self-booking tool manual - ax travel management for osce · self-booking tool manual 1 i....

2013

SELF-BOOKING TOOL MANUAL

http://www.decision-achats.fr/Decision-Achats/Article/Voyages-d-affaires-off-line-vs-on-line--42083-1.htm


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I. INTRODUCTION

The SBT has been customized to meet OSCE requirements in line with FAI 9. It is a very important initiative in the

Corporate Travel Management Strategy because it is conducive to significant reductions in transaction

fees. Adoption rates should progressively increase in time in order to reduce the high cost of travel-agent assisted

transactions (TAAT) and increase the number of SBT transactions. The overall target is to achieve by the end of the

first year a minimum SBT adoption rate of 60% of “eligible travel” which is defined as travel to one destination

being either of direct or round trip nature.

During the first year of SBT implementation the following targets or key performance indicators have been

established:

A 20% adoption rate in case of “eligible travel “after 6 weeks of SBT implementation

A 40% adoption rate in case of “eligible travel” after 4 months of SBT implementation

A 60% adoption rate of “eligible travel” thereafter

SBT SIGN-IN LINK

The tool which is available 7 days a week may be accessed by direct internet link to: http://osce.ax-travel.at/

The tool may also be accessed via the OSCE Intranet Portal, by clicking on the OSCE TAB, and selecting

TRAVEL

Once you are in the link, you will see the following 5 menus for selection:

http://osce.ax-travel.at/


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CONTACT

INFOROOM

SELF-BOOKING TOOL

SCHEDULE LOOK-UP

BOOKING FORM

Point and click on SELF-BOOKING TOOL (SBT) (see page 3)

You will now be in the SBT sign in page (see page 4)


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User Name = In most cases set up with your last name in lower case (min. 5 characters required). Contact

TMU or send an email to [email protected] if unable to sign in.

User Password = Cytric2013 (first time generic password)

The first time you sign in, you will use the generic password and click on the enter key. You will then be directed to

the next screen (below) in order to the Change Password. Repeat the old password and choose a new one. The User

Password must contain at least 7 characters (at least one upper case, one numeric)

You will be directed to the first screen again (see page 4) and now you must sign in with your new password.

It will get you to the Personal Portal (see page 6 or 7).

mailto:[email protected]


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If you are set up as a booker, you will only have access to the User Tab (center section below).


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If you are a travel arranger, you will have access to the Travel Arranger Dashboard Tab (center section - below).


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II. PERSONAL PORTAL

The Personal Portal is divided in a number of sections for selection as follows:

Left Section Personal Portal

Flight Booking

Hotel Booking

Rental Car Booking

Travelers

Center Section Personal Portal - Calendar

User

Travel Arranger Dashboard

Right Section Personal Portal

Favourites

Services

Left Section Personal Portal – Flight Booking (useful in case of simple enquiries before bookings can be made)

A point and click on Flight Booking will take you to the screen on page 9. You will see a small airplane

before with reference to (one way) travel. While it is possible to book only one-way travel, bear in mind that

round trip travel is usually cheaper than one-way travel!! Check with a fictitious return date to see if you


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can reduce the fare!! Otherwise, a round trip travel menu option is automatically displayed (see below).

While this section may seem the obvious section to begin to search flights to begin the reservation process, the

recommended section is described in section 5 - Making a reservation (see pages 28-30).


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As mentioned previously (page 1), SBT “eligible travel” applies only in case of one way or round trip travel to

one destination, having direct or connecting service, or in case of an “open-jaw ticket”. An “open-jaw ticket”

involves a route in which the arrival destination is different from the departure destination. For example:

outbound VIENNA-PARIS, inbound BRUSSELS-VIENNA. It also works the other way around. For

example: outbound PARIS-VIENNA, inbound VIENNA-BRUSSELS.

Outbound/Return Segments: In the FROM/TO section, you normally would add the origin/destination.

Date/Departure/Arrival Time: To choose the date, you can either use the calendar by clicking on it or the

month drop down with manual date input. It is important to put the preferred “departure time”. While

there is an option to query by “arrival time”, it is not recommended as it does not work in case of all carriers.

