Jira
monday.com
Team: Operations Manager, Travel Specialist, Accountant
Company: Railsware, IT Services and Consulting, 200+ contractors
Problem
Without an established process, any travel request required significant time and effort from the operational team. Multiple teams needed to manually coordinate various travel components – flights, accommodations, budgets, and visas – which led to inconsistencies and delays. There was no centralized place to document tasks, manage cross-team communication, and ensure all necessary steps, such as budget approvals, documentation checks, visa preparations, and booking confirmations, were completed on time.
It always felt like we were reinventing the wheel with every business travel request – too much time spent on tasks that could’ve been simpler. Every time, it required extra effort to align preferences, budgets, and policies.
Main Challenges
- Optimizing time spent to resolve business travel requests
- Difficulty in coordinating between different departments
- Aligning outcomes with both requestor’s preferences and company-wide policies
- Maintaining flexibility to address the requestor’s preferences, policies, and specific trip requirements.
- Streamlining the payment process and ensuring the company is using the best deals available on the market
Solution
Following the Codifying Processes methodology, the Railsware Operations team began by interviewing every team involved in the travel process. Through these interviews, they defined a list of ToDo items to cover all aspects of the travel process, including:
- Collecting the requestor’s travel preferences
- Validating documentation
- Researching flight and accommodation options
- Calculating budgets, daily allowances, and city taxes
- Booking flights, transportation, and lodging while adhering to policies and price ranges
- Sharing itineraries with the requestor beforehand
- Ensuring smooth arrival and post-travel feedback collection
To eliminate human error, most checklist items include detailed descriptions with relevant links, step-by-step guidelines, and recommendations based on team experience.
Another use case for checklist descriptions is to declutter the template. For instance, Railsware uses two leading platforms to book accommodations: Airbnb and Booking.com. While each platform has a separate flow, only one is used per travel case. The team added step-by-step instructions for both platforms within the description, ensuring the responsible person has everything they need without a need to move 7-10 checklist items to the “Skipped” status.
Once the checklist template was completed, the Operations team conducted a knowledge-sharing session to onboard responsible team members to the process. Now, Railsware’s business travel process consists of 8 main steps and follows this workflow:
- Forming a request: A travel request must be submitted through the Jira Service Desk, including all necessary details and preferences.
- Issue creation in Jira: A task is automatically created in Jira with a Smart Checklist template applied.
- Issue linking: The created task is linked to relevant support requests and epics, helping the team track all business travel requests efficiently.
- Additional support check: If needed, a separate task is created for visa support.
- Processing the request: Step-by-step completion of the predefined Smart Checklist ToDo items.
- Personal assistance: Sync or async communication with the requestor to confirm all aspects of the travel, including reminders for crucial deadlines like document submissions or check-ins.
- Feedback gathering: After the travel, requestors are required to submit feedback on accommodations, transportation, and the overall process.
- Process review: Following the Coding Methodology by TitanApps, the operations team reviews and optimizes the process every six months based on collected feedback.
Result
With Smart Checklist, everything is now in one place. Every step is laid out, every link is accessible, and there’s no guesswork. It’s like having a roadmap that guides us from the initial request to post-travel feedback.
By using Smart Checklist, Railsware achieved significant time optimization in their business travel management:
- In 2023, spent 526.04 hours for 121 cases = 4.35 hours spent per travel case
- In 2024, spent 582.88 hours on 180 cases = 3.24 hours spent per travel case
Additionally, the operational team highlighted:
- Increased consistency and fewer missed steps in the travel process
- Improved visibility and collaboration across teams managing travel tasks
- Greater satisfaction from requestors, as their preferences and requirements were handled efficiently
Key Features
- Documented Workflow: Smart Checklist templates provide clear ToDos to ensure no tasks are missed.
- Single Source of Truth: Checklist items include all necessary links, recommendations, and instructions.
- Task Progress Tracking: Clear visibility into task completion through Jira.
- Centralized Process Management: Linking related issues and tickets centralizes workflow organization, ensuring streamlined operations.
- Automated Workflows: Checklists are applied automatically based on rules and workflow setups.
- Time Optimization: By following an established process, Railsware enhanced operational efficiency and reduced the time spent on each travel case.
Bonus tip
We follow a formula: build something you need, test it, scale it, and share it with the community. Below, you can find a checklist template that Railsware uses to process all business travel requests. Feel free to copy and paste it into your Smart Checklist Markdown window and save it as a template to streamline the travel process.
# Ticket structure
– Link this process to the Support Help ticket as `caused by`
– Link this process to [Travel Epic](https://jira.atlassian.com/) as `included in` to have all travel processes in the one place
# Check the submitted travel preferences first
– Collect and review submitted travel preferences submitted through the [helpdesk](https://confluence.atlassian.com/servicedesk/)
> – Tickets land in Slack in #travel-help
> – It’s preferable to communicate and clarify all details in comments in the Help ticket so that someone else can continue the process if you can’t do this.
