Price:	$29.95		Reviewed by:	Shaun McGill
Supplied:	Creative Algorithms		Review date:	05/02/2005
Pros:	Clean interface Very customisable Saves money!		Cons:	Interface may not be liked by some

Keeping accurate records of your business trips has long been a very time consuming and complex process. The better your records the more money you can claim back from the company that has sent you to some dull looking industrial town to visit a bunch of boring businessman who don't care how far you have traveled to see them- I don't mean to sound bitter but traveling is a tiring and often frustrating experience so it's a good idea to have a companion to keep all of your information to hand. One option is a pretty young secretary but if you can't find one then Trip Boss will just have to do:) You are probably expecting a positive review because of the image above which is taken from Creative Algorithms' web site and you would be correct... As you can see the interface is very clean and your information is presented in a way which ensures that the data is highlighted to the user above anything else- this is ideal for an application which is dealing with numbers and calculations but maybe causes some potential users to turn away as they do not get hat initial 'wow' feeling when looking at it. If they turn away they are missing out because Trip Boss is one of the best implemented Palm programs I have ever used and manages to capture the "Zen of Palm" even though it is a fairly complex piece of programming. I could spend hours detailing all of the features in Trip Boss but that would take...um... hours.  Instead I will give you a brief overview of what's in Trip Boss so that you can then go and experience it for yourself:- The number of separate sections could be bewildering to the new user but even if you only need a few of them this can still work out cheaper than buying separate applications. Also, if you change your job and your traveling needs change then chances are that Trip Boss will cover what you need.

Pre-trip Planning Before you leave for a journey it's nice to have certain details sorted out before hand such as distances and time to travel. You can use past trips stored in Trip Boss to help with this. Also useful is the ability to set your budget and changes can be made during the trip to ensure you don't spend too much- again you can use past trips to judge this. The more information you put in the more you will get out- if you include details of nice hotels, restaurants and other places to visit when you return to that city everything you need will be in the one place, Trip Boss.

On the trip It's not all about business and the Journal feature can be used for business trips or for holidays by way of a diary or for future reference. Ratings can be assigned to hotels and restaurants which is handy to stop you getting cold lobster again:) International travel is catered for with multiple currencies included in the expense tracking log.

What about you? Trip Boss includes the ability to add your own places, currencies, pastimes and various other choices to ensure it is tailor made for the way you travel. The list of choices is endless and the first time you run it you will probably find yourself playing around with it for an hour or so. This can seem daunting at first but some intelligent setting up on the part of the user will ensure MUCH quicker journey planning and expense reporting in the future. I would estimate that for every 10 minutes setting up Trip Boss hours will be saved in the future. When you factor in no more losses of expense details then Trip Boss will easily pay for itself time and time again. Before I moved over to the dark side (as some call Pocket PCs) I used Trip extensively for trip planning and especially for expense reporting. The problem with reviewing it is that the way I use it may not reflect how you would at all. It is the first application I have reviewed that is so customisable that each person will use it in a way that suits them and thus everything I write could be irrelevant to you. What's not irrelevant is the fact that it will serve you well and a quick download is very much recommended. Note: Creative Algorithms do advertise on Palm247 but we have a policy of not letting that fact influence what we write. Indeed, I have lost two advertisers in the past because they did not like what I wrote- we only let companies advertise on the 247 sites whose products and business practices are worthy.