Millennium3 F.A.Q's
Ask the Wizard...
These pages contains
answers to Frequently Asked Questions handled by our support staff, along with
some tips and tricks that we have found useful and presented here as questions.
- How do I ... ?
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I find ... ?
- Why doesn't ... ?
- Who is ... ?
- What is ... ?
- When is ... ?
- Why is ...?
- Trust
Accounting...?
- What's New...?
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How do I ... ?
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The
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The Room Summary Report |
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What's New in Version
4.041/4.092... ?
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Change a
receipt number after it has been printed. Really this is not permitted. However,
if you receipted the money and did not print the receipt then you can press
Enter on the Transaction and change the number to the correct number, then save. After that you should reprint the receipt.
Alternatively, you should reverse the transaction and put it through again but
this time using the correct number. This is the approved method as the reversal
will show on your Receipts Dissection and Cashbook History reports. Back to Top
Missed a receipt number in printing. At the time of printing
a receipt you have the option of overtyping the generated receipt number with
the number you require. Back to Top
Resetting the receipt number sequence. Just go to Setup System,
select Report Options and enter. Press the Up key to select the receipt number.
Change here and enter through the form to save. Back to Top
Laser/InkJet printed or continuous
receipts. This is up to you. Our report layout will cater for both. Laser
printed receipts are probable a lot lower cost and neater than the continuous
variety. With either you get an accurate copy for your own records. Back to Top
Split
Receipting of money. Millennium lets you pay of a guest account using as many as six
different types of payment. A guest may choose to pay off some of the account
with cash and the balance with a card. If you are using continuous or laser
printed stationery then you will use a different receipt number for each
transaction. This is automatic. Back to Top
The SVC Report (Summary) is comprised
of two sections. The top section shows the summary of all ledger dissections
and the amounts being paid against each ledger. The bottom section is very
useful is seeing if you have bill the correct number of charges against the
letting pool. eg. PABX. If you have say 25 units in the pool and all are
supposed to have a charge for the pabx then this
items will have 25 against it to let you know that the correct number have been
charged.
The SVC
Report
(Detail) can be sorted by a number of ways. Sort by Unit, Ledger, Date etc. If
you sort by Unit, then you can look at all the charges for any or all rooms to
verify that the charges are correct. This is the normal procedure after adding
all the charges (manual and automatic) and before adding owner/manager cheques. This lets you make any changes before the charges
against the trust for the owner and manager are
generated. Back to Top
Printing/emailing Owner Statements. Fiesta can now be used to send any number of owners their
monthly Unit Statement. You have the following extra capabilities:- (1) Write a Word document to attach to the email, (2)
Write a general letter to place in the body of the email, (3) Use the Note
Function to add a 10 line message at the bottom to send to all owners (look in
Setup Messages and select Owner), (4) Add a note that is sent to individual
unit owners (Select Owner on List of Owners, then select Update Owner. Change
the message here.), (5) Send to all unit owners, just pooled owners or non pooled owners, (6) View on the screen before printing or
emailing. Here is the sequence list:-
(1) Start Fiesta and select
email.
(2) Select Setup Messages and
then click on the Owners tab. Enter in your general message to all owners and
save.
(3) Click on Owners. Select one
of All, Pooled or Non Pooled to get the correct list of owners. Update any
owner without an email address by selecting the owner and then clicking on
Update Owner. Enter the email address and any message pertaining only to that
owner and save.
(4) Write your body letter, if
any, (rarely used) with MS Word. Save the document as a single web page. This
ensures that it is in HTML format to be used in the body. Do NOT use the
name BodyText.htm as this is reserved for the programme.
Whatever body you select will be copied by the programme
to BodyText.htm so we don't want you overwriting anything. If you do not want
to use anything in the body then select Blank.Htm. If you do not have one of
those, open Notepad and save as Blank.htm. If in doubt, download it from here. http://www.millennium3.ws/blank.htm
(5) Use Word to write any other
general letter you want to attach to the email. This should be saved as either
a .Doc or RTF.
(6) Select your body letter
(7) Select any letter to attach
(8) Set each of the Statement
Settings. These will recorded in an ini file. Set the month. Select whether you want to email
with a preview, email without a preview, or print the statements. Pooled units
owners will get a different report to that generated for non pooled unit
owners.
(9) Tag (F2) each of the owners
to whom you want to email or print their statement.
(10) Select the send mode (email
preview, email send, print)
(11) Send the Statement/s
The Owner Statement is generated
as an RTF attachment and as such can be printed on any printer using either Word, Notepad or Wordpad.
