4. POBLACIÓN Y OCUPACIÓN DEL TERRITORIO COMUNAL
4.1 ANTECEDENTES
About the Client File
The Client file is used to enter and maintain information on clients you do business with. You can add new clients to your database, display clients, modify clients, or delete those with whom you no longer do business.
Basic information on new clients can also be transferred (or “imported” into TravCom from your reservation system (CRS)) interface, provided that the PNR contains the correct fields. In TravCom, you can then update the client record to add more information (especially for those clients who require corporate reporting). For example, you can add demographic marketing information, corporate reporting information, etc. See the section Importing a Client Data from Interface.
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For more information on the Interface and how new clients are added through your CRS, see Chapter 5, Interface with Your Reservation System.Tips and Rules for Assigning Client Numbers
Client files are normally used for customers with whom you do business regularly, and to whom you need to provide reports or activity information from Accounts Receivable. Depending on your type of business (retailer or wholesaler), you can build a client file for:
• corporate, leisure, or government clients
• each agent’s one-time walk-in clients, sometimes called a “house account”
• a vendor used to store credit card commissions due to the agency
• another Travel Agency if your agency sells consolidator tickets
You must build a client number for any customer you wish to have on a comprehensive mailing list database, or for whom you produce statements or reports.
To help you stay organized, and to provide the most flexibility when searching and reporting, you should develop a client numbering system which groups clients into different types (such as corporate, leisure, commission, etc…).
Here is a sample numbering system for an agency with various types of client accounts:
1-99 Walk-in clients for each Inside Sales Agents, or cash and carry accounts. For example, client 1 could be a “house account” for all walk-in clients for agent 1.
100-999 Commission Clients, such as a credit card receivable account for a tour company
1000-9999 Corporate Clients 10000-49999 Leisure Clients
50000-99999 Clients from Outside Sales Agents. For example, agent 50 might use the 50000 50999 range
the 50000-50999 range.
Client File: Field Descriptions
When you have identified a new or existing client, you will be able to see the General fields and the other tabs of information available for that client.
This tab... Lets you define...
General Name and address information
Marketing Information which can be used on custom reports or for marketing purposes In House Information on in-house and outside sales agents, and information for
reporting purposes
Sales/Accounting Payment requirements, statement information, activity dates, etc… (also displays the client balance)
Departments Departments for corporate or government clients
Branches The branch(es) with which the client is associated (only available if your software version supports multiple branches).
The rest of this section describes the fields on each tab in the Client file.
General Tab
The fields on the General tab are:
Maintaining Agency Data Files
Number The number assigned to the client you are adding, displaying, or changing.
This is a unique 8-digit number (TravCom will add leading zeroes).
Name The client or company name for invoicing and for mailing statements.
Sort Key The first 10 characters of the Name field appear automatically in this field, and can be overwritten.
Enter the characters that you want TravCom to use when sorting clients alphabetically. The sort key is used as a shortcut for retrieving the client file in posting functions. For example, for Ace Corporation you might want a sort key of ACE or ACE CORP; for John Smith you might want SMITH.
Contact Name of contact person if appropriate.
Address The street address for invoicing and for mailing labels and statements (up to 2 lines).
City The client’s city name.
State/Prov. The 2-letter code for the client’s state or province.
Postal Code The client’s zip code.
If you enter a zip code which is found in the Postal Codes table, the following occurs:
• TravCom automatically fills in the city, state/province, and country that correspond to that zip code in the Postal Codes table.
• The cursor goes to the city field so that you can change the city, state/province, and country if the displayed entries are not correct.
If the zip code you enter is not in the table, you must enter the other address fields manually.
Country The country for the client’s address.
Include Country... Check box to indicate whether or not you want to include the country name with the mailing address on statements, reports, mailing lists, etc.
Phone Numbers Up to 3 telephone numbers for the client. For each number you can specify a description (such as home, business, car, etc.), a telephone number (in any format), and an extension number.
Fax No. The client’s fax number, if applicable.
E-Mail The client’s E-mail address, if applicable.
Language If this client speaks in a different language.
Marketing Tab
The Marketing tab lets you define marketing information about this client. This information is particularly helpful if you want to produce reports or mailings by marketing feature, or if you plan to produce corporate reports for the client.
The fields on the Marketing tab are:
Business Type The type of business this client represents (can be used for marketing or demographic purposes).
If you enter a new business type (up to 25 characters), TravCom allows you to automatically add it to the master table. The master table of business types is maintained in Setup - Misc. Tables.
