For several years, Bouygues has been using SAP Concur, a leading expense management solution that centralises, automates and secures the entire business expense processing workflow. In 2022, with a view to optimising and controlling costs, Bouygues decided to integrate Extract-it™, a solution developed by Arago, to facilitate the extraction of supporting documents from Concur Expense without resorting to the platform's often costly APIs.
It was in this context that the Arago teams were asked to develop a new customised feature in Extract-it™ to meet a specific requirement for a URSSAF audit. This project demonstrated the flexibility of the tool and the teams' ability to innovate quickly in response to compliance challenges.
As part of this review, which covered expense claims recorded between 2022 and 2024, the Bouygues teams were faced with a particularly demanding request: to provide a sample of 4,700 supporting documents from 130,000 expense report lines over a three-year period. This was a considerable challenge, given the volume of activity of the entity concerned (€1.5 billion in turnover, 3,800 employees, 10,000 expense reports per year).
The main objective of the new feature developed in Extract-it™ was to reconcile expense lines recorded in SAP Concur with those targeted by controllers, then extract the corresponding supporting documents. The challenge was also to provide these documents in a readable and structured format to facilitate their consultation and ensure a smooth and satisfactory experience for inspectors.
In practical terms, the development carried out made it possible to automatically find the correct lines to extract via a load file, then to generate an Excel file containing, for each line, a direct link to the corresponding attachment, extracted and grouped together in a compressed file ready for transmission.
The project was carried out in collaboration with Arago's R&D teams, with whom a contract was drawn up to oversee development. One of the key factors in the project's success was the Arago teams' immediate understanding of the business challenges involved. Within a month, the tool was up and running, from the expression of the need to final delivery.
We were very well supported by the Arago teams, whose professionalism was crucial to the success of the project.
Since its implementation, this feature has proven invaluable in the context of the Sapin 2 law, which requires large companies to implement corruption prevention measures, including the traceability of expenses, the ability to quickly produce supporting documents, and the verifiability of internal processes. Thanks to this solution, Bouygues can meet these requirements independently, without additional technical intervention.
Without this solution, everything would have had to be reconstructed manually with a much lower level of accuracy. This would have led to considerable dissatisfaction on the part of the controllers.
Using Extract-it™ has made it possible to avoid the high costs associated with Concur APIs, while ensuring complete control over the extraction process. The added value of this feature lies in its ability to speed up access to information, while ensuring the compliance and traceability of the data transmitted.
This feedback perfectly illustrates how an agile approach, focused on operational needs, can transform a regulatory constraint into an opportunity for optimisation. Please do not hesitate to contact us; our developers are sure to have the solution.