The verdict in three sentences
With 9,000 business trips a year and a 4-level approval chain, a 1,800-staff public agency in Amsterdam cannot track travel costs in emails and spreadsheets without errors, delays and awkward questions under the Open Government Act (Woo). A travel order and expense application applies allowance rules automatically, stores scanned receipts and produces a clean export to the finance system. At Kolonell, this kind of custom application costs 2,500,000 to 15,000,000+ FCFA (3,810 to 22,870+ EUR) depending on complexity, delivered in 14 weeks.
The current process and what it costs
The agency's secretary general sees the same issues every quarter: trips approved after departure, allowances miscalculated, receipts missing, travel impossible to match to each directorate's budget. When a journalist or auditor asks for travel spending, it takes days to rebuild the file.
| Step | Email and PDF process (2026 estimate) | With the application |
|---|---|---|
| Trip request | Form by email, 1 to 2 days to circulate | Online entry, 10 minutes |
| Approval: team lead, director, budget control, secretary general | 5 to 12 days | 1 to 3 days, notifications and delegation during absence |
| Allowance calculation | Manual, 5 to 8% errors | Automatic by rule, staff grade and destination |
| Budget availability | Checked afterwards | Checked before approval, line by line |
| Receipts after return | Often incomplete | Scanned and attached to the trip |
| Settlement and finance export | Full re-entry | Structured export to the finance system |
| Answering an audit or Woo request | 1 to 3 days | Under a minute |
On 9,000 trips, a 5% error rate on an average trip cost of 450 EUR represents around 200,000 EUR of discrepancies a year to correct or recover.
Essential features
| Module | Content | Users |
|---|---|---|
| Trip request and travel order | Purpose, destination, dates, transport, budget code | Staff, assistants |
| Approval chain | 4 configurable levels, delegation, reasoned rejection | Team leads, directors, controller, secretary general |
| Allowance rules | Rates by grade, domestic or foreign destination, nights | Finance department |
| Advances and settlement | Advance, final claim, balance due either way | Accounts |
| Receipts | Mobile scan of tickets, invoices, attendance proofs | Staff |
| Dashboards | Trips per directorate, budget use, approval times | Management, controllers |
| Exports and archive | Files for the finance system, legal retention, publication extracts | Finance, audit, communications |
Allowance rules must stay editable by the agency itself, without a developer, since collective agreements and travel policies change.
Budget and complexity levels at Kolonell
For context, licensed travel and expense suites in the Netherlands cost about 8 to 15 EUR per user per month (2026 order of magnitude), so roughly 170,000 to 320,000 EUR a year for 1,800 users, without full control of the workflow.
| Level | Kolonell budget | Typical scope |
|---|---|---|
| Simple | 2,500,000 to 4,000,000 FCFA (3,810 to 6,100 EUR) | Online request, 4-level chain, allowance calculation, PDF travel order |
| Medium | 4,000,000 to 7,000,000 FCFA (6,100 to 10,670 EUR) | Budget control, advances and settlement, scanned receipts, dashboards |
| Complex | 7,000,000 to 15,000,000+ FCFA (10,670 to 22,870+ EUR) | Finance system integration, staff directory sync, single sign-on, multi-site |
| Maintenance | 35,000 / 75,000 / 120,000 FCFA per month (53 / 114 / 183 EUR) | Fixes, rule updates, backups |
| User training, sovereign hosting | On quote | Depends on sites and agency requirements |
For 1,800 staff and 9,000 trips, the medium version is the realistic starting point. Integration with the finance system and single sign-on usually move the project to the complex level, assessed during scoping.
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Sander, secretary general of the agency, wants shorter delays and fewer errors. Each trip currently takes about 2 hours of combined admin work (entry, circulation, calculation, filing), so 18,000 hours a year for 9,000 trips. The application cuts this to about 40 minutes, so 6,000 hours. The gain is 12,000 hours, more than 7 full-time employees.
On allowances, bringing the error rate from 5% to 1% on 4.05 million EUR of annual travel costs (9,000 trips at 450 EUR) avoids about 162,000 EUR of discrepancies. Even a complex-level project pays for itself in the first year.
FAQ
Does it work across regional offices?
Yes, it is a browser-based web application. It can be connected to the agency's identity provider so staff sign in with their existing account.
Can we change allowance rates without a supplier?
Yes, an admin screen updates rates by grade and destination. Each change is dated, and already approved trips keep the old rate.
Where is data hosted?
Hosting is agreed with the agency: internal servers, a Dutch or EU cloud region, under GDPR and the government information security baseline (BIO). The option is priced on quote.
How long is the rollout?
Plan 14 weeks of development, then a 2 to 4 week pilot with one directorate before extending to all 1,800 staff.
How do we handle open government requests?
The dashboard exports travel spending by directorate and period in minutes, with personal data filtered according to the rules applied by your legal team.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your approval chain, allowance rules and trip volume, and we will scope the modules and a 14-week plan with a pilot. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