Standard Windows fonts are used throughout for compatability.
Back to Top
Generating or Adding Room Service Charges. For managers of apartments, if you have
your room service schedule setup correctly, Millennium can generate all of the
service charges for each unit. After generation, print the SVC as a history,
sorted by unit number to the screen. This lets you scroll through each room and
look at the charges generated. Take a note of any that you might wish to
change. Remember that those you change or enter manually do not get deleted
when you delete room charges. However, if you do delete service charges and add
them back, then you will have duplicate charges in any room where you have
entered a charge manually or modified an automatic one. This is why the SVC
History Report is so useful. Back to Top
Adding Manual Charges. These are generally used for items of a maintenance and general service nature. Go to each unit in turn and press F2 for the unit account. Then press Insert to add a charge against the unit trust account. Any charges added here will deduct from the owners payment. If charges exceed the income then Millennium will pay you up to the amount of income receipted and place a charge on the unit account, dated the 1st day of the next month. It will also place a credit on the account dated the last day of the current month to balance the unit account for the month. This is the reason why Millennium always balances each unit trust account each month. Back to Top
Change of Owners. When changing owners there will be money owing to the old owner. Set the date of changeover to the last day of the month. Calculate the amount due to the old owner and Insert a Debit in the Room Account payable to the old owner. This will reduce the new owners income and he will see the charge in the Expense area of the Owner Statement.
Adding
Advertising charges. Advertising charges are setup as either a
percentage of turnover or a fixed fee. If a fixed fee
then it is setup as a Standing charge. If setup for a percentage of receipts
then that must be setup on the unit setup form where you have different rates
for each owner or the Trust Account setup form where it is a global setting
that applies to all units. If setup as Standing Charges, then nothing will be
added when you select Add Advertising charges as the charges will be generated
on Add Standing Charge option. When based on a percentage that is calculated on
actual receipts and absorbed deposits for the month. Back
to Top
Adding your Sundry
Charges. Most sites each month sell items to guests
that do not form part of accommodation. These items are called sundries. When
you receipt these sundries into the trust account, you do so
on your own behalf, not the owner of the unit. So, come
the end of the month you want to get paid for these items. Millennium has the
Add Sundry Charges option to do that. Select this option,
set the date range and then you get another option to split these out to the
ledgers for entry into your general account. When you generate Owner/Manager cheques, these sundry items are added to your cheque for payment from the trust. We have had auditors who
insist that front office staff do not receipt sundries into the trust account.
These auditors do not work in the real world with your guests. No guest wants
two charges placed on their credit card because an auditor insists on it. The
Sundry Ledger is yours and you should receipt all sundries into the trust
account for payment out at the end of the month. Back
to Top
Adding Card Charges. Most sites have an agreement with the unit owner to deduct
from them the cost of credit card transactions. This is usually setup as a
percentage on the Credit Card Setup Form. The Add Card Charges will scan all receipts
for the month, see what type of card was used, collate all charges against each
room and then place a charge on the unit account payable to you. Back to Top
Adding
Owner/Manager Cheques. This option scans through each unit
account and generates two charges. The first is your commission and the second
is the owners payment. In doing this it also totals
each room account to see that the outgoings are not more than the income. If
the payout is more than the receipts then it generates a Shortfall credit in
the current month and a shortfall debit in the following month. Back to Top
Note well! If after generating cheques and you go back and change any item in any unit,
then you must use the Delete Owner Manager cheques as
amounts must be regenerated to reflect the changes you have made.
Generating Cheques. This procedure looks at all the charges against each unit and
collates the payments into cheques. Always generate
the cheques after the end of the previous month and
always use the next cheque number in sequence. Even
if you are using Internet Banking, you still need to generate a reference
number for each payment and that is the cheque
number. You can if you wish, enter the payment details into the cheque stub, but hold the cheque
as a blank and leave it in your cheque book. Cheques are cheap and are a guaranteed way to keep track of
payments out of the trust. Back to Top
The Cheque Summary Report. Millenniums Summary report is unique in
that it will show you whether the amount you are paying out is correct. It not
only shows the list of cheques but also totals the
receipts, adds deposits absorbed and deducts deposits received. The resultant
figure is the amount you can pay out. If this does not match the cheque summary total then you need to find out why the
balance there is out before proceeding further. First item to check is each
unit owners statement. Print these to the screen to
see if the Held in Trust balance is zero. If all units are correct then the
problem is most likely that you have not generated your Sundry Charges
correctly or have modifed them after generation or
added extra charges into the ledger that should not be there. Remove, add or
adjust these and then Delete Owner/Manager cheques, Add Owner/Manager cheques
and Generate cheques again. The Summary should now be
correct. Back to Top
The Receipts dissection and Banking Register Reports.