The SBT tool is pre-configured to comply with FAI 9. In this context, when you place your preferred departure

time, the system will look for options within a 2 hour time-frame plus or minus. That means that if you put a

departure time of 08:00, the sytem should look for options between 06:00 and 10:00. When there are existing

options within the 2 hour time-frame which result in the lowest fare, then the system will determine such option as

being the compliant offer.

Additional search criteria: This feature gives you the possibility to select by airline. Please do not use this

function as offers should not be based on personal preferences.

On the top right side, You are booking for: shows you the travellers that have been configured for you if you

are a travel arranger. Otherwise, you would only see yourself. There is also a button to change preselected

travellers in case there are more travellers set up.


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Left Section Personal Portal Travellers

Under Travellers in the bottom part of the left section (see below), you will see the option Administration of User

Profiles.


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This function is used when you want to create a new profile for a traveller. A booking can only be made if a

traveller profile is residing within the SBT. Point and click at Create New User to Create a Quick Profile.


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In the same menu on page 12 you can also Edit a Current User. Point & click on Create New User. There are

two simple steps to create a Quick Profile. Select a User Name - minium 5 characters. Select a password -

recommended for all new users Cytric2013. Complete the required information, i.e. traveller last name, first

name. Select your location and your division from the drop down menu. Continue.


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Now you should be in the Quick Profile screen below. To complete the second step, select the Department Code

and click on Traveller and/or Travel booker agree to privacy. Then click on Create User profile and Save

Data.


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Then click on the Back tab which takes you back to the Administration of User Profiles (page 12) and click on

Edit User Data. You will see the Find Users menu. Add the Last Name and click on Find.

The User can be found by either adding the User Name if you remember it or wrote it down , in this case jonesa or


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even better, by adding the last name - so you don’t have to remember the user name. Below you can see jonesa

which was the created user for this example. You have the options to click on either Edit or Remove.

The latter is obvious. This is how you would remove a profile when a traveller leaves the organization or when

you want to remove a non-OSCE staff. You would otherwise click on Edit to add more information in the profile.


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It would be taken to the screen below - Edit User Data - where relevant important options which should be

reviewed the first time a profile is created are highlighted.

The Edit & Store Your Personal Data will ask you for additional emails, telephone numbers, confirmation of

department codes, etc. Save and you will be back to the same Edit User Data. Point and click on the next


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function you want to edit and save. The other functions, with the exception of the last one, Select Your Trip

Approver for the Basic Approval System are described on page 22 &23.

You must ensure that an approver for the basic approval system is set up. This is a very important function

because if you make a reservation and an approver is not set up, the booking will not be seen by the approver.

The basic approval system identifies the Executive Structure that is responsible for approving the respective

travel. Alternatively, the system does not know to which Executive Structure approval corresponds to. You

should Select your Trip Approver for the Basic System the first time when you set up a new profile. When you

select this function, you will be directed to the Find User menu (see below).


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You will then see a Trip Approver drop down menu. Drop down to select your approver (see page 20) where for

example, the option for my Executive Structure (ES) would be OSCE SECRETARIAT, Approver. You must

also click on Default Approver. Lastly you must click on Add Name.


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Center Section – Calendar

On the Personal Portal (see pages 6 & 7), you see a center section showing you a calendar. As noted, you will either

see one User Tab if you are a booker only or an additional Travel Arranger Dashboard Tab if you have travel

arranger rights.

Below the calendar, you have the following options:

My bookings

My User Profile

My Frequent Trips

My Travel Arranger

The system is very intuitive and hence, you can at your leasure click on any of these options and see all the

possibilities. For example, if you click on My bookings, you will have access to the following options:

Bookings in Processing

Active Bookings

Past Bookings

Cancelled Bookings

Bookings, not approved

Bookings, not approved (not automatically cancelled)

Not cancelled bookings in a date range

Cancelled bookings in a date range

Again, these are pretty self explanatory and hence we will not go through them. However, the next option is very

important. If you click on My User Profile, you will have access to the following options:


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Personal Data

Government ID Data and Visa Information

Cytrix Pin

Credit and Payment Card Information

Frequent Traveller Memberships

Discount Cards

Electronic Ticket ID

Personal Preferences

Favourites

Preferred Vendors

Reality (r) Score Preferences

Select Travel Arrangers

Select your trip Approver for the Basic Approval System

Delete all Personal Data

Sotre Access Information

Assign Credit Cards to Vendors

Highlighted are the items that are of interest for the booking process as follows:

The first time you sign in, check your Personal Data to ensure it is correct. The forth item, Additional

Information asks you to confirm your Department Code by selecting it through a drop down menu. Please

click on Traveller and/or travel booker agree to privacy and save.

