Siebel Hospitality Guide > Setting Up Inventory Controls >

Defining Function Space and Suite Inventory Controls

An administrator can create inventory controls for specific spaces, categories, and suites.

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Inventory Controls.

Authorization, Overbook, and Option Level Inventory Controls

Authorization level inventory controls are specified to limit the number of reserved, concurrent bookings that can be made for a category or suite. These inventory controls must be created for each category. They can only be created for a category or suite. The value entered for the authorization level can be less, equal, or more than the capacity. When this limit is reached, the inventory status remains Unreserved unless overbook and option level inventory controls are defined for the function space.

Overbook and option level inventory controls can be specified to limit the number of overbookings and options that can be made for a function space. These inventory controls are used to determine the number of overbooked or optioned bookings that the function spaces can support.

NOTE:  You must create separate authorization, option, and overbook level inventory controls for each function space. Inventory controls do not apply across an entire property.

For example, the function space category titled Small has Salon A, B, C, and D as its components. This category can be reserved four times, and this value is automatically entered into the Capacity field in the Inventory Control list.

If you specify an authorization level of 5, this function space can be reserved up to a maximum of five times even though it may have capacity for four. After reaching this limit, you can either option or overbook the function space, provided you have already defined these types of inventory controls. If you specify an option level of 2 and an overbook level of 1 for the function space, you can option it twice and overbook it once. If you try to option or overbook the space beyond these limits, the inventory status will remain Unreserved.

Procedure for Defining Function Space Inventory Controls

This procedure assumes that the administrator has already created the appropriate function spaces for the property. For more information, see Creating Function Space Categories for a Property.

To define function space inventory controls

1. Navigate to the Property Pricing Admin screen.
2. In the Properties list, query for the property record, and then click the link in the Property Name field.
3. Click the Inventory Control view tab.

   You are brought to the Function Space view.

4. In the Inventory Controls list, create a new record.
5. Enter a start date and end date for the inventory control.

   The start and end date values are validated. The Start Date value must be less than or equal to the End Date value and the duration between Start Date and End Date cannot be greater than one year.

6. In the Function Space field, click the select button, and choose the appropriate specific space, category, or suite.

   NOTE:  The function spaces displayed in the Pick Function Space dialog box include only those spaces that are effective throughout the entire specified time period.

7. Choose the appropriate rule from the Rule Type drop-down list:
   • Choose Authorization Level to define a limit for the number of bookings that can be reserved concurrently for this function space on this date. Note that this option is only available if you are defining the rule for a function space or suite category.
   • Choose Option Level to define a limit for the number of bookings that can be optioned for this function space on this date.
   • Choose Overbook Level to define a limit for the number of bookings that can be overbooked for this function space on this date.
8. In each authorization field, set the rule levels for each day of the week.

   You can specify different levels of authorization, optioning, and overbooking for the same day.

   If a rule date range spans less than a week, then only the days of the week included in the range are editable under the Rules. For example, if the start date is January 24, 2005 and the end date is January 26, 2005, you can only enter values for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The rest of the days are read-only.

9. Select the inventory control records that you want to apply, and click Apply.

   You can select multiple records from the Rules drop-down list and apply the inventory controls for all of them at once.

   The results of the applied inventory controls appear in the Valid Authorizations Levels list, starting from the first day applied.

   NOTE:  Inventory control rules can overlap. When you apply a new rule and it has overlapped values, the new rule overwrites the old record values or creates new values if necessary.