This report is one that should be run daily to record all the receipts for the
day. The receipt range and the totals should then be entered into the Banking
Register (required by Fair Trading). Come the end of
the month the money you receipt on a daily basis and reported in both the
Receipts Dissection and the Banking Register let you see what should have been
banked. Remember the Golden Rule of Trust Accounting... Receipt what you
receive and bank what you receipt. By banking ONLY what you receipt you will
never be in trouble balancing your bank statement as each
banking should coincide with the credits on the bank statement!
The Dissection Report will give
you a total for each method of payment plus by setting the options you can
include absorbed deposits so you can calculate the payout at the end of the
month. The Sundry total will be paid to you and the Trust Total will be divided
up after generating charges and cheques. The total
receipts plus the Deposits Absorbed minus the Deposits Received is the amount
you will be disbursing. Back to Top
Clearing cheques to reconcile your bank statement is a breeze. If you do direct
debiting of owner payments then all cheques can be
cleared for prior periods very quickly. If you still use physical cheques then you must check each item on your bank
statement and clear the cheque in the month it was
presented. Go to Reports, End of Month, Trust Accounting, Banking
Menu and select Reconcile Cheques. Enter the month
for which you want to clear cheques and enter on each
cheque to clear. Make sure that you select the
correct month in which the cheque was
presented. Back to Top
End of Month
Balance and Reconciliation report is the bible of your activities
for the month. It is comprised of three parts. The top section is the deposits
held at the end of the month and will match the Deposits Held Historical
Report. The middle section starts with the carried forward balance from the
previous month. to this is added receipts and
deposits. From this total the system deducts the cheques
generated less any cheques for the month that have
already been cleared. The balance is your new carried forward balance and will
match the Top Balance. The bottom section is your cheque
book reconciliation area. You will already have entered the Closing Bank
Balance in the Cheque Reconciliation, plus any money
in transit. What's Money in Transit? This is money receipted in the last few
days of the month but not yet physically banked. From this is deducted all
outstanding cheques to give you the same balance as
the other two balances. When all balance then your trust account is in
balance. Back to Top
How do Trust
Accounts get out of Balance? If the top two areas balance then the
problem is usually one of the following:- (1) You did
not bank what you receipted in Millennium. (2) You have cleared a cheque for the incorrect amount. (3) You have cleared a cheque that has not yet been presented. (4) You have not cleared
a cheque that has been presented. (5) You have
incorrectly calculated your money in transit. (6) You did not enter the correct
Closing Bank Balance from your Bank Statement. Back
to Top
Receipt an over payment from a debtor. Always receipt what you receive from the debtor. All sites will
have two extra transactions generated. The first is to receipt the overpayment
into the LEDGER. For non trust sites another transaction will appear as a
credit on the debtors account. Trust sites will have to refund the overpayment
from the LEDGER to the debtor. Back to Top
Move a guest to another room prior to
arrival. You have a number of options here. The first is
to enter on the reservation form down to the Unit Code, blank the code and
press Enter to lookup other vacant rooms. Select the room, Enter, then press
Ctrl + Enter to save. another is to press Alt + F5 on
the guest list and select from the available rooms. This is by far the fastest.
another is to F5 to the Reservation Calendar, locate
the guest, press the '*' key on the keypad to tag the guest. then
move up or down the calendar to a suitable unit. Then press
the '*' key to paste to the new location. This is the slowest
method. Back to Top
Refund a guest deposit prior to arrival. Just select the guest
on the Guest Table and press Delete. A warning message will appear on the top
of the screen. Select Yes to continue. If the guest
paid by cheque then the cheque
refund entry form will appear. Select Yes for Refund. Enter the cheque details. If the deposit was billed to a debtor/agent
then make the cheque out to the agent.
