Travel Manager updates for e-gov

Gelco Information Network has updated its widely used travel management system with e-government in mind.

Travel Manager 8.1, which was released Jan. 31, offers a streamlined approach for administrators that's more effective across multiple communities, according to the company, which also noted that the update offers improved functionality for routing, review and approval.

"The trend has moved from a standalone to an entire, enterprise system," said Cameron Anderson, vice president and chief technology officer for Gelco Expense Management Group. The old system "was not as robust in terms of its ability to run across public networks and the Internet."

Like its predecessors, the new version handles authorization, reservation, confirmation, ticketing, budget allocation and reimbursement through paperless transactions in compliance with regulations and rates.

"We are the de facto standard in the federal government," said Andrew Bridge, vice president of public-sector sales for Minneapolis-based Gelco.

More than 120 agencies and departments use Gelco. The company's Travel Manager product reaches more than 1.4 million government employees.

"Eventually all of [those] agencies will use the new version," said Bridge, noting that the Interior, Transportation and Education departments will begin deploying the system this month.

Gelco generally makes one to two releases a year. The previous version of Travel Manager came out in June 2001. The company's next step could be integration with online booking tools, Anderson said.