SIRRVA. and MRUN. Control Center. Tel: (514) Fax: (514)

Transcription

1 USER MANUAL SIRRVA and MRUN Control Center 201 Laurier Street East Suite 630 Montreal, Quebec Canada H2T 3E6 Tel: (514) Fax: (514) PensylvanniaAve. Suite 17 Vaughan, Ontario Canada L4K 4A5 Tel: (905) Fax: (905)

2 2007 Softvoyage - All Rights Reserved This manual is the propriety of Softvoyage Inc., and it may not be copied or reproduced, in whole or in part, without the written consent of Softvoyage Inc. Every effort has been made to ensure that this manual is accurate. Softvoyage Inc. is not responsible for printing or clerical errors. Last modified on April 6 th, 2007 by Evelyne Budkewitsch 201 Laurier Street East Suite 630 Montreal, Quebec Canada H2T 3E6 Tel: (514) Fax: (514) PensylvanniaAve. Suite 17 Vaughan, Ontario Canada L4K 4A5 Tel: (905) Fax: (905)

3 Contents Chapter 1 Logging In 1 The Web Management section...2 Agency information...2 Published fares...3 Negotiated Fares...4 FIT and Charter tour operators...4 Gateways and Destination management...5 Options...5 Chapter 2 The Price Management section. 7 Create pricing rules...8 Pricing rules - step by step...9 Options...10 Chapter 3 The Affiliates section.. 13 Short list option...14 Create affiliates...14 Options...15 Chapter 4 The Advertising section. 17 Create specials...17 Specials - step by step...18 Options...19 Chapter 5 The Booking Report section 21 Booking report consultation...21 Booking error report consultation...24 The header report consultation...24 Chapter 6 The Web Stats section...27 What is it?...27 Chapter 7 The Business Rules section 29 Create business rules...29 Options...30 Chapter 8 The Ghost Infos section Ghosts files...33 Merge backs...33 Options...34

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5 CHAPTER 1 Logging in T he username and password used to access the Control Centre are issued by Softvoyage. If you want to modify them, your administrator must contact Softvoyage. Once logged in the following menu will appear. The main menu of the control center will be similar to this. FIGURE 0.1 the main menu of the Control Center. When changes are made by the administrator in any of the above sections, you MUST click the UPDATE or MODIFY button at the very bottom of the page for the modifications to be saved. When the symbol appears in the manual, this indicates that the item shown or described is an optional module. Please refer to the Options section of the chapter for further detail. 1

6 The Web Management section The Web Management is used to enter the agency s address and contacts, and to select which product will be sold on the website. All information is entered by the administrator. Agency information O nce you are logged into the control center page, click on the Web Management button on the left. The first part of the Web Management section contains all of the agency s information: the agency name, the complete civic address, the phone number, toll free number and the fax number. This is the information that will appear on confirmation s. Therefore, please ensure that all the information is correct so clients can contact the agency if need be. The address entered here will be the one used to send booking confirmation s to the agency. Up to two addresses can be entered in this field, separated by a comma. If more than two people must receive this confirmation, a group will have to be created with the agency s software. The URL is the address of the agency s website. The default gateway selected by the administrator is the city that will appear in the gateway drop down or in a free field, depending on which SIRRVA or MRUN module purchased by the agency. If the agency chooses to sell insurance the service key and password (if applicable) fields must be filled. This information will be provided by the insurance company. The minimum delay for charter products is also selected by the administrator. It indicates the first allowed departure date. This default date will automatically appear in all SIRRVA and MRUN modules. The Agents within the agency is available as an optional module. 2

7 FIGURE 1.1 Fields to fill in the Web Management agency information section. NOTE: Should the agency have added the optional Ghost Infos module, an extra section entitled Merge Back will appear here, see Chapter 8 for further information. Published fares The Published Fares section is split into three parts: flights, cars and hotels. The administrator can decide which GDS the agency can sell on the website. The agency s account information for each GDS must be entered in the appropriate field by the administrator. To remove, the administrator can uncheck a specific GDS. The last part of the flight section lets the administrator specify the agency s business hours for weekend ticketing, if applicable. 3

