At a glance
This article provides an overview of common use cases across HR and finance processes.
It presents practical scenarios for different roles within the organisation.
You will learn how Circula helps make processes more efficient and structured.
The examples outlined help identify opportunities for optimisation in day-to-day operations.
💻 Efficient User Management with the Personio Integration
Scenario
A company is growing. New employees join regularly, roles change, and individual employees leave the organisation.
All of these changes are reliably maintained in Personio as the HR system.
At the same time, the finance team works with Circula to manage expenses, approvals, and other financial processes. In order for employees to use Circula, they must be stored there as active users with correct master data and status.
Without an integration, this means:
Every new hire, every status change, and every offboarding in Personio must additionally be manually reflected in Circula.
The Challenge
As the company grows, administrative effort increases:
New employees receive delayed access
Deactivated employees may remain active longer
Master data differs between the HR and finance systems
HR and finance teams spend time aligning data instead of focusing on strategic tasks
The lack of system connection leads to duplicate work and increases the risk of inconsistencies.
The Solution with the Personio Integration
With the Personio integration, relevant employee data is automatically synchronised from Personio to Circula.
Specifically, this means:
Employees created and activated in Personio can automatically be created in Circula.
Master data such as name, email address, status, or employment type is transferred.
If an employee is deactivated in Personio, they are also deactivated in Circula.
Synchronisation runs automatically in the background.
Optionally, additional attributes (e.g. IBAN, personnel number, creditor number) can be transferred if configured accordingly.
For companies with multiple Personio entities, the multi-integration allows individual Personio groups to be specifically connected with certain Circula accounts. Personio remains the leading HR system and Circula continues to use the data in a structured way.
Tip
Further information about the Personio integration can be found in the following articles:
Outcome & Value
Through the integration:
Duplicate data maintenance is eliminated
Onboarding and offboarding processes become more consistent
The risk of incorrect user or status information decreases
Administrative effort for HR and finance is reduced
A reliable connection between HR and finance processes is established
The company gains time, transparency, and process reliability, especially as it continues to grow.
📑 Clear Expense Policies for Transparent Expense Processes
Scenario
Companies want to ensure that travel expenses and per diems are submitted and reviewed according to consistent and transparent rules.
Employees submit expenses, managers review them during the approval process, and accounting processes them further.
However, if these rules are not embedded within the system, uncertainties quickly arise:
Which amounts are allowed? Are there annual limits? When does an expense become critical?
Policies often exist as internal documents but are interpreted differently in day-to-day operations.
The Challenge
Missing or non-digitally mapped policies may lead to:
Inconsistent decisions during the approval process
Managers having to assess amounts individually
Accounting teams facing additional review effort
A lack of transparency regarding spending limits
As the organisation grows, the need for coordination between employees, managers, and finance increases.
The Solution with Expense Policies
With Expense Policies in Circula, admins can define clear rules directly within the system.
Specifically, admins can set spending limits for certain categories within the app. These limits can be defined either per individual expense or per calendar year.
If a defined limit is reached or exceeded:
this is made visible in the expense overview after submitting the expense
supervisors and accounting receive a corresponding notification within the expense
Policies are therefore not only documented but also traceably mapped within the system.
Tip
Further information about Expense Policies can be found in the following article:
Outcome & Value
With digitally stored expense policies:
spending limits are transparent to all stakeholders
potential limit exceedances become automatically visible
managers and accounting receive a clear information basis
traceability increases throughout the entire expense process
Companies gain greater visibility over their expense policies without additional manual coordination effort.
🛫 Automatic Trip Drafts through the Lanes & Planes Integration
Scenario
In many companies, employees plan their business trips via a specialised booking platform, in this case Lanes & Planes. Transport options such as trains or flights, as well as accommodation, are recorded and booked there.
At the same time, the finance team uses Circula to manage and process trips. Without a system connection, trips would have to be manually created in Circula once a booking is made via Lanes & Planes — an additional administrative step.
The Challenge
Manual trip creation leads to:
Additional effort for employees who must enter trips manually
Potential inconsistencies between booking and expense data
Delays in starting the travel expense process and a lack of transparency
Especially in the case of frequent or complex trips, manual entry consumes valuable time.
The Solution with the Lanes & Planes Integration
The integration between Lanes & Planes and Circula ensures that a trip booked in Lanes & Planes is automatically created as a draft in Circula — without additional manual data entry.
Key aspects of the integration process:
After a booking in Lanes & Planes, the trip automatically appears in Circula as a draft approximately 5–10 minutes later.
Relevant data is transferred, such as:
the travelling person
the travel destination
start and end dates
a description
The trip is always assigned to the travelling person, even if another person made the booking.
The trip draft can then be edited as usual: additional expenses, mileage, and receipts can be added.
Tip
Further information about travel and expense policies can be found in the following article:
Outcome & Value
With the Lanes & Planes integration:
Manual creation of each individual trip in Circula is eliminated
Travel information is transferred consistently and without media disruption
Employees, supervisors, and accountants save time for value-adding tasks
The foundation for faster and cleaner travel expense reporting is established
Travel planning and travel expense reporting move closer together, and the process from booking to reimbursement becomes seamless.
Do you still have questions?
💬 Chat Support
📞 +49 30 588 491 01
✉️️ support@circula.com