Sales & Catering - Delphi release notes
These release notes describe new features and fixed issues in the 2016 releases of AmadeusSales & Catering - Delphi. If you want to schedule a complimentary update, please contact Amadeus Support. To determine the release installed in your org, see Installed Packages.
R22
Delphi Diagramming integration
We are pleased to announce that R22 now integrates with Delphi Diagramming, providing Sales and Catering Managers with a robust toolbox for creating detailed, professional room plans. Every event should tell a story, and now you can bring that story to life as you showcase your function space in 3D and help your customers envision their perfect wedding, meeting, or social gathering. With this integration, you can also leverage existing room plans for repeat bookings, which is especially helpful for new users or when time is of the essence.
To get started, simply click the View Diagram button on the Manage Events, Manage Menus and Items, or Booking Event page. Delphi Diagramming will open your room plan in Automatic Layout Mode using the function room and setup you specified for the event. Don't worry if your function room and setup names in Delphi don't match the names in Delphi Diagramming. Your Delphi Diagramming administrator can map the names in the two applications. One more thing to keep in mind: For now, Delphi Diagramming will continue to use the maximum capacity for the setup and room you’ve selected rather than the event’s attendance figures. Of course, you can always modify the room plan to accommodate your group’s attendance and special requests. Your finishing touches will remain in Delphi Diagramming but can be viewed anytime you click View Diagram in Delphi.
Some things to keep in mind:
- You can create a room plan for one event at a time.
- After a room plan is created, any changes you make to the event in Delphi are not reflected in Delphi Diagramming and vice versa.
- Bookings and events created as part of the integration are read-only in Delphi Diagramming. If you need to start over with a room plan, delete it from Delphi Diagramming and then click View Diagram again in Delphi. This allows you to create a brand new room plan for the event.
- If you haven't logged in to Delphi Diagramming in the past 12 hours, you'll be prompted to enter your credentials before entering the application.
- For detailed instructions on designing and managing room plans, please refer to the online Help in Delphi Diagramming.
If you're interested in purchasing Delphi Diagramming or if you're already a Delphi Diagramming customer who wants to take advantage of this integration, please contact your Amadeus sales representative.
Reassign RFP inquiry owner
Delphi now notifies MeetingBroker when the owner of an RFP inquiry is changed. This allows MeetingBroker to display the new RFP owner and reassign the appropriate email notifications. Communication between the two applications requires the email address of the new owner in Delphi to match the email address of a user in MeetingBroker.
New Amadeus branding
Delphi.fdc is now called Amadeus Sales & Event Management - Advanced (Delphi.fdc). You’ll see this new name—as well as a new product logo—when you log in to your org. The name of the installation package (Setup > Installed Packages) has also been changed to Sales & Catering with Amadeus as the new publisher. Please note that the Training & Help will continue to reference the product using its shortened name—Delphi.fdc.
Fixed issues
There are no fixed issues in this release.
R21
New features and enhancements
Instructions for enabling the R21 features can be found in the following topics:
- Enable enhanced taxes
- Enable inclusive pricing
- Add the Abbreviation field to the Booking page layout
- Update average checks on events
Enhanced taxes
R21 introduces a brand new—and easier—way to enter your taxes into Setup. Using the enhanced taxes functionality, you can define your tax groups and tax rate schedule from one central location. To take advantage of this org-wide feature, on the Amadeus Settings page, click Enable Enhanced Taxing and Inclusive Pricing, and then select the Enable Enhanced Taxes checkbox.
When you create a new tax group from the Property page, you’ll see a new Tax Collection Configuration area. This is where you’ll enter all the taxes that are applicable during the tax group’s date range. Think of a tax collection as a container that holds all the taxes that apply to the same revenue classifications. All properties will have at least one collection for their base taxes (state sales tax, city sales tax, etc.), but you might also have a few additional tax collections if you have a liquor tax, guestroom tax, and so on.
Two different tabs are available in the Tax Collection Configuration area: Percent and Occupancy. The majority of your taxes will be entered on the Percent tab, but if your property has a flat occupancy charge (for example, 3.50 per person, per roomnight), you’ll use the Occupancy tab to enter that tax.
When you add a tax to a collection, you enter the tax rate and indicate what that tax applies to: the base amount, administrative charge, and gratuity. You also indicate if the tax is compounding. If your property has enabled the inclusive pricing feature in R21, you’ll see an Inclusive checkbox for each tax. Selecting this checkbox tells the system to display the unit price of a menu or item inclusive of tax in the Booking Events grid, Manage Menus and Items page, and other areas of the application. If applicable, the inclusive price will also be displayed for function room rental, packages, and other income items.
It’s important to note that the Inclusive checkbox only controls whether or not the inclusive price is displayed within the application. It has nothing to do with the actual tax calculations. The designated taxes are applied and displayed on banquet and booking checks regardless of whether or not the Inclusive checkbox is selected for a tax.
Some things to keep in mind:
- After creating a new tax group using the enhanced tax engine, you need to assign that tax group to your property. This will determine which taxes are automatically applied to the bookings created at that property. The new tax group only applies to new records.
- If you create an event, room block, or other income item that is outside the date range of the applied tax group, you are notified with a message at the top of the Booking page and a warning icon next to the record. Simply select the correct tax group for the record and save again.
- Customers upgrading to R21 can clone their old taxes to the new enhanced tax model and then modify their property’s default tax group on the Property page. This makes it very easy to take advantage of the new tax functionality.