8 FIGURE 1.2 Fields to fill in the Published Fares Flight section. Each Published Fares section can have an optional Destination Manager (blocked destinations), and the Flight section has also an additional option used to Define display priority of flights. The Minimum Delay optional module shown in the figure below is also available for the Negotiated Fares, and for the FIT and Charter tour operators. Negotiated fares The administrator may decide which consolidator the agency can sell on the agency s website. The agency s account number for each specified consolidator must be entered in the appropriate field. To remove, the administrator can uncheck a specific consolidator. FIGURE 1.3 Fields to fill in the Negotiated Fares section. FIT and Charter tour operators Usernames and passwords will be obtained by Softvoyage from the tour operators. The administrator can decide which supplier the agency can sell on their website. To remove a tour operator, the administrator can uncheck a specific supplier. However, to add a new tour operator the administrator will have to contact Softvoyage in order to obtain a new tour operator access. The Define display priority of packages optional module shown in the figure below is available for the Charter tour operator section. 4

9 FIGURE 1.4 Example of the FIT and Charter tour operators section. Gateways and Destination management Gateways and destinations are dynamically linked to the suppliers checked in the FIT and Charter sections above. However, it is possible to select or un-select specific cities from the lists. The button check all selects all the cities at once from that specific list. The uncheck all button unchecks all the cities. There is one destination list in the FIT section. The Charter section has two lists for the gateways (Air Only and Packages), and the destinations are classified into 4 groups (Air only south destinations, Air only Canada/USA destinations, Air only Europe destinations and Packages destinations). Options For price inquiries and further information about the optional modules described in this chapter, please do not hesitate to contact our Sales Department. 5

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11 CHAPTER 2 The Price Management section The Price Management section is used to create pricing rules on the various offered products. All rules are created by the administrator and need to be reviewed occasionally. To access this section click on the Web Management button on the left. FIGURE 2.1 List of pricing rules for Mark-up and discounts, all active. T he webpage will open to the existing rules list. Each rule is displayed, showing its ID number, Name, Status and the Similar Rules if applicable. Once a rule is selected, the buttons below allow the administrator to edit or delete a rule, to create a new rule, or to apply/delete a specific rule to all the affiliates listed in the Affiliates section (see Chapter 3). If similar rules exist, a View link will be displayed. Clicking on this link will create a list of all the rules that contain similarities. From this list the administrator can click on the rule s ID to see the pricing rules page and make any desired modifications. The Apply to Short List and Delete from Short List buttons are available as an optional module. The Short List is selected from the Affiliates section (see Chapter 3). 7

12 Create pricing rules Mark-ups, service fees and discounts can be applied to all products from GDS, consolidators and tour operators. The pricing rules can be created either in dollars ($) or in percentage (%), or both at the same time. If both are used it is important to remember that all calculations will be done on the BASE PRICE. Example: $ $3 ( $3 fee) - $10 (1% fee of 1000) = $987 Before creating a DISCOUNT rule, the administrator should verify carefully the commission allowed in order not to create a discount higher than the commission. If this situation occurs, the amount due on file will have to be paid by the agency before the departure date. TIP: a negative value can be entered as well, turning it into a mark-up on an already commissioned gross fare. There are three products where a MARK UP rule is essential: on NET CHARTER FLIGHTS, on NET PACKAGES and on NEGOTIATED FARES. If no mark-up rule is created for these products, the agency will be selling their cost as the net. The net fares of our consolidators and tour operators are clearly indicated in our engine. Softvoyage works in close cooperation with them to ensure that the information is correctly programmed. Pricing rules for SERVICE FEES are not available for charters in general but this can be discussed with your account manager. They are however available for published fares, webfares and negotiated fares. IMPORTANT: Please specify in the Web Management Published fares section whether the service fees should be charged per booking or per passenger. Always keep in mind that pricing rules are cumulative and do not override each other. So when adding a discount, make sure to keep in mind any previous discounts already in effect. ID Time frame Rule specifics Discount /01/ /01/2008 On VAC -1% /2007 may special On all Cuba -3% Total discount = On VAC to Cuba in may -4% Exception: pricing rules saved as ending by the number # will override all previous rules. 8