If the guest
paid by cash or card, then a form will appear for you to complete. When that
form is completed you will go to the guest's account ready to make a 'negative'
payment as refund. This is a Payment NOT a Deposit. After completion the guest
will be checked in and out of the REFUND room. All Cancelled guests who had
refunds will appear in this room. Back to Top
Set one night as free on a guest account. Just enter on the transaction, zero the charge
and set the Lock option to Yes and save. Back to Top
Sell an item over the counter by credit
card. On the Main Menu of
Millennium you just press the F4 key to open the Cash Sales Table. As you
select the item and enter through the form a payment option will appear. Select
Card and enter the type of card. When finished entering you get the option to
print a receipt for the item as well. Currently that defaults to whatever
printer you have setup as your Ticket Printer. Unless you have a dedicated
printer it should be set to your Statement printer under Setup System, Report
Switches. Back to Top
Printing
Registration forms is a breeze. You can write your own
header and footer messages to attach to the body of the form. These text
messages can be up to 10 lines deep and up to 1000 characters each. If you do
not already have our sample messages just click here to download. Save the file to your MMATE
working folder. You can set the Arrivals Tab by date and tag one or all
arrivals. Select print Registration Form or Print Multi Rego
Forms. This option lets you print all arrivals for the day. We are also
building in the option to pre-print as many blank forms as required. Back to Top
Setup a Second Folio for a Guest.
Once the guest is
checked in, enter on the Guest’s Reservation Form and press Alt+F8. For the
same guest select ‘A’ from the next options and this will create a second
account for the guest. You can move all sundry charges to this new account from
the original account or move all the accommodation charges from the original to
the second account, whichever is the most suitable. The telephone calls will
always be placed on the original account. Two accounts is
great for reps who require sundries on one account and accommodation and phone
calls on the other. It is also used for guests who share a room with the name
on the second account changed to that of the second guest’s name. Back to Top
Upgrade
Millennium. Click below to download the upgrade file. Before you save it you
MUST locate and delete your existing Upgrade.exe file. The new file is called Upgrade.exe and must be saved into the MMATE
folder.
If you have not
already done so, go to Start then Search. Type in Config.nt for the file name and then search. When
located, double left click on it and open with Notepad. Scroll to the bottom
and change files = 100 to Files = 150. Now save the file. This is required for
the upgrade.
If you do not
already have our sample messages just click here to download a file called Messages.tps as it is a required file.
Now do a
complete backup of your MMATE folder. Do NOT proceed without doing this first. Anyone
upgrading, who has problems due to unknown causes and does not have a current
valid backup will be charged either by us or their support technician or both,
for recovery of data.
After saving,
locate Upgrade.exe and double left click on it to unpack the files. You will be
asked if you wish to overwrite. Answer 'A' for all files. Now start the programme called either Fileman321.exe or Filema~1.exe.
This will start up Fiesta. Note that Fileman321 or Filema~1 are the same programme and the name may be have been changed by your
operating system as it may be set to not use long file names. This is not a
programming error!
Click on File Utilities. Select File Manager. Select Tag All. Select
Build. This will start the upgrade. Do NOT under any circumstance stop the
process as you will corrupt the files.
When finished,
select Info. Now look for any files with errors.
Click on Untag All. Click on those files that show File not found
error. Click on Freshen. Click on Untag All.
Click on any
file that shows Error 47 . Click on Freshen.
Close Fiesta.
You can now restart Millennium. Back to Top
Send a Confirmation Letter with Fiesta. First you must have Outlook installed. Fiesta runs at the same
time as Millennium. They share the same database. Start Fiesta and select email
Manager. Select Guests. This will open your guest list. There are tabs at top
for current, in house, booked today etc. Select Booked Today. This will show just
those guests who made their booking today. If you want to go back to yesterday,
just wind the date back by one day.
To tag a guest
for sending, you either press F2 or click on Tag Guest. To send the lot, click
on Tag All. Select Preview/Send.
There are many
options on this screen. The obvious ones are Word to write your body text or
attachment and Write. Use Word to write the body. This MUST be saved as a
Single Web Page if you are going to use in the body of the email or as a DOC
file if being attached. Do NOT use images within this letter as Outlook does
some funny things with images embedded in emails. Do NOT save it as
BodyText.htm. It is best to make this letter your standard letter that you will
send to everyone. After writing the body text and saving it, it is ready to use
over and over again. Just select the correct letter for your Body Text and it
will be placed into the body of your email.
If you have a
brochure you wish to attach, click on Attach and select the file. You also have
an option to attach a photo of your building or an individual photo of the
unit. The building photo must be called MyLogo.bmp.
Keep these bit maps as small as possible for fast sending.
Click on Print
to send. Your email programme will open with the body
text and an attachment called Rescon.rtf plus
whatever extra you might have attached. If all is ok, just click on send.
If you are
happy with the body text, then the next time you use this facility click on
Send No Preview and all Confirmation Letters will be generated one after
another. When finished, just place Fiesta on the Task Bar. Back to Top
Setup Messages for Guest and Debtor
Statements. Fiesta has an extensive
messaging facility for writing and attaching messages to different reports. For
example there are two messages for Confirmation Letters. The first is
used at the top of the letter and the other at the bottom. We supply standard
messages for you download and customize to suit your particular needs. If you
do not already have our sample messages just click here to download.
