The Hudson Group - The HWeb Suite

The HWeb Suite - Our Applications

The suite of Hudson applications is comprised of several inter-related components, all working synergistically to create a total, end-to-end solution for our clients. The suite encompasses all aspects of order entry, ticketing, vehicle and driver management, bi-directional communications, mapping, vehicle and flight tracking, dispatching, workflow management, invoicing, receivables management and back end reporting. And there is even more, but we don’t wish to overwhelm you just yet! Below is a brief overview of the HWeb system and a quick overview of the functionality performed by each component. Follow some of the embedded links to learn more about the varied and comprehensive applications available to you!.

Applications – The core applications that comprise the powerful HWeb Suite

• HWeb Reservations Manager
• HWeb Agent
• HWeb Dispatcher
• HWeb Administrator
• HWeb Bridge
• HWeb Quick
• HWeb Utilities

Modules & Plug-in’s – Items that can be added onto the above applications to extend the functionality, efficiency and extent of the HWeb Suite.

• HWeb Credit Card Processing
• HWeb Flight
• HWeb InfoView
• HWeb VIA
• HWeb Web Services
• HWeb Web AIMS
• HWeb Web Systems Monitor

Support Apps – Additional resources available to all users of the HWeb Suite.

• HWeb KnowledgeBase
• HWeb Release Tracker
• HWeb Bugzilla
• HWeb TicketTracker

HWeb Reservation Manager
The Hudson Groups flagship application, the HWeb Reservation Manager is an Internet-based reservations booking interface for your clients. This component is hosted on a Hudson server. Your clients can place unassisted reservations with your company 24/7 from anywhere in the world. Credit cards can be pre-charged or pre-authorized. Private, customized “portals” can be provided for your corporate accounts. All reservations can be viewed via and online tool and can be automatically and instantly downloaded into your Hudson “local system” database for edits, dispatching and reporting. For an online demonstration of the HWeb Reservation Manager, please follow this link or look for HWeb Demo in the navigation pane. For a brochure with an overview of the HWeb Reservations Manager, follow this link.

HWeb Agent
The first component of your local system is HWeb Agent. This is the tool used by your office staff to complete new order entry as well as revise and cancel previously booked reservations. Profiles are stored and managed here as well and greatly speed the order entry process. Profiles allow you to track your clients’ preferences, discounts, payment types, contact information and much more. Credit Card authorizations and payments may also be achieved in real-time, while the booking party is still on the phone with you.

HWeb Dispatcher
What can best be described as a workflow management tool, HWeb Dispatcher allows you to assign your internal assets (drivers, vehicles, communication devices, etc.) to each of your reservations. Reservations can be combined here to create Trips; a grouping of reservations traveling from the same region, at the same time, to a common final destination. Hudson’s original business model was developed around the concept of shared-ride operation; an approach to ground transportation that maximizes revenue while reducing load on your staff and your fleet. Messages can be sent to drivers & vehicles from here, and return messages from the field may also be monitored. Maps can be viewed and printed, showing pickup and dropoff locations. If the vehicles are GPS enabled, vehicle location may also be monitored from within the highly configurable and customizable screens. Custom views of information contained in your database may also be created and accessed via HWeb Dispatcher, and this information can be printed or exported and then managed with other, non-Hudson, external applications.

HWeb Administrator
This is the back end reporting and accounting module of the local system. Credit cards may be batched and submitted from the HWeb Admin at any time before or after the date of travel. For your corporate accounts, trial detail reports are created and reviewed before printing customizable invoices. With comprehensive invoicing and receivables tracking, you know exactly where your business stands. Prefer to use your own back-end accounting? No problem; Hudson supports full data export so you can do your invoicing or receiveables management in a host of other third party applications. With over 200 standard and comprehensive business report templates included, the HWeb Admin allows you to see just how your business is operating and allows you to make informed decisions on how to best manage your operation.

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HWeb Bridge
This silent workhorse component of the local system runs quietly in the background and handles many automated processes such as looking up the status of inbound flights, automatic generation of email confirmations, and periodic downloading of web-based reservations into the local system database.

HWeb Quick
A simple and ‘light weight’ but robust application that can run on a separate dedicated computer, HWeb Quick can be configured to allow drivers or employees to sign themselves into and out of their daily shifts, drivers can select the vehicles they will be in, and much more. HWeb Quick can be a dispatcher or fleet managers best friend, freeing them to focus on mission critical and scheduling issues rather than staff sign-in and sign-out activities.

HWeb Utilities
The last of the local system components, HWeb Utilities is used primarily by system administrators to import external information (such as fare files, zone files, airline and airport terminal lists) or to export information for use in other applications. HWeb Utilities can also be used to download reservations from the web-based HWeb Reservations Manager, and serves as a manual backup procedure to the automated functionality of HWeb Bridge.

HWeb Credit Card Processing

Whether using the HWeb Reservations Manager or HWeb Agent, you are able to accept and process credit cards quickly and easily with HWeb Credit Card processing. You may elect to authorize cards at the time of reservation recording, or if desired, you may actually charge the clients card at the time of the reservation - reducing or eliminating the time consuming process of chasing down declined and invalid credit cards. Only valid credit cards with sufficient funds will make it into your reservation database! Include BOTH credit card processing and in-vehicle swiping with a client signature, and chargebacks become history, while you simultaneously reduce your card transaction fees. Read more about HWeb Credit Card Processing.

