What's New in OPERA > V5.0.04.02
V5.0.04.02
The following gives a brief description of New Features introduced in OPERA.
The Reservation Auto Attach Elements screen was enhanced to allow users to configure ‘Advanced’ filter conditions for Specials, as well as to allow Promotions to be available.
Two new permissions have been introduced to control the Attach and Detach features in Commission Handling. The availability of the Detach button (via the Options button) is controlled by the permission DETACH COMMISSION RECORD under the COMMISSIONS user group. The availability of the New button, for attaching commission records, is controlled by the permission ATTACH COMMISSION RECORD under the COMMISSIONS user group.
When the Ownership>Forecast Rotation Points application function is set to Y, the property has the ability to determine the rotation points based on future availability/reservations.
On the Edit Transactions Details screen, only a numeric integer value can be entered in the Covers field.
When activating and using AUTO FOLIO SETTLEMENT PREFERENCE functionality, this enhancement allows a property to determine if the charges on billing windows will first be settled and then transferred to window 8, or if the charges on billing windows will first be transferred to window 8 and then settled to the payment method on window 8.
During the ID document scanning configuration, the scanning function can be selected:
To locate questionable changes and prevent fraud, an OPERA report has been added to list all users that add, edit, or delete a Travel Agent profile on an existing reservation. The new report under the Reservation Report Group for Reservations with TA Profile Changes will display all Travel Agent profile modifications made to Reservations after the booking has been created, including IATA Number changes and Name changes.
The ability to group records by (and subtotal) FROM-ROOM-TYPE TO-ROOM-TYPE has been added.
A new application setting CONCEALED FOLIO STYLES allows properties to decide what folio styles are available to select from when generating a folio.
This enhancement provides the ability to generate a fixed length ASCII Export file for Infinium when performing Owner Revenue Distribution via the Owner Checks option. Properties can make a selection between EFT or CHECK payment methods while configuring a bank account. When EFT is selected for the bank account when processing payment to Owner(s), an export file will be generated. The export file allows properties to import the Owner Payment related data in their Back office system and process the payment more efficiently and in the similar manner as the Travel Agent commissions.
This enhancement provides a new report that combines information from different areas within OPERA. The report includes sections for Daily Statistics, Weekly Forecast, and Arrival information. This report gives a quick picture of the daily status of the property. The information is in one place and can be used for further reporting.
A new application setting DEFAULT LINEN CHANGE FREQUENCY allows a property to set the default frequency of their linen changes. A Linen Change check box is also available on the report FMX that produces the task sheets. This enhancement will be available when the Simple Task Assignment function is active and the Facility Management function is inactive. Being able to set a linen change default frequency and display linen changes on the task sheets makes the daily housekeeping work more efficient.
This enhancement has added additional matching options to the Profile Merge screen. Users can match Profiles by communication types including Email, Phone, and Fax. The Email, Phone, and Fax columns will be added to the grid when one of the new options is chosen in the ‘Match Criteria’ area. In properties where a large number of duplicate Profiles exist, the new options and improved usability will make the process of merging Profiles easier and more efficient.
The tokenization functionality now works in an ASP environment. When the IFC>Credit Card Vault application function is active, in an ASP environment, all resorts within one chain code will be vaulted but not all chain codes within a schema need be vaulted.
The export file has been separated from the delivery method configuration so that it is not necessary to configure the same delivery method for several exports, therefore avoiding duplicate configuration and preventing it from overwriting when changes via the export file template are applied.
The Voucher functionality has been enhanced so that electronic vouchers are automatically generated and attached to reservations with additional validation criteria such as transactions codes, expiration period, maximum vouchers per purchase, etc. Guests will have text/e-mail sent to their mobile device to inform them of available vouchers and also as a reminder/alert for expiring vouchers.
This enhancement has added the ability to combine the outstanding balances for sharing guests. This allows comparing the combined balance against the credit card authorizations of the main reservation. OPERA provides the ability to display the Credit Limit combined for multiple reservations on the Credit Limit Report. The reservations that appear on the Credit Limit Report are the true credit limit exceeded reservations so that the property can close off charging privileges and contact guests in a timely manner.
