About ORS/OCIS Campaign Management

ORS/OCIS Campaign Management provides an integrated array of features to help manage promotional campaigns. With this feature you can coordinate production and distribution of materials like mail merge documents, coupons, brochures, and HTML email messages and newsletters. You can also manage production of export files for distribution lists for dissemination through an advertising agency or fulfillment house.

Note: Campaign Management is different from Requests functionality, although some of the setup and processing procedures are similar. Requests typically involve responding to a single profile that requested information. Campaign Management in ORS/OCIS is typically information sent for promotional purposes to a designated group of guest profiles.

Background

In an earlier OPERA version, ORS (OPERA Reservation System) and OCIS (OPERA Customer Information Systems) did not have the functionality to send massive communications to its guest profiles. In V3.0.2, Campaign Management functionality that existed in SFA (Sales Force Administration) was made available in ORS/OCIS with the limitations of only applying to guest profiles. In OPERA V4.0+, Campaign Management for guest profiles is available for ORS/OCIS with an add-on license.

ORS/OCIS Requirements

The following requirements apply to ORS/OCIS Campaign Management in OPERA V4.0+:

• The customer must have an active ORS license. If the customer wants to look at production data from stay records, an active OCIS license is also required. OCIS license is also required for central memberships to be created.
• Campaign Management is available for ORS and/or OCIS with an OPR_CAMP OPERA Reservations System - Campaign Management add-on license.
• The OPR_CAMP add-on license for Campaign Management can be activated in ORS and/or OCIS when the OCIS (OPI>version number>OCIS) license code is active.
• The Global parameter MEMBERSHIP PROMOTION CODE in group MEMBERSHIP has to be set to 'Y' for the Marketing Program (MP Code) PROFILE to be available.
• Profiles that are included in a campaign will have a record in the Profile Request Table, indicating that the profile was included in the campaign.

Differences between SFA and ORS/OCIS Campaign Management

• ORS/OCIS does not have the full functionality of SFA Campaign Management, as ORS/OCIS Campaign Management is only applicable to guest profiles.
• ORS/OCIS does not handle Campaigns that are based only on rate codes.

Differences between S&C/PMS and ORS/OCIS Campaign Management

In addition to the above restrictions for ORS/OCIS Campaign Management functionality, the following restrictions also apply to Centrally Managed Campaign Management.

• Campaign Management is not property specific. To achieve similar functionality, the campaign can be linked to a promotion that is attached to a single or multiple properties.
• Campaign Management Statistics are not available in ORS/OCIS, since some of the information needed is not available.

Workflow Overview

Prerequisites

After the add-on license for Campaign Management is installed, activate the Campaign Management feature in ORS/OCIS by enabling the campaign management application setting to Y. Select Application Settings>ORS (Global)>Activity>Campaign Management Functions.

Plan Your Campaign

• Identify the group of profiles you want to distribute campaign information to.
• Define the campaign message you want to convey.
• Identify how you want to distribute the campaign message.
• Identify when you want to distribute this information.
• Determine how much you want to spend on the campaign.
• Identify if the campaign is revenue or non-revenue based.

Campaign Configuration

Create Campaign Status Codes

(Configuration>Setup>Campaigns>Campaign Status Codes). Configure the campaign status codes that will be used to identify each campaign's status throughout the campaign's lifecycle such as New, In Process, and Complete.  

Create Data Extraction Criteria

Access the Data Extraction function (Miscellaneous>Data Extraction>Data Extraction Query). Set up or select existing criteria used to extract information from the OPERA database for customized mailings and mail-merge documents. You can determine the guest profile information you want queried, such as adults, having a stay record within a certain time period, or generating a specified amount of revenue. The process of creating data extraction criteria is explained in the OPERA online help topic Data Extraction.

Create a Document Template

Set up the document template used to convey the campaign information, write the information, and specify the delivery method (Configuration>Setup>Document Templates).

The user prepares communication templates for creating the campaign literature (such as brochures, event fliers, and seasonal rates) to guests, along with setting up the delivery method for the template, such as mail merge, HTML email messages, and export files. The campaign information is written and saved in a Word document or HTML file that is associated with the document template.

Create a Campaign Type

Set up a campaign type and associate document templates to it (Configuration>Setup>Campaigns>Campaign Setup). Name the campaign type as a campaign type template. During campaign management, campaign type templates are selected and other parameters added for processing.

Campaign Management

• Add a New Campaign (Miscellaneous>Campaign Management). Create a new campaign from the campaign type, existing parameters and options set up during campaign configuration.
• Edit an Existing Campaign (Miscellaneous>Campaign Management). Select an existing campaign and edit it by entering changes or selecting other available parameters that are available for this campaign type.
• Process a Campaign (Miscellaneous>Campaign Management). You can  process new and existing campaigns. The campaign literature will be sent to the appropriate system servers according to the specified delivery method.