HWeb Flight
The first and most popular of the add on modules is HWeb Flight. Through a partnership with FlightView of Boston MA, Hudson applications interface with the extremely powerful FlightView real-time flight tracking system (see Our Partners for more information on FlightView). Through FlightView, reservations staff can lookup the details of scheduled commercial airline flights, thereby ensuring that accurate flight details are recorded in every reservation. Dispatchers rely on the FlightView integration to provide them with the current location and status of all arriving and departing flights that their clients are reserved on. Armed with this valuable tool and its information, you will know where your clients are at all times, and ensure you are on-time, every time. Download a brief flyer on HWeb Flight here, or visit our KnowledgeBase for additional details.

HWeb InfoView
An Internet based window into your back office database, HWeb InfoView allows people outside your business to view information that pertains to them. Drivers can see what work has been assigned to them in the recent past or foreseeable future. Corporate accounts or Travel Agencies can view both historic, current and future reservation records for their executives and clients. A hotel concierge can view all of the guests being delivered to or picked up from their property on a given day. These are but three examples of how you can create customized views, in a read-only display, that allows people outside your office to view up to the minute information that may be invaluable to them. The Hudson Group KnowledgeBase has additional information on HWeb InfoView.

HWeb VIA - (Vehicle Information and Auto-location)
When you absolutely positively need to know where your fleet is, HWeb VIA (Vehicle Information and Auto-location) answers the call. As an add on component to the HWeb Dispatcher application, vehicles are outfitted with GPS tracking devices which report back on the vehicle location on a continual basis. From within the dispatching system, you select any vehicle, group of vehicles or the entire fleet and can see their location, in real time, on a local map right on your monitor. Learn more from this flyer that outlines the features of HWeb VIA.

HWeb Web Services
If you already have an Internet reservation interface or a corporate account that has their own reservation system, but wish to accept their reservations electronically and download them directly to your system database, then Web Services is the tool you will use. This XML language interface can be provided to your developers or your clients development team for a quick and seamless integration.

HWeb AIMS (Automated Messaging)
Putting true automation to work for you, HWeb AIMS (Automated Interactive Messaging Services) will process both outbound and inbound communications, interfacing directly with your Hudson database. Schedule to send, or resend email confirmations, tickets, etc; generate post travel receipts or surveys; place automated courtesy phone calls to clients to reconfirm travel details; send SMS/text messages to mobile phones, PDA's, and other web enabled devices. With HWeb AIMS you can also accept inbound communications: clients can call and book travel via automated voice response computer booking interface; accept rapid voice reservations from hotel concierges via Voice XML; clients can notify you that they have arrived at a pickup location and are ready to travel, without speaking with one of your staff. Sound interesting? Read more on our downloadable flyer.

HWeb Systems Monitor
When you are busy tending to the needs of your clients and staff, the last thing you want to have to do is watch or check your computer and information systems to ensure all is running smoothly. At the same time, you cannot afford to have a system, process, Internet or server connection go "down" without your knowing. HWeb Systems Monitor resolves this dilemma for you. Like a night watchman making rounds, HWeb Systems Monitor keeps your systems under constant surveillance and then alerts you instantly if any problem arises. You determine what machines, processes, files, connections, servers are to be monitored and you determine who and how you are notified. When it absolutely, positively has to be up and running all the time, use HWeb Systems Monitor to know that all is well. Read more on our downloadable flyer.

HWeb KnowledgeBase
The answers to your most commonly asked questions, and a whole lot more, are all contained in the Hudson KnowledgeBase. There are hundreds of “How-to” and “What-if” articles as well as audio net casts and video screen casts, all of which are designed to help you be self sufficient and self reliant. Past issues of TechTips, Hudson’s client newsletter showcasing new features, product enhancements, and hardware and software tips, can all be accessed via the KnowledgeBase. You can always pickup the telephone and call Hudson’s expert Tech Support team, but many times the answer to your question is also just a click or two away. Take a quick look at the HWeb KnowledgeBase and then check back often as new items are being added weekly.

HWeb Release Tracker
Hudson applications are being updated and revised continually. New versions, or releases, are always made available to current clients at no charge. We always want you to have the latest and greatest software available. When you want to know what is new in the latest release, or any previous release, the HWeb Release Tracker is your online resource. You can look at bug fixes, enhancements and new functionality for the newest release and then determine if this release is for you.

HWeb Bugzilla
Every now and then, the team of Hudson developers create something that doesn’t work as anticipated in all systems. HWeb Bugzilla is your opportunity to report back those items, or application “bugs” that you think need to be tweeked or adjusted in order to make them work better for your installation. In addition to reporting software bugs, HWeb Bugzilla is used to request the development of additional features or functionality which would make the suite of applications more useful to you and your business.

HWeb Ticket Tracker
Hudson’s Tech Support team stands ready to assist you 24 hours daily. A phone call to our emergency line will put you in direct communication with a Hudson Tech Support staff member. There may be other times, when you need help with a software configuration issue, or unexpected error code. When you need to request help on a routine matter, you can create your own Tech Support “ticket” via the online HWeb Ticket Tracker. The Ticket Tracker allows you to check on the status of all submitted items at any time and to follow the progress being made toward the resolution of any issue.