Inclusive pricing
The new inclusive pricing functionality in R21 makes it simple for customers who traditionally sell food and beverage, guestrooms, function space, packages, and other income inclusive of tax to provide estimates and quote rates on-the-fly. No calculator needed.
To enable this feature for your org, on the Amadeus Settings page, click Enable Enhanced Taxing and Inclusive Pricing, and then select the Enable Inclusive Pricing checkbox. Please note that you are required to use the new enhanced tax engine after you have turned on inclusive pricing in your org.
Inclusive pricing fields
After inclusive pricing has been enabled, you’ll automatically see inclusive and exclusive fields in areas including:
- Quick Create window in the Function Diary
- Guestroom Details page
- Booking Events grid
- Manage Menus and Items page
- Editing Item Details page
- Menu Item Search window
- Enter Pickup page
Additional inclusive pricing fields are required in Setup. If you’re upgrading to R21, your corporate administrator will need to add these fields to several page layouts. If you’re a new installation, these fields will be added for you.
The following table lists the page layouts that need to be updated with the inclusive pricing fields. In some cases, multiple page layouts need to be configured for an object (see bullets).
| Page layout | Inclusive pricing fields | Place the field on the page layout below |
|---|---|---|
| Booking Other Income | Include Admin Charge in Inclusive Price Include Gratuity in Inclusive Price |
Admin Charge Gratuity |
| Booking Event | Include Admin Charge in Inclusive Price Include Gratuity in Inclusive Price |
Rental Admin Charge Rental Gratuity |
| Choice Group Item | Inclusive | Unit Price |
Event Item
|
Include Admin Charge in Inclusive Price Include Gratuity in Inclusive Price |
Admin Charge Gratuity |
| Event Item Revenue Breakdown | Include Admin Charge in Inclusive Price Include Gratuity in Inclusive Price |
Admin Charge Gratuity |
Function Room
|
Inclusive | Default Rental Rate |
Item
|
Inclusive Include Admin Charge in Inclusive Price Include Gratuity in Inclusive Price |
Unit Price Admin Charge Gratuity |
| Item Revenue Breakdown | Inclusive Include Admin Charge in Inclusive Price Include Gratuity in Inclusive Price |
Unit Price Admin Charge Gratuity |
| Menu Item | Inclusive | Unit Price |
| Other Income | Inclusive | Price |
| Package | Inclusive | Place in the Information section |
| Package Event Revenue Breakdown | Include Admin Charge in Inclusive Price Include Gratuity in Inclusive Price |
Admin Charge Gratuity |
|
Revenue Classification |
Include Admin Charge in Inclusive Price Include Gratuity in Inclusive Price |
Default Admin Charge Default Gratuity |
How are inclusive and exclusive prices calculated?
Users will be able to view the inclusive and exclusive price when they’re managing their menus and items, guestrooms, function room rental, packages, and other income, so it’s important to understand how these values are calculated. The following fields—along with the applied tax group—determine how inclusive and exclusive prices are calculated.
| Inclusive pricing field | Description |
|---|---|
| Inclusive | When the Inclusive checkbox is selected, the unit price is treated as inclusive of tax and does the following:
When this checkbox is cleared, the unit price is treated as exclusive of tax and does the following:
|
| Include Admin Charge in Inclusive Price | If you want the inclusive price of your menus and items to include the admin charge, select the Include Admin Charge in Inclusive Price checkbox on each applicable revenue classification. When users open a menu or item in the Editing Item Details window, the Incl. checkbox will be selected next to the Admin Charge field (these fields are displayed on the Revenue Breakdown tab for menus). Users can always clear this checkbox if they don't want to include admin in the price they're quoting, and the Inclusive Price field will be updated accordingly. |
| Include Gratuity in Inclusive Price | If you want the inclusive price of your menus and items to include gratuity, select the Include Gratuity in Inclusive Price checkbox on each applicable revenue classification. When users open a menu or item in the Editing Item Details window, the Incl. checkbox will be selected next to the Gratuity field (these fields are displayed on the Revenue Breakdown tab for menus). If they don't want to include admin in the inclusive price they're quoting to a customer, they can clear the this checkbox and the Inclusive Price field will be adjusted accordingly. |
Use inclusive prices by default
After inclusive pricing is enabled for your org, your property administrator can select the Use Inclusive Prices by Default checkbox on the Property page. Any records that are created in Setup from that point forward will automatically have the Inclusive checkbox selected. Existing records will need to be manually updated by an administrator to use inclusive pricing.
If you’re upgrading to R21, your corporate administrator must add this checkbox to the Property page layout.
Merge documents
When you merge or batch merge a BEO, banquet check, or Advanced Booking document, Delphi will automatically calculate the charges using the inclusive prices that have been entered along with the applicable tax group. If you’d like to display both the inclusive and exclusive price for menus, items, function room rental, guestroom rates, other income, and packages, you can add inclusive fields to your merge templates. Those fields are automatically available in the Merge Tool after you install the R21 packages and run Custom Settings.
Reports
All reports use exclusive prices in revenue calculations.
Revenue summary
A new Revenue Summary section gives you quick access to the inclusive and exclusive revenue totals on a booking or event. Totals are provided for each of your corporate revenue classifications and are based on actual values. The Revenue Summary on a booking also includes guestroom totals which display pickup values when a room block has been marked complete; otherwise, blocked values are displayed.
