CASE STUDY
Cleaner data, better decision making.
Key Highlights
Groupon
Groupon is a global e-commerce marketplace connecting consumers to merchants through mobile and web platforms. Groupon has connected 34 million customers with 1 million merchants worldwide, saving consumers more than $35 billion in North America alone.
The challenge
To understand travel expenditure in each business area, FCM set up a custom reporting field to capture the name of each Senior Vice President (SVP). However, inaccurate information provided by travelers and bookers meant that travel data did not reflect actual travel spend.
The first challenge was the time and resource required to reload all the data. Second, because it is impossible to eliminate human error entirely, a solution was needed that would stop data degrading over time.
Cleaning up
A drop-down menu of SVP names was introduced, and quality control process adjusted to refer any incorrect names to the booking team for correction before being included in reporting.
To address historical data issues, a data translation table was created to translate incorrect or misspelled data into the correct SVP name, enabling quick and efficient resolution.
Resounding results
By using this translation table, the SVP list was reduced from 43 different variations to 14 correct names, enabling 15,000 bookings and $9M in total spend to be correctly allocated.
This translation process improved the accuracy of Groupon’s data without complicating the data entry required from travelers and travel bookers. Groupon can now manage travel budgets in each busines area, and to make better decisions around allocating budgets to achieve their business goals without overspending.
Having reliable travel data is a non-negotiable for Groupon. We rely on this information for budgetary and reconciliation purposes. This solution not only fixed the issue with past reporting, but the translation table will ensure that fewer human errors are made in the future.
- Nicole Vespa, Global Business Travel & PCARD Program Manager, Groupon
Groupon Customer Testimonial
Guidance. Creative thinking. Responsiveness. Just a handful of essentials when it comes to finding the right travel partner.
See for yourself how Groupon, an American global e-commerce marketplace, partners with FCM Travel to help resolve their skewed data roadblock.