There are
two messages for Registration Forms. The first is your general Terms of occupancy
and the second is usually a special clause covering yourself
in case of damages. Samples are available for download here. These messages will only run with Fiesta.
You can modify them by selecting email Manager then Setup Messages.
There is one
message for the bottom of the Guest Statement. It is called the Farewell
Message. Customize this to suit. There is also another for the bottom of
your debtors statements. This is usually used for your terms of
payment. Back to Top
Printing
/emailing guest Statements. In Fiesta, select email then Guests.
Select the guest and press F2 to tag. Select Preview Send as this lets you look
at the email prior to sending. Select Print Guest Account. To print the account
you would select Print instead of Preview. Back to Top
Write off Debtor Accounts. If you have debtor accounts that will never be paid or have
contra accounts that have to be written off, there is a bulk payment facility
to write off or receipt whatever amounts you
tag.. On the debtor account you can 'tag' any number of transactions for
payment or just select one. After selection press F2 for payment. You will be
presented with the total value of what you intend to write off or pay off. To
write off, select 'Write Off' as the payment method and do NOT retain the
balance. This places the writeoff into agent
commission. It will also show on a number of reports as written off. Your
debtor O/S will be reduced by the value you have either receipted or written
off. Back to Top
Printing Debtor
Accounts. Fiesta now automatically shows those
debtors that owe you money. There is a tab to show all debtors. You can tag all
the current debtors and email or print the accounts. Before sending there is
the option to attach a message into the account or attach a general message to
all debtors or insert a message into the body of the email. The setup of these
letters is the same for all email modules. Refer to emailing Confirmation Letters for
more information. If you select email Preview then you can modify the body text
prior to sending the account. To get to this area start Fiesta, select 'email',
select Debtors. Back to Top
Setting up Packages. Setting up
packages is easy once you understand the sequence. Here's how it works... First
you need to understand that the value of the package is either deducted from
the value of the accommodation or added to it. You have that choice on the
guest reservation form on the right side. eg.
Say the value of the total including the package items is $150 per night and
you want to include in this, Dinner and Breakfast with a total value of $60. (Dinner $40 and Breakfast valued at $20.)
(1) You need to setup stock items
for each Dinner $40 and Breakfast $20 and give each of these a package code
which can be anything from 'a' to 'Z'. You might also setup the dinner to be
charged on the day of arrival and the breakfast on the day of departure. These
settings are on the Stock Setup Form. you can only
access these after you have given the stock item an individual package code.
NOTE:- You cannot use the same stock item for a
package and non package charge to a guest. You must have separate stock items.
(2) go
to Utilities Menu and setup a Package with DBB as the code and Description of
Dinner Bed Breakfast $60. Attach each of the Stock Items to the Package.
(3) Setup a Room Rate for $150
per night. We are assuming that this package is for one person only. If for
more than one then you need to setup your extra person
charge to be equal to the package value ($60) plus the usual extra charge per
person say $20. So extra persons would then be $80 per night. This would mean
that for two persons you would be getting $110 for the accommodation and $120
for the meals for a total of $230 = $150 + $80. Attach the package DBB to the
rate.
(4) Make a reservation using the
new rate for two persons and then decide whether you wish to Include or Add the package. The reservation form defaults to Include.
(5) Look at the guest account and
you will see that the guest will see Accommodation $230 per night. If you press
enter on the Accommodation charge you will see that the Accommodation value has
been reduced by the value of the package items for each day. Do NOT change
the values here. Under the F7 key for Stock you will the package items
being billed by 2 for each days stay. The Guest Account will not print
the package items, only the accommodation and any other sundry items.
You need to setup different stock items for each of the different package items. If you have two breakfasts then they MUST be different items with different prices.
Exporting a Mail List. We are often asked how do we export either a guest list or a debtors list to be used for direct mail. There are two ways. In Millennium3, on the Main Menu, select Utilities then select Export a file. You select what you wish to export. If you select Guests, then the export file is automatically called Export.CSV. If Debtors, then it is Debtors.CSV. In each case, the CSV stands for Comma Separated File. This is the standard file used for Mail Merging with Word. Most users will export the file and open it with Excel to get rid of those without full addresses. At the bottom of the window where GUESTS.CSV is shown, you can change the 'path' to whatever you like. eg C:\Guests.csv will place the file into the start folder of your hard drive. It is up to you where you save this file.
