The e-Travel Orders application is complete, integrated information system for monitoring and recording business trips (hereinafter e-Travel Orders).

The system supports the integration of all processes from travel plan, the opening of travel orders, the approval of business trips, ways of reporting on business trips, to the calculation and payment of business travel fees, with connection to systems that take care of business travel planning, a system for issuing official vehicles and hotel and/or airline tickets reservation system.

The main purpose is to avoid relying on manual entry, processing, production and manipulation of all required paper documentation. This pre-existing conditions and methods of performing activities result in circumventing rules, unknown deadlines, customer dissatisfaction, non-transparency, which ultimately leads to inappropriate service given today’s business needs. Another big problem is the inability to report, which affects the quality and timeliness of decision-making.

The application is also integrated with the central information system (SAP ERP) and existing EDRMS system. The software is integrated into the existing SAP Web Application Server and can be used to connect archived documents and apply documents entered into the SAP ERP system.

The software should enable faster and easier searching of documents visible in the SAP ERP system, and documents must be linked by content and attributes, which would shorten the time-consuming process of making a copy of the original, and thus speed up the document retrieval process (indexing).

The functionality of the application is in issuing, approving, controlling and monitoring the entire business travel management process (travel order, vehicle request, hotel accommodation request and/or airline ticket request) with an emphasis on the mandatory integration with the central information business system, SAP ERP.

The centralised system implementation project is covering the level of the entire organisation and is applied for the needs of all participants who perform certain activities within the specified business process.

The main objectives is to achieve:

  • Raising the quality of business trip management services through computerisation and automation of activities

  • Providing a quality service of recording, printing, monitoring and administrating documentation related to business trips with special attention to the approval of related documents (travel order, vehicle request, hotel accommodation request and/or airline ticket request)

  • Openness and transparency of the system towards all participants through timely insight into the information on the status of requests verification

  • Reducing costs and time savings, productivity increase

  • Unifying documentation for all business units through standardised formats

  • Complete integration with the SAP ERP system

System integration

The system is fully integrated with the central information business system SAP ERP. A high level of integration should be provided as well as the possible need to convert different data formats. It is necessary to perform the maximum possible exchange and automatic retrieval of data, such as:

  • Complete integration with eDRMS system which will serve as the main repository of all documentation

  • Connect the new e-Travel orders system with the SAP ERP system and obtain information on the realised travel costs per account, cost centre, issue

Required system functionalities

  • Synchronizing master data with existing systems

  • Administrating master data of the e-Travel orders system

  • Integration and exchange of data/documents with SAP ERP system

  • Travel proposal letter, account / MT / issue

  • Approval of a travel proposal letter

  • Opening and creating travel orders

  • Possibilities to choose the type of travel order, at home and abroad

  • Preparation of advance payment requests

  • Advance approval

  • Creating reports with travel cost processing

  • Approval of travel order calculation

  • Travel orders print

  • Information transfer to the SAP ERP system for the need to process and enter travel orders

  • Retrieving information from the SAP ERP system on travel cost calculations

  • Monthly and other customised reports and reviews following business requirements

Users

The system is estimated to cover 1,000 internal users, as there are that many users who can initiate business processes within the e-Travel Orders system. User management and administration are enabled through system integration with MS Active Directory which is performed during the installation and configuration.

Security

The system enables integration with the LDAP server to ensure automatic login with the domain username (Single Sign-On). The system supports a complex model of roles and rights, from the level of login to the system, to the display of the latest information and other content.

System architecture

Functional units of the e-Travel Orders system, i.e. components include:
– Business process management module (BPM / BPA * or equivalent)
– Records Manager repository
– Integration components

The system includes a software development kit (SDK) that is used when integrating data from different systems and/or making greater adjustments to the business processes course and the forms used therein. For the purpose of the implementation of the e-Travel orders system, it is necessary to use BPM or BPA tool (BPM, Business Process Management / BPA, Business Process Automation * or equivalent).

Business process management

  • Form design tool
    Used to create forms that process users fill out when performing activities. The tool allows the forms to be published onto the server so they could be used during the course of the process

  • Process creation tool
    Used to create a process course and publish it to the server, which allows the use of the relevant process course in the system

  • Web interface
    A web application that provides access to published forms and processes. Represents the process startup interface, reviewing the status of active processes, and executing of assigned activities

  • Management console
    Provides a graphical interface to administrators to manage the system server, manage users (add users, create and assign relations and roles) and set up global system settings such as language, determining when to delete unnecessary data and files, etc.