If you will travel internationally, please add your personal data in the Government ID Data and Visa

Information menu and save.


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You may wish to add your Frequent Traveller Memberships. If you have frequent traveller airline

memberships, make sure that you not only add them, but also add the appropriate alliance in Use Number also

for. That is important because if your membership is with Lufthansa Miles and More, if you don’t select the

appropriate alliance, in this case Star Alliance, your traveller will not accrue miles on AUA or Swiss.

Therefore, complete the section “Use number also for” and save.

In the Personal Preferences section, there are recommended viewing set ups which you should not change. The

only thing you may want to verify is seat preference and special meals, and save.

You may Select a Trip Approver for the Basic System. (see pages 18 & 19)

Right Section Personal Portal Services

The right section of the Personal Portal (see page 7) is also very self-explanatory. One important link is the

Health and Visa Information. It is a link to TIMATIC which is the official IATA database containing cross

border passenger documentation requirements. It is used by airlines worldwide to determine whether a

passenger has the appropriate documentation before boarding the aircraft. This is critical for airlines due to

fines levied by immigration authorities every time a passenger that is carried does not have the appropriate

travel documentation.

The information contained in Timatic covers:

Passport & Visa requirements & recommendations

Health requirements and recommendations

You basically need to fill in filters below, enter the Security Code given and enter in order to get the information.


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Nationality

Country of Residence

Destination Country

Emarkation Country

Transit Point

At the end it will ask you to enter a security code after which you will be able to review the requirements. Please

print it and provide it to the traveller if you are a travel arranger.

Also available in this section are a link to Flight Safe, a copy of the SBT Manual, an SBT Cheat-Sheet and an

SBT FAQ link which you may wish to review on your own.


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III. THE BOOKING PROCESS

It is important to highlight that the SBT requires two elements which allow you to make a reservation as follows:

The OTA # and a PR #. it is highly recommended that before you go to the SBT to inquire about flights, you start

by completing as much of the OTA as possible so that you are ready to finalize it when you have determined the

costs, and you can immediately submit it to the respective unit tasked to raise PR and assign an OTA #.

Upon receipt of an OTA & PR #, you can proceed to make your reservation. For the purposes of making a

reservation, it is irrelevant whether the OTA is signed or the PR is approved in ORACLE. All you are doing is

reserving flights for which you will have normally a 24 hour ticketing deadline. As soon as you have secured the

desired flight reservation, you can finalize internal approval which is: the signature of the OTA & the submission

to the respective unit tasked to approve purchase of tickets.


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IV. MAKING A RESERVATION

As noted on page 25, begin with the OTA form and complete it to be best extent possible.. i.e. Last Name, First

Name, Gender, Fund/Programme, official dates of travel, official route, Account code from Chart of Accounts.

The actual itinerary details can and will be completed only at the stage where you find the desirable offer.

BOOKERS: Sign in into the SBT. You should be on the Personal Portal (see page 7). If you were to point and

click on Flight Selection and Booking, you would view the screen shown on page 9. As described on page 10,

on the top right side you will see the heading You are booking for which shows you the travellers that have

been configured for you if you are a travel arranger. You would also have the possibility to book yourself.

TRAVEL ARRANGERS: The recommended option to begin with the reservation process would be to find the

travellers profile first. You would do this by pointing and clicking on the Travel Arranger Dashboard (see page

27). You can now see that it will open to a menu which shows you travellers with bookings (if there are any).

You can see that there is a box with a check mark (see page 28 ) Show Travellers with Bookings. At this stage,

unclick the check mark and add the name of your traveller under Last name is or starts with (see page 28) and

click on Show. Once the name shows in the calendar, point and click at it. It will open a box with the

following options:

Go to the next trip

Show previous trip

New flight trip

New hotel booking

New car rental booking


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Point and click at New flight Booking (see page 28) and now the Flight Booking menu seen on page 29 will be

opened.