The second option is in Fiesta. Start Fiesta and select Email. Select Debtors. Select Export Debtors. Again it is up to you what you call or where you save this file.
In the very latest version of Fiesta (you will need to download and save) you can also export your guests by around 28 different settings. You will need to play with this as you can refine your search down to no records matching your settings. Go to Marketing, select Marketing Manager, set the criteria to whatever you want and click on Tag Selection. At this point the software will go through all of your guests from day one, looking for clients that match the settings. As there are no keys involved in this process, it can take quite a while to generate the list. All guests that meet your criteria will be placed into the queue list at the bottom. When it is finished loading the queue, you can sort the queue (see the options along the top of the queue) and then export as a CSV file. When finished, it will automatically open Excel so you can import into there and do further refinements before saving your final list ready for use in Word.
New housekeeper Report. Kathy requested a different layout to suit their purposes. This is available on Reports/Daily/ArrDepSvc report. Selete New and follow through. It will also print by room range, so you can set that to suit. And if you have your housekeepers setup under Staff Passwords, you can also print by housekeeper. Do not select both or nothing may print!
Whats New in Version 4.041/4.092
Guest
email Manager that will let you
* automatically email Guest
Confirmation Letter.
* Bulk emails of Guest Confirmation Letters.
* Bulk email any attachment to your entire database
* Marketing Manager that uses bulk emailing facilities
send any attachment to any selected range of guests.
* email any one guest and attach whatever you like.
* Runs concurrently with Millennium
* Edit email body text on the fly.
* Export Guest List to Mail List software for bulk mailing.
* Send offers to cancelled
guests to try to lure them back.
If you capture the email addresses of guests when
reservations are made, our new email manager lets you immediately send a
confirmation letter, ( as long as you have the email
Manager running) or you can wait to the end of the day and send to all
reservations that day automatically. Now, that makes you look really good with
the client, plus you save lots of time. All the information in your current
confirmation letter can be included. Our sample text for the body of the email
can even include your email address for immediate response from the recipient.
Ask us for a sample. A log of all emails sent is kept plus the
date and time is placed into the Guest’s Notepad. Back to Top
Debtor’s email facilities to
send accounts automatically.
Just select the Debtor and their accounts will be collated and sent automatically.
For Debtors who do not have an email address, the account will be printed as
normal for posting or faxing. You have the option of previewing emails before
sending or printing.
Owner email
facility to send End of Month Statements to Unit Owners. Unit Managers can now send all end of month
statements directly to the unit owners from Fiesta. This can save an enormous
amount of time usually spent in collating, folding, enveloping, addressing and
posting of these statements. Obviously you need to have each owners email
address in the Owner Setup Form.
By the way, all printed reports from this version
use your standard Windows printer. Fonts used are Courier and Ariel for
consistency except in some areas where fixed width fonts will be used for column
alignment. Fonts used are standard Windows fonts. Page size is set to A4 for
consistency. Back to Top
Email Manager
requires that you have Outlook installed on the same machine as Fiesta.
Our bulk emailing facilities uses our own built in email engine and bypasses
Outlook entirely. Back to Top
File Manager (Fiesta)
Version 4.092 like the other options above, is a subset of the new Millennium
for Windows. There will be no further major changes to the file structure until
6 months after the Windows release when we expect to move to an SQL database
driver. As items of use are developed prior to the release of M3W, and they can
be incorporated into FM3, then registered users will be able to use these facilities.
It is just part of our on-going commitment to our clients.
File
Manager MUST be used to upgrade your files before you can use any of these new
editions. As a number of sites have increased their turnover over the last
12 months despite the conditions that have applied, we have had to increase the
number of digits allowed in some money fields. This means that all files must
be converted to the wider field format. Sounds complicated, doesn't it? Well,
it's not! It is FULLY AUTOMATIC when you choose Tag All and Build keys. You'll
see the updating happening on the screen.
PURGE. A separate module is now attached to File
Manager for purging off old data. First, back up your
existing data files and current M3 programme.
Purging is done by letting you select the date from which you wish to purge and
then copy only those guests with arrival dates equal to or greater than the
date you enter. It will retain any forward deposits and unpaid debtor accounts.
Then it copies the required files to new files. It now deletes the originals.
