 standard.; Statement Of Applicability (SOA) available on request.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Configuration and change management approach: All change management is undertaken in line with ISO27001:2013 using JIRA for audit purposes.
• Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: Patched and audited by our patch management system. All non-critical OS patches are applied within one calendar month of release, first into pre-production and then into production, as part of the scheduled maintenance window.; AV Updates - Signatures are updated hourly. / Rules are reviewed at minimum every 3 months. Logs are reviewed at minimum every 3 months. ; Access staff responsible for the maintenance of our hosting services subscribe to industry newsletters, belong to various security forums and we additionally receive notifications from our vendors.
• Protective monitoring type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: We have traffic monitoring and content based alerting which alerts on changes to the site and/or traffic flows implemented at infrastructure and application level. We proactively monitor third party suppliers (hardware, OS, application/web and database server software) vulnerability reporting and security fix availability. Any vulnerabilities found and fixes provided by third party suppliers are patched by our infrastructure team in a timescale appropriate for their level of severity. Any penetration test findings are fixed by Development in a timescale appropriate for their level of severity. Our infrastructure response is within 1 hour in the SLA period 8am-8pm Monday – Friday.
• Incident management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Incident management approach: We operate a robust incident management process in line with ISO27001:2013 ; Staff are encouraged to report all incidents using a pre-defined process using a form available on our Company Collaborate site; Incident reports will be provided following forensics and closure

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  Access UK Limited is a Software author and provide associated services, including Hosting, Payroll Bureau and Payment services. We recognise that although we do not undertake manufacturing, our day to day operations will have impact on the environment at global, national, and local level. We are committed to the care of the environment and the prevention of pollution. •Access ensures that all our operations are carried out in with the minimum adverse effect on the environment but implementing many available resources and approved processes •We protect the environment by striving to prevent and minimise our contribution to pollution of land, air, and water •We keep wastage to a minimum and maximise the efficient use of materials and resources, and manage disposal of all waste in a responsible manner •We use energy, water, and natural resources wisely and prevent pollution by minimising waste, recycling whenever possible and properly disposing of waste that cannot be recycled. •Our management processes are developed to ensure that environmental factors are considered during planning and implementation •We raise employee awareness and encourage best practices for sustainability at work

  Equal opportunity

  We want everyone to feel at home at Access, knowing that they are valued for what they do, not who they are. We want people to feel that they truly belong here regardless of their age, gender, race, sexual orientation, or anything else that makes them individual; after all, if we were all the same it would be a pretty dull place. We love the fact that we’re all different. Having more diverse perspectives at work improves how we run our business, helps us support our customers, and when you think about it, it's just more fun. For us, this all starts with helping everyone feel part of the family and being at their best every day, making Access a place where everyone can love what they do and do what they love. We all have regular check-ins with our leaders, take part in monthly employee surveys, have lots of chances to share our views and ask for help, and with our own learning system, 'Access Shine', we really can make things even better each and every day. At Access we'll always hire the best candidate but we're continually looking for creative ways to increase the mix of diverse candidates into our recruitment process. On the basis that you ‘have to see it, to be it’, one thing we're doing is sharing more stories to celebrate the wonderful diverse range of talent we have at Access. It is important for us that our employees understand and reflect the customers and communities we support, and we want everyone to feel at home here, knowing that they are valued for what they do, not who they are. We want people to feel that they truly belong here regardless of their age, gender, race, sexual orientation, or anything else that makes them individual.

  Wellbeing

  Access places specific emphasis on the health and wellbeing of its staff and provides a “Well-being” hub in workspace that provides support for Mental Health, Finances, Social, Physical, Emotional and purpose. Assistance from Health Assured is available for all staff and there are training resources for “working in the new normal” and “Mental health and wellbeing” . Access also has “well-being” champions throughout the organisation. This is supported by monthly employee “check in” surveys and offers of flexible working for staff to meet caring commitments.

Pricing

• Price: £5.50 a transaction a month
• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: No

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at tendernotifications@theaccessgroup.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.