The Exports feature is used to collect information from different tables or views in OPERA and export that data to an ASCII text file or to an XML file, which can be sent to a third-party system for processing. For example, to calculate award points for your loyalty program, you might use the Membership export to gather data for your members and then export this data to a fulfillment house. The fulfillment house would then process the data and calculate the membership award points.
General ‒ Use this type for all general or generic exports provided by OPERA system inserted data (SID). You can export from the existing generic templates or create a customized export.
Back Office ‒ Use this type for accounts payable, daily report, fixed assets, payroll, general ledger, and financial statement exports.
Membership ‒ Use this type for membership statements you need to export and send to a fulfillment house.
Country ‒ Use this type for country-specific legal exports.
Export File Workflow
To begin, you might be prompted to input parameters to control the execution of the export generation. For example, the parameter screen can prompt for the start and end dates for the date range to be covered by the export. Not all exports use a parameter screen.
When export generation is started, a pre-processor (Pre-Export Procedure) runs. This only occurs if a pre-processor is defined for the export. This procedure is specific to the export and populates views and sets variables and filters. Each export makes use of views that are supplied as standard with OPERA. Views are collections of data that are pulled from the many hundreds of OPERA database tables specifically for use in creating exports and reports.
The export generation process pulls data from the views, applies parameters and filters (if defined in the export setup), and calculates formulas, as appropriate. Exported data is stored in tables and can be viewed through the View Exports option. The ASCII export file is actually generated when the Export Data option is selected from the Exports screen. The export file is then stored in the export directory where it can be picked up by other applications for further processing. For example, it can be picked up by a back office application.
When the export is automatically generated during End of Day processing, the data and export file are generated with no user intervention required.
A post-processor (Post Export Procedure), if one is used for the export, runs to perform clean-up after the export data is generated. This could include activities such as truncating temp tables and resetting variables that were set by a parameter form.
Export File Generation
Automatic Generation of Export Files ‒ You can select a procedure (GENERATE EXPORT NA DATA) in End of Day (Night Audit) processing for creating export files. Only files selected for End of Day processing in the export setup are run automatically.
Manual Generation of Exports Files ‒ You can manually create export files as needed. For example, if files fail to automatically export during the End of Day routine procedure, you might need to manually export them.
Exports Screen
The Exports screen is used to collect information from different views/tables and export the data to an ASCII text or XML file. The screen shows all the generic exports provided by OPERA SID data. From this screen, you can generate and view export data files, and also alter export file configurations.
Credit Card Information Handling
In all OPERA tables, credit card numbers and expiration dates are stored as encrypted. Based on the Reservations ‒ Credit Card Information View user permission, you can view the credit card information on OPERA Screens. Regardless of the Credit Card Information View permission, you cannot modify export data containing credit card information. The credit card information on export files output is not masked. If the Credit Card Information View permission is not granted, credit card numbers and expiry dates in the export data are fully masked with Xs when displayed on screen where export data can be seen. If you have the Credit Card Information View permission granted, you can view the number in the export data but not modify it.