To enable this feature, your corporate administrator must add the Revenue Summary section to the Booking and Booking Event page layouts. Your org must also be using the Enhanced Taxes functionality that is included in R21.
Enhanced Productivity report
Several new features have been added to the Productivity report to help you track your property’s guestroom and event production by Sales Manager.
Guestroom and event revenue
CR0121587: You can select which types of revenue to report on: guestroom, event, or both (default).
Property totals
CR0121600: Grand totals are displayed for each Sales Manager at each property during the entire reporting time period.
View only users
CR0121549: Users with View Only access can now change the date range when running the Productivity report.
Booking abbreviations
You can now enter an abbreviation for a booking which will be displayed in place of the Post As field in the GRC report. To take advantage of this feature, your corporate administrator must add the Abbreviation field to the Booking page layout. If you don’t enter an abbreviation when you create a booking, the booking’s Post As is displayed in the Abbreviation field (up to the first 24 characters).
Update average checks on events
CR0121282: You’ve been working with a bride and groom to plan their wedding at your property. Originally, the couple requested a plated dinner but have since changed their minds and want to go with the buffet option. With the new Update Booking Event Average Checks feature, the average checks on the reception will adjust accordingly when you change the event classification from Plated Dinner to Buffet and save. This ensures that you’re always looking at the most accurate forecast figures no matter how often you change the event details.
Reports Help
CR0122068: If you need assistance while you’re working with a report on the Reports tab, simply click the Help link in the top-right corner of the page. This provides you with immediate information about the report’s different criteria fields as well as its returned data.
The Update Booking Event Average Checks checkbox can be added to the Property page by a corporate administrator. Selecting this checkbox automatically updates the average checks whenever an event classification is changed from the Booking Events grid, Edit Multiple Events page, or Booking Event page.
Additional information:
- When Update Booking Event Average Checks is enabled, all average checks will default from Setup. This means if you manually modify an event’s average checks and then change the event classification, the new average checks from Setup will replace what you entered.
- This feature applies only to future events that are not marked done.
Support for TLS 1.1 and higher
We support TLS 1.1 and higher as required by Salesforce .
Fixed issues
Inquiries
CR0122613: You no longer receive an error message when you convert an inquiry to a booking that requires a PMS ID/Group Code to create the room block.
Menus, items & events
CR0122341: The Post checkbox on an event is now cleared by default when you select an event classification whose Default Posted checkbox is also cleared.
CR0122724: Events display in order of start date and time on BEOs.
CR0122728: You no longer receive an error message when you create an event at a property that has a large number of combo room components (1500+).
Bookings
CR0121654: Guestroom rates are now displayed correctly for French locale users.
CR0122547, CR0122624: You can now add another package to a booking that includes a cloned package event outside the booking’s original date range.
R20
For assistance with any feature configuration, contact your Amadeus sales representative to learn more about our Professional Services offerings.
New features and enhancements
Instructions for enabling the R20 features can be found in the following topics:
- Add the Monthly checkbox to the Sales Goal layout
- Add additional source fields to the Booking layout
- Add the Change Owner button to the Booking layout
Monthly property budgets in the Guestroom and Catering Pace report
Properties that set monthly budgets can now measure their current pace relative to budget using the enhanced Guestroom and Catering Pace report. When you run the Pace report using monthly property budgets, you’ll see the following information for each month in the consumption date range: Budget, Variance (to budget), % (variance to budget), Actual Last Year, and Tentative STLY (same time last year). Using this information, you can benchmark the overall health of your property by comparing your monthly budgets for definite roomnights, average rates, guestroom revenue, and event revenue to what is actually on the books.
To display inline budget values in the Pace report, an administrator must first create monthly property budgets using the Sales Goal page. The Monthly checkbox must be selected on this page to tell the Pace report to display data in the report’s budget-related columns. For example, the administrator for The City Hotel has created a property budget for each month in 2018. The property budget for January 2018 looks like this:
1/1/2018 – 1/31/2018
- Monthly checkbox = Yes
- Definite Roomnights = 10,000
- Definite Average Rate = 140.00
- Definite Guestroom Revenue = 1,400,000.00 (this is calculated for you)
- Definite Event Revenue = 12,000.00
When users run the Pace report, they’ll see how the property’s guestroom and event production compares to these monthly budget figures.
Some things to keep in mind when using monthly budgets in the Pace report:
- When defining property budgets, you must select the Monthly checkbox on the Sales Goals page. If this checkbox is not selected, you won’t be able to see a comparison to your budget values in the report.
- Only one property budget can be defined per calendar month. The report does not support multiple budgets (for example, 1/1/2018 – 1/15/2018 and 1/16/2018 – 1/31/2018) in a given month.
- Property budgets can’t span multiple months (for example, 1/15/2018 – 2/15/2018).
- Your event revenue budget pertains to the total definite revenue for the month. The report does not run a comparison against individual revenue classifications.
- This feature pertains to property budgets only, not sales goals for individual Sales Managers.
Enhanced GRC report
Several new features have been added to the GRC report to help you track what’s on the books for future months.
Pickup complete indicator
The GRC report now indicates which bookings have been marked pickup complete by displaying a caret symbol (^) next to the booking name. This can help you reconcile the GRC report against your PMS and confirm that groups are meeting their pickup requirements. Please note that the entire booking (not an individual room block on the booking) must be marked pickup complete for the caret to display.
