Frequently Asked Questions
History
How long has Atlas been in use?
Acquiring Atlas
Will Atlas fit in our organization?
Implementation
What does implementation involve?
Our organization has procedures that are unique to our organization. Can Atlas handle those?
Technical
What if travelers are in a remote/field office?
Can Atlas be integrated with my existing systems?
We use an ERP---how does Atlas interact with our ERP?
Why not just let an ERP system handle travel?
Our IT group knows the way we work. Why shouldn't we just develop something in-house?
Support
Your company is located in the US. Our headquarters is not. How do you support us?
You are a small company. (Will you go out of business?)
- How long has Atlas been in use?
- Who else is using Atlas?
- Will Atlas fit in our organization?
- How much does Atlas cost?
- How can I learn more?
- What does implementation involve?
- Our organization has procedures that are unique to our organization--can Atlas handle those?
- What if people are in a remote/field office?
- Can Atlas be integrated with my existing systems?
- We use an ERP; how does Atlas interact with our ERP?
- Why not just let an ERP system handle travel?
- Why can't we just develop something in-house?
- Your company is located in the US. Our headquarters is not. How do you support us?
- You are a small company. (Will you go out of business?)
Atlas is actually quite ancient by software standards but has been through two major updates to keep up to date with ever evolving technology and user expectations. The system was first used in January of 1997. Since that time, approximately half a million trips have been handled through the system, generating almost a million payments.
While contractual arrangements prevent us from publicly disclosing our users, we will be glad to put you in touch with organizations using the system.
It depends. Atlas is focused on organizations that require pre-travel authorization processes in addition to post-travel claim tools. Further, we have a strong focus on pre-travel costing (through allowance rates) as well as security and control. Atlas is highly configurable, but any configuration builds on these key features.
Contact us for more details on costs. We have been able to tailor payment plans to the needs of our client organizations.
We have provided the information on this site as a starting point. Beyond that, there are two avenues we encourage. First, feel free to contact us for additional information and we can schedule a presentation and demonstration within your organization. Second, please visit existing users. They can provide you with the inside story of using Atlas better than we can.
After licensing, implementation steps involve a short, technical installation of system components. Then, building on this core, we spend time in three key areas. First, we learn more about the organizational attributes to help the system fit. Second, we work with your staff on any interfaces with existing systems that may be necessary. Third, we train your staff on any daily operational issues. After these steps are complete, we assist with the transition to production usage.
Atlas provided a core for travel processing. Special rules and procedures can be added through a configuration script.
Individual users can be located anywhere in the world with real time access to centrally located (and administered) information. We have 10+ years of experience with handling potential issues due to various time zones and regional settings.
Yes. All implementations thus far have involved significant interactions with other systems. Your organization may have existing systems for handling meetings, training courses, entitlements, etc. We view Atlas a service provider to these other systems. We provide access to a rich, underlying object model that allows other systems to share information seamlessly with Atlas.
Rather than duplicate ERP functionality, Atlas has several opportunities for connecting to ERP systems with real-time access.
If an ERP can handle your travel needs, then it should. However, our users have found that most ERP systems don't handle complexities such as pre-travel costing through allowance rates, multi-traveler documents, and entitlement travel. While ERP systems can be customized to needs like these, the trouble and costs of customization are typically too great when a sub-system like Atlas can be used.
You certainly can develop a travel system in-house, and for some organizations that's the best answer. However, for those organizations with complex travel procedures, we think that our history has given us a fairly large head-start. Instead of stretching their IT resources thin by developing and supporting an in-house system, organizations can get better value through Atlas. Further, our base of users allows for on-going support and development to be shared by organizations with common needs. And finally, we have made (and corrected!) many mistakes over the past decade-- why experience those yourself ?!?
Sometimes we get up really early or stay up really late. Because of these issues, we focus strongly on problem prevention rather than crisis resolution. But the best way to get a feeling for this is to ask our existing customers.
Yes, we are a small company. Rather than a body shop approach to development and system support, we have a small number of highly experienced personnel. Unlike the tiresome levels of hierarchy, you are one call or email away from people directly involved with travel for many years. We certainly don't plan to go out of business. While this is a concern for any system, it is more relevant for a small company. To mitigate this, we offer escrow and the community of long term users to offset this risk. We have our eggs in one basket--and we intend to watch that basket carefully.
