The Challenge

A University customer was using a Purchase Order process to pre-authorise travel bookings. Users found the internal system for Purchase Order (PO) approval was slow and can take two or three follow-ups to secure. This resulted in travel costs increasing and, in many cases, the travel options were sold out by the time approval was received. User feedback also highlighted that the PO delays can incur cost increases on travel that impact their budgets by as much as 30% per booking.

This cost impact is in addition to a poor user experience and frustrated budget holders/travellers. In many instances, the budget holder advised bookers to use a combination of personal cards and purchase cards to quickly book travel and “lock in” the costs and preferred travel options. This process also means that the University loses all compliance/spend data, detailed travel reporting is lost, along with CO2 reporting and most importantly the traveller is “invisible” in the event of an incident. The Finance and Procurement team resources are also impacted by high volumes of manual expense claims processing on paper or via the expenses system.  Invoice reconciliation re-work is also an inefficient process.

Our Solution

Working cross functionally, Key Travel aligned stakeholders across the user journey “end to end” so we could understand the purchase order process steps, issues, costs and impacts on resources that re-work and added expense and invoice reconciliation activity have.

Through process modelling, we identified the process stages and “touch-points” that were needed to complete a booking. Through external benchmarking of the “cost per touch”, we identified a potential efficiency saving of £300,000. In addition, we were able to provide benchmarking data points on the annualised travel cost increases caused by the delays in PO approval of £100,000.

A project team was established to engage on automated solutions, with Key Travel committing to carrying out the heavy lifting, removing any demand on the University IT resources, who were committed to other projects. The team planned to meet three times, and, within 10 days of the final meeting, to sign off the scope and specification, and move to implementation, testing, and sign off.

The Results

An SFTP data automation was agreed to replace the purchase order process in full. An approval and coding format was implemented to automate coding in every booking to help users process bookings in 3-Steps “Click, Approve and Book”. The approver is helped by a structured travel request, that is time bound and requires only a 1-click approval.

The project was fully delivered within 8-weeks from inception.

Purchase Order Process Improvements

Performance improvements so far:

  • All bookings follow travel policy and are coded to remove Finance process re-work.
  • All approvals are visible to meet funding/grant body compliance requirements.
  • The efficiency savings of £300,000 is the minimum expected for delivery.
  • Travel booking costs are reduced with £100,000 saving in scope.
  • High quality travel reporting data, along with transparent CO2 reporting has been delivered.
  • 24/7 traveller risk visibility enables instant support during the more frequent incidents occurring.
  • The simplified user journey benefits directly from the automation and frictionless process
  • User satisfaction has increased.

Commenting on the engagements and account management support, our Procurement partner shared this (shortened) feedback:

“Our Account Manager or AM…is a proactive, responsive, and positive partner to the University. They have worked to established relationships and rapport with stakeholders and is a valuable conduit between the bookers and travellers, and Key Travel. The AM takes on any project with great enthusiasm, is always the most helpful and has a great work ethic. The AM is very well organised, with a keen eye on detail, and listens not only to respond but to understand and always goes above and beyond to provide excellent support to the University.”