Before you can activate the Reservation Interface, you must make certain preparations and become familiar with a few operating instructions. If you ordered the reservation interface as part of your new CARS+ installation, some of the following items may have been included with your system. Please check with your sales representative if you have questions.
I. SETUP
A. Telephone Company.
A dedicated standard voice-grade telephone line must be installed near the computer. This line will be used by Easylink for transmission of reservations to your office. To prevent unwanted outside calls from coming in on this line, the telephone number should be unlisted.
"Dedicated" means that the phone line will be used ONLY to receive reservations.
B. Hardware Required.
A Bell 212A compatible modem must be connected to the above telephone line as indicated in the modem instruction manual. A cable then connects the modem to one of your computer ports. Before ordering a reservation modem, check with your local Western Union office for the baud rate required.
An optional backup printer can be installed that receives reservations in the event the computer is not operational. This requires equipment to disconnect the computer and connect the printer. A printer used in this manner must support the "answerback" request which is sent by Easylink (this identifies you to Easylink). You must program your own "answerback" code into the printer. Thermeon will provide this equipment if desired.
C. Western Union.
Call Western Union and order an Easylink account. Tell them messages are to be sent to your modem and arrange what should be done if the modem does not answer when dialed such as, store messages in your Easylink mailbox, mail a paper copy of the message, etc. Tell them your modem operates at 8 bits, no parity, terminal type 00 and inform them of the modem's baud rate.
You must also inform them that you plan to use an "answerback" code. You may create any code you wish. One suggestion is an abbreviation for your location such as "AVIS".
Be sure to record your "answerback" code.
D. Computer Operating System Setup.
Thermeon will modify the necessary files and configure the port which is connected to your Easylink modem. This will be accomplished through your customer support modem. Be prepared to provide the port you plan to use for the Easylink modem and the "answerback" code.
E. CARS+ Setup.
1. Security Menu Access
a. Using the "Select Items for Menus" program, create a new Menu Type using the name RESINT. On the second page grant RESINT access to the RESMENU and the Reservation Interface program. You should assign this menu a Menu Type Number so that only a limited number of users can make changes.
b. Using the "Edit User Access File" program, create a new record as follows:
Employee: RESINT
Password: RZMRG7
Menu Type: RESINT
Create Bill-to: N
Work File Path:
RW Initials: RW
Company ID: 00 (or appropriate number)
RW Password:
Fleet access page 2 N
Allow bad cust N
Allow rate edit N
2. Edit Terminal Records.
Enter the "Edit Terminal Records" program. The terminal record for the reservation port must be set up as a "VDT". In addition, enter into Field 4, "CARS+ report printer", the device name or print spooler to be used by the interface program. Unless you dedicate a printer exclusively for reservation interface, you should ALWAYS make use of a print spooler.
3. Class, Location and FOP
The following codes in your data files MUST MATCH the codes used by the Avis Reservation Center:
a. Class Codes.
b. Location Codes.
All location codes, both owned and foreign, must match the three character codes used by the Avis Reservation Center.
c. FOP Codes.
d. Rate Codes.
Rate Codes in the CARS+ Rate File must be made using the following format:
Class Code immediately followed by the Avis Rate Code.
As an example, the Rate Code for the Avis "PO" rate for class "C" should be "CPO".
If your system cannot find a rate match or if no Rate Code was sent, CARS+ will default to a standard rate which must exist in your Rate File. The format for the standard rate must be your Class Code followed by the two character code "SD". As an example, the standard rate for a "C" class vehicle should be "CSD".
II. Operations.
All activities are automatic when the interface is operating. That is, reservations are automatically received from Easylink and then automatically merged into your Reservation File. A printout of reservations received is generated as each batch is processed.
The Communication Interface
The Easylink computer calls your modem and transmits data only when your modem answers the incoming call and sends a valid "answerback" code. Your modem will not answer the call if electrical power is off or if the computer is not up and running. In this case, the incoming reservations are routed to your Easylink mailbox or will be mailed by Western Union, as you have directed. There are two possibilities for data retrieval when a transmittal fails:
1. Have Avis retransmit the missing data.
2. Have Easylink transmit the contents of your mailbox.
The Data
The transmission sent by the Avis Reservation Center is formatted into 4 lines of data. A sample reservation as printed by the Reservation Merge program looks like this:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0065
ACFM
ANC 28JUL91/1200 DL1717 E ANC 04AUG/1200
ADKINS,J SD CMC W/T/46819345
RES NO 3144 8966 US 3
WRC RES 10JUL
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The correspondence between Avis and CARS+ data fields is outlined on the following pages. Fields followed by an asterisk "*" are either required or validated against data in your files. If Avis sends a reservation without valid data in one or more of these data fields, the merge program may reject the reservation.
