AppZen Implementation Services Guide

This Guide describes the process that will be followed to ensure your success & optimize the time to value during the implementation of AppZen products.  

We will cover the implementation of Expense Audit - AI tool used to audit 100% of a Customers expense reports & identify risk prior to payment.

1.0  Expense Audit Model Recommendations

AppZen provides fully validated best practice expense audit models enabling the Customer to quickly deploy the Expense Audit Model solution. The list is the configurable Expense Audit standard models can be found in the Product & Service Guide.  

2.0  Roles & Responsibilities

2.1  Customer Roles & Responsibilities

Detailed below are the core team members required from the customer’s side for the duration of the project & their corresponding role on the project:

• Project Sponsor - The project sponsor is required to attend the kick-off and steering committee meeting to ensure that the goals & business objectives are aligned across both teams.
• Customer Project Lead - This role is the key point of contact and plays a vital part in determining the audit configuration & reviewing AppZen’s findings from the Parallel Run phases of the Project.
• Expense Management System (EMS) Administrator - This role will help enable the AppZen workflow within the customer’s EMS.
• Auditor - This role will be the end-user of the AppZen products and will undergo the AppZen training to be well equipped to audit expenses in AppZen post go-live.

2.2  AppZen Roles & Responsibilities

Detailed below are the core team members at AppZen for the duration of the project & their corresponding role on the project.

• Implementation Success Manager (ISM) - An ISM will manage the end-to-end implementation process for the Customer until Go-Live. The ISM will be a Customer’s key point of contact until Go-Live.
• Customer Success Manager (CSM) - A CSM will manage the customer journey post go-live and ensure continued success with AppZen’s offerings. The CSM will be the Customer’s key point of contact post go-live.
• Support - Customers will be granted access to AppZen’s Support portal after Go-Live. This channel can be used to report & receive help on questions / issues that the Customer may face within AppZen. 
• Additional Technical Specialist – If required, additional resources such as a solution architect or integration architect / developer will be assigned to the project as needed.

3.0  AppZen Implementation Overview

AppZen’s team of ISM’s bring a wealth of AI, Finance and project management experience to ensure value is delivered quickly. The implementation project will follow a 6 stage approach as follows:

Kickoff Stage

An ISM will conduct a Kickoff call to review and align on the scope of the project.

The Kickoff will cover the following key areas:

• Overview of AppZen & AI
• Set project goals and expectations
• Timelines and project plan
• AppZen & Customer roles and responsibilities
• Access to Customer’s expense management system

Configuration Stage

During the Configuration stage, the ISM will work with the Customer to determine the thresholds for AppZen Audit Models that are specific to the customer’s needs. As part of the initial data gathering, the customer may be required to provide its Audit & Expense Policy lists and Customer's Expense Type lists. The configuration stage includes the following activities involving both teams:

• Enable AppZen within the Customer’s Audit solution ecosystem & setup Customer in the AppZen environment.
• Review Standard AppZen Audit Models & AppZen Audit Configuration “Best Practices”.
• Tailor the Audit Configuration to best meet the customer’s requirements and complete the Audit Rule Configuration Design Document.
• Obtain Customer sign-off on the Audit Model Configuration Design Document.
• Configuration of the Standard AppZen Expense Audit Models per above documents by the ISM.
• Determine where AppZen Audit solution will be placed within the Customer’s Expense approval workflow process.
• Insert AppZen into EMS workflow as read-only, to ingest expense reports for Parallel Run stage. 

Parallel Run Stage

The Parallel Run is an opportunity for the Customer to review AppZen’s audit findings in their own expense reports. The AppZen ISM will work closely with the Customer and carry out the following activities:

• Ingest expense reports (500-1,000) with receipts.
• Run AppZen audit on these reports per the Customer’s configuration.
• The ISM will present AppZen’s audit findings to the Customer and make recommendations to refine the Audit Rules as applicable. The presentation will contain:
• Projected % of High Risk lines for manual review post go-live
• Example of potential fraud detected in the audited reports
• Estimated increase in audit efficiency
• Finalize Audit Model Configuration Design Document with the Customer to validate the configuration

Following a successful Parallel Run and a Review with the Customer Project Sponsors/Stakeholders, the Customer Signs of the Final Audit Rule Configuration Design Document. 

Training Stage

During this stage, the AppZen ISM will provide customer representatives with the following training session:

• Auditor(s): How to navigate the AppZen Auditor Workbench, approve /reject expense reports in AppZen, generate CSV reports, navigate through the OOTB analytics dashboards
• Admin(s): How to leverage Functional Admin rights in AppZen (including how to change configurations and manage user permissions).

The AppZen ISM will also grant Customers with access to the AppZen Knowledge Base, Customer Community, and support portal.

Go-Live Stage

• AppZen is inserted into the customer’s active audit workflow on the customer’s EMS.
• Once live, auditors will review High Risk reports in AppZen and ensure that they move to the next step in the AppZen workflow; Whereas Low & Medium risk reports move to the next step in the workflow without requiring manual intervention. 

HyperCare Stage

• Post Go-Live, the ISM will provide two (2) weeks of HyperCare customer contact to rapidly address any production issues experienced by the Customer.
• During the HyperCare period, the ISM will actively monitor the Customer’s environment and will escalate production issues to AppZen’s Customer Support team for resolution.
• The ISM officially transitions the account to their assigned Customer Success Manager (CSM)

4.0  Project Timelines Overview

Customers can expect a duration of between 6 and 14 weeks to go-live with AppZen Expense Audit. 

The timeline is driven by one or more of the following factors:

• AppZen Integration into the Customer’s Expense Management System (EMS)
• Access into the Expense Management System (EMS)
• Availability of historic data

Below is the “typical” time it will take to implement each integration.

* Timeframes are estimates based upon best practices

VERSION: October 19.2021