Automate employee trip expense processing with Jotform, OpenAI and Google Sheets

👤 Who’s it for

This workflow is designed for employees who need to submit expense claims for business trips. It automates the process of extracting data from receipts/invoices, logging it to a Google Sheet, and notifying the finance team via email.

Ideal users:

• Employees submitting business trip expense claims
• HR or Admins reviewing travel-related reimbursements
• Finance teams responsible for processing claims

⚙️ How it works / What it does

1. Employee submits a form with trip information (name, department, purpose, dates) and uploads one or more receipts/invoices (PDF).
2. Uploaded files are saved to Google Drive for record-keeping.
3. Each PDF is passed to a DocClaim Assistant agent, which uses GPT-4o and a structured parser to extract structured invoice data.
4. The data is transformed and formatted into a standard JSON structure.
5. Two parallel paths are followed:
   • Invoice records are appended to a Google Sheet for centralized tracking.
   • A detailed HTML email summarizing the trip and expenses is generated and sent to the finance department for claim processing.

🛠 How to set up

1. Create a form to capture:

   • Employee Name
   • Department
   • Trip Purpose
   • From Date / To Date
   • Receipt/Invoice File Upload (multiple PDFs)

2. Configure file upload node to store files in a specific Google Drive folder.

3. Set up DocClaim Agent using:

   • GPT-4o or any LLM with document analysis capability
   • Output parser for standardizing extracted receipt data (e.g., vendor, total, tax, date)

4. Transform extracted data into a structured claim record (Code Node).

5. Path 1: Save records to a Google Sheet (one row per expense).

6. Path 2:

   • Format the employee + claim data into a dynamic HTML email
   • Use Send Email node to notify the finance department (e.g., [email protected])

✅ Requirements

• Jotform account with expense form setup Sign up for free here
• n8n running with access to:
  • Google Drive API (for file uploads)
  • Google Sheets API (for logging expenses)
  • Email node (SMTP or Gmail for sending)
• GPT-4o or equivalent LLM with document parsing ability
• PDF invoices with clear formatting
• Shared Google Sheet for claim tracking
• Optional: Shared inbox for finance team

🧩 How to customize the workflow

• Add approval steps: route the email to a manager before finance
• Attach original PDFs: include uploaded files in the email as attachments
• Localize for other languages: adapt form labels, email content, or parser prompts
• Sync to ERP or accounting system: replace Google Sheet with QuickBooks, Xero, etc.
• Set limits/validation: enforce max claim per trip or required fields before submission
• Auto-tag expenses: add categories (e.g., travel, accommodation) for better reporting