5.8 Release Notes

Released 24 October 2021

Release Highlights

Widgets (Travel Check)

This release sees Travel Check, an enhanced version of the Visa Check widget published in the 5.4 Release made available. It is designed to allow additional search parameters that when used, will provide more accurate travel requirements as well as include in-depth information for:

Discover more about the Travel Check widget, including the user dependant functionality and anatomy of the Travel Requirements (details) - here.

System Integration

Concur SAP - Profile Integration

The authentication by Kudos with Concur Solutions has been enhanced with the existing schedule to be unsupported beyond December 2021. Concur has updated from a user-based oAuth to a company-based which therefore made it necessary for Kudos to update that element of the connection protocols.

Changes to the Kudos/Concur authentication flow:

• Generate an authentication key on the first request based on the Client_ID and Client_Secret credentials which are now agency (i.e. TMC) specific.

• Support for initial token generation using 24hr Request Token issued by SAP Concur.

• The Request Token allows Kudos to automatically generate a Refresh Token and associated Access Token which is used for all subsequent requests to Concur.

The Client_ID and Client_Secret will have the ID of the top-level agency vendor site - the site which holds the permissions to create agency configurations coded. It will only be able to access companies that belong to the vendor site’s agencies.  This information should be stored in the travelAgencySync table along with the GeoLocationId

Following is an example of a company’s Concur (inbound) sync setup.

An example of the Profile UI - History, indicating Concur API as the source of creation and modification. Additionally, as the Concur Profile is the Master, a read-only indicator is presented in our platform to inform that updates from our UI are not possible.

Platform Administration

Data Dashboard

BETA

The first phase of the travel platform’s Data dashboards and reporting analytics has been made available to agency admin users. These are designed to provide insights into the agency’s Trips count as well as other metrics.

Agency Heartbeat & Overview
Total Trips by Company	Total Unused Credits by Company

As development evolves, additional data and reporting functionality will be added for not only admin users but travel platform users (e.g. traveller, travel manager) as well. The following, Traveller Stats, is a concept design for possible inclusion in the near future.

A Beta version is an early version of a platform product or feature that may be incomplete when compared to the final (production) version that is yet to be released. In consideration of this, results may require to be verified via other means to confirm their accuracy. Kudos agency partners are welcomed to share feedback via Kudos Support with specifics of the request(s) submitted versus the result(s) expected.

Trips Suppression

The 5.6 Release saw the introduction of the ability to suppress Trips (e.g. PNR) from the agency’s platform Trips and Care UIs. This release sees functionality to allow an agency the ability to self-administer Trip Suppression, now added to the admin UI.

The Travel Agency profile now includes a Trip Suppression section, as shown in the following example.

Suppress Trip (Hide)

Add the PNR and select Suppress PNR, as seen in the following example.

• A PNR added to the agency’s Trip Suppression table will not be viewable within the platform.

Unsuppress Trip (Show)

Locate the PNR in the Trip Suppress table and Remove Trip Suppress (🗑) icon.

• A PNR removed from the agency’s Trip Suppression table will be viewable once again within the platform.

Admin Help Centre Integration

To allow an agency’s admin users access to help articles specific to platform implementation, a dedicated admin help centre (knowledge base) now exists. It can only be accessed directly from the Help site option embedded in the Kudos Administration's header section.

Platform Implementation articles are now accessible via the dedicated Admin Help Centre only. The new site requires authentication which forms part of the Kudos Admin Help option when selected.

User Interface (UI)

Lookup Fields

The existing function has been enhanced to now use autocomplete for numerous sections throughout the admin to provide a better UX. Autocomplete will present a list of suggestions while the user types the word in the textbox, as shown in the following examples.

• Profile Configuration - Default Traveller Airport

• Travel Office & Company Address - Country

• Hotel Travel Policy - Hotel

Product Features

The existing multi-select UI control has been replaced with a new Company Setup Options - Product Modules, to provide a more intuitive UX and better functionality.

• Similar to other admin designs, only product modules (features) listed in the right-hand column are enabled for the company’s platform.

Using the Select All option allows all available product features to be enabled.
Using the Deselect All option allows all enabled product features to be disabled.
Using the drag and drop function, an individual product feature can either be disabled or enabled.

A company’s existing Product Modules - Product Features setups will be automatically transitioned to the new Product Modules option. While the legacy setup will remain, for the time being, its library of product features will not be maintained. It will furthermore be set to be removed as part of a future release, with or without notice.

Import/Export

For simplicity and ease of use, Import and Export options (e.g. Traveller export) are now divided into two (2) separate menus

Import	Export