Gelco`s One-of-a-Kind Solution Makes Data Analysis Quick and Easy with Leading Edge Technology
Gelco Information Network, a leading travel expense management company in North America, has announced that its ExpenseLink Analysis Service -- a web-based solution that allows companies to query and analyze end-to-end travel data -- is now available to users of Gelco's ExpenseLink/TD (formerly Traveletter Direct) phone-based expense reporting system. Users who enter expenses via Gelco's ExpenseLink/PC and ExpenseLink/Web products can access this best-of-breed technology later this month.
ExpenseLink Analysis Service (EAS) is a self-service web-based application providing Gelco clients with an information portal to the enterprises' business travel expense data. Gelco's technology offering is a breakthrough beyond business intelligence software tools in that it combines the power of data warehousing with the ease of use and distribution of the web.
Unlike any other company, Gelco's complete data warehouse package allows users to quickly access and analyze expense data tailored to specific user needs, with virtually no administrative and maintenance demands. EAS automatically extracts data entered through Gelco's telephone (via an interactive voice response unit), PC and web expense reporting systems and loads it into the data warehouse on a daily basis. Users can view and categorize information from the data warehouse in a variety of ways, including by client, company division, department, cost center, sales representative and category. With a password and simple clicks of the mouse, EAS users can access secured expense data in less than one minute.
"Our ExpenseLink Analysis technology provides a highly cost-effective and secure way for our clients to directly access and analyze crucial business expense data, ideal for extranet deployment," said Chuck Buckner, senior vice president and general manager of Gelco's Expense Network. "The browser-based portal interface is simple to use, ensuring minimal training and support requirements, and can be completely customized to meet exact user specifications. Because our comprehensive outsourced solution offers convenient self-service, our clients can perform unlimited ad hoc data queries and reports without burdening IS resources or incurring additional expenses." According to Buckner, Gelco's clients will have access to 24 months of historical travel expense data.
Gelco's ExpenseLink Analysis Service incorporates the most cutting-edge technology from numerous proven high-tech companies, including Oracle Corporation, Informatica Corporation, Sun Microsystems and Viador Inc.
Gelco's EAS integrates Oracle Corporation's PL/SQL providing seamless SQL access, portability, security and internationalization for developing enterprise-wide distributed applications. Extract (ETL) is done with a combination of Informatica Power Center, C Programs and PL/SQL.
Informatica Corporation provides Gelco's EAS with engine-based extract, transformation and load processes, as well as a metadata-driven scalable approach to developing and managing enterprise business intelligence and analytical applications. Through Informatica's powerful data-warehouse delivery and deployment platforms, all expense data acquired through EAS undergoes optimal extraction, transformation, cleansing and storage to properly prepare the data for analysis.
Through its partnership with Viador Inc., the leading provider of Enterprise Information Portals, Gelco's EAS provides clients with an integrated and adaptable e-portal suite, enabling them to not only analyze information through slicing, dicing and drilling, but also distribute the data through its paperless capabilities. The warehouse is hosted on a Sun E10,000 Server running an Oracle 8.04 database.
Implementation of EAS is just as simple as it is to use. Existing Gelco customers can implement EAS in only five business days. For new Gelco customers, it takes approximately 44 days for ExpenseLink implementation and one day for EAS implementation.
About Gelco Expense Network
The Gelco Expense Network is a resource that makes managing travel expenses easier. More than 1,500 corporations rely on Gelco's multiple solutions -- including Internet, PC, telephone and paper -- to reduce the time and money associated with managing such expenses.
About Gelco Information Network
Through its Expense, Promotion, Government and International Networks, Minneapolis-based Gelco Information Network is the premier solution provider for managing corporate expenses of all types, and is recognized for making hard business expense processes easier. Across its four networks the company serves more than 2,000 U.S. and multinational companies, including hundreds of Fortune 1,000 companies and more than 110 government agencies. Gelco maintains a 97 percent customer retention rate. For more information on Gelco, visit the company's web site at http://www.gelconet.com.