Trips, reconciled

Link bookings and every cost in a Trip-Linked Expense Report

Spend and Travel trip-linked report overview — Pulling bookings, card transactions, and reimbursements into one place

Project snapshot

My contribution

Role

Lead Product Designer (Spend)

Focus

Strategy, IA, object model, flows, visuals, component specs

With

Travel Product Designer • UX Research • Design Systems

Constraint

Spend mobile ran on aging components while Travel mobile was greenfield, so the two risked drifting apart

Project details

Company: Rippling
Product area: Spend & Travel
Discipline: Product design · Mobile
Timeline: Apr 2023 → 2025
Status: Travel GA summer ’25; shared report targeted Q4 ’25
Object model: Trip-linked report bookings, cards and reimbursements in one place
Validation: Tested with Navan users current and former
Systems: Seeded the component library patterns reused for Time Off mobile

00 Overview

Travel bookings and Spend lived in separate apps, forcing employees to reconstruct a trip across screens. I led the Spend side with Travel to introduce a Trip-Linked Expense Report—one object that binds itinerary items (flights/hotels/cars) with every related cost (corporate card transactions, reimbursements, per diem). We prototyped variants, tested with Navan users, and used the work to seed Rippling’s new mobile component library, which later accelerated the Time Off mobile redesign.

01 The problem

One trip, split across two apps

Travelers think of a trip as one bucket of costs, but bookings lived in Travel and expenses in Spend, so they reconciled it themselves. Competitors like Navan show trip spend in one place.

App silos
Travel vs Spend created context switching and “DIY reconciliation”
Mental model mismatch
Travelers think “one trip = one bucket of costs”
Legacy patterns
Spend mobile used aging components; Travel mobile was greenfield → risk of drift
Market bar
Competitors (e.g., Navan) show consolidated trip spend

FIG. ASpend versus Travel problem contextA trip's costs, split across two apps

Trip details

Rippling

Spend appLegacy app

Travel app0→1 app

Expenses

Card Tranx

Flights

Hotels

Rental cars

Meals

Client meeting

Entertainment

02 Solution highlights

One object for the whole trip

A Trip-Linked Expense Report you can create or attach from either Travel or Spend. It suggests transactions and receipts from the trip window and flags receipt or memo requirements to fix in-flow.

Trip-Linked Expense Report
bi-directional: create/attach from Travel or Spend
Auto-suggested linking
Detect transactions/receipts within trip window
Policy clarity
Inline indicators for receipt/memo requirements; fix in-flow
Cross-suite precedent
Model used to guide Time suite (Timesheets/Time Off/Holidays)

03 Process

From audit to a shared pattern

Step 03.1 Audit
Where two mobile apps could drift apart
Spend mobile (legacy) + Travel mobile (greenfield) → gaps & drift risks
FIG. CLegacy Rippling & Spend app components · New Travel app with updated components
BeforeLegacy Rippling & Spend app components
AfterNew Travel app with updated components
Step 03.2 Strategy/IA
What is a trip-linked expense report?
Define what a Trip-Linked Expense Report is
FIG. DTrip-Linked Expense Report strategy and information architectureThe same nodes, inside one object
Trip expense report1 trip - 1 bucket of costs
Rippling
Spend appLegacy app
Travel app0→1 app
Expenses
Card Tranx
Flights
Hotels
Rental cars
Meals
Client meeting
Entertainment
Trip-Linked Expense Report strategy and information architecture
Step 03.3 Flows
Two ways in, one report
Mapping admin user journeys; entry points from both apps
FIG. ESpend and Travel admin journey flowsEntry points from both apps, converging on one trip
From Travel App
Select a flight
Check out
Select or create a trip
How do you pay?
My own money
Rippling Travel Account (?)
Rippling Corporate card
System automatically creates a new expense request object
TRIP OBJECT CREATED
Trip dates confirmed
Flight attached
View trip spend
Add expenses?
Create a new expense, or select an existing one
From Spend app
Create new expense request
Does this belong to a Trip object
Submit your request
Use my Corporate Card to make purchases during trip
System detects Dates & Category of purchase
Automatically attach to Trip Object
Ask user to Confirm if that is correct. (Must go back into their Spend App)
Expense added to trip
From Travel App leads to Select a flight
Select a flight leads to Check out
Check out leads to Select or create a trip
Select or create a trip leads to How do you pay?
How do you pay? leads to My own money
How do you pay? leads to Rippling Travel Account (?)
How do you pay? leads to Rippling Corporate card
My own money leads to System automatically creates a new expense request object
Rippling Travel Account (?) leads to TRIP OBJECT CREATED
Rippling Corporate card — Book — TRIP OBJECT CREATED
TRIP OBJECT CREATED leads to Trip dates confirmed
TRIP OBJECT CREATED leads to Flight attached
TRIP OBJECT CREATED leads to View trip spend
View trip spend leads to Add expenses?
Add expenses? leads to Create a new expense, or select an existing one
Create a new expense, or select an existing one leads to Expense added to trip
System automatically creates a new expense request object leads to Expense added to trip
From Spend app leads to Create new expense request
Create new expense request leads to Does this belong to a Trip object
Does this belong to a Trip object — Yes, attach to Trip Object — TRIP OBJECT CREATED
Does this belong to a Trip object leads to Submit your request
Submit your request leads to Expense added to trip
Use my Corporate Card to make purchases during trip leads to System detects Dates & Category of purchase
System detects Dates & Category of purchase leads to Automatically attach to Trip Object
Automatically attach to Trip Object leads to Ask user to Confirm if that is correct. (Must go back into their Spend App)
Ask user to Confirm if that is correct. (Must go back into their Spend App) leads to Expense added to trip
Step 03.4 Prototype/Test
Several concepts, tested with Navan users
Multiple concepts; tests with current/former Navan users
FIG. FTrip-linked report prototype concept one
Showing image 01 / 03
Step 03.5 Systemize
Built to be reused
Component specs → Design Systems; patterns reused for Time Off mobile
FIG. GLegacy Time Off Mobile UX · Updated Time Off Mobile UX
BeforeLegacy Time Off Mobile UX
AfterUpdated Time Off Mobile UX