– Check if everything is okay with [docs](https://drive.google.com/drive) (e.g. passport is valid)
– Check if the request fits the budget [here](https://lookerstudio.google.com/)
> – Policy: Business Travel
> – Data range: This year
– If needed, provide Visa support
> Use **Visa Support** Smart Checklist Template to proceed
– Research options for accommodation and transportation based on submitted preferences and dates of the trip
– Set up a call or communicate asynchronously to confirm travel dates, accommodation, and transportation options before booking
# Daily Allowance
– By referring to the [policy](https://confluence.atlassian.com/) calculate how much daily allowance, taxi, and other expenses related to the business trip would cost
– Submit a [coverage ticket](https://jira.atlassian.com/)
# Prices research
– Algorithm of the research in details
>* Check on pure search sites
>* Re-check on aggregators
>* Check exact flights directly with the flight company
– Pure search sites
>* google.com/flght
>* kayak.com
>* http://skyscanner.com
– Aggregators
>* mytickets.ae
>* kiwi.com
>* orbitz.com
>* expedia.com
>* anywayanyday.com
– Search for the best ticket options that we already use
> * [LOT](https://www.lot.com/ua/en/)
> * [Wizzair](https://wizzair.com/#/)
> * [Ryanair](https://www.ryanair.com/us/en)
# Transportation booking
– Buy tickets
> Consider the [policy](https://confluence.atlassian.com/policy) and [these price ranges](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/) when selecting the best tickets option
> * Double-check time and date
> * Use requestor’s international passport information
> * All tickets should be sent to email@company.com
> * Fill in VAT details to receive an invoice for the company.
> * Pay via company account
– Send tickets and online check-in page, the reservation number, and email to email@company.com
> Save the ticket and change the name of the file:
> – YYYY-MM-DD – Name – flight itinerary
– Make pay tickets for tickets
> Add step-by-step instructions
# Accommodation booking
`Travel to the USA:`
– Book hotel/accommodation
> – If a person is attending a conference, check with the event organizer for any partner hotels offering special offers or discounts.
– After receiving the booking confirmation, follow up with a phone call to the hotel to ensure that the hotel has charged the card on file for the entire duration of the trip.
`Travel to any other location:`
– Go to **Airbnb**
> * Login with our credentials
> * Choose English and USD currency
> * Choose the city, dates, and quantity of people
> * Open filters and select:
>> Entire place
>> Apartment
>> Instant book
>> Self check-in (preferable)
>> Free cancellation (preferable)
> * Choose an apartment in our budget due to the policy and align it with the submitted preferences
– Book the apartment
> * ?heck dates and qantity of people
> * Choose “Work trip”
> * Choose “Book this place for someone else”
> * Insert email adress and press **Add**
> *if a requestor is not on the list, they must create an Airbnb account*
> * Press **Save**
> * Choose/indicate payment method and billing details if needed
> * Pay via company credit card; it’s indicated in the process description.
> * Check cancellation policy once again
> * Confirm and pay
– If Airbnb is not available, use Booking.com
– Instructions for **Booking.com**
> * Login with our credentials
> * Choose English and USD currency
> * Choose the hotel or apartment for the needed dates that fit the budget in the policy and align with the submitted preferences
> * Proceed to booking
> * Provide requestor’s details to the booking
> * In the special request text block, ask about the invoice. Also, choose “I would like an invoice for my company at check-out.”
> * Pay via company credit card; it’s indicated in the process description
– Make pay tickets for lodging booking
– Insert Pay tickets into the ticket’s description or in the comments
# City Tax
If the trip is organized to a European country, the hotel may charge a [City tax](https://visitukraine.today/blog/2616/which-countries-have-introduced-tourist-taxes-and-fees). It is paid in the hotel.
– Need to raise a Refund ticket
# Provide requestor with all the needed info before arrival
– Share the travel itinerary with the requestor via email or Slack
– Send a link for a check-in, remind to check in in advance online
> Every Airline has a different link for a check-in; find it on the website of an airline
– Provide lodging booking details and notify that the apartment is booked; they will communicate with the host on their own
– Share your personal number, and Telegram/WhatsApp for the requestor to contact you in any case
# Upon Arrival
– Check of a person checked in to the hotel/apartment
– Check if no extra charges were applied
– Remind the check-out time and provide check-out guidelines
## For offics visitors
– Show the office to them
> For office visitors – share the [guide](https://drive.google.com/drive)
– Provide them with the wi-fi access and make sure that it works properly
– Show the desk they can use
– Provide with any [tech equipment if needed](https://confluence.atlassian.com/servicedesk/)
– On the 1st day, take the requestor for lunch and/or dinner and or organize a group of team members to go for lunch or dinner together
– Suggest places to visit and see while in the city
>* see [this guide] (https://drive.google.com/drive) to get local tips on what places to visit, where to eat, and other important stuff
# Before Departure
– Remind about the departure date and time
– Collect an access card
– Advise to arrive at the airport at least 2 hours before the departure
# Feedback
– Ask to provide inputs and feedback at this [link](https://docs.google.com/forms)