Pickup and blocked numbers
When you run the GRC report with only Blocked selected as the Room Count Type, pickup numbers are shown if the entire booking has been marked pickup complete. Otherwise, blocked numbers are shown. A “Blk/Pck” label is displayed next to the booking name to indicate that the room counts might be blocked or pickup depending on the status of the Pickup Complete flag on the booking. A message is also displayed in the header of the report.
Improved formatting
To make the GRC report easier to read, the following formatting changes have been made:
- Revenue totals are rounded to the nearest whole number and no longer display decimals. Rates, however, continue to display decimal values.
- Table headers (including the month, year, day of month, and day of week) repeat on every page when you print or view the report in PDF format.
- Each month is separated by a page break when you print or view the report in PDF format.
- Zeroes are no longer displayed when there are no guestrooms present (blank spaces are used instead). However, they do continue to display in totals and revenue fields where applicable.
- Column widths are now fixed so the report displays and prints on one page (landscape).
- Values in the Housing Methods, Booking Market Segments, and Booking Types criteria fields are listed in alphabetical order.
Additional report data
Selecting the Additional Info checkbox under Report Options displays the following information for each booking: Booked Date, Cutoff Date, Decision Due, Res ID, Booked By, and Housing Method.
Housing Method criteria option
When setting the search criteria for the GRC report, you can now select one or more housing methods.
Monthly totals
A Monthly Totals checkbox has been added to the report criteria. When selected, each month’s total room count and guestroom revenue are displayed. The average rate for the month is also shown.
Generate Merge Document page
The Generate Merge Document page has been completely redesigned to make it easier for you to locate the document you want to merge and search for events by function room, setup, BEO number, and more. Here are the some of the changes you’ll see:
- The name and type of record you’re working with are displayed in the top-left corner of the page (for example, Booking: Pinkerton Sales Meeting). This is helpful when you have several tabs open at the same time and you want to make sure you’re merging from the correct record.
- Document templates are grouped in columns by template type (Advanced Booking, BEO, Banquet Check, Booking, etc.) so you can more easily find the template you need. You can also see which templates are property-defined and which are corporate.
- When you select a BEO or banquet check template, you can search for the events you want to include using two new options: Show All and Search for Specific BEO.
Show All displays all the events on the booking, including those that have not yet been assigned to a BEO. You can filter this list using the standard search criteria (Function Room, Function Room Setup, BEO Start/End #, etc.). This is the default option when you access the Generate Merge Document page from a booking or event.
Search for Specific BEO displays the list of BEOs on the booking. The first event on each BEO is shown along with the total number of events on that BEO. If your booking has a large number of BEOs, you can filter this list using the BEO Start # and BEO End # search fields. This is the default option when you open the Generate Merge Document page from the Manage Events or Manage Menus and Items page.
Default view in Booking Events grid
R18 introduced several new views of the Booking Events grid. Since then, you might have found one that you use all the time, or you may have customized your own. Now you can make that favorite view the default so that each time you open the Booking Events grid from the Booking page or the Manage Events page, your event details will display exactly as you want them.
Additional booking sources
Need to give more users access to your bookings? Now you can add up to five additional booking sources to the Booking page layout. These users will not only have access to your bookings and its child records (events, guestrooms, etc.), but they can also be added to workflows related to the booking. By default the new source fields are named: Other Source 1, Other Source 2, Other Source 3, Other Source 4, and Service Assistant.
Reassign large bookings
Properties working with large bookings (500 or more events) can add the new Change Owner button to the Booking page layout. This expedites the process of reassigning a large booking from one owner to another.
Most properties won't need to use the Change Owner button, but if you encounter performance delays when reassigning bookings, you can add the button to your layout at any time.
Report access for View Only users
View Only users can now change the report date range for the Item Inventory, Kitchen, GRC, Booking Status Change, and Guestroom and Catering Pace reports.
Opera PMS integration
When fields on inbound Reservation messages exceed the maximum field length, they are truncated to prevent failed messages in Delphi.
Fixed issues
Availability
CR0122576: Custom booking statuses now display in the Guestrooms section of the Availability page.
Bookings
CR0121844: When a room block has a room type with non-contiguous days (in other words, a gap of at least one roomnight), the Room Block Details page now accurately displays the room block data.
CR0122137: Admin charges on room rental roll up to the total admin charge sections on the Booking and Booking Event pages.
CR0122605: Properties with large bookings (500+ events) can now source those bookings to all roles (for example, Catering Manager, Service Manager, and Additional Sales Manager) without experiencing performance issues.
Events, Menus &Items
CR0121667: Changing an event’s end time now updates an item’s service end time accordingly.
CR0122396: The title bar on the Editing Item Details page (accessed from the Manage Menus and Items page) has been restored.
CR0122505: You can now tab to select dates in the Booking Events grid.
CR0122555, CR0122604: Simultaneously adding multiple events to a package no longer results in an error message.
Inquiries
CR0089751: An error message is no longer displayed when you create a booking from an inquiry whose temporary account or contact has a city greater than 40 characters or a postal code greater than 20 characters.
CR0090442: Setting the Status field to Turndown on an inquiry now updates MeetingBroker accordingly.
CR0122561: You no longer receive an error message when you try to create a booking from an inquiry that has an account and contact already selected in the lookup fields.
Merge
CR0122572: Clicking the Go to Merge button (Manage Events page > BEO > Preview & Merge) no longer displays an error message when you’re merging to a property-level BEO at a different property.
Opera PMS Integration
CR0121798: The Pickup Complete checkbox in the Modify Room Block window is now automatically selected when a Posting Master has been checked out in Opera.