This enhancement gives properties with Multi Property licenses the ability to define and use a single confirmation letter for all properties. This reduces setup efforts and support by facilitating the use of a single RTF for all properties.
This enhancement gives properties the ability to set up default Confirmation Letters for different Account Types. This makes printing/sending Confirmation Letters more efficient and ensures that the correct letter is sent.
Now, all the data elements from the sample folio RDF are part of the sample folio ODT/XML to be used for report customization.
There is a new application setting MAXIMUM NIGHTS FOR BLOCK RESERVATIONS to define a maximum number of nights exclusively for Block Reservations.
This enhancement has made changes to the Reservation Name Change process by introducing a new application setting SIMPLE NAME CHANGE, which will allow properties to change the Reservation Name from the Reservation screen without having to access the Profile screen. This makes the process of changing the Reservation Name more efficient and eliminates the need to access multiple screens.
This enhancement has added the ability to select all the existing Block Codes for the selected Date range when running the Group Pickup report (grppickup). This enhancement has eliminated the need to run multiple reports, and is now more efficient for larger properties with a lot of Block activity.
This enhancement has added the ability to combine the outstanding balances for sharing guests. This allows comparing the combined balance against the credit card authorizations of the main reservation (the one having the authorized credit card as the payment method and having an actual rate).
The Forecast / Availability Book report now offers an option to include the Contract Rooms per day for each Business Block. When the Print Contract Rooms check box is selected, the Contract Rooms for each date of the business block will be included in the row below the Pickup rooms.
A new report 'Master Sub Info' (rep_master_sub_info_bi) for blocked / picked up figures has been created. This report will show a summary of all Blocked Rooms, Picked-Up Rooms, Available Rooms, and Picked-Up # of Persons for each day for all Master-Sub Allocations and Master-Sub Blocks that fall within the filter criteria of the report. The top of the report shows a grand total for each day of the mentioned figures. A summary by Master as total, and by room type are displayed. This is followed by the details for each Sub-allocation or Sub-block associated with the Master. Lost or cancelled Master-Sub Allocations or Master-Sub Blocks will not be displayed on the report. Please note that only physical reservation pick-up will appear as pick-up for the Master allocation. Rooms that have been allocated from the Master allocation to a Sub-allocation will still appear as available on the Master allocation.
In order to be able to show the data across for more than just a few days, this report will open in HTM format when previewed. If the report seems distorted on the screen on preview, please use the 'Compatibility View' on your IE browser settings to display the report with the correct alignment.
The Month End Details reports business block room and catering production changes during the dates requested. The report can be grouped by Arrival Month or Owner and has many filtering options including business blocks with the Catering Only check box = Y or the Catering Only check box = N. Each business block with a change during the requested period is grouped by Room and/or Event Status and is listed with the change and the current revenue and room nights.
The Meal Type Forecast (BI) report is a daily catering Covers and Forecast report by Meal Type with a comparison to Budget and the Same Time Last Year.
In an effort to improve the User experience, several areas in the application have been reviewed to determine which Prompts could be removed or added as check boxes to screens already in the process flow. Most of the changes were made in Event areas such as: Event Copy, Event Resources, Menu and Menu Item adding and editing to an Event and Catering Package Copy. Please review the Release Notes for each of the Sub SCRs for details on all of the changes.
It is now possible to inactivate employees / users, even when the initials are linked to existing entities, when the below criteria are fulfilled:
Records where the Primary Owner is inactive will display the appropriate owner field with a gray background. The Change Owner Utility has been extended to include a field 'Exempt Statuses' for Business Blocks. Business Blocks on the selected statuses will not be included in the Owner change.
The 'Discount' field in the Business Block and Quick Business Block Catering tab has been renamed 'Res Discount'. When a value is entered in this field and the business block is saved, the Save Choices menu now offers new options allowing for all of the eligible Resources to be updated with the new Discount %.
iCalendar email sending can now also be triggered through Trace Codes.
