How to polish the bottom line? Microsoft makes it really hard to claim expenses, say staffers
(2022/01/26)
- Reference: 1643213833
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/01/26/microsoft_expenses_claims/
- Source link:
As Microsoft toasts another [1]quarter of soaring profits , The Reg can't help but wonder if the bottom line is being ever so gently assisted by something that seems to be blighting its staff: difficulty claiming expenses.
Jeffrey Snover, Microsoft Technical Fellow, beloved by administrators for PowerShell and stockholders for the likes of Azure Stack, kicked things off last night by airing niggles in that most measured of places – Twitter.
The internal MSFT expense application makes me feel like an idiot EVERY TIME I use it.
I'm sure there is a way to submit this damn thing but hell if I can figure out how. — Jeffrey Snover (@jsnover) [2]January 25, 2022
By way of explanation, Snover told The Register "I'm just terrible at following instructions so I'm sure I play a big role here."
Normally he has an administrator to navigate Redmond's systems "because," he said "I suck at doing these things."
We know the feeling.
[3]
He was soon joined by fellow Microsoft employees in a lengthy thread bemoaning the app habits of beancounters that all too often seem designed to inhibit rather than assist in the claiming of work expenses. A complaint all too familiar in the corporate world; Microsoft is certainly not alone in foisting internal systems on workers that seem to almost take glee in their obtuseness.
[4]Saved by the Bill: What if... Microsoft had killed Windows 95?
[5]'Please download in Microsoft Excel': Meet the tech set to monitor IT performance across central UK government
[6]First they came for Notepad. Now they're coming for Task Manager
[7]Email blocklisting: A Christmas gift from Microsoft that Linode can't seem to return
[8]Microsoft rang in the new year with a cutesy tweet in C#. Just one problem: The code sucked
Then again, we're a little surprised that Snover didn't simply automate the heck out of it. If the architect of Windows PowerShell can't sling together a script to satisfy the whims of accounts then what hope is there for the rest of us?
"I would love everything to have a PowerShell interface," said Snover, "but I think that wouldn't help most people doing expenses."
[9]
[10]
Oh, we don't know. Some systems we've endured make writing one's own cmdlet look like an iteration of "Hello world!" in TI BASIC.
Other posters stated the obvious – how can it be that a software giant like Microsoft seems unable to get the basics right internally? A cynic might posit that quality is occasionally amiss in Microsoft's emissions and, as it famously enjoys chowing down on its own dogfood, employees will get to experience the same joy as the administrator faced with patching the patch [11]because someone forgot Hyper-V was a thing . Just via the medium of an expense claim.
[12]
"Apparently," Snover told us, "my timing is really bad as the company is supposed to be rolling out a new Expense tool any minute now."
Still, Microsoft isn't alone. This hack well remembers being behind the corporate barricades and playing the "pick a cost centre" game on a system that refused to run on anything other than Internet Explorer 8. Happy days.
Is it just us and Snover? Perhaps take a bit of satisfaction in knowing that even if Microsoft's financial results are way up, delight with some of its internal systems seems way down.
[13]
Oh, and leave us a comment on the byzantine methods your beancounters have employed to avoid coughing up for that late-night pizza. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/26/microsoft_q2_2022/
[2] https://twitter.com/jsnover/status/1486012040724377601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YfF@OnzS2bw-2U448P2lNQAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/25/windows_95/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/21/excel_monitor_central_uk_govt/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/20/windows_11_build/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/17/linode_microsoft_email/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/04/microsoft_date_comparison_tweet/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YfF@OnzS2bw-2U448P2lNQAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YfF@OnzS2bw-2U448P2lNQAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/13/microsoft_patch_tuesday_titsup/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YfF@OnzS2bw-2U448P2lNQAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YfF@OnzS2bw-2U448P2lNQAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Jeffrey Snover, Microsoft Technical Fellow, beloved by administrators for PowerShell and stockholders for the likes of Azure Stack, kicked things off last night by airing niggles in that most measured of places – Twitter.
The internal MSFT expense application makes me feel like an idiot EVERY TIME I use it.
I'm sure there is a way to submit this damn thing but hell if I can figure out how. — Jeffrey Snover (@jsnover) [2]January 25, 2022
By way of explanation, Snover told The Register "I'm just terrible at following instructions so I'm sure I play a big role here."
