At the heart of all eCB applications is a proprietary framework, providing a robust and flexible foundation for processing expense data. eCB Framework, integrated with all eCB developed applications requiring a chargeback component, is also available as a standalone product which can be easily adapted to "chargeback-enable" almost any transaction-based application. In today's uncertain economic conditions, cost control and expense recovery become especially critical factors in almost all business processes and applications. Whether expenses are recovered from external or internal clients, eCB Framework provides a set of tools to guarantee that all data required to identify and process online transactions is captured, validated and forwarded to the appropriate accounting systems with unprecedented flexibility, control and speed.

For an overview of eCB Framework's functionality, along with an example of how it is implemented in the context of a specific application, see the Product Tour of ResearchExpense.

• Customization - Because customization in eCB Framework is done on the database level, most changes necessary to fit this framework into an organization's operational procedures and data environment do not require any changes to the software itself. Therefore, customizations to many parts of the application, such as fields to validate, user interface control options, administrative screens, internal database interface, file export specifications, etc., can be completed quickly and inexpensively.



• Flexible Data Capture - The application can be configured so that any number or any combination of data items can be captured, for example: client, project, employee ID, department, office, entity, comments, etc. Data capture can be forced or optional for any item.



• Administrative Code Handling - Because of the rampant use of adminstrative codes typical in most organizations, filtering tools and reports are provided to assist in resolving these codes.



• Flexible Billing - Chargeback processes can be customized for different services within a given application. For example, some services can be charged back at a fixed rate, other charged back calculating rates by preset budgeted amounts, and others charged back by referencing specific invoices.



• Flexible Accounting Processing - Expense data can be sent to the accounting department daily, weekly, monthly or at any desired interval.



• Flexible Interface to Lookup Data - Wherever there is the need to reference corporate lookup data (such as employee, client and project listings), such data can be referenced from one or a number of data sources, invoking separate connections for each as necessary. For example, employee data can be referenced from the HR database, while client data can be referenced from the MIS database.



• Client / Project / Employee Code Maintenance - For companies who require it, eCB Framework provides a fully functional Web-based interface for maintaining client, project, employee and other expense-related codes, accessible to any authorized user on the Intranet.