CR0121842: When a shared reservation has different departure dates, a single Shared ID is created in Opera and the Delphi room block is updated with the correct pickup number.
CR0122177, CR0122656: PM Reservation messages that are not associated with a room block no longer display with a status of Pending in the Message Viewer. Instead, the message is processed and the following result message is displayed: “Reservation received successfully. PM Reservation has no allotment code. Message stored but no data was modified or updated.”
CR0122365: If a guest’s birthdate on an inbound Reservation message does not fall within the Salesforce-defined acceptable range (January 1, 1700 – December 31, 4000), the message no longer fails as the birthdate is not saved on the Reservation record.
CR0122307: The status of reservations with Reservation Other Income Days can be changed from Inactive to Active.
Reports
CR0121079: When a booking’s departure date occurs in a subsequent month (for example, the booking arrives Feb. 27 and departs March 1), the GRC report no longer displays that booking in the data for the second month.
R19
New features and enhancements
Instructions for enabling the R19 features can be found in the following topics:
- Add alternate language fields to page layouts
- Assign alternate language permission sets to users
- Update merge templates for alternate languages
Support for alternate languages
If you regularly book business with international customers, being able to communicate in multiple languages is crucial to executing flawless events and ensuring your customer’s satisfaction. With R19, you have the tool set you need to translate key booking and event information in different languages. Now you can create BEOs, banquet checks, and Advanced Booking merge documents in one or two languages using the translations your team has provided in the new alternate language fields.
R19 includes support for the following languages: English (US), German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch (NL), Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Chinese (Simplified), and Chinese (Traditional). A corporate administrator provides users with access to one or more alternate languages using permission sets. You’ll only see the alternate language fields for those permission sets that have been assigned to you.
Alternate language fields
Alternate language fields are included for several page layouts. If you’re upgrading to R19, a corporate administrator will need to add the alternate language fields to the corresponding page layouts for each language that is supported at your property. If you’re a new installation, these fields will automatically display on your page layouts.
After translations have been entered in these fields, they can be displayed on BEOs, banquet checks, and Advanced Booking merge documents. The translations that are provided for menus and items are also displayed in the Editing Item Details window and can be used as search criteria in the Menu and Item Search window.
Here are each of the page layouts that support multi-language and the alternate language fields that can be added to each one. In some cases, multiple page layouts need to be configured for an object (see bullets).
| Pages | Alternate language fields |
|---|---|
| Booking Other Income |
|
| Booking Package |
|
Booking Terms and Conditions
|
|
Event Classification
|
|
Event Item
|
|
Function Room
|
|
| Guestroom Type |
|
Item
|
|
| Other Income |
|
| Package |
|
Property
|
|
Setup Value
|
|
| Terms and Conditions |
|
Alternate language permission sets
Permission sets determine which languages you can see. A corporate administrator assigns each user the appropriate permission sets using the Permission Set Assignments related list on the User page.
For example, if you’ve been assigned a single permission set for French, you’ll only see the French alternate language fields—even if German and Italian fields have also been added to the page layout. Your alternate language permission sets are applicable at any property you have access to. They also determine which languages you can choose to display in merge documents.
View and modify alternate language fields
An administrator can populate the alternate language fields in each area of Setup (menus and items, event classifications, function rooms, etc.). You’ll be able to see the translations when you’re working as long as you have the corresponding permission sets.
When you’re detailing a BEO, you can confirm that all the menus and items have been translated correctly by clicking the new Edit Translations button on the Editing Item Details page. This opens a window where you can see all the translations for the alternate language permission sets that have been assigned to you. If a translation needs to be entered or modified, you can do so directly in the Edit Translations window. Your changes will not overwrite the master translations entered in Setup.
Another new feature is found on the Manage Menus and Items page. Now you can search for menus and items using an alternate language. For example, if you’ve been assigned the French alternate language permission set, searching on “saumon” will return the Roasted Salmon menu (saumon rôti).
Merge with alternate language fields
R19 allows you to create BEOs, banquet checks, and Advanced Booking documents in one or two languages. This functionality is available whether you’re merging a single document or batch merging multiple documents.
If you’re creating merge documents using any single language, your merge templates will work as is. No additional configuration of your merge tags is required. You may, however, want to create a unique merge template for each language and then translate the text and field labels into the appropriate language.
If you’d like to create bilingual merge documents (for example, your default language and French or German and French), you’ll need to add the secondary merge fields to your merge templates. These fields are available in the Amadeus Merge Add-In Tool version 3.6.9.4 or higher. Because they are dynamic, they only need to be added to each template once and will automatically update for each language that is selected for the merge. Just as with single language documents, you may also want to create a unique template for each language combination and then translate the text and field labels into the appropriate languages.
Currently, not all alternate language fields can be added to Advanced Booking merge documents. Don’t worry. We’re already making sure more of these fields will be available in upcoming releases.
Here are a few additional things to keep in mind:
- Only those languages that you have been given access to through permissions sets will be available for selection in the Language and Secondary Language picklists when you’re merging and batch merging.
- You must select a BEO, Banquet Check, or Advanced Booking template to display the Language and Secondary Language picklists on the merge pages.
- If you don't have any alternate language permission sets, you won't see the Language and Secondary Language picklists on the merge pages.
- If you select a language that does not have translations entered, we will use your default language (for example, English) where the alternate language fields are blank. For example, if your item name has been translated into French but its description has not, the merged BEO will show the French name and the English description.
