Setting up fields

• 30/01/2026
• 8 minutes to read

With Expense Management, you can easily configure the fields relevant for your organization when creating expenses, mileages, per diems, and expense reports. For each document type, it’s possible to define which fields are mandatory or not, and whether certain fields are visible to expense users in the Expense App and the Expense Portal.

Work through the following sections to set up fields that comply with your company's policies and the users' workflow.

Set visibility of fields

You choose which fields you to be visible for your users. To specify the visibility of fields:

1. Search for and select Configured Fields.
2. On the action bar, select the type of expense document (per diem, mileage, expense, or expense report) you want to configure. Now you are ready to add fields.

Add fields

To add a new field:

1. Under Fields on Header, click New Line to add a new line to the table.
2. In the Field Code column of the new line, select the field to open a drop down menu.
3. Either select a field directly from the dropdown menu, or enter a search phrase to search for the field you want to add, and then select the field from the menu to add it.

Delete fields

To delete a field:

1. Select the relevant field, then click Delete Line.
2. In the dialog that opens, click Yes to confirm deletion.

Hide fields

To hide any of the fields by default:

• In the Hide visibility by default column, select the checkbox(es) of the fields that you don't want to be visible.

Make editable fields

To make any of the fields editable:

• In the Editable column, select the checkbox(es) of the fields you want to make editable.

Set fields as mandatory

To make any of the fields mandatory:

• In the Mandatory column, select the checkbox(es) of the field(s) you want users to have to fill in.

Synchronize changes

To synchronize your changes:

1. On the action bar, click Continia Online.
2. Click Force Synchronize with Continia Online.

Considerations for labelling fields

You have control over how you label fields. Tailoring field labels to suit the different document types of Expense, Mileage, Per Diem, and Expense Reports, makes tracking information easier and more precise for your organization.

The following best practices help reduce errors and misunderstandings, and bring clarity to a user's workflow. When you define field labels:

• Use specific terms that align with the policies and regulations of your organization, as this makes it easier for employees to submit expenses correctly.
• Be specific about the type of information you're seeking for each field. Describe a field label should describe precisely the field in relation to its document type for expenses, mileage, and per diems. For example, to describe an expense-type for expenses, label the field "Description". Whereas for mileage, label that same field-type "Purpose".
• Remember every field label you create is an opportunity to bring yet more clarity. For example, where you would use "Attendee" for expenses, use "Passenger" for mileage.

Setting up user-defined field types

The Expense Management assisted setup downloads a wide range of field types that you can use in most common scenarios. However, you can add more field types to support your specific business cases. The standard configuration provides a large selection of the most common fields, but you can also configure new fields yourself.

To set up a new field type:

1. Search for and select Configured Fields.
2. In the Field Code column, click in any field to access the dropdown menu, then click Select from the full list.
3. On the action bar, click New.
4. On the Field Type Card page, add the Code and Description for your new field type and select the Data Type. The data type you select affects the field dependencies options for the field type. For example, if you require the field type to have a value, you can only use the data types Option and Code.
5. Synchronize with Continia Online. The fields you configured to be visible are visible in the Continia Expense App or the Continia Expense Portal after you’ve synchronized with Continia Online.

Example scenario for setting up fields and field dependencies

In this scenario we are setting up fields and field dependencies so your company can report on sustainability initiatives within the organization.

1. Work through steps 1-4 of the previous section (Setting up user-defined field types).
2. On the Field Type Card, under Source Table, in the Source Table field, choose Sustainability Account from the dropdown list.
3. Click in the field of No. of Source Table Filters.
4. In Table Filters, click in the Filter column for No.
5. Click the (...) to the right of the field to access the Sustainability Account List and add the filter number(s) for the sustainability accounts. To do this, use a pipe (|) for adding separate account numbers (13301|13321), or two dots (..) to add numbers that are in consecutive order (13301..13303).
6. Click Close.
7. Under Lookup Values you can now see the number of accounts that you've added.

Custom fields in the Web Approval Portal

If you're using the Web Approval Portal, you can see how to enable custom fields for it in Customizing the Web Approval Portal.

Related information

Setting up field dependencies
Setting up restrictions on field value access