13 Pricing rules - step by step To create a new rule, click on the New button. After each completed step, the Next step button brings the user to the following step. See Fig 2.3 on p Rule name: The name of the rule needs to be easily identifiable. A good example would include the tour operator name, the rule identification (discount, service fee or mark-up), the amount and/or the percentage of the rule. 2. When should this rule be applied? The default dates are the date the rule is created and a year from that day. These indicate the time frame in which the rule will be applied on queries made, as well as determine the rule s status (active or expired). If the rule created is for a future period, the status will show Not yet active until the day it will become active. The Only on queries made, available as an optional module, lets you pick specific days of the week and hours for which the rule is applied. 3. Apply on which price range: The default price range is $1 to $9999. The administrator can create a pricing rule for a specific price range. In that case, it would be advisable to create separate pricing rules to cover all price ranges between $1 and $ Apply on which departure dates: There are two methods to apply departure dates on pricing rules. The first method is to apply a rule for a specific period of time: the default dates are the date the rule is created and a year from that day. The second method is to select a number of days from today s date (1 to 30), either for within the next days or in a # of days. This is a great way to increase a discount or lower a mark-up for last minute departures. Of course if the second method is used, a rule should to be created for the rest of the rule s time frame (see point 2.). 5. Apply on which type of products: All available types of products are listed here. A rule can only be applied to one type of product at the time. 6. Apply on which tour operator(s)/consolidator(s): Since not all tour operators give the same commission percentage, it is advised to create separate pricing rules for each of them. 7. Apply on which gateway(s)/destination(s): The default ALL GATEWAYS/DESTINATIONS are those associated to the selected tour operator above in the database. 9

14 If the agency has purchased the Advanced Price Management module, the administrator can then check the desired gateway/destinations individually. If the rule is for a vacation package, and if only one destination was selected, there will be an extra step letting the administrator pick which hotels apply to this pricing rule. 8. What is the pricing rule and Apply on which prices: A pricing rule can be a mark up on net prices, a discount on gross prices, or a service fee for published fares.. The pricing rules can be created either in dollars ($) or in percentage (%), or both at the same time (see note in create pricing rules ). Next you can choose on which rule type the pricing rule applies too. The Promotion Icon section is available as an optional module. 9. The last step allows the administrator to review and make any necessary corrections on certain sections only. Finally click on the Everything is ok, create this Pricing Rule button. This will create the pricing rule and bring back the list of rules. If the departure dates, the type of product, selected tour operators, consolidators, gateways or destinations needs to be modified, the rule has to be deleted and re-created. The Coupon Code line shown below is available as an optional module. FIGURE 2.2 Example of the Coupon Code Option. Options For price inquiries and further information about the optional modules described in this chapter, please do not hesitate to contact our Sales Department. 10

15 FIGURE 2.3 Example of a Pricing rule creation. 11

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17 CHAPTER 3 The Affiliates section The Affiliates section is available as an optional module. The Affiliates section is a tool used by the administrator to add any affiliated agencies and to oversee the affiliate s website, price management, advertising and more. T o access this section click on the Affiliates button on the left. The webpage will open to the existing affiliates list. Each affiliate is displayed, showing its Alias and Name if the agency has only the Basic module. If the Short list option was taken, this is where the affiliates are checked (see Short list option below). Username and Password appear only if the agency has the Advanced module. In this case affiliates may independently access their control center. FIGURE 3.1 List of affiliates screen. Once an affiliate is selected, the buttons below allow the administrator to edit or delete an affiliate; to create a new affiliate; to update the short list; and to manage the affiliate s pricing rules (see Chapter 2), business rules (see Chapter 7), advertising (see Chapter 4), and ghost infos (see Chapter 8). Specific pricing rules, advertising specials, business rules, and ghost infos can be created for a particular affiliate. The administrator can also choose to apply or 13