Fixed issues
Availability
CR0122576: The Custom Status field on the Booking page can now be viewed in the Guestroom Bookings section of the Availability 2.0 page.
Bookings
CR0122137: The administrative charge on function room rental now rolls up into the Admin Revenue section on a booking and event.
Inquiries
CR0091333: You can now create a booking from an RFP inquiry when a matching account is not found in the system. We will create the new account and contact accordingly.
Merge
CR0122572: Clicking Go to Merge in the Preview & Merge window (Manage Events page > BEO > Preview & Merge) no longer displays an error message when the events on a cross-property booking use different property-level BEO templates.
R18
These release notes describe the features and fixed issues included in R18. To determine whether R18 has been installed in your organization, go to Setup > Build > Installed Packages and look for Sales & Catering version number 1.130. To schedule your update to the latest version, contact Amadeus Support.
Instructions for enabling the R18 features can be found in the following topics:
- Enable Availability 2.0
- Configure Availability 2.0
- Enable date collections
- Enable the RFP Multi-Link/Unlink feature
- Support for cross-property events in merge documents
- Add the Remove Cancelled Events from BEOs button
- Support for batch printed banquet checks
- Enable justification toolbar buttons for menu and item descriptions
For assistance with any feature configuration, contact your Amadeus sales representative to learn more about our Professional Services offerings.
New features and enhancements
Availability 2.0
Availability 2.0 provides busy sales and catering professionals with a streamlined user experience for checking availability. The completely redesigned Availability page offers improved performance and a variety of customization options, giving you the tools you need to multi-task while efficiently managing your bookings and events. When your property upgrades to R18, Availability 2.0 will be enabled for you. A corporate administrator can then choose to provide additional functionality by configuring the Availability page to show certain details and color settings.
Availability configuration
Several options can be configured to show certain details and color settings on the new Availability page. Managed by a corporate administrator, these options are located on the Availability Settings page (accessed from Amadeus Settings). When users open the Availability page, they’ll see the options that have been set for their default property. If they don’t have a default property assigned to them, they’ll see the options set for their org’s default property. Users can override some of these settings using the Amadeus User Settings page (see Availability User Settings).
As a best practice, availability options need to be set on the corporate level. All properties in the org will then inherit those default settings. If needed, modifications can be made to individual properties. An asterisk will display next to the property name in the Select Property picklist if its configuration has been customized.
If a property's availability settings are changed from the corporate defaults, any changes you make on the corporate level will not flow back down to that property. Only those properties that retain the original corporate settings will reflect any changes made on the corporate level. Additionally, after a property's settings have been modified, it is not possible to automatically revert to the corporate configuration.
Enable 4 Week View
With the addition of the 4 Week view option, users can now check space a month at a time.
Prevent Availability Autoload
Corporate administrators can choose to load availability data automatically when users open the Availability page. When the Prevent Availability Autoload option is selected, the Availability page waits to load data until you select a property and click Go. This can speed up availability checking for properties that have a lot of function space. When this option is cleared, the Availability page automatically loads data for the last property, date, and time increment that were selected. You must wait until this data has finished loading before you can select a different date and property.
Users can override the default selection using the Amadeus User Settings page.
Shaded Weekend Days
Shading is used as an indicator of a weekend day on the Availability page. Corporate administrators can specify which days need to be considered part of the weekend.
Select Daily Information Rows
The Daily Information section of the Availability page can be customized to show selected daily guestroom and revenue totals.
Default Function Diary Start Hour
The start time for the Function Diary can be set to meet the needs of each property (for example, 5:00 AM). Users can override this setting to customize their view of the Function Diary (see Availability User Settings).
Hide Unassigned Rooms in Function Diary
This option speeds up availability checking for properties that have a lot of function space. Users can override this setting to customize their view of the Function Diary (see Availability User Settings). They can also right-click in the Function Room column and select or clear the Hide Unassigned Function Rooms checkbox.
Enable Booking Filter Button
This option displays the Booking filter button in the Function Diary which allows users to select a booking and view only those events in the Diary. Events from other bookings display as shadows to allow users to focus on the events for their selected booking. Additionally, a booking must have events in the visible time range to be listed as a Booking filter option.
By default, the inline Diary always filters to show events for the current booking (other booking events display as shadows).
Show Event Shadows on Property Row
To give users a bird’s eye view of the events for a day, corporate administrators can choose to display event shadows on the Property row. This helps users quickly identify if there are any gaps in the day where there are no events blocked. The option for displaying or hiding event shadows is located on the Availability Settings page. By default, event shadows are hidden on the Property row.
Enable Event Colors
Corporate administrators can customize the event colors that are displayed in the Function Diary. Colors can be set for any Booking Event field (or related object) that is a picklist or a checkbox, as well as for custom fields and formulas. For example, to alert users to events that still require detailing, you might set Is Done = No to yellow and Is Done = Yes to gray. By default, events are color-coded based on their status: red (Prospect), blue (Tentative), green (Definite). Date Collections are also included by default if they have been enabled in the org.
Users can toggle between the different color-coded fields using the Event Color button.
The Guestroom Bookings section of the Availability page is color-coded to display the current booking status. The same colors are used that are defined for event status (for example, red = Prospect, blue = Tentative, green = Definite).
Enable Event Text
Like colors, different labels can be displayed on events in the Function Diary. Users toggle between the different labels using the Event Label button in the Function Diary. A label can be any field in the Booking Event object or a related object. It can also be a custom field or formula you’ve created. Event Name is automatically included as an event label. Examples of other labels include Booking Post As, Expected Attendance, and Account Name.