Travel Type The types of travel this client books. You can create your own table of travel types for marketing purposes. For example, you could use this for destinations or types of travel (Skiing, Touring, Sun, Vegas, etc.)
If you enter a new travel type (up to 25 characters), TravCom allows you to automatically add it to the master table. This table is maintained in Setup - Misc. Tables.
Referred by The person who referred this client to your agency.
Account Type Type of client: Leisure, Corporate or Government.
If you select Corporate or Government, a Departments tab window becomes available for this client. Departments are not available for Leisure clients.
TravCom will automatically include any Corporate or Government types in the pre-built corporate reports. Additionally, Government types will have a GSA field available for the appropriate contract number.
Maintaining Agency Data Files
Key Words These can be used to select clients for reports, edit lists, mailing lists, etc. For example, you could indicate a client’s interests or destinations (Golf, Las Vegas, etc.). The master table is maintained in Setup - Misc. Tables. You can select existing key words, or you can add new ones to your master table by entering them here.
• To add a key word for the client, select from the drop down list of all key words in the master table, or type any word in the blank field.
Select Add.
• To delete a key word for this client, highlight it and select Delete.
• To clear all key words for this client, select Clear.
In House Tab
This tab lets you define the agent and outside sales agent(s) who usually do business with this client.
The fields on the In House tab are:
Agent No. The agent that usually handles this client’s business.
Outside Agent If this client’s transactions are to be credited to an Outside Sales Agent for commission payments, enter the Outside Agent’s vendor number or select from the drop down list.
O/S Comm. % Enter the commission percentage the Outside Sales Agent receives for this client, if different from the percentage entered in the O/S agent’s vendor record.
Enter the commission as a percentage of agency commission, not as a percentage of the sale. (For example, Agent 50 receives 50% of the agency commission). This field will override the default percentage in the O/S agent’s vendor record.
Exception Code
Group The Exception Code Group for the client. This is the group of codes that can be used to define (usually for corporate or government) why the low fare was not taken on a sale.
Different groups of codes can be defined in Setup. For example, Group A might be exception codes used for most corporate accounts, and Group B might be for the exclusive use of one corporate account.
Sales/Accounting Tab
The Sales/Accounting tab lets you define payment and credit information for this client.
The balance of all open invoices for this client will appear at the top of the window and cannot be changed.
The fields on the Sales/Accounting tab are:
Open Balance The current balance for this client (display only).
Apply Late Fees A check box to define whether or not you want to place service charges or late fees on the account for unpaid balances. Please see Chapter 6, Late Fee Posting
Allow Credit Define whether or not credit is extended to this client.
If checked, the client is allowed a credit up to but not exceeding the amount
Maintaining Agency Data Files
allowed any credit.
Clients with no credit, or who exceed the limit defined in the Credit Limit field, will generate a credit warning on the Interface Verify List, and will require a Credit Password in TravCom’s Sales Posting function.
Credit Limit If you selected Allow Credit, enter the dollar amount of the client’s credit limit.
You can only enter an amount if Allow Credit is selected. If Allow Credit is selected, but the Credit Limit field is zero, then TravCom allows unlimited credit to this customer.
Clients who exceed the limit defined in this field will generate a credit warning in the Interface, and will require a Credit Password in TravCom’s Sales Posting function.
Credit No. The client’s primary credit card number, if applicable.
TravCom validates this number. If you enter an invalid number, a warning message appears. Click on OK to acknowledge the warning. You can then change the credit card number, or continue.
Expiration Optionally enter the expiration date for the client’s primary credit card, in numeric format MMYY or MM/YY (for example, 0499 or 04/99).
First/Last Activity
Dates The file creation date is the first activity date. The last date is automatically updated each time you post activity to this account number, but can be overwritten.
Last Statement
Date The date of the last statement printed for this client.
Statement Group Define the frequency for running statements for this client. Example, M for Monthly. You can create a new frequency code or select an existing one from the drop-down list.
Departments Tab
The Departments tab lets you maintain separate departments for your client.
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This tab is accessible only for Corporate or Government clients (as defined in the Account Type field on the Marketing tab).This information is used for corporate reporting (specifically for the Corporate Travel Analysis report and custom reports you might create in Crystal Reports). TravCom allows you to report client activity by department.
Buttons at the bottom of the tab let you Add, Edit or Delete departments for this client.
