Client:

A leading global asset management firm sought to modernize and streamline its employee fitness reimbursement program. Operating in a highly regulated and fast-paced financial environment, the client needed an automated solution that could integrate tightly with payroll, improve process efficiency, and maintain compliance—all while providing a seamless experience for employees and administrators alike.

Challenge

The client’s fitness reimbursement process was manual, time-consuming, and prone to errors. Employees submitted reimbursement requests with receipt images, and HR teams manually validated expenses, checked against program entitlements, and tracked remaining balances. Multiple approvals were required, data was siloed across systems, and payroll submission posed risks of delays or inaccuracies. The client needed to accelerate approvals, automate validation, reduce manual overhead, and enhance visibility—without compromising compliance or employee experience.

Solution

Leveraging Workday’s Extend custom application development framework and Workato’s orchestration and AI capabilities, the firm created an automated, end-to-end workflow to process fitness reimbursements:

• AI-powered expense verification:** Receipt images are processed with Workato’s intelligent document processing (IDP) to extract cost data and expense type details. Workato’s AI engine was trained on the company’s expense reimbursement policy document, which enables the solution to automatically validate expense eligibility against policy and remaining entitlement balances using AI.
• Dynamic orchestration: Workflow orchestration manages request submission, manager approval, audit triggers for low-confidence data, and payroll integration.
• Data-driven decisions: The system continuously reconciles balances and eligibility per region (Canada/US), dynamically addressing currency conversion and regional limits.
• Seamless user experience: Employees submit requests with receipt attachments through a modern interface, receive notifications via email and Microsoft Teams, and can conveniently track their balance and request history.
• Administrative oversight: HR admins can view comprehensive reports, approve or reject requests, and process exceptions via a centralized inbox.

This solution was developed leveraging Workato’s advanced orchestration platform. It is tightly integrated with the client’s Workday-powered HR hub, payroll, and communication tools and blends automation with essential human oversight.

Value Delivered

• Efficiency gains: Significantly reduced manual intervention, accelerating processing times and decreasing administrative workload.
• Accuracy and compliance: Automated validation and policy checks minimize errors and audit risks.
• Improved employee satisfaction: Fast approvals and real-time balance visibility enhance the user experience.
• Scalable and adaptable: Regional variances, currency conversions, and changing policies are effortlessly managed, ensuring flexibility as business needs evolve.
• Seamless integration: Centralized process orchestration integrates HR, payroll, and communication platforms, enabling a single source of truth and timely payroll submissions.

Summary

This automation project transformed a cumbersome employee benefit processing function into a streamlined, AI-enhanced system embedded within the client’s existing infrastructure. The intelligent orchestration of Workato, combined with a custom Workday Extend application, provided a solution that enabled operational excellence, data-driven decisions, and a superior experience for employees and administrators alike. By harnessing AI and workflow automation, the client advanced its digital transformation journey—setting a new standard in fitness reimbursement processing within the financial sector.