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You can now see in the right section (see page 29) the name of the traveller selected through the Travel Travel

Arranger Dashboard (see page 28). The actual process of making a reservation is quite simple and the tool is

very intuitive. At the end of the menu on page 29, you will be asked to add a Trip Identification which is the

related purpose of travel, i.e. Home Leave Travel, CFA Conference, Training Travel, etc. This information

will appear at the top of the confirmed itinerary along with other important information such as the Object

code, OTA #, PR # and Fund/Programme. See example below:

Bilateral Meetings Tashkent (Trip Purpose: Other Trip Reason)

Additional Booking Data:

Safi Airways 203 / Uzbekistan Airways 334 / 333 / Flydubai 305, 19.06.2013 Object Code (4 numeric): 6203 - Conferences/Capacity Building - Tickets for Non-OSCE OTA Number (alphanumeric and dashes "-" only): 173713VIE PR/PO Number (2 alpha + 6 numeric): PR299720 Department Code (numeric): 110-24320 Transnational Threats Strategic Police Matters OSCE Secretariat

You will also need to select the Trip Purpose (see page 29). You will see that there are 3 possibilities as follows:

Exceptions

In case of Exceptions, you may choose this option if an Exception has been approved for an out-of-policy

reason, or when an out of policy booking is being requested, i.e. economy class to NYC in case of “travel

on official business (object code 6301).

Official Staff Travel


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In case of Official Staff Travel, you will only select this option when the object code is 6301 - Travel on

Official Business, as described in FAI9 - Section 4.1 Definition of Official Travel.

Other Trip Reason

In case of Other Trip Reason, you will select this option in case of all other object codes, as well as in case

of all non-OSCE traveller.

Below a sample of the filtered inquiry for the traveller selected through the Travel Arranger Dashboard (see

page 28). In the sample below, the requestor chose to limit the availability to non-stop and direct flights.


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Once the required filters have been selected, Continue!

If a specific departure time is preferred, it should be highlighted accordingly so that the system can provide

offers based on the preferred departure times. In the same manner that in the travel agent assisted process

offers within a two-hour time frame from the preferred time are made, + or -, the SBT will use the same

logic. After selecting Continue, you will see the screens below (see pages 32 and 33)


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Highlighted on the screen (see page 35) you can see reference at the top of DynaWeb and Grid Pricing.

DynaWeb refers to low cost carriers. So if there are any within the selected parameters, you will see the

number of offers.

Grid Pricing refers to legacy carriers (traditional carriers like Lufthansa, Austrian, Air Astana). Again you

will see the numbers of offers available based on the selected parameters.

You can also see that options may be reviewed depending on your preferred sorting selection. The sorting

options are: FARE, SCHEDULE and FLIGHT DURATION. The system defaults to flight duration so that you

can view the options that result in the shortest journey for the traveller. Of course, depending on your

preference, you can choose any of the other 2 sorting options accordingly by pointing and clicking.

In case of either the SCHEDULE or FLIGHT DURATION sorting, when you see an airfare it represents the

cost of round trip travel. In the example on page 35, you would point at the airfare and a menu with the

inbound options would open. The inbound option may have one or more flights that can be chosen for the

airfare. To choose the inbound option, you would just point in the white space section of the option display

(see green star in the example for the 04:25 departure). Then you would scroll down to the end of the screen

and click on Continue with Selected Option. You would then view a screen with the heading Multi-Fare

Display for the Selected Flights.(see page 36).

Most of the highlighted information on page 36 is self explanatory (i.e. selected offer, flight details). You will

note that below the offer there are two tabs, one for Coach Class and one for Business Class. The system

obviously opens to the Coach class option and provides you with the fare rule. Seeing the cost of business class

for the route is convenient in case of upgrade requests even if there should not be many cases.


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Fare display represented in numbers: When you see the fare represented in numbers, i.e. 59,22/343,00, it

means that if the trip is cancelled, you will lose 343,00 and be refunded the taxes which in this case are 59,22.

