The Challenge

American Express TRS, BIO GCE (By Invitation Only, Gold Card Events) is an operation involved in ticket sales. Due to their sales volume and the special needs of the card member they needed to upgrade their present system. They required the upgrade to become Y2K compliant but also to enhance their service and save money from licensing fees and better handling of each cardmember.

American Express needed a system to sell tickets to special events where Gold & Platinum card members are invited. They contacted Vitaver Staffing because of their reputation as solid performers and their history of delivering on time and on budget complex applications.

The Problem

The existing legacy system was not Y2K compliant and already failing for tickets sold past 1999.

• Licensing fees of the existing system were significantly affecting profits and with poor service from the system contributed to even higher overhead due to poor system performance;
• Staffing training, system delays, poor system flow all contributed to poor user productivity and high frustration levels from the staff not to mention higher costs from its poor performance;
• Customers complained that orders were not handled efficiently;
• Orders for tickets going into the year 2000 needed to be taken manually;
• Hardware supporting system was also aged and failing frequently leading to significant downtime;
• Support from the hardware manufacturers and software publishers were non-existent.

The Solution

After a thorough assessment of the situation, Vitaver Staffing understood that the Client required more than Y2K compliance. Vitaver Staffing offered a complete plan that afforded cost-effective solutions to the Client and addressed all the problems they had not foreseen before. The problems listed above became the flow chart for the solution.

• The Client is no longer paying high licensing fees for users, the system is maintained in-house and is user friendly;
• Client eliminated the taxing licensing fees and saved $100,000 a year just in licensing fees and had a better product to boot;
• Employees training was reduced to only a few hours from several days;
• Employee productivity increased by 50% as they were able to complete an order in approximately 3 minutes as opposed to a little more than 6 minutes before;
• Client satisfaction increased as searches and order tracking were significantly faster and more efficient;
• Orders for the year 2000 were able to be taken and tracked by the system;
• Hardware updates assure that their entire system was Y2K compliant and optimized for future growth as well;
• Employee satisfaction received a boost with the use of a friendlier, more intuitive system.

The Vitaver Difference

Vitaver was able to:

• Save Client well over $100,000 per year;
• Reduce per ticket cost to only 50 cents per ticket;
• Bring Client’s system into 100% Y2K compliance;
• Improve employee productivity and morale;
• The solution was delivered on time and under budget.

The Challenge

A trip approval is required after the customer's trip itinerary is entered into the Sabre system or after a change is made to an existing itinerary.

Vitaver was retained to create an automated system to approve trip itineraries.

The Problem

• There was no automated application that would store, retrieve, and update trip information in a database and approve trip itineraries;
• There was no comprehensive reporting tool for viewing the information stored in the database and taking action on unmatched items.

The Solution

Vitaver created an application that uses an SQL 7.0 database to house the data, and automated tasks to do the following:

• Retrieve any new trip request email;
• Extract, parse, and store the email data;
• Match the email data stored in the SQL database with the trip data that was entered in Sabre;
• Update the SQL database after searching Sabre.

Vitaver also created a web-based reporting tool to do the following:

• Display the information stored in the SQL database;
• Take action on any unmatched items.

The Vitaver Difference

Vitaver delivered the application on time and satisfied client expectations while providing a solution that accomplishes the following:

• Quickly approves trip itineraries without user intervention; thus, saving time and money and increasing efficiency;
• Displays information on all trip itineraries in the database with an easy-to-use web-based interface; thus, eliminating potential misuse.

The Challenge

Currently, all travel requests and expense vouchers are created on and move through the approval system on paper.

The Problem

• There is no automated way to access the proper forms (for travel or expense) to be filled out and move these forms
  “digitally” through the approval (or reporting) channel quickly and efficiently;
• There is no central database that will show management an audit trail of who-went-where-when, how much it costs and who approved it.

The Solution

Vitaver creates an Automated Travel & Entertainment Voucher System.

This application will allow employees to access a simple desktop application that will let them click on a few icons, enter the information pertinent to their travel plans and save and send this information digitally through the approval
system.

It will also allow employees to enter “travel expense” information into their laptops throughout their journey so that when they return they simply click on an icon and this information is sent electronically to the proper persons for payment.

How it works:

• A number of digital “forms” will be created in Lotus Notes. When these forms are filled out and saved, an email will be
  sent with the form attached to the next person in the approval cycle;
• The person who approves the “travel” or “expense” form will not be able to edit that document, only approve it;
• In the event approval person needs to deny approval, the document will be automatically sent back to the person seeking
  approval for additional information;
• When the approval person accepts the document as being correct, he/she will click an icon, which will move the document
  to the next step, either approval from another supervisor or on to ticketing or accounting for payment;
• Each document will be placed in a database that will contain a number of “views” that can be printed or exported for
  further computation;
• These views can be customized to show information depending on each department’s needs.

Views might include:

• Travel by Department, Name of traveller, Band level, Destination, Date leaving, Date returning, Reason for travel.

Costs:

• Air, Hotel, Meals, Rental Cars.

The Vitaver Difference

Vitaver ensured that any type of reporting can be designed implemented and changed as the reporting requirements change.

• All information can be printed or exported into Excel for further processing of the data;
• All data can be exported to most any type of archival database including SQL server to meet most company compliance
  requirements.

