The Fast-Track Implementation Playbook: Launch Routespring in Weeks, Not Quarters

Your company is stuck. You are living with a clunky, outdated travel management system that no one likes, or you are drowning in the chaos of a completely unmanaged program. You know there is a better way, but the thought of implementing a new software platform is paralyzing. You have heard the horror stories from other companies: the nine-month implementation projects, the endless configuration spreadsheets, the IT integration headaches, and the painful change management process. The fear of this migration "pain" is so great that it often leads to organizational inertia, causing companies to stick with a broken system for years longer than they should.

This fear is valid, but it is based on an outdated model. The long, grueling implementation process is a hallmark of legacy enterprise software, not modern, cloud-native platforms. A modern travel management platform like Routespring is designed from the ground up for speed, simplicity, and a seamless customer experience, and that philosophy starts with the implementation itself. You do not need to budget a year for this project. With the right plan and the right partner, you can migrate your entire travel program and go live in a matter of weeks.

This guide provides a transparent, step-by-step playbook for a fast-track implementation, showing you how a modern onboarding process works and what to expect along the way.

The Mindset Shift: Implementation as a Partnership

A fast-track implementation is not about cutting corners. It is about a more efficient and collaborative process.

The Old Way (The "Waterfall" Model): The legacy TMC would spend months on "discovery," asking you to fill out hundreds of pages of technical questionnaires. They would then disappear for several more months to build a customized version of their platform, only to reveal a system that often did not meet your actual needs.
The Modern Way (The "Agile" Model): The process is a collaborative partnership from day one. You are assigned a dedicated Implementation Specialist who acts as your guide. The process is iterative and transparent. You are configuring your live platform together, in real time, so you can see the results immediately.

The Fast-Track Playbook: A Four-Week Timeline

Here is what a typical implementation timeline looks like for a mid-sized company switching to Routespring.

Week 1: Discovery and Configuration

The goal of the first week is to get the core of your travel program built in the platform.

Step 1: The Kick-Off Call (90 Minutes) This is the most important meeting of the entire project. Your dedicated Implementation Specialist will meet with your core project team (usually the travel manager, a finance representative, and an HR representative). The goal is to understand your key pain points and your primary objectives. But this is not just a listening session. You will immediately dive into the product.

Step 2: Live Policy Configuration (During the Kick-Off Call) Your Implementation Specialist will share their screen and, with your guidance, will start building your travel policy directly in the Routespring admin dashboard.

You will set your advance booking rules.
You will configure your hotel price caps and spending limits.
You will define your approval workflows.
What Routespring Handles: Our intuitive, visual interface means there are no complex coding or configuration files. It is a matter of clicking buttons and setting parameters.
What You Provide: A copy of your existing travel policy (even if it's just a rough draft) and a clear understanding of your desired approval chains.

By the end of this first meeting, the basic structure of your travel program is already built and live in the system.

Step 3: User Data and Accounting Integration

User Sync: You will provide a simple employee data file (usually a CSV export from your HR system) with names, email addresses, departments, and managers. Our team handles the import, automatically creating user profiles and assigning them to the correct policies and approval workflows.
Accounting Integration: We will schedule a separate, short call with your finance team member to connect Routespring to your accounting system (QuickBooks, NetSuite, etc.). For cloud-based systems, this is a simple, one-click authorization process that takes less than 15 minutes.
What Routespring Handles: We manage the user import and provide a dedicated specialist to walk your finance team through the accounting integration setup.
What You Provide: An employee data export and 15 minutes of your finance lead's time.

By the end of Week 1, your platform is technically ready to go. Your policies are in place, your users are loaded, and your systems are connected.

Week 2: Training and Change Management

The second week is focused on preparing your people for the change.

Step 4: Administrator and Traveler Training

How it Works: Your Routespring Implementation Specialist will host a series of short, focused training sessions.
- Admin Training (60 mins): We train your travel managers and finance team on how to use the admin dashboard, run reports, and manage the program.
- Traveler Training (30-45 mins): We host one or two live sessions for your employees, walking them through the new booking process and highlighting the features that will make their lives easier. These sessions are recorded for future new hires.
What Routespring Handles: We provide the trainers, the training materials, and the best practices based on hundreds of successful rollouts.

Step 5: Your Internal Communications

How it Works: We provide you with a Change Management Toolkit, which includes:
- Email templates for announcing the new platform.
- A one-page "Quick Start Guide" for travelers.
- Short video tutorials.
What You Provide: You will tailor these communications with your company's branding and send them out to your team, building excitement and setting a clear "go-live" date.

Week 3 & 4 (Optional): Pilot Group and Final Tweaks

For larger or more complex organizations, a short pilot phase can be valuable.

Step 6: The Pilot

How it Works: You can choose to go live with a smaller "pilot group" of frequent travelers for a week or two. This allows you to test the system in a controlled environment and gather real-world feedback.
The Benefit: The pilot group's feedback can be used to make any final tweaks to the policy configuration before the company-wide launch. The pilot group also becomes a set of internal "champions" who can help their colleagues during the full rollout.

Step 7: Go-Live On the scheduled date, you turn the system on for all users. The Implementation Specialist will be on "hypercare" support, available via a shared Slack channel or dedicated email to instantly answer any questions that arise during the first few days.

Why Is This So Much Faster?

The speed of a modern implementation comes from a different philosophy and technology.

A Product, Not a Project: You are not building a custom piece of software. You are configuring a powerful, pre-existing product.
Designed for Simplicity: The admin tools are designed for business users, not IT consultants.
A Proven Playbook: Your Implementation Specialist has guided hundreds of companies through this exact process. They are not reinventing the wheel; they are executing a proven playbook.

The fear of a long and painful migration is one of the biggest reasons companies stay with broken, inefficient travel management systems. But it does not have to be that way. By choosing a modern, agile partner with a streamlined implementation process, you can transform your travel program and start seeing a return on your investment in a matter of weeks, not quarters or years.