Enable Event Tooltips
Tooltips give users quick access to event details without having to leave the Function Diary. When users hover over an event, the tooltip window opens and displays the following information by default: Event Time, Event Time With Turn Times, Event Name, Booking, Event Status, and Booking Owner. Corporate administrators can add other fields to the tooltip that belong to the Booking Event object or any directly related object. They can also be custom fields or formulas. Examples of common tooltip fields include: Function Room Name, Function Room Setup, Cutoff Date, Blended Revenue Total, and Document Number.
Date collections
Date collections broadcast special dates, such as holidays, citywides, and promotions, on the Availability page. After entering the different date collections, an administrator assigns each one a particular color. When users view the Function Diary or Guestroom Bookings, they can hover over the column header of a highlighted date and view details about what is going on that day. They can also click the column header to open the date information in a separate window.
Availability user settings
While a corporate administrator defines most of the details and color settings displayed on the Availability page, users can override some of these defaults using the options on the Amadeus User Settings tab. Delphi remembers your selections and displays them each time you open the Availability page (or view the inline Function Diary on the Booking page). The following options can be set by individual users:
- Remember Last Availability Date – The Availability page displays the last date that was viewed.
- Prevent Availability Autoload – This option determines whether or not availability data is automatically loaded when the Availability tab is clicked. When this option is selected, the Availability page waits to load data until you select a property and click Go. This can speed up availability checking for properties that have a lot of function space. When this option is cleared, the Availability page automatically loads data for the last property, date, and time increment that were selected. You must wait until this data has finished loading before you can select a different date and property.
- Hide Unassigned Function Rooms in Diary – This option speeds up availability checking for properties that have a lot of function space. You can also right-click in the Function Room column in the Diary and select or clear the Hide Unassigned Function Rooms checkbox.
- Function Diary Start Hour – Sets the start time for the Function Diary (for example, 5:00 AM).
Additional general availability enhancements
Date format
What might seem like a small change is actually a huge time-saver—now you can enter dates without using leading zeros. Just enter the date as you typically would (for example, 1/1/18), and continue on with your availability checking. We add the leading zeros for you.
Hiding availability sections
The Availability page displays three sections by default: Daily Information, Guestroom Bookings, and Function Diary. If you need more room to work or you don’t want to view a section, you can hide it and display it again later on. Your selections are remembered the next time you open the Availability page.
Opening Availability in a new tab
To make is easier for you to multi-task, an Open in New Window button has been added to the Availability page. This allows you to keep the page open while working in other areas. You can also choose to open a particular section of the Availability page in a new tab by right-clicking the Daily Information, Guestroom Bookings, or Function Diary button and clicking View.
Function Diary enhancements
The following enhancements have been made to the Function Diary on the Availability page as well as the inline Diary on the Booking page. See Navigating the Function Diary.
Right-click event options
When you right-click an event in the Function Diary, you now have access to several new options, each of which is designed to streamline the process for checking availability and managing your events.
- Edit – Opens the Quick Create window where you can modify the event details.
- View – Opens the Booking Event page.
- Manage Events – Opens the Manage Events page.
- Manage Menus and Items – Opens the Manage Menus and Items page.
- Delete – Deletes the selected event.
Quick Create
The Quick Create window has been enhanced to make creating and modifying events even faster. With the addition of the End Time, Setup Time, and Teardown Time fields, you can provide greater detail about your events directly in the Function Diary. If a function room has a default rental defined, the Rental field also auto-populates before you click Save. As an added bonus, you can now TAB through all the fields in the window so your hands never have to leave the keyboard.
Zooming
Navigating in the Function Diary’s 1 Day view has been simplified with the addition of the Zoom In and Zoom Out options. These options are available when you right-click anywhere in the Diary that is not an event.
Multi-Link/Unlink feature
Using the Multi-Link/Unlink feature in R18, you can link a booking to multiple RFP inquiries, ensuring each channel (for example, Cvent, StarCite, your national sales office) receives business data updates from the booking.
You indicate which RFP inquiry is the primary one by clicking the Make Primary button (Inquiries related list on the Booking page). Delphi then does the following:
- Displays the primary RFP ID and Reference Number on the booking.
- Sends proposal data to the primary RFP channel only, but business data updates are sent to all RFPs linked to the booking.
If you determine that an RFP inquiry should not be linked to a booking, you can easily unlink it using the Unlink Inquiries button on the booking. Business data updates will no longer be sent for that inquiry.
A booking can also be linked to inquiries that were not sent from MeetingBroker but were instead manually created.
Events grid enhancements
R18 continues to build upon the robust functionality of the events grid to provide you with a convenient and fast way to manage your event programs. Whether you access the grid from the Booking page or the Manage Events page, you’ll find the following additions to be huge time-savers. See Using the booking events grid.
Keyboard shortcut for multi-selecting
Instead of selecting the checkbox for each event you want to edit, you can multi-select by pressing the CTRL key while clicking the rows you want to work with. This makes it easier to select events when you’ve scrolled to the right and the checkboxes are out of view.
Right-click options
Several new options are now available when you right-click an event in the events grid:
- View – Opens the Booking Event page.
- Items – Opens the Manage Menus and Items page.
- New Event – Adds a new event row in the grid.
- Clone Events – Opens the Clone Events page for the selected events (available on Manage Events page only).
