Dolphin Dynamics Interface Configuration
Document Amendment History Date Issue number and reason Author 02/10/13 Document Creation R13.3 Tatsiana Piletskaya 08/11/13 Document Update R13.4 Tatsiana Piletskaya Copyright 2013 Dolphin Dynamics Ltd. The information contained herein is the property of Dolphin Dynamics Ltd. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording for any purpose other than the purchaser s personal use without the written permission of Dolphin Dynamics Ltd. Dolphin Dynamics Ltd. 3 rd Floor, 162-164 Upper Richmond Road London, SW15 2SL www.dolphind.com
Table of Contents Introduction... 1 Interface Configuration... 1
Introduction The Dolphin Booking Management Module can interface handoff files from various booking sources GDSs (Sabre, Worldspan, Amadeus, Galileo), Viewdata, Evolvi, XML (DTMTravelFolder file format), TOMA (TIR file format) and Hitchhiker (VFB file format). An interface will need to be configured for each supported file-based booking source in use in your agency in order that handoff files from the booking source can be interfaced from a specified download directory into the Booking Management Module to create/update a travel folder. You can have more than one interface type set up, for instance if you are using two GDS systems in the same office. This one-off configuration is usually done as part of the initial configuration of the Booking Management Module. It will also need to be done when a new booking source is implemented in your agency. Each interface type will need to be activated by the Dolphin Helpdesk before it can be configured. Configuration is performed by the agency super user, in conjunction with the Dolphin Dynamics implementation team/trainer as necessary. Interface Configuration To access and configure the Interface for different data sources, please follow the below instructions: From the Options menu, select the Interface option. If you are a multibrancher, you will be prompted with a branch selection; alternatively the Edit Interface Configuration window will appear immediately. The branch code will be reflected at the top of the window. Click Add to configure a new interface. You can later use the Retrieve button to edit any settings within the Interface Configuration or the Delete button to delete the record. In the Interface Configuration dialog box, define the following: Dolphin Dynamics Interface Configuration 1
Interface Type Select the type of interface file that will be coming through to Dolphin, e.g. Sabre, Galileo, XML, Evolvi, Viewdata, etc. Interface Select the format of the hand-off file that will be interfaced. This field is only enabled for specific interface types. Source System Name Enter the name of the system that the interface will be coming from, e.g. Sabre, Galileo, Amadeus, etc. This field is sometimes auto populated on the interface type being selected. Download Path This is where all GDS, Viewdata and/or XML file interface download paths are set. Enter the interface path, so that the Booking Management Module can locate and read the hand-off file from the download directory on the travel agency s network. The interface path points to the network download directory where the hand-off file is sent by the booking engine. The Booking Management Module then locates this hand-off file and displays it in the Interface Box of all/specific system users, depending on their user setup and security settings. It is important that all Dolphin users have access to the directory specified and that they have full read/write and delete permissions. Ignore Hotel/Car Pricings This setting controls whether and in what scenarios car/hotel pricing data is updated Available options are: Never When selected hotel and/or car pricings will never be ignored on interface. On Updates When selected the hotel and car pricings which exist in the incoming file will only get updated on the initial interface. On any subsequent interface the hotel and car pricings in the incoming file that relate to an item that already exists in the BMM folder will be ignored. Always When selected the hotel and car pricings within the incoming file will always be ignored. Ignore Pass. Ground Segs When ticked, any passive ground segments present in the handoff file will be ignored and not interfaced into the Booking Management Module. Dolphin Dynamics Interface Configuration 2
Structured Pass. Ground Segs With this setting selected structured passive hotel and car segments can now be interfaced in to the booking management module. Ignore Incoming Item IDs This setting should normally remain un-ticked. Tick only if the booking source is BookIt! Fares Air (BIFA) XML. Sell Amount Includes VAT If selected, this setting indicates that any sell price figures present in handoff files for this interface type are Sell VAT inclusive. The setting is used when the booking source does not have the ability to indicate a specific commission VAT amount and VAT code. Please refer to Notes section below. Comm Amount Includes VAT If selected, indicates that any commission figures present in handoff files for this interface type are Commission VAT inclusive. The setting is used when the booking source does not have the ability to indicate a specific commission VAT amount and VAT code. Please refer to Notes section below. Invoke Pricing Engine When ticked, the pricing engine will be invoked on interfacing the handoff file and any pricing engine rules relevant to the product(s)/ticket(s) being interface will be applied automatically. Prompt Before Creating New Vendor When ticked, and providing the user has security permissions to do so, if the interfacing of the handoff file would result in a vendor being created i.e. there is no matching vendor already in the Booking Management Module - the user is prompted before the vendor is created so that they can decide whether to proceed and create a new vendor or to undertake a vendor search to find a suitable existing vendor. This setting is usually used where there is a strong likelihood that vendor information in the handoff file is of variable quality and