The Challenge

A Learning Track (LT) is a series of educational events conducted over an eighteen-month period, aimed to improve the performance of incumbents in specific types of positions.

The Problem

• There is not an automated management tool to follow the accomplishments of individuals as they progress through their LT
  course of study. To gather management information, supervisors have to contact each person in their area and question
  them directly about their LT progress;
• There is no means of archiving each person’s LT records so that this information can follow the individual from
  assignment to assignment in his/her professional career;
• Quarterly, semi-annual and annual reports have not proven to be an effective management tool for the LT program;
• There is not an automated feedback information system that can be used by students to constructively critique the
  courses they have taken along their LT;
• There is not a means of reporting LT progress by Business Unit, Department, Band Level or Manager Group;
• There is no specific tool to notify individuals and their supervisors of their ‘current’ LT status and the availability
  of upcoming classes that will benefit their future progress.

The Solution

Vitaver Staffing generates a Learning Track Progress Report / Constructive LT Course Critique System.

The LT Progress Report System is a Lotus Notes® Database that can be integrated with the On-line Interactive Calendar and Registration System.

• Enable students to enter information into the database through their Lotus Notes® desktop program;
• Recognize individuals by their Lotus Notes® User ID and allow them to ‘add’ information into their own personal ‘record’
  within the database;
• Allow ‘Only the Individual’ to ‘add or edit’ information to their ‘record’;
• Allow only the ‘Individual’ and the ‘reporting managers’ to ‘read’ the individuals record;
• Include fields for the title, course number, date completed, location and the facilitator of the course in the LT;
• Allow the student to enter constructive feedback into their LT record as to their opinion of the effectiveness of the
  course material, the way the course was conducted and how the course could be improved;
• Allow managers to see ‘minute by minute’ reports based on Individual, Business Unit and each of their groups’ progress;
• Generate ‘real-time’ reports, with the ‘reporting managers’ receiving an automatic e-mail when a student adds to or
  updates their ‘record’;
• Automate contacting students who maintain a ‘record’ in the database that need certain classes to stay ‘on course’ with
  their LT. For example, a manager generates a report that shows a certain number of students need a specific course that
  is being offered and will not be offered again for some time. With a click of a mouse, class information can be sent to
  that group with a link to the ‘Class Registration Calendar’. A record of this correspondence will be maintained for
  reporting purposes;
• Allow managers to enter the database and see the progress of the group that they manage. Managers can e-mail this
  report, print it out on paper or export it into Lotus 1-2-3® or Microsoft Excel®;
• Allow additional fields and custom reports to be easily added as needed.

The Vitaver Difference

Vitaver recognized the effectiveness of Lotus Notes® software and its ability to:

• Send and receive information from any database platform including SQL;
• Communicate with any type of network platform, including Novell Netware® and Windows NT®;
• Move easily throughout any hardware topology including, Main Frame environments such as the IBM AS400. (Lotus® is a
  division of IBM®).

The Challenge

American Express must resolve disputes between foreign cardmembers and domestic service establishments. Their established procedure was a time consuming manual process that took 15 minutes per case. Vitaver was retained to create a web-based system to automate the manual functions.

The Problem

• There was no automated application that would significantly reduce the time required to resolve any disputes between
  foreign cardmembers and domestic service establishments;
• There was no comprehensive mechanism to download the information, unzip and convert the documents, create and work the
  cases, and compile the results for upload.

The Solution

Vitaver created an application that uses a standard format to send information back and forth, an SQL 7.0 database to house the information, and automated tasks to do the following:

• Download case information;
• DUnzip and convert documents;
• DCreate and work the cases;
• DCompile the results payment.

The Vitaver Difference

Vitaver provided a solution that accomplishes the following:

• Reduces the time to create a case from 15 minutes to 7 seconds;
• Completes case resolution in less time;
• Provides cost savings per year of $11 million;
• Enables measurement of analyst speed and efficiency.

The Challenge

American Express must often implement balance recovery strategies (campaigns). They were unable to properly test campaign effectiveness because the scripts used were inflexible and difficult to modify. Vitaver was retained to create a flexible web-based system for creating and managing campaigns and reporting results.

The Problem

• There was no user-friendly application for surveying the effectiveness of campaigns;
• There was no comprehensive mechanism for designing, implementing, and managing campaigns by the campaign manager;
• There was no online help system for analysts;
• There was no extensive reporting function.

The Solution

ICE-T was developed as an easy-to-use intranet, web-based application, which uses an SQL 7.0 database to house all data tables. Campaign managers can create, manage, and access campaigns. The reporting function allows for standardized or customized reports that are available to campaign managers; thus, providing them with valuable feedback. Analysts can also obtain online, campaign-specific help while answering survey questions to determine the card member's opinion of the campaign.

ICE-T comprises the following functionality in a web-based format:

• Campaign management;
• View a list of campaigns;
• Create a new campaign;
• Record general comments about a campaign;
• Create exclusion rules based on business objectives;
• View a report;
• Define test groups according to the program definition;
• Card member disposition;
• Create transition statements for the Analyst;
• Create survey questions for the card member.

The Vitaver Difference

Vitaver provided an adaptable infrastructure for credit strategy development and testing. ICE-T provides the necessary flexibility to use customer and analyst feedback to refine and implement strategies, and avoid substantial development costs. As a result of the surveys and reports generated by the system, the company can gauge the effectiveness and suitability of various campaigns.