AVIS
TO CARS+ CORRESPONDENCE CHART
| Line # | Avis data field | CARS+ data field | Comment |
|
-- |
Sequence No. |
|
The line above the ACFM line is a sequence number. This number resets to 0000 every day. It can be used to process reservations in the correct order. Currently no action is taken on this line. |
| 01 |
action line |
The following possible codes may be in this field: ACFM = A new reservation MODIFY ACFM = This data will be used to update a previously saved reservation. CANCEL ACFM = This will cause the Res. Status Code on a previously saved reservation to change to "C". REQ = This is a request for confirmation. CARS+ will reject requests, that is they will not be saved as a new reservation. But they will printout on the interface report. |
|
| 02 | pickup location | PICKUP LOC * | |
| pickup date/time | PICKUP DATE/TIME * | ||
| flight | AIRLINE/FLIGHT | ||
| class | CLASS * | The
class may be in the format x/y where x is the booked class and y is a requested class. The interface program only reads the booked class. |
|
| return loc | RETURN LOC * | ||
| return date/time | RETURN DATE/TIME * | ||
| 03 | name | NAME (L/F) * | |
| rate code | RATE | The rate code sent is combined with the Class Code to produce a CARS+ Rate Code. This code is then looked up in the CARS+ Rate File. If a match is found, your rates are loaded into the A Subwindow. If no match is found, the system uses the standard rate for the reserved class. Note, if a specific rate is quoted in the Comments field, it will NOT be loaded into the A Subwindow. Instead, it appears in the Notes Field. | |
| credit card | NOTES | ||
| employer | - not used - | ||
| corp ID | CORP ID | ||
| travel agent | VENDOR
NUMBER VENDOR NAME |
This will cause a new record to be written in the Vendor File. | |
| comments | NOTES | ||
| 04 | res number | CONFIRMATION NUMBER | The confirmation number comes in the following format:
1234-5678-xx-9 CARS+ removes all dashes and the second alpha character. The above confirmation number would be stored as:
12345678x9 |
Any other data sent by Avis will print on the Interface Report but will be ignored by the merge program.
Receive Program
The receive program captures and stores data, and initiates other processing. This program should not be terminated while a transmission is in progress because one or more lines of data may be lost. Also data just received will not be processed.
With each transmission a temporary batch file is created. When the receive program senses that transmission is completed (indicated by a 1 minute pause), the merge program is called to process the batch. The receive program is suspended until this is completed. Data which arrives while the receive program is suspended is buffered and held under control of the operating system. The receive program adds a "date stamp" line at the start of each batch.
Merge Program and Report
The merge program adds, modifies, or cancels reservations, vendors and customers as requested, and prints a report of all activity. The program executes as if it were a CARS+ employee on the same port as the modem and thus requires a CARS+ terminal record with an employee name of "RESINT" and a password of "RZMRG7" (see the section on set-up earlier in this chapter).
The printed report shows data as received along with notes to explain what kind of updates were made to the database and to indicate invalid or modified data fields. At the end of the report is a summary of the number of reservations in the batch, the number rejected, added, modified, and cancelled.
For each rejected reservation, the report gives 2 types of information.
1. Actual data received.
2. Error messages and comments concerning individual data fields.
Reservation Error Messages
There are two kinds of errors that result in the rejection of a reservation. The first is missing or invalid data. Error messages of this type appear on the line where the error occurs.
As an example:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACFM
ANC 28JUL91/1200 DL1717 ANC 04AUG/1200 REQUIRED FIELD MISSING
ADKINS,J SD CMC W/T/46819345 RESERVATION REJECTED
RES NO 3144 8966 US 3
WRC RES 10JUL
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACFM
ANC 28JUL91/1200 DL1717 E AC3 04AUG/1200 INVALID RETURN LOCATION
ADKINS,J SD CMC W/T/46819345 RESERVATION REJECTED
RES NO 3144 8966 US 3
WRC RES 10JUL
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first reservation was rejected because the class code was missing on the second line. The second reservation was rejected because the return location supplied by Avis could not be validated against any owned or foreign locations in your data files.
The second type of error involves reservations previously received. These error messages appear on the right side of the report. Possible error messages are:
1) **DUPLICATE RES** This new reservation has the same confirmation number as an existing reservation.
2) **RES NOT OPEN** A modify or cancel is received but the matching reservation's status is not open (it is already filled or cancelled).
3) **RES NOT ON FILE** A modify or cancel is received but no matching reservation is found. This error will occure frequently when you first begin using the interface program because the Reservation File will be empty.
4) **RES NOT AVAILABLE** This occurs when Avis attempt to modify or cancel a reservation at the same time that the reservation is in use at one of your terminals.
The following is an example of a rejection due to a duplication;
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACFM DUPLICATE RES 000257
ANC 28JUL91/1200 DL1717 E ANC 04AUG/1200 RESERVATION REJECTED
ADKINS,J SD CMC W/T/46819345
RES NO 3144 8966 US 3
WRC RES 10JUL
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The CARS+ reservation number prints in the upper right corner when one of the previous errors occur.
At the end of the report is a summary of the batch. The following is a sample summary.
2 REJECTS, 14 NEW RES'S, 3 MODIFYS, 1 CANCELS-- End of report --
From this, the following is known:
This batch contained 20 records of which 2 were rejected, 14 new reservations were saved, 3 existing reservations were modified and 1 was cancelled.
Notes on Usage and System Requirements
When reservations are rejected due to invalid data, it is suggested that you enter the information manually via the Reservation Update program. When a number of reservations are rejected, you should ask Avis to retransmit them. There is no harm to receiving reservations already accepted because CARS+ will automatically reject duplicates.
The entire reservation interface process (receive and merge programs) will require about the same amount of memory as one active user.