Similarly you will see at the end of the screen a higher fare represented as 1.122,22/0,00. In this case, the fare is

fully refundable if cancelled and hence you will see that full amount of 1.122,22 will be refund. Green =


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money back. Red = money loss. If there is a Best Buy Option (lower fare than selected, the system will display

at the end of the Multi-Fare Display - see sample in page 53).

Note also that there is a Book By date. Please note that when you see future dates, they are meaningless

because the booking will need to be issued 24 hours later. The only exception is when the Book By date is the

actual booking date in which case it means that the airline required same day ticketing.

Fare display hidden in link: To review the fare conditions you will need to point and click on the link and

scroll down to PE: Penalties, Changes and Cancellations.


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At this stage, if you were to click on Continue to make a booking, it would take you to the screen below. While


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in theory you cannot Continue because you first need to finalize the OTA and send it to the respective unit

tasked to register it so that you can have the OTA/PR numbers. I would suggest that you do click on Continue

to get to the screen above (page 38) because it will confirm to you whether the offer is compliant or not.

Basically by default the offer will be compliant with FAI9 as long as there is no Reason Codes requirement.

The screen on page 38 results in a compliant offer because it only requires the Object Code, OTA & PR

number in order to make the reservation. The screen below is an example of an offer that is not compliant

with FAI 9 and in such case, you will have to select from a menu of reason codes.


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Selecting a Reason Code is an obligatory function whenever the tool determines that you did not choose the

lowest fare available. Of course, for the sake of transparency, the chosen reason must also be documented in

the OTA along with the cost difference and offer details so that the approver can make an informed decision

before signing the OTA. Below are the new reason codes which have recently been revised as follows:

Exceptional approval confirmed

Downgrade to economy

Proposed schedule does not allow completion of official business

Changable fare required. Dates may change

Travel dates/route more costly. Traveler pays difference

Requested travel lower than official

Business class in line with FAI9

Category A airline available

Passenger does not agree to use C rated airline

Low cost airlines cannot be reserved

Split tickets due to no interline agreement

Business class lower than economy, only business class available

Fare with 1 piece of luggage

At this stage, after determining the offer that meets your needs (known whether it is compliant or not), you

should click on the Back button to get back to the Multi-Fare Display for the Selected Flights (see page 37) in

order to: (a) “print screen”, (b) paste it to a new email, (c) send it to the traveller or Program Manager. This

will allow you to document the selected offer that was avaialable and that needs to be transposed into the OTA.

Once the itinerary has been accepted by the traveller, go back to the OTA (which you already initiated as

suggested on page 25), complete it by transposing the itinerary and the costs + the fee of EUR 6.80, ensure that

the remark section of the OTA mentions “SBT” and send it to the respective unit tasked to register the OTA.


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If your respective unit is tasked to raise the PR, as opposed to another administrative unit, please raise it and

include the number on the OTA form.

The respective unit tasked to register the OTA and raise the PR (if appropriate) shall immediately proceed

with these one or two functions and provide you with the OTA# and/or the PR#.

Immediately upon receipt of the two required elements, you can proceed to make the booking. It is irrelevant

and unnecessary at this stage for the OTA or the PR to be approved. The SBT is an external system which is

not connected to ORACLE or any existing online forms of OTA. Once the booking is made, you can follow up

with the real approval process of the OTA/PR which needs to be finalized in 24 hours.

To proceed with the booking, you should go back to the SBT link where hopefully you will still see the offer

and click on Continue. Of course, if the system tells you that the time has expired, then you need to go Back to

the Travel Arranger Dashboard, select your traveller & click on New Flight Booking, filter it again with your

needs and so forth until you get to the offer. Now since you have the OTA/PR #s nothing stops you from

finalizing the booking. The whole process is very quickly and should not take more than a few minutes.

In the event the same fare is not available, let the system offer you the best fare and finalize the booking

irrespective of the fact that the fare and/or the itinerary may be different than the original one you started

with, be it higher or lower. The point is to grab the best offer now that you have the OTA/PR #s. Then you

can go back to the OTA and amend it before it is signed. When the unit tasked with ticket approval and

purchase receives the signed OTA by the established ticketing deadline day, they can amend the amounts in

ORACLE so that they comply with the new offer. (If you are tasked to raise the PR, then you have to amend it

yourself).