If you choose to Add or Edit a department, TravCom prompts for an alphanumeric Department Code and a corresponding Department Name. Select OK when finished.
Branches Window
The Branches window in the Client File is only accessible if your software version has multi-branch functionality.
Since all branches share the same database, this window lets you select the branches with which this client is associated. Selected branches are indicated with an X at the far left side of the window.
To... Do This...
Select or deselect a branch
Click on it with the mouse, or highlight it and press the space bar.
Select all
branches Select the All button Deselect all
branches Select the None button. Use this only if you want to deselect all, in order to select only specific branches. A client must be assigned to at least one branch.
Maintaining Notes About a Client
For each client, the Notes button at the bottom of the window lets you display or maintain free-format comments or notes. Use the Enter key to start a new line, or your lines will wrap around in the window.
When you are finished reading or updating, click on OK to save.
Importing Client Information from Interface
If a MIR (Machineable Interface Record) is transferred from your reservation system via the Interface, but the client does not yet exist in TravCom, that record will be flagged with an error and will not be posted.
You can correct the problem by adding the client to the Client File in TravCom.
The Import button provides a shortcut that lets you automatically copy the client data from the open Interface record into TravCom. For complete procedures, see the section Editing or Correcting Interface Data -- Importing Client Information into TravCom, in Chapter 5, Interface With Your Reservation System.
Using Browse to Change or Delete Multiple Client Records
The Browse button, which appears on the Client Maintenance window when you do not have a specific record displayed, lets you:
• browse through all clients, or clients in a selected range
• edit any field for any client (except for the client number)
• make a global change to all clients you have tagged
• delete all clients you have tagged (clients must have zero balances in all branches before they can be deleted)
Browsing for Client Records To browse client records:
Maintaining Agency Data Files 1. On the Files menu, select Client.
2. Click on Browse.
The Browse Client File window appears:
By default, the browse window shows all your client records, sorted in numerical order. You can change the sort order, and/or narrow down the list to a selected range of clients:
To... Do this...
change the sort order to
alphabetical by sort key
select the Alphabetical Order radio button, and then click on Search.
This is good for checking for duplicate client records.
view only a specific range of clients
Use the From/To Client fields to define a range of client numbers, and click on Search.
3. Use the scroll bar to view all the fields for each client.
4. You can change any field for any client, except for the Client Number field.
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If you want to make global changes to client records see the next section, Changing Multiple Client Records, below.Changing Multiple Client Records
This is a great timesaving feature if your agency needs to make a change that affects all (or many) clients, such as changing the Agent field to agent No “001” for all clients. Instead of changing the field for each client individually, you can do a global Replace for all tagged records in the Browse window.
To change a field for multiple client records:
1. In the Browse Client File window, tag all clients affected by the change. To tag clients you can:
• click on the empty field to the left of the client number.
An X indicates that the client has been tagged. Clicking again will remove the X and untag the client.
• use Tag All to automatically tag all clients on the list.
• use Untag All to automatically untag all clients on the list.
2. On any client’s line, click on the field that you want to change for all tagged clients.
3. Click on the Replace Tagged Records check box.
TravCom prompts you for the value you want to enter in that field, for all tagged clients.
4. Enter the value to be put in that field for every tagged client.
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If the entry for that field is restricted (for example, in the Account Type, you may only enter Leisure, Corporate, or Government), you must choose from the drop down list.5. Click on OK. The selected field is changed to your specified value, for every client you have tagged.
Deleting Multiple Client Records
You cannot delete a client record unless the client’s balance is zero. If you are using multiple branches the client balance must be zero in all branches. To delete one or more client records in the Browse function:
1. In the Browse Client File window tag the client(s) you want to delete.
CAUTION: Make sure that you tag the correct client records. There is no way to retrieve a record once it has been deleted.
2. Click on the Delete Tagged Records check box. TravCom prompts for confirmation: Delete all tagged clients?
3. Click on Yes to confirm (or No to cancel your request).
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If a tagged client did not have a zero balance in all branches, that client will not be deleted. It will still appear as a tagged item in your Browse list. However, TravCom will delete all other tagged clients that have zero balances.Printing a Client Edit List
The Edit List button lets you display or print a client listing. This button appears at the bottom of the Client
Maintaining Agency Data Files
Using Tag Options, you can select clients by different criteria, such as client number or name, account types (example, only Corporate and Government clients), business types, travel types, and key words.
For general procedures on requesting an edit list, see General Rules for File Maintenance earlier in this chapter.