Our customer has long dealt with paper travel orders that had to be manually approved, tracked and corrected. The goal was to gain visibility of costs, speed up approvals and eliminate errors in filling. The customer decided to implement online travel orders on the SmartFP platform, which greatly simplified and accelerated the process.
(The customer wishes to remain anonymous, therefore his name is not mentioned.)
“It was total chaos. We didn’t keep track of costs, employees made mistakes when filling out orders and everything was sent in emails or physically. When we needed to find a receipt, it took forever,” says the customer representative.
Baseline: what did the customer solve and why?
Prior to the introduction of SmartFP, customers had long used paper travel orders, which meant manual data entry, long approval processes and lack of transparency. Orders were passed between departments, which often led to delays. When a document was lost or missing, the whole process was unnecessarily prolonged.
“Documents were easily lost or missing data had to be filled in, which slowed down the process,” says the customer representative.
Scope and description of the project
The customer decided to implement the SmartFP platform with the Travel Orders module so that the entire business travel process would be online, from application, through approval to billing. The goal was to unify the travel records, eliminate manual transcription and simplify tracking of supporting documents including receipts and attachments.
The project included:
- deployment and configuration of the Travel Orders module in the customer environment
- setting up approval workflow and responsibilities
- creation of a clear path archive for tracking and control
- integration to the customer’s existing payroll software
Before the customer decided to switch to SmartFP, he made an appointment to try a demo of the system. This opportunity allowed the company to get a feel for the system, see how everything works in practice and, most importantly, be confident that it really simplifies processes. The demo was a key step in showing the firm how quick and efficient having travel orders online would be .
“We weren’t quite sure if everything would work the way we imagined, but the demo convinced us that it was a step in the right direction,” adds the company representative.
The SAAS problem and its solution
The customer originally planned to run the system as SaaS (Software as a Service), where they would rent the platform. However, when integrating with their existing payroll software, we ran into a problem: their on-premise payroll software did not allow for external access, which meant that SmartFP could not run on a SaaS platform. So SmartFP had to be installed on-premise, directly on the same server as the payroll software. We successfully resolved this issue and the integration went smoothly.
We are flexible in terms of software placement, supporting both SaaS and on-premise deployments, depending on our customers’ needs.
Which features do customers value most?
The customer appreciates above all that he has everything in one place, clearly and without manual transcription, including accessibility from a mobile device.
“Now we have everything in one place and accessible from our mobile phones, even on the beach, which has made the whole process much easier and faster,” says the customer representative.
The most valued benefits and features include:
- Saving time, fast approval
- Completion from a mobile device
- Synchronisation with decrees and current exchange rates
- Ability to make a request on behalf of someone else
- Automatic linking to billing and other…
- Easy filtering of archived commands
“Approving travel orders now takes just minutes instead of weeks, which has made the whole process faster. By linking to legal decrees and currency rates from the CNB, we can be sure that costs are always in line with regulations. In addition, we have the ability to enter applications on behalf of others, which saves time and makes administration easier,” He adds.
Collaboration: implementation and communication
The whole collaboration started with an initial alignment of expectations and clarification of requirements with the sales representative and project manager.
“At the beginning, we went through the solution options and clarified exactly what we needed. This helped us choose a setup that made sense for us,” says the customer representative.
The project manager then led the implementation and continuously addressed additional questions and specific settings according to the customer’s internal processes.
“We needed to align the system with our procedures and had a number of questions about this. Thanks to ongoing consultation, we moved step by step without unnecessary hitches,” He adds.
The customer appreciated especially that during the implementation the details were also solved, which in practice decide whether the system really fits into everyday operation.
“It was important for us that we could clarify things on an ongoing basis and fine-tune the settings in a clear and understandable way,” summarises the customer representative.
Project result: customer benefits
If we were to sum it up in one sentence: The move to online travel orders has brought speed, efficiency and clarity. The whole process is now automated, fast and error-free, which has greatly improved the customer’s administration in the company.
“With the transition to the online system, everything is automatic. We have an instant overview of the status of travel orders and approval processes, which was not so clear before. Now we can focus on more important tasks and don’t have to deal with administrative details,” concludes the customer representative.
Conclusion: travel orders in SmartFP
If you too want to speed up and simplify the management of travel orders in your company, SmartFP is the ideal solution. Make an appointment and find out how online travel orders will save you time, improve clarity and eliminate administrative errors.
Moving to an online travel order management system is an easy and efficient step that will simplify the daily work of your employees and bring clarity to all processes.