Automated travel portal designed for more control

Edcon now has more internal financial control over the allocation of travel allowances and payments to suppliers. Edcon has also automated the process that enables it to measure the services received from suppliers.

Edcon can now enforce its travel policy and can also ensure that only authorised staff travel on the company's expense. The integration with Edcon's financial system has automated the processes of creating orders and invoicing.

According to 3fifteen sales director Roger Trummer, Edcon wanted more control over its travel expenses.

To fulfil Edcon's requirements for the portal, 3fifteen developed an intranet solution based on Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server with K2.net as the workflow engine. The solution also allows for direct integration to Edcon's financial system.

Trummer says this integration has automated the processes of creating orders and invoicing in Oracle Finance. "With the previous manual system, four employees had to manually input the orders into Edcon's financial system - a time consuming process which allowed for human error."

The portal allows Edcon to measure the performance of the travel agency in terms of its Service Level Agreement (SLA) and the cost of tickets. "In some instances the travel agency only booked flight tickets two days before the person was due to travel even though the tickets were ordered well in advance. As a result, Edcon was overspending on travel," says Trummer.

"The solution provides Edcon with detailed information on staff travel arrangements. Unlike in the past, Edcon is now able to track all travel transactions throughout the organisation. Business rules ensure that employees can no longer overspend on travel - they are allocated a specific travel budget according to their position in the organisation," he concludes.