How to... put together a service level agreement

Step 1
Review all processes and decide what is feasible so you can set a realistic goal. “We sat down together and did some brainstorming. We wanted to give a better service to all our business travellers and make the whole process slicker internally as a lot of things come into the travel department that really needn’t,” explains Chris Pullen, Travel/Fleet Purchasing Manager at Hyder Consulting.

Step 2
Make sure you’ve got the right agents doing the right job. Hyder took hotels away from Portman, its travel management company, and appointed a specialist, Hotelscene (and Harry Weeks Travelpackonline for all its rail bookings). “A specialist can often be quicker than a TMC, and have access to more inventory,” reckons Pullen.

Step 3

Set out a blueprint of how the new processes will work. At Hyder, they wanted to stop walk-ups to the travel department, so incorporated a requirement of email or fax communication only, detailing how quickly travellers would receive a response to their email. There was a strict rule that no verbal bookings were to be taken. “People forget, or think they haven’t got time, but they know that we can turn it round quickly,” says Pullen. The SLA clearly stated turnaround time on booking requests for flights, rail, hotels, car hire, mobile phones, even motor claims and the procurement of meetings. For example, for requests for long-haul travel taking place within one to three days of request, the turnaround time is stated as four hours from receipt of request. The blueprint incorporated duty of care and health and safety aspects of travel; for example, a 24- hour mobile phone service in the travel department so travellers can call in. “It’s a comfort zone for them,” says Pullen.

Step 4
Communicate the new processes. “I come under UK finance so did a series of presentations of how it was all going to work. Putting your head above the parapet felt really scary,” recalls Pullen. “Make sure you go to all stakeholder groups and communicate it,” she adds. “The key to it all is communication. State the reasons why and what you’re trying to achieve. You’ve got to be sure you can do it, otherwise you fail at the first hurdle.”

Step 5
Request reports to track progress. Hyder is now enjoying 10 per cent less leakage and bookings are increasing, particularly on rail “but I think that’s because we have an in-house ticket printer,” says Pullen.

Step 6
An SLA is a rolling project and should be reviewed regularly. At Hyder, a company planning to go carbon neutral, its next step is to enhance the SLA with more encouragement to use rail. The company already undertakes video conferencing techniques at all of its 14 offices for all internal meetings.