18 delete existing pricing rules, the advertising specials, the business rules, and the ghost infos to ALL the affiliates. This is done by clicking the Apply to or Delete from all affiliates buttons in the section in question. For pricing rules and advertising ONLY: the administrator can then delete individually affiliates by selecting an affiliate, clicking the corresponding section and deleting them from the list. Short list option The Short list is available as an optional module only. This function allows you to select specific affiliates to whom you can assign already existing pricing and business rules, saving the trouble of recreating them for each affiliate. See the options section below for further information. Create affiliates When the new button is clicked, the webpage to create a new affiliate opens. This webpage is almost identical to the one in the Web Management section, the one used to create the master agency. Please refer to Chapter 1. There are three extra sections that do not appear in the main agency s description: Alias: this 3 letter code will be the agency s reference code. One is automatically generated by our engine but it may be modified. If the alias already exists an error message will appear, prompting you to choose another code. Selectable in which site: at this time the only choice available is already selected, which is the master agency s code given by Softvoyage. Agency Status: the administrator can choose whether the agency s status is active or inactive. 14

19 FIGURE 3.2 Fields to fill when creating a new affiliate. Options For price inquiries and further information about the optional modules described in this chapter, please do not hesitate to contact our Sales Department. 15

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21 CHAPTER 4 The Advertising section The Affiliates section is available as an optional module. The Advertising section is a tool used to add online specials offered by the agency directly on its website. All advertisings are created by the administrator. Create specials T o access this section click on the Advertising button on the left. The webpage will open to the existing specials list. Each special is displayed, showing its ID number and Name, Associated Price Rules and Status. Once a special is selected, the buttons below allow the administrator to edit or delete a special, to delete all expired specials or to create a new one, to apply or delete a specific special to all the affiliates listed in the Affiliates section (see Chapter 3), or to create a pricing rule specifically associated to a particular special (see Chapter 2). FIGURE 4.1 List of advertisings screen. Once a special is created the status will appear as Status not yet reviewed. Our engines will filter through all existing packages to see if this special is a valid possibility: if it is rejected it will be marked as No availability ; if approved then the status will change to Available. This may take several minutes. 17

22 Once a special is created, an ID number will be generated by our engines. This ID must then be entered in an html code before the special may be posted on the agency s website. Further instructions will be provided by Softvoyage on how to do this. If no pricing rule is associated, the special is valid but the agency will be selling their cost as a net (no mark-up associated), and if no discount rule is created the agency will be selling full price. Any existing pricing rules that fit the special s description will be automatically associated. If a pricing rule needs to be created for a specific special, it will appear in brackets once it is created. Specials step by step To create a new special, click on the New button. After each completed step, the Next step button brings the user to the following step. 1. Special name: The name of the special needs to be easily identifiable. A good example would include the tour operator name and/or destination, the amount of the discount, the dates the special covers, etc. 2. When should this special be shown? The default dates are the date the rule is created and a month from that day. These indicate the time frame in which the special will be applied on queries made, as well as determine the special s status (available or expired). 3. Apply on which departure date: The default dates are the date entered as the last day of queries (see step 2 above), and ending a week from that day. 4. Apply on which type of products: All available types of products are listed here. A special can only be applied to one type of product at a time. 5. Apply on which tour operator(s): All available tour operators are listed here. Select the tour operator that sells the product (one tour operator per advertisement). 6. Apply on which gateway(s)/destination(s): The administrator must check the desired gateways/destinations individually. If the special is for a vacation package, and if only one destination was selected, there will be an extra step letting the administrator pick which hotels apply to the special. 18

23 7. The last step allows the administrator to review and make any necessary correction on certain sections only. Finally click on the Everything is ok, create this Special button. This will create the special and bring back the list of existing specials. If the type of product, selected tour operators, gateways or destinations needs to be modified, the special has to be deleted and re-created. FIGURE 4.2 Example of a Special creation. Options For price inquiries and further information about the optional modules described in this chapter, please do not hesitate to contact our Sales Department. 19