(Remember that you already have a backup!) Then it renames the new files to the
same name as the old and rebuilds the keys. If you still want to report on old
data, then you should take a backup in your usual way and put that away
somewhere safe. This is very similar to the refresh option in File Manager but
with a date option. However because it requires exclusive access to the M3
files, you cannot run it concurrently with M3. In other words you MUST be out
of M3 on all computers on the network and you
MUST have upgraded your files. Back to Top
* A new
Agent Allocations Report that details for each
agent the allocations you allowed, the number they used and the percentage
used. This means that you can run this report for any period and see at a
glance if the agents are fulfilling their requirements. If they are under or
over using you can print the report for just the one agent and attach that to
your letter to them explaining why they should reduce or increase their
allocations. The end result by using this report correctly,
is that you can put more money in your pocket. Back to Top
*
Modification to Current Guests Report to collate all phone
calls by guests to the last day of stay. This has no effect on the dates shown
on the guests account. Just makes it easier if this is the only report you use
for balancing. Back to Top
* Additions
for YHA Sites. New YHA report that is sent
back to YHA on a daily basis or as required. Special
handling of pre-paid vouchers for accommodation. Separate
guest reservation screen for speed. Could be of
interest to mainstream backpacker sites. Back to Top
* Change to Room Setup Form. At the bottom of the form there is a field
marked Aspect. For Backpacker sites it must be set to a figure one and for YHA
sites must be set to figure 2. All other types of site MUST NOT use a one or
two in this field as it triggers other changes throughout the programme. Back to Top
* Change to
the Point of Sale Link. Several sites using one
particular Point of Sale package had a problem reading the guest's Folio
Numbers. We had made them 8 digits long, with leading zeroes. However this one
package didn't know how to strip these digits off and consequently the folio
numbers sent to the tills were incorrect. This same software package does not
read folios higher than 99999 and several of our sites have already exceeded
that number of guests. 'Task Manager' from Quest and 'Stockline'
ask for numeric only Room Codes. A new option on the Main Setup From (Setup System/General Info) asks for one of three
options. The first is 'Pos' which covers PosMagic
from Sanyo, Stockline and Point3, 'Tsk' from Quest, and one more called' Oth'
which currently is not used.
Setting up your Point of Sale System. The first item is that
we have to open that area for use on your software. You need to email a file
called Manager.dat to us for conversion. After that
you set the type of POS software as shown above. All room numbers MUST be
numeric! No exceptions. This due to the restrictions placed on us by the POS
software.
Guest.dat is the file that is made ready for the POS software to
read. This contains the information required by the software. Each time that
you (1) Move an inhouse guest to another room, (2)
Check a guest in (3) check a guest out or (4) Access any guest's account, this
file is written out with the changes. This file is maintained by Millennium.
Charges.dat is the return file from the POS system. It contains (1) The
Item Description, (2) The Item Group, (3) The Quantity, (4) Total Cost, (5)
Date and Time. These are translated by room number in the case of Task Manager
or Guest Folio by Stockline. Either lets us look up
the inhouse guest and place the item/s on their
account. This file is emptied by M3 and updated by your POS system. The pc that is setup as 'Ser'ver when you
log onto M3 is the one that will poll this file every five minutes to update
guest's accounts. It is up to your POS technician to 'point' their
software to the drive and folder where Millennium3 is resident. Typically this
is C:\MMATE.
Tillog.dat is a history file that is updated everytime
that M3 reads Charges dat. It can grow to enormous
size unless emptied regularly. It's purpose is to
record a copy of the data as received from the POS system for investigative
purposes by technicians. There is an option in M3 to delete this file or print
it out for a data range.
Guests Sharing Rooms with POS.
Task Manager requires that each
guest's bed is setup as a room. eg.
Room 31 is the main room and Room 311 is one of the beds, 312 is the second bed
and so on. This is the same way that we set up dormitories at Back packer sites
or adjoining rooms in apartments. The Master room (31) can be looked upon as
the Suite that is formed by all the beds and must have 31 in the field called
'Forms Suite'. All sub rooms (311, 312 etc) must have 31 in 'Forms Suite' on
each of their setup forms. If you do not do this then your occupancy figures
will be shot.
Stockline uses Guest Folio numbers for accurate
identification of guests and requires no changes in room setup. Shared Guests
will have their own account on the POS software automatically. Back to Top
* Changes
and additions for Licensed Real Estate users. Now you can make sales, take deposits
into your trust account and disperse the money correctly at the completion of
the sale. These licensees can also manage more than one apartment building.
