Use this program to:

• Import the Freedom Rates from an Excel spreadsheet.
• This program inserts and or updates records in the Rental Rules and Rental Rate files.

Note: This program has undergone extensive changes in the recent months. The following material describes the current functionality of this program in the latest release of CARS+. What is presented below will not be true of earlier releases. To use this program you must be on a current release of CARS+.

"Freedom Rates" are what one CARS+ customer calls period rates (see the chapter on Edit Rental Rules and Rates for a full definition of period rates) that are used on domestic rentals without tour vouchers.

I. SETTING UP THE SPREADSHEET

The columns for the spreadsheet are listed below. The spreadsheet must be saved in CSV format and the first row of column headers must be exported as well.

Click here to download a template file with the header row already completed.

The columns are: (See column below for ALL options)

1. Rate Set
2. Rate Product Code
3. Rate Class
4. Effective Date and Time in the format YYYYMMDD HHMM0 (20120101 00000)
5. Period Max Days
6. Daily Rate - (it may include decimals) - also used for the XDAY rate.
7. Period Rate
8. Max Days

Required Column Header	Freedom Rate Field	Notes
Rate_grp	Rate Set
Rate_prod	Rate Product Code
Rate_class	Rate Class
Rate_eff_date	Effective Date and Time	in the format YYYYMMDD HHMM0 (20120101 00000)
Rate_period_days	Period Max Days
Rate_day	Daily Rate	also used for the XDAY rate
Rate_week	Period Rate
Rate_max_days	Rate Max Days
Rate_free_miles2	Rate Free Miles 2
Rate_yld-pct1	Rate Yield Pct 1
Rate_yld-pct2	Rate Yield Pct 2
Rate_yld-pct3	Rate Yield Pct 3
Rate_yld-pct4	Rate Yield Pct 4
Rate_yld-pct5	Rate Yield Pct 5
Rate_yld_day1	Rate Yield Day 1
Rate_yld_week1	Rate Yield Week 1
Rate_yld_day2	Rate Yield Day 2
Rate_yld_week2	Rate Yield Week 2
Rate_yld_day3	Rate Yield Day 3
Rate_yld_week3	Rate Yield Week 3
Rate_yld_day4	Rate Yield Day 4
Rate_yld_week4	Rate Yield Week 4
Rate_yld_day5	Rate Yield Day 5
Rate_yld_week5	Rate Yield Week 5

EXAMPLE:

DN FRDT E27 20120101 00000 4 74 297 90
SO FRDT E27 20120101 00000 4 74 297 90
NJ FRDT E27 20120101 00000 4 97 387 90
DN FRDT C19 20120101 00000 9 95 981 37
SO FRDT C19 20120101 00000 9 50 531 37
NJ FRDT C19 20120101 00000 9 90 801 37

For Rate Set DN, the FRDT rate for Class E27 starting on January 1st, 2012 will be $297.00 for a 4 day period. Days beyond the first 4 days will be charged at an additional $74.00/day. The maximum rental length for this rate product is 90 days. For Class C19, the price is $981.00 for a 9 day period with extra days charged at $95.00/day up to 37 days total.

NOTE: The daily and period prices can be set to zero in the spreadsheet. When that is done, it means that the rate is to be manually set by the rental agent at the time of opening the rental agreement. For safety sake, if this is desired, the following additional setup should be done:

• The Rate Rules record must say that the rate is editable.
• The Rate Rules record should be defined to prevent zero rates in RA OPEN thus forcing the edit.
• Rental agents must be given edit capabilities in Edit User Access File.

USER TIP: When creating the spreadsheet, initially save it in your spreadsheet program's native format (for example if using Microsoft's Excel program, save it as .xls). Then re-save a copy in .csv format. In this way, if there is a error in the data discovered by the merge program, you are able to go back to the file in the native format and easily make any corrections and then resave it again as a comma delimited file.

II. TRANSMITTING THE FILE FROM A PC TO THE CARS+ SERVER

Create the spreadsheet on a PC or computer that is also used to access CARS+. Once the spreadsheet is done, save it in the csv format. Then on the same computer, sign into and access CARS+. Go to the Import Domestic Freedom Rates program and with the cursor at the "OPTION" field, press F4 to upload the file. A browser window will appear. Select the csv file from your PC and click "Send".

III. RUNNING THE PROGRAM

If the file has been previously imported (using the above instructions), the file can be loaded for processing by either typing the file name in Field 1 or searching for it. To search, place the cursor in Field 1 and press F6. A search window will appear on the lower half of the screen. An example is shown below.

OPTION: __ IMPORT DOMESTIC FREEDOM RATES 1. From Filed named 2. Overwrite existing Y 3. Seed Rules record default Group Option: _ FREEDOM RATES FILE SEARCH F2=NEXT 8 F4=PREV 8 File Name Create Date 1 freedom-101112.csv Oct 11 12:00 2 freedom-100312.csv Oct 3 14:20 ** No More Records **

Select the appropriate file by typing the row number.

After loading the name of the file to be processed, place cursor back in the "OPTION" field and press F1 to begin.

To access the program, type FREEDM(RET) at any menu "OPTION:" field or the appropriate number on the RV Operations Menu. The screen will then display:

OPTION: IMPORT DOMESTIC FREEDOM RATES 1 From File named 2 Overwrite existing Y 3 Seed Rules Record Default Group 1BEGIN 2 3ERASE 4 5 6 7HELP 8

Enter data as follows:

1. FROM FILE NAME	Enter the full path name of the CSV file to be processed.
2. OVERWRITE EXISTING	Enter: Y = Yes, existing Freedom records in the Rental Rules and Rate Files should be replaced with the data from this file. N = No, only insert new records to the Rental Rules and Rate Files do not re-write any existing records. EXAMPLE: Type Y (RET)
3. SEED RULES RECORD DEFAULT GROUP	Enter an existing Rate Set Code that should be used for creating a new Rules record if the spreadsheet contains a row with a Rate Set and Rate Product Code combination that does not already exist. The rules record for the Rate set entered here will be cloned with all it's rule settings for the new Rate Set from the import file. EXAMPLE: Type SO (RET)

PRESS "F1" AT "OPTION:" TO BEGIN .