Start of Business Day

In food service and hospitality environments, a business day represents the operational start and end times of a day of business. A business day can begin at any time, but it typically starts during a slow period or when operations are closed, such as 3:00 a.m. or 4:00 a.m.

In contrast, a calendar day always begins at 12:00 a.m. and ends at 11:59 p.m. regardless of business operations.

In a cruise ship environment, the Property Management System (PMS) controls the business date. Simphony posts cabin charges to the PMS, so both systems must remain synchronized to ensure accurate communication and balancing of transactions.

When performing the Start of Day (SOD) process on a ship, update the PMS business date before updating the Simphony business date.

On cruise ships, Simphony allows a manual SOD to be performed twice within the same calendar day. For example, when a cruise ends, cabins are vacated and financial activity is reset. After the last guests disembark—typically between 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m.—the PMS and Simphony are closed out, and an SOD is performed to begin the next cruise.

A second SOD typically occurs at approximately 3:00 a.m. the following morning while the new cruise is underway. At that time, both the PMS and Simphony advance to the next business day.