Normally he has an administrator to navigate Redmond's systems "because," he said "I suck at doing these things."
We know the feeling.
[3]
He was soon joined by fellow Microsoft employees in a lengthy thread bemoaning the app habits of beancounters that all too often seem designed to inhibit rather than assist in the claiming of work expenses. A complaint all too familiar in the corporate world; Microsoft is certainly not alone in foisting internal systems on workers that seem to almost take glee in their obtuseness.
[4]Saved by the Bill: What if... Microsoft had killed Windows 95?
[5]'Please download in Microsoft Excel': Meet the tech set to monitor IT performance across central UK government
[6]First they came for Notepad. Now they're coming for Task Manager
[7]Email blocklisting: A Christmas gift from Microsoft that Linode can't seem to return
[8]Microsoft rang in the new year with a cutesy tweet in C#. Just one problem: The code sucked
Then again, we're a little surprised that Snover didn't simply automate the heck out of it. If the architect of Windows PowerShell can't sling together a script to satisfy the whims of accounts then what hope is there for the rest of us?
"I would love everything to have a PowerShell interface," said Snover, "but I think that wouldn't help most people doing expenses."
[9]
[10]
Oh, we don't know. Some systems we've endured make writing one's own cmdlet look like an iteration of "Hello world!" in TI BASIC.
Other posters stated the obvious – how can it be that a software giant like Microsoft seems unable to get the basics right internally? A cynic might posit that quality is occasionally amiss in Microsoft's emissions and, as it famously enjoys chowing down on its own dogfood, employees will get to experience the same joy as the administrator faced with patching the patch [11]because someone forgot Hyper-V was a thing . Just via the medium of an expense claim.
[12]
"Apparently," Snover told us, "my timing is really bad as the company is supposed to be rolling out a new Expense tool any minute now."
Still, Microsoft isn't alone. This hack well remembers being behind the corporate barricades and playing the "pick a cost centre" game on a system that refused to run on anything other than Internet Explorer 8. Happy days.
Is it just us and Snover? Perhaps take a bit of satisfaction in knowing that even if Microsoft's financial results are way up, delight with some of its internal systems seems way down.
[13]
Oh, and leave us a comment on the byzantine methods your beancounters have employed to avoid coughing up for that late-night pizza. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/26/microsoft_q2_2022/
[2] https://twitter.com/jsnover/status/1486012040724377601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YfF@OnzS2bw-2U448P2lNQAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/25/windows_95/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/21/excel_monitor_central_uk_govt/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/20/windows_11_build/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/17/linode_microsoft_email/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/04/microsoft_date_comparison_tweet/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YfF@OnzS2bw-2U448P2lNQAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YfF@OnzS2bw-2U448P2lNQAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/13/microsoft_patch_tuesday_titsup/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YfF@OnzS2bw-2U448P2lNQAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YfF@OnzS2bw-2U448P2lNQAAAEg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Korev
We no longer need to scan receipts under 25CHF, but we still need to enter an itemise each one - (as you say) this probably costs more to the company than the actual expense.
I do wonder if these rules are dreamt up by people senior enough to have secretaries who enter the expenses for them...
Korev
I Concur, expense systems can be hard to use...
LDS
They SAP your of your will to live every time you have to claim expenses...
ComputerSays_noAbsolutelyNo
So that's the meaning of the company's name
keep your conference swag!
Bitsminer
I once went to a conference. Tossed all the swag away as it wasn't worth keeping. Kept the payment receipt and filed that.
They wanted proof I had attended!
Ummm, the badge is gone, the swag is gone.....oh, yes, I do have a photo or two of some of the commercial booths....how about that?
Got the cheque by the skin of my teeth.
Anonymous Coward
Our evil corporation will shortly migrate to Concur and they tell us that it will be an improvement. That should tell you how bad things are currently (scanning to PDFs, Excel spreadsheets, Outlook, strings, yoghurt pots).
As I've progressed in my carrier and get paid more... I've often thought about the _expense_ of filing expenses. The time it took to document an $8 breakfast at the airport ... costs a bit more than $8 on its own.