Lufthansa City Center and PASS present new business travel system

VICTOR offers customer-oriented service and professional workflow

Aschaffenburg/Frankfurt, May 20th, 2011 – At the PASS Travel Talk Event in Frankfurt, Germany, on May 3rd, 2011, together with its partner Corporate Travel Partners GmbH, a subsidiary company of the Lufthansa City Center Giller Reisen GmbH in Munich (Germany), PASS introduced VICTOR (Virtual Corporate Travel Organizer), the new business travel system that was developed on the basis of the PASS Travel Framework. VICTOR is a modern system for business travel booking and the overall management of all related processes. However the corporate client wants to book his trip – online, offline via an order system, or conventionally via email or phone –, he will always find his booking in VICTOR. As opposed to many traditional online booking tools, VICTOR takes into account the travel agents’ requirements for customer-oriented service and a professional workflow. “Customers want fast and individual adaptations without mismatches between media formats. VICTOR offers exactly these advantages,“ says Andreas Giller, CEO, Corporate Travel Partners GmbH.

VICTOR was created based on the question how current business travel stakeholders can be better served. Both, Lufthansa City Center’s long-term experience and interviews with customers and other users, have contributed to today’s business travel solution.

“This is not an off-the-shelf product” highlights Michael Strauss, CEO of PASS Consulting Corporation and Head of Business Unit Travel worldwide “it is a Built-To-Order (BTO) Corporate Booking Engine using our proprietary VTO framework that was originally built for our Agent Desktop. We do not want to compete with Standard Corporate Booking Engines, but if they cannot deliver the individual needs of a customer we have the option to ‘generate’ a version that does. This is the power of next generation software development! In addition the Corporate Booking Tool, the Agent Desktop and any other frontend such as a mobile device all are based on the same core. This means a change in e.g. the corporate policy, can automatically be reflected in all frontends.”

VICTOR offers the following options:

Electronic purchase tool As a shopping tool, business travel can either be directly booked online or be sent to the travel agency’s service team in charge as an offer enquiry / order via an electronic order system.

Workflow system VICTOR facilitates the consistent illustration, controlling and simplification of all workflows, such as permit procedure, travel expense report procedure, or travel guidelines.

Central administration system It administers all data that are necessary for the processes of business travel, such as profile data, funding agency agreements, or in-house/statutory provisions.

Information system All relevant information is at all times available to the users in current and summarized form, such as travel management, travel or reporting information, etc.

Travel expense report system Due to the integration of the modern and professional travel expense report system VIATOS, travel expense reports can, among other things, be created automatically and be compared with statutory provisions. The travel expense data are automatically forwarded to bookkeeping or the HR department.

Development on SOA and component basis The travel industry is subject to a consistent and partially very fast change process. Whenever changes such as new booking options of additional services appear, a good business travel management system needs to be able to react within a short period of time. Here, the key size is “time to market”. When these changes are made available to the customer (and therefore also to the user) in a quick and uncomplicated way, only then the company can get a benefit from it. One requirement is the use of pre-assembled components, the implementation of a rules engine, a configuration manager as well as a stable SOA architecture. It is essential that the entire logic is controlled from a central point. Thus it is guaranteed that all variants of such a system dispose of the same application logic, no matter if they are made for the Internet, for smart phones or an agency interface. A change at this point will then immediately be available to all connected interfaces. This is facilitated by the comprehensive PASS Travel Framework structure. Thus, individual software can be developed at the price of standard software.

About Corporate Travel Partners GmbH: Giller Reisen was founded in 1987 and has since been run by both owners, Peter and Andreas Giller. In the almost 25-year-old company history, the Gillers have been constantly expanding their business. Today, with over 75 employees in eight offices in and around Munich (Germany),, including a Japan department as well as two offices in Salzburg, Austria, the Giller Reisen Group operates a travel volume of about EUR 70 million, making it one of the biggest private travel agencies in Germany. Corporate Travel Partners GmbH is a subsidiary of Giller Reisen in Munich. The focus of the consulting company for modern travel management is the process optimization for travel agencies and corporate clients as well as the development of software solutions to illustrate these processes.

About PASS Consulting Corporation: Miami Beach based PASS Consulting Corporation provides users with easy access to the diverse content and data of the travel industry. The PASS Solution World Travel offers a huge array of building blocks and components which, in accordance with the individual requirements of our clients, can easily be customized into one travel technology application. All our services, regardless whether they are part of the content aggregation, booking or post-booking process, can therefore be deployed independently. This in return offers our clients great flexibility in the fast changing market place of today. PASS Consulting’s customer base includes the world’s most successful TMC’s, businesses, GDSs and technology providers. Among these: BCD Travel, Omega World Travel, The Travel Authority, Airtrade, Morris Murdock Travel, Lufthansa City Center, E-Travel & Amadeus One, Hewlett-Packard, nuTravel, Travelport, Emirates, Farelogix, International SOS, MEDEX, Starcite, SureWare, TravTech, Lufthansa, vayama.com, Hotelexpress.com, Sandals & Beaches, Vail Resorts, swifttrip.com and Costa Cruise Lines. PASS has also helped Cheaptickets.com, ARC and Navigant (a Carlson Wagonlit Travel company) to become a leading provider of travel related services.

About PASS Consulting Group Founded in 1981, PASS Consulting Group employs 675 people and has built up a highly respected high-growth IT consulting business based on strong project management and integration skills. This implies a competitive advantage in terms of productivity. We strive to improve our customers' competitive strength and productivity by implementing effective business solutions based on the most appropriate new technologies. Our main vertical markets are in Financial Services, Insurance, Tourism & Travel, Logistics, Telecommunications and IT. Our professional working methodology is focused on IT Strategy Consulting as well as the complete set of Integrated Consulting Services: We encompass the entire implementation process and project lifecycle - ranging from studies & analysis over the development of complete business models to the implementation of individual IT applications and their introduction to the market.

Contact: Michael Strauss CEO PASS Consulting Corporation & Head of Business Unit Travel Worldwide PASS Consulting Corporation 420 Lincoln Road, Suite 219 Miami Beach, FL 33139-3019 Phone: +1 305-2696975 Fax: +1 305-2646575 E-mail: michael.strauss@pass-consulting.com Internet: www.pass-consulting.com/pass-travel