- Edit Multiple – Opens the Edit Multiple page for the selected events (available on Manage Events
- page only).
- Quick Clone – Copies the selected events to the same day or the next day.
- BEO – Lets you assign selected events to BEOs and mark/unmark BEOs as revised (available on the Manage Events page only).
- Delete – Deletes the selected event.
- Refresh – Refreshes the events grid.
Saved views
A new Views picklist lets you select from five different predefined views of the events grid. You can customize these views by moving, adding, and removing columns. You can also rename a view. After saving, you can revert back to the view’s default column settings, if needed.
Batch merge enhancements
The following enhancements have been made to the Create Batch Merge Document pages that are accessed via a booking and All Tabs (+).
Distributed Options (All, Distributed, Undistributed)
A new Distributed Options picklist lets you search for all BEOs, distributed BEOs only, or undistributed BEOs only when you’re batch merging.
Indicate when Banquet Checks have been Batch Printed
Typically, the banquets team batch prints banquet checks after they have confirmed the actual menu and item quantities. To bring visibility to this standard operating procedure, a Mark Banquet Check as Printed checkbox has been added to the Create Batch Merge Document page. After this checkbox is selected and the batch is run, you can find which banquet checks have been batch printed using the new search criteria field called Banquet Check Batch Printed Options (All, Batch Printed, Not Batch Printed).
To complete this enhancement, the Is Banquet Check Batch Printed field has been added to the Merge Add-In Tool version 3.6.9.4 so banquet checks can be marked as batch printed.
Batch merge BEOs and banquet checks for multi-property bookings
When you batch merge from a booking, the Property picklist is auto-populated with all the properties that have BEOs on the booking. This allows you to batch merge for one property after another without having to leave and then re-open the Create Batch Merge Document page.
Merge Type defaults to BEO
The Merge Type picklist now defaults to BEO.
Support for cross-property events in merge documents
When you have a cross-property booking, you can include events from all properties in your contracts and proposals that use the Advanced Booking merge. To implement this feature, an administrator needs to do the following:
- Select the Display Cross-Property Events in the Document checkbox on the document template.
- Install the Merge Add-In Tool version 3.6.9.4, which includes the new Property:Property template part field. (The previous version of the tool must be uninstalled first.)
- Add the Property field to the merge template’s event table as a new column.
This feature does not yet support cross-property BEOs, banquet checks, or booking checks.
Exclude cancelled events from booking documents
You can now exclude cancelled events when you merge or batch merge BEOs and other booking documents. Additionally, using the Remove Cancelled Events from BEOs option on the Property page, administrators have the option of removing cancelled events from all booking documents. When an event is cancelled, it will be automatically removed from all existing booking documents on the booking.
Display or hide justification toolbar buttons for menu and item descriptions
Using the Allow Menu and Item Description Justification option on the Amadeus Settings page, corporate administrators can choose to display or hide the justification buttons on the Editing Item Details, Edit Description, and Item Details pages.
- When this option is selected, menu and item descriptions in the merged BEO will reflect the formatting applied in the Description field.
- When this option is cleared, menu and item descriptions in the merged BEO will be formatted according to the merge template.
The option setting that is selected applies to the entire org.
Booking Status Change report
The Booking Status Change report now includes an All (Includes New) option in the Beginning Booking Status picklist. This allows you to include new bookings (bookings that did not exist before the activity date range) in the report data.
Fixed issues
Availability
CR0122186: All function room combinations are shaded appropriately in the Function Diary when any subset of the combo room is blocked.
CR0122269: The first time you open the Availability page, function room groups are now displayed in the correct sort order.
Bookings
CR0122053: The Pickup Complete checkbox on a booking day snapshot record is now selected when all room blocks on a booking have been marked Pickup Complete.
CR0122135: Booking day snapshots are now created when a property has a large number of bookings (over 50,000).
CR0122096: The Peak Roomnights fields on the Booking page now display the peak total rooms per day (rather than by room type) for room blocks that include more than one room type. Additionally, when a room block is deleted, the Peak Roomnights values are removed from the booking.
Inquiries
CR0121537, CR0091333: When you convert an RFP inquiry to a booking, Delphi will create new account and contact records if no matching records are found in the system.
Merge & reports
CR0121938: The Function Diary by Hour report now shows the correct day of week for a particular date.
CR0122046: An event’s Post checkbox must be selected for the event to be included in the Event Posting report.
CR0122250: Guestroom taxes are now calculated on a booking check that includes revenue details.
Opera PMS integration
CR0121495, CR0121988: When an Opera reservation comment is longer than 255 characters, it is truncated to ensure the reservation is received in Delphi.
CR0121783: Opera object notifications are now being processed by Amadeus Hospitality Web Services (AHWS).
CR0121992: When the booking owner in Delphi is inactive, Opera reservation updates will fail. The associated error message that is displayed has been clarified to read: “This Booking has an inactive user listed as the Booking Owner. Please make sure only active users are listed in this field.”
CR0122141: When a room block is in a terminal state, inbound Opera reservations with the same PMS group ID do not update the room block and a log entry is generated.
CR0122437, CR0122451: A booking’s Guestroom Information (Calculated) and Posted Revenue fields are now updated with revenue from Opera when the booking’s Pickup Complete checkbox has been selected.
CR0122630: When an Opera reservation extends the original room block by more than one night, the room block is updated accordingly in Delphi.
R17
Because an installation package was not released for R17, there are no features or fixed defects to publish.