Case studies

Duncan Aviation Shifts Expense Management from Manual to Modern

Duncan Aviation info card showing headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska, industry as Aerospace & Aviation, 3,000 employees, partner since 2021, and products used including U.S. Bank cards.

Key Challenges

Relied on Excel, paper, and manual processes for expense management
Slow expense reconciliation for employees
Administrative staff overwhelmed with month-end expense reports
Hard to gather data for insights

Key Results

Modern, automated expense management for admins and employees
Auto-reconciliation of card transactions and receipts
Submit expenses on the go, reducing mass submissions at month’s end
Real-time data and insights
Easy access to U.S. Bank Instant Card program with transaction visibility

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Duncan Aviation is an aircraft service provider supporting the aviation needs of business aircraft operators, government agencies, and other providers. With major maintenance, repair, and overhaul facilities in Michigan, Nebraska, and Utah, plus regional shops and mobile teams, it offers a range of services including aircraft acquisition, maintenance, refurbishment, and avionics installation. Founded in 1956, Duncan Aviation is globally recognized for its exceptional customer support and innovative solutions. The company embodies the friendliness of a small-town company while prioritizing ethics, diversity, and excellence in the aviation industry.

THE BURDEN OF MANUAL PROCESSES

Duncan Aviation previously used a complex and time-consuming process to manage their expenses. “Before TravelBank, we were working in a manual environment from an Excel spreadsheet that we had people manually filling out and then you had to attach your receipts,” said Paul Schlorholtz, Controller at Duncan Aviation. “It was very antiquated. We were looking to do something a little bit newer, a little bit more innovative.”

Employees struggled with the manual process and often submitted expenses in bulk at the end of the month, overwhelming the administrative staff with hundreds of reports to review during the final week. Accounting admins had to review and manage expenses that amounted to 60 hours of work within a 40-hour work week. Coupled with the burden of aggregating all of that data for reporting, there was a clear need to make a change.

A REFERRAL BUILT ON TRUST

As a long-time U.S. Bank client, Duncan Aviation works closely with their Relationship Manager to solve challenges such as this. When the need to modernize their expense management process arose, Duncan Aviation was introduced to TravelBank.

With confidence in knowing that the platform is backed by the country’s fifth largest bank, Duncan Aviation evaluated the innovation TravelBank could bring to their expense management process. They found the platform was very easy to use for both technicians and administrative staff. There was now a clear path to transition to an automated, simpler process.

COLLABORATING FOR A TAILORED SOLUTION

The implementation process was a collaborative one. The TravelBank team took the time to understand Duncan Aviation’s workflows and potential challenges. This involved understanding their accounting system workflows and current expense policies, along with ensuring expenses were accurately categorized.

“The [TravelBank] team spent a lot of time understanding how we wanted to use it and how our IT team could make it work. Our implementation specialist stuck with us through the entire project. He understood our problems,” Schlorholtz said.

By embracing a partner mindset, Duncan Aviation and TravelBank were able to implement an expense management solution that not only met Duncan Aviation’s needs, but also maximized value at every point to make the most out of the product.

Quote praising TravelBank's convenience for quick expense reporting via phone, attributed to Paul Schlorholtz, Controller at Duncan Aviation.

UNRIVALED EASE OF USE

With TravelBank implemented and expense policies created for multiple employee segments, employees could now easily submit their expenses throughout the month via the mobile or desktop app.

Employees have the ability to enter their corporate cards into TravelBank and view all the associated transactions in a card feed. When employees capture a receipt, TravelBank automatically matches and merges it with the transaction, making reconciliation a breeze.

“I think the biggest thing that TravelBank’s really helped us with is ease of use,” Schlorholtz said. “TravelBank has really helped our employees with their expense management because the merging of transactions is super helpful. They’re not sitting there tying a receipt back to an expense report. It’s all automatic. The expense matches the receipt, and it just goes.”

With expense reports coming in throughout the month, admins were able to work through expense reports gradually. With data more accurately captured through receipts scanned by TravelBank’s technology, fewer issues arose, allowing for quicker approvals and significant time savings.

Having the expense data instantly captured and accessible in the platform has also unlocked valuable financial insight, thus opening up opportunities for controlling spend. “We now have data behind [expenses] and can see where we’re spending money,” Schlorholtz said.

EXTENDING THE VALUE OF VIRTUAL CARDS

The integration of U.S. Bank Instant Card with TravelBank allows admins to swiftly issue virtual cards if an employee’s card was compromised or lost, ensuring a backup plan for urgent situations. This solution provided peace of mind for employees, allowing them to focus on their work without worrying about access to funds. Strong fraud controls, like the ability to establish card limits, restrict merchant category codes and set expiration dates, also meant peace of mind for Duncan Aviation. Additionally, the virtual card integration logs transaction data in TravelBank, making reconciliation easy.

With expense management now successfully modernized, Duncan Aviation is working to onboard select employees onto the Travel product as part of a pilot program.