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25 The Booking Report section The Booking Report section is a complete tool to create reports for all reservations made. It gives an overview of the number of bookings made on either a monthly or daily basis, as well as the details of each individual booking. Booking report consultation CHAPTER 5 T he administrator may choose from a variety of different booking reports. Firstly select the master account and affiliate desired, then enter the dates wanted for the report. Any date range can be entered, whether it is for one day, one week, or any period of time selected. The Summary booking report gives a monthly overview of the number of bookings, number of passengers and total amount of sales. By clicking on the month link, the report displays daily overviews of that selected month. Then, by clicking on the day link, the report displays each individual booking of that selected day. The Detailed booking report displays all the bookings made on the selected period. The list is sorted by default by ascending booking dates. The administrator may click on the column title to change the sorting order. By clicking on the booking number, the information of the booking is displayed in XML format. The Tour Operator report is used to view the number of bookings by each tour operator made over a selected period. The list is grouped by Vender and is presented in a detailed format similar to the Detailed booking report. 21

26 FIGURE 5.1 Booking report screen selection. FIGURE 5.2 List of a Summary booking report on a monthly basis. FIGURE 5.3 List of a Summary booking report on a daily basis. 22

27 FIGURE 5.4 List of a detailed booking report. The column titles are defined as follow: Booking date: The exact date and hour the booking was made. Dep. Date: Departure date of the flight or package. Code/Alias: This is the code of the agency given by Softvoyage, followed by the affiliate s code if selected. Each code is composed of 3 letters. Header: This indicates the source of the booking. Gateway/Destination: The gateway and destination of the booking. Vender /Engine: Vender codes are the 3 letters codes given by Softvoyage for the tour operators. Pax: Indicates the number of passengers on file. Booking number: The booking number displayed is a link to the complete booking information in XML format. Booking information details are the same than in the confirmation. Amount: The total amount charged for the booking. X: This X is used to highlight a specific booking. While it is highlighted, the amount of this booking is subtracted from the total amount of the bookings listed at the bottom of the page. It s a great way to reflect cancellations in a report. 23

28 Booking error report consultation There is also a booking error report available. When in the booking report section, clicking on the link home, at the bottom of the webpage, brings up a menu for Booking Report, Booking Errors and Header Report. The booking error report can be consulted in the same manner as the booking report: for a selected date: summary or detailed. FIGURE 5.5 The booking error report screen selection. In the detailed booking error report, the administrator can have an overview of failed bookings and the reason why they failed. All error codes can be consulted in a XML format. The header report consultation The header report shows how much online traffic is being generated. This tool does however remain approximate and cannot be used as exact statistical information. As an example when it comes to the shopping, the headers are ITCSHOPPING- RQ for requests and ITCSHOPPING-RP for replies. These indicate the number of requests made during a day and the number of replies these requests have generated. Discrepancies between request and replies are normal. One possible explanation is when a request receives a No Availability reply, the header report will show 1 RQ for 0 RP. Same goes for the online verification. If the agency has chosen to sell insurance on the engine, the header report contains the INSURANCESHOPPING-RQ and the INSURANCESHOPPING- RP. Each time a customer chooses insurance during the booking process, a request is generated and when the booking is completed the reply is created as 24

29 well. In the case of a discrepancy regarding insurance requests and replies it is best to contact the Insurance Company directly to know the reason why. There is a whole list of possible Headers, please speak to your account manager for more information. FIGURE 5.6 Example of the Header report screen. 25

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31 CHAPTER 6 The Web Stats section The Web Stats section is linked directly to the free Webalizer software. All graphics and statistics in this section are generated by Webalizer. T he information included in this chapter was taken from the following website: To learn more about this software, please consult the Webalizer website and its FAQ section. Please note that the statistics generated by the Webalizer is strictly in correlation with the agency s websites hosted by Softvoyage only. Since this is not a Softvoyage product, we cannot give any support for this software. What is it? The Webalizer is a fast, free web server log file analysis program. It produces highly detailed, easily configurable usage reports in HTML format, for viewing with a standard web browser. It was written to solve several problems that had with currently available analysis packages. A vast majority of them were written in Perl or some other scripting language, and took forever to run. Some were not free. Some even produced wrong results, or results that were not in a format we found very useful. In order to get the statistics I wanted, in a format that I liked, we wrote The Webalizer, and have made it available here, to anyone who wants it, for any purpose. Starting as a simple Perl script with limited capabilities, it has grown into a full featured, robust and fast analysis tool, being used by thousands of systems around the globe. Written by Bradford L. Barrett, creator of the Webalizer 27