consequently the Booking Management Module might regularly not find a match, even though the correct vendor does already exist, albeit with a differently spelt name or different interface code. Always Update Customer Accounting Data This setting controls the update of customer accounting data fields where present in the client/agency/company profiles. Ignore Acc. Code Normally, the Booking Management Module will automatically create a folder for the right customer by looking for an account code in the handoff file and matching it with an account code in a customer profile. When checked, any account code present in the handoff file will be ignored and no automated matching will take place. Instead, manual matching will take place on the customer name. This setting is normally used when account code data is present in the handoff file, but is being used for different purposes and cannot be used to match customers. Apply Proper Case To Names Some GDSs or booking sources only supply data in upper case and when this setting is ticked, Dolphin will change the customer name in the interface file to proper sentence case, i.e. MR SIMON SMITH would be changed to Mr Simon Smith. Is Interface Config Active When ticked, Dolphin will use this interface configuration to search for new handoff files in the specified download directory each time a user's interface box is refreshed, i.e. it is active and in use. When un-ticked, the interface is inactive/not used. Note: The setting is greyed out by default and can only be turned on/off by Dolphin Support team. Dolphin Dynamics Interface Configuration 3
Split Comm Amount Includes VAT Indicates that any resale split commission figures present in handoff files for this interface type are Split Commission VAT inclusive. The setting is used when the booking source does not have the ability to indicate a specific commission VAT amount and VAT code. Please refer to Notes section below. Buy Amount Includes VAT Indicates that any buy price figures present in handoff files for this interface type are Buy (or purchase) VAT inclusive. The setting is used when the booking source does not have the ability to indicate a specific commission VAT amount and VAT code. Please refer to Notes section below. Notes: The amounts in the handoff file will be viewed as VAT inclusive or exclusive according to the above settings. The Booking Management Module will calculate the correct VAT amounts accordingly using the VAT codes in the matching financial vendor profile or the Fee/Discount product code configuration. The Branch settings amounts include VAT will impact how the final figures are displayed in the travel folder. If the financial vendor profile or the Fee/Discount product code is not configured with VAT settings, VAT will not be calculated/ applied regardless of the above settings. If the reservation module has adjusted the fares for VAT (in the vendor profile > Financials 2 tab), you need to select the Sell Amount Includes VAT and Buy Amount Includes VAT check boxes so that the VAT is displayed correctly in the reservation module. Notes: Please refer to the Help File for detailed scenarios of how the Booking Management Module processes VAT based on the various VAT-related settings in the interface configuration window, the branch, the vendor profile and/or the Fee/Discount product code configuration. Reverse Orig Tkt Amts on Exch When ticked, the value being exchanged is taken from the original ticket in Dolphin instead of being taken from the incoming exchange ticket. Additionally, if the difference between the original ticket values and the exchange ticket values is not equal to the add/collect amount specified in the exchange ticket handoff file, an adjustment will be automatically made to ensure that the customer is charged the add/collect amount shown in the handoff file. Update Existing Vendor Profile When unticked any existing vendor profile s name, address & contract details will not be updated when a hand-off file is interfaced. When ticked, if the hand-off file contains a vendor name, address details or contact details (the first phone or fax number) the existing vendor profile will be overwritten with the incoming hand-off file information. Update Existing Customer Profiles This setting controls how client/company data in a booking source's handoff file is used. The following fields in the client/company profile are affected by this setting: Client/Company name Address Email address Phone number Fax number Membership type Membership number Account code Company profile link Dolphin Dynamics Interface Configuration 4
Select from the drop-down list one of the following options: On Folder Create Existing customer profiles will be updated with the customer information contained within the handoff file and the original details will be lost when a new folder is being created. If the handoff file's customer data fields are blank no updates will be made to the existing customer profile. On interfacing into an existing folder, no customer profile updates will take pace. Never Any customer information present will be ignored when a handoff file is interfaced into a new or existing folder where the client profile already exists such that the existing profile used to create the folder will not be updated. Always Existing customer profiles will be updated with the customer information contained within the handoff file and the original details will be lost. The update will take place for every file of the specified type interfaced into an existing folder. If the handoff file's customer data fields are blank no updates will be made to the existing customer profile. Display In Window Title When ticked the source system name and PNR number will appear in the title bar of the travel folder. Ignore Check-In Mins When ticked, the Booking Management Module will ignore the check in mins in the incoming GDS file and not populate it into the air segment. When un-ticked, BMM will populate the check in mins into the air segment of the folder if the data exists in the incoming file. Dolphin Dynamics Interface Configuration 5