Note: Currently iCal email sending is based on OPERA form changes, i.e. the emails will only be sent when a record is created or updated through an OPERA form. If the create or update comes through OXI, web services, or other back-end processes, the trace activities will be created, but the iCal emails will not be sent. SCR 259489 has been created for V5.0.04.03 to improve this process, and also allow iCal email sending when trace activities are created through back-end processes or external systems.
A new check box, ‘Hide Deduct Space’, has been added to the Function Diary. When selected, a function space with an event booked in a deduct status will not be displayed. If the function space only has a deduct space booked for part of the requested period, the function space will be hidden when the check box is selected. Below are examples of the Function Diary with and without the check box selected.
It is now possible to identify a specific Snapshot Type as the 'Forecast' Snapshot. That Snapshot can be automatically updated based on the figures in the Room Grid and displayed (but not manually edited) in Room Grid (GRGRID_NEW).
In OBI, you can create and subscribe to "Agents" that will provide real-time status monitoring to ensure the consistency of OBI data. The BI Agents will execute conditional event-driven actions and send event driven alerts to users who subscribe to them.
You can create BI Agents in both OBI client standalone and cloud installations. A set of pre-configured BI Agents is available to which users can subscribe. You will be able to create Agents, subscribe to them, schedule them to run, define data conditions that determine what actions the Agents execute when conditions are met, and distribute the data analysis to users. Refer to the Oracle BI documentation for the steps on how to create Agents and subscribe to them.
RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary Value) can now be used in tier management to base the membership upgrades and downgrades on the member's computed RFM score. In RFM Configuration, users can create formula labels and score cards (configured from scores and values) that can be used to create a new RFM formula.
The Advanced Dynamic Rate allows you to create a rate based on another rate (a base rate) or based on both a base rate and a BAR Based rate. This rate structure provides greater flexibility on the rate details level by allowing you to configure the rate as either a flat amount or a percentage. In addition, you can choose to apply the BAR rate amount to the Advanced Dynamic Rate calculation and you can optionally select a rounding method. See Configuring Advanced Dynamic Rates for steps on how to configure the Advanced Dynamic Rate.
Creating an Advanced Dynamic Rate
Under Tier Management in Membership Type Setup, a "Requalify On Upgrade" option has been added to check if members have enough points to requalify on upgrade. If members have enough points, they will receive an upgrade and a new expiration date will be assigned.
When the New button is selected from the Negotiated Rate tab in Rate Setup, a modified Profile Search screen will open from which multiple profiles can be selected for negotiated rate distribution. This modified form of the profile search is available only from the "Negotiated" tab on the Rate Header.
Membership points can now be used to pay for all or part of the bill when posting a payment for a profile with a membership type that has "FT Payment" configured. For this option to be available when the Payment button is selected from the Billing Screen, FT Payment must be configured as the award that the award code is based on.
Enhanced profile lookup by account type introduced. An "Account Type" search filter has been added to the Profile Lookup screen.
Note: Only account types defined locally in the PMS will display in the Account Types LOV. An Account Type must be combined with an additional search criterion to return a result. This must be a Client ID, Name, Keyword/Type or Membership Number.
Membership points calculation can be based on the "Room to Charge" field from a reservation. This will allow points to be calculated differently if a guest stays in a different room other than the one they are being charged for which may have a different amount for the rate.
The Email Delivery Method now supports Google Now service. When your hotel is certified to use the Google Now service and subscribed to the service, you can use this feature to edit the script for the reservation information that is displayed on a guest's hotel card when viewed on supported devices
An "Update Outside Booking Dates" option has been added to Promotion Codes to allow a reservation with the promotion code to be edited after the booking date has passed.
Updating Reservation Outside Booking Date
Additional UDF and screen paintable fields will display on the Group Rooming List when the new GROUP ROOMING LIST EXTEND parameter is active and the GROUP ROOMING LIST DISPLAYSET application setting is configured with a display set value.
The Max Hurdle column has been added to the Hurdle Recommendations screen. It displays when the Ignore Hurdle Ceiling system parameter is set to Yes. This column will show the max hurdle step with demand on it (which may be different from the ceiling).