32 Below are the two different graphical representations the Webalizer uses to express the online traffic of the agency s website. Each month can be clicked on it in the second graph below for further monthly details.all terms are defined in the FAQ section of the Webalizer website. FIGURE 6.1 Example of the graphical screen. FIGURE 6.2 Example of the average table screen. 28

33 The Business Rules section The business rules section is used to display the preferred supplier of the agency when more than one Tour Operator, Consolidator or GDS offers the exact same product. CHAPTER 7 S oftvoyage has developed the Business rules tool to enable agencies wanting to encourage specific supplier. This feature is available for flights comparison only, and the products compared have to be completely identical (gateway, destination, flight numbers, days of operation, departing hour and returning hour). The Tour Operators, Consolidators and GDS listed in the drop down menus here are the ones selected from the web management section of the agency. Create business rules When the display all available Tour Operator prices is selected, no rule is applied. The default sorting is from the lowest fare to the highest. If the administrator wants to create a rule to encourage a specific supplier, the display only one price using these priorities: must be selected, then a supplier can be chosen from the drop down menu, and finally the amount stating how much higher the price can still be to override the other results, if desired. The administrator can create as many rules as there are suppliers in the drop down selection. Once the update button is pushed, a new line appears. The business rules will be applied in the order shown. The 2 nd layer section lets the administrator prioritize between Charter or Negotiated fares vs. Published fares. 29

34 FIGURE 7.1 Business rules screen for priority selection. The Update & Apply to Short List button is available as an optional module. The Short List is selected in the Affiliates section (see Chapter 3). Options For price inquiries and further information about the optional modules described in this chapter, please do not hesitate to contact our Sales Department. 30

35 CHAPTER 8 The Ghost Infos section The Ghost Infos section is available as an optional module. The ghost infos section was created to match up suppliers for ghost files or merge backs, should the Softvoyage code and the GDS or accounting system s code for a specific supplier not be the same. A t Softvoyage we often create our own 3 letter codes to identify our various suppliers and clients. These are not always representative of the industry s 3 letter codes or how the agency may have chosen to identify a supplier. This tool is the perfect way for the administrator to match up the suppliers, hence correlating seamlessly everything for the ghost files (GDS) or the merge backs (accounting system). Let s take Air Canada Vacations as an example: Softvoyage has coded this tour operator as VAC. The agency s accounting system has coded it ACV. By accessing the ghost infos section, the administrator can simply write ACV in the appropriate product category where VAC (Air Canada Vacations for Softvoyage) is mentioned. There are three different possible entries to match up products: with a product code (defined by the agency, ex a specific flight number), with an ID Supplier (3 letter code, reference #), or with a Supplier name (title/name used by agency). If nothing is entered then the Softvoyage codes will be used by default. The administrator can also force a specific commission rate. 31

36 FIGURE 8.1 All the possible fields shown in the Ghost Infos section. 32

37 Ghost files If a GDS is used by the agency, the only specification the administrator needs to enter is the number of days retainer, i.e. the option date of the ghost file. This box is located at the top of the ghost infos section. FIGURE 8.2 Field to fill for Ghost file option date. Merge backs There are four accounting systems being used currently by our client agencies for merge backs. They are: GBO Global Matrix TRAMS TravelWorks (PCVoyage) The administrator must first return to the Web Management section and fill in the information, depending on which system is used, of the Merge back fields. Contact the accounting system company for details. FIGURE 8.3 Merge back field in the Web management section 33

38 Below are a few examples from various accounting systems and which fields were chosen to match up the codes or names. FIGURE 8.3 Ghost infos fields to fill according to accounting system or GDS. Options For price inquiries and further information about the optional modules described in this chapter, please do not hesitate to contact our Sales Department 34

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