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Once you get to the Multi-Fare Display for the Selected Flights choose the fare and Continue. You will now be

in a new screen - Flight Booking - (see below). Select the appropriate Object code and add the OTA/PR#. You

should also scroll down to the end of the page (see page 43) to review if the Department Code is correct.


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Then Continue. It will take you to Preferences for this Booking (see page 44). The first note at the top of the

page in red tells you that any information you enter in the Special Remarks section will only be legible


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internally and not by the travel supplier. Hence, this is your possibility to enter any relevant information you

may wish either the traveller or the respective approving unit to read. You also have the opportunity to review

and amend seating preferences and meal requests.


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Click on Continue and you will be on the screen below Ticket Opotions for the Booking.


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Note that the ticket will be issued within 24 hours (see page 45). If there is no frequent Traveller card, it

defaults to Government Issued Picture ID (preferred in case the traveller forgets his/her FQTV). Then click

on Complete this Booking (liable for payment).


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You will see that you will receive an immediate confirmation to your email box (see page 46 bottom left corner).

You will now be taken to the Approver Selection (see below) where you can confirm whether the Selected

Approver for the Basic System (see page 19) has been set up. If it hasn’t click on Change Approver Selection

and follow the steps on page 19. If the basic approver has been selected, you will see it in the confirmation as

noted in page 48. An approver is not set up if you only see the message “send request to additional approver”.


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As mentioned on page 30, you will note that immediately below the the confirmation you can see the

Trip/Purpose as well as the object codes, OTA#, PR# and DPT.


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You will note the email address of the travel arranger on the right bottom corner (page 48). If you need to

send the itinerary to a different email, you may change it and click on send.

You can click on the + sign to go back to the Start, and now you can see that the traveller has a booking for the

dates. Under the small airplane, there is a small blue button with an x. If you point and click at the small

airplaine, you will see that the trip is waiting for approval (see page 50).


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Only once the trip is approved, the button will be green. To either re-display, cancel or change the trip, you

would point and click as noted on the screen shot below.

A trip can only be cancelled or changed online before it is ticketed. After a ticket has been issued, you must

forward the SBT booking from your outlook confirmation to the travel agent. The same is true in case of

changes after ticketing.


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To cancel a booking before ticketing, again, simply display the traveller by going to the Travel Arranger

Dashboard, point and click at the dates to see the menu options (see page 50). Click on the desired function, i.e.

Cancel Trip. It will bring up the booking and ask you to confirm that you want to cancel it.

To change to booking before ticketing, same process. It will confirm the itinerary and ask you what you wish

to change.


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Simply complete the desired function and click on Continue to begin to query the SBT with new options.

Since a reservation already exists you will be able to Continue/proceed with the required changes. There is no

need to amend the OTA/PR before because the OTA/PR number already residing in the original booking will

not change. It will be the same. Remember that the SBT is not connected to either ORACLE or any other

forms of OTAs and hence, the system doesn’t know the amount the PR is raised for.

As soon as you complete your change and have a new confirmation, proceed to revise the actual OTA

(itinerary dates, and cost of new airfare, higher or lower), have it signed by the PM and send it to the

respective unit tasked to approve ticketing. Obviously, you may want to add a small note to make the unit

aware of the changes made so that the amount of the PR can be amended accordingly.

Example of a Best Buy Option (see page 53) if you overlook the lowest fare. In the case below, it is lower to

book the same flights with the code-share flights. In this case you would Continue with the Selected BestBuy

Option at the end of the page.


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V. TICKET APPROVAL (available only to nominated staff tasked with ticketing approval)

The confirmed reservation will have a ticketing deadline of 24 hours. The persons tasked with ticketing

approval will need to sign-in as Approvers. In case of each ES, the Approver Sign-in includes the city code of

the ES. For example, in case of the Secretariat, the User Name is Approver VIE. When you sign in, the Trip

Request waiting for approval box will be opened. See below.


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The Trip Approval box will open. You have the possibility to Approve Trip or Reject Trip. It is recommended

that unless you wish to cancel the trip, you never select Reject Trip as it will generate an immediate cancellation.

Hence if there are any questions about a trip pending approval, the best is to contact the travel arranger.

self-booking tool manual - ax travel management for osce · self-booking tool manual 1 i....

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