Trust account managers who are appropriately licensed by Fair Trading can also
sell units in their apartment building and collect full commission with all the
transactions going through Millennium3. Receipting for Real Estate sites has
also been slightly modified. Back to Top
* Ability to
change deposit absorbed date after the guest
has checked in. The date will either be the data of arrival or departure. This
feature is only for Strata Title Managers and Real Estate Licensees who have
agreed with the owners of the managed sites to absorb the deposit on a date
that suits either or both parties. Check your owner agreements. Back to Top
* Agent overpayment of accounts. It has been our
practice to place the correct payment on the debtor account with the
overpayment showing as another transaction on the LEDGER. This is to keep the
guests accounts in balance. Now for non trust account sites, a credit will also
appear on the Debtor account to balance the overpayment receipt. How you handle
this credit is up to you. Trust account sites should either refund the
overpayment to the debtor or pay it to management otherwise you will never
balance the trust account. Back to Top
* Refund guest by Cash, Card or Cheque on cancellation. The option now includes Cash
for easier refunding of cancellations. Where a deposit has been billed to a
debtor and the account has not been paid, then the transaction is simply deleted.
Then delete the guest. Where a debtor was charged and since paid the deposit,
then it will always be refunded by cheque to the
debtor. All guests being refunded prior to arrival will be moved to the Refund
Room and then checked in and out. To refund a guest prior to arrival, select
the guest and press Delete. Then follow the prompts. Back to Top
* Warning
screen if you try to change the dates of an inhouse guest. We have had some F/O staff who do not understand that the entries for the guest account
must move with the dates of stay. This can have dramatic effects on reporting
particularly those using the Z-POS facility and linked phone charges. If you
change the dates of stay, you will force the dates of charges and payments to
between the dates of stay. Back to Top
Removing invalid guests from your database. Invalid guests can be created when you use the F10 key to
make a reservation, completing all the prompts on the right side and then
moving to the guests name. At this stage, you have
created a guest record without a name. If you escape
from the form at this point then you will leave an invalid guest in your
database. These guests will show at the top of your Archive Guest List and
nowhere else. Start Fiesta, select Utilities and select Remove invalid
Guests. Back to Top
Variance on Revenue Report. For most sites this can
be traced to invalid transactions. Usually these can be located by selecting
Ledger from the Main Menu and entering the date of the variance. Enter through
the dates to get onto the scrolling window. Press F5 to get to the charges
screen. This is a list of all charges for the period set by dates. Scroll up or
down looking for charges that either have no folio number of no
guest surname or if with a guest surname, no room number. Any of these can be
voided or unvoided by pressing F5. This is a Back
Office function and should be treated as such. Remember that we do not allow
anyone to delete transactions. Another possibility is where you have entered a
deposit to a guests account after check in. This will always force the date
back to the date of arrival. Reverse it out and re-enter as a Payment not as a
Deposit.
Another area to
look at is the Current Guests Accounts Report. Print the Previous day's report,
then print the Current Day's Report and compare the closing balances from the
previous day with the opening balances. If that does not give you any leads,
then print the report for the next day and compare the opening balance of that
with the closing balance of the day that is showing as out. When you find the
offending guest/s you need to enter on those guests accounts and modify the
dates to suit. Back to Top
Rebating Agents who send Guests. These agents MUST be setup as Rebate, NOT
Deduct. Set the rate of commission at the rate you have agreed with the agent.
Apply this agent to guest at any time prior to checkout! On checkout the system
will automatically generate a payment back to the agent for the commission. For
non trust account sites, this will appear on the agents
account where you can mark the item for payment when you finally write your cheque. For Trust sites the system will automatically
generate a cheque to the agent and include this in
your Cheque Summary.
Agents who take a deposit which they
keep.
On the guest's account press the Insert Key and add a Credit to the guest for
the amount of the deposit held by the agent. For Trust sites, when you enter
the credit on the guests account for the deposit kept by the agent, the system
will automatically generate your commission for the value of the deposit. The
guest will pay the balance of the account and you collect your commission on
this as normal. Back to Top
The upgrade disc (available only to registered users) contains the following
files... Before downloading, you should save and read this file. http://www.millennium3.ws/upgrades/upgrade.doc.
It has all the information and links to successfully upgrade. Those who have
not upgrades since July 2003 will need to go through ALL settings in the Setup
Menu after upgrading to make sure that you have your system setup
correctly. Back to Top
*
Milnmram.exe that is the new upgrade for M3.
*
Fileman321.exe (Fiesta) which is a subset of Windows Millennium. This includes
Email Manager, File Manager, Tour Sales and Off Site Accommodation Managers.
Run Fiesta and select File
Management then File Manager. Click on Tag All then click on Build Keys. The
upgrade will now take place automatically. Do NOT under any circumstances
stop the programme after this starts otherwise
you WILL most certainly corrupt your files.