Changed the way the application stores and retrieves the INI and Settings files. Security issues in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 necessitated this change.

The application is now capable of working with Pastel 11 companies.

Fixed an error, which caused the Customer Reconciliation to display no results when the report was generated by customer category. (Groove Id : CH-A3220106F)

Fixed an error, which occurred when running the Customer ->Novtel Aging Report.

There when the permission for negative receipts was added, no check was added to actually control access to that feature. That check has now been added.

Fixed a layout error on the form used for the Customer Receipts report.

Fixed an overflow error, which occurred when doing a Customer History search on databases with a large amount of reservations.

The permission to do with 3rd Party Interface did not display and thus could not be set in Self-Storage. This has now been remedied.

Added functionality, which allows the path to be set of the INI file and various settings files to circumvent security issues in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008.

Fixed an error where a setting to do with the display of the Suppliers list was stored in a different ini file instead of the Novtel Reservations.ini.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT NOVTEL DO NOT AT ALL CRITICISE PASTEL PARTNER’S WAY OF MANUFACTURING, OR SAY THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH PASTEL PARTNER.

THE WAY PASTEL WORKS, WORKS FOR MANY COMPANIES; OUR CLIENTS SIMPLY HAVE DIFFERENT NEEDS TO PASTEL PARTNER’S OFFERINGS.

PASTEL TAKES OUR CLIENTS 75% TO WHERE THEY WANT TO BE AS FAR AS MANUFACTURING IS CONCERNED.

TOGETHER NOVTEL AND PASTEL PARTNER CREATES THE PERFECT MANUFACTURING SOLUTION FOR EVERYONE TO ENJOY.

The instructions received from our clients were as follows:

1. Design module for Pastel Partner that manufacture at last cost.

1.1 At the same time adjust selling prices of the manufactured goods as the mark-up % specified in

the BOM (Bill Of Materials) in Pastel Partner.

1.2 Base the selling price calculation of the manufactured item on the sum of the last cost of the BOM.

1.3 Allow the manufacturing process to automatic transfer manufactured stock items to the deferent

stores/branches in Pastel Partner.

1.4 Adjust the inventory quantities according the BOM’s defined quantities and store selection to

complete the manufacturing process with the new Novtel Manufacturing system.

2. Design system that automatically adjust shelf item’s selling prices based on last cost of the purchased item.

2.1 Pastel’s “Adjust Selling Prices” is not adequate because the adjustment requires manual Input form the user

after GRN’s (Goods Received Notes)  are processed.

2.2 Each shelf item have 3 selling prices List A, B and C; each inventory category have different pre-set

mark-up margins.

2.3 The mark-up margin for each inventory item needs to be recorded on the Pastel inventory master file showing the % mark-up for each price list.

2.4 For the mark-up margins the 3 Inventory Numeric user defined fields in Pastel are used to store the information.

2.5 All purchased goods are received in a store we call this receiving store; the Pastel GRN’s are done in this store as deliveries are received from

suppliers.

2.6 All manufactured and shelf items are transferred form the receiving to the various stores we have.

2.7 Design a store transfer module that will adjust the selling price of each shelf item based on the

mark-ups as described in note 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4  above as stock transfer are done.

3. Referring to 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 above design a system that will automatically populate the Inventory

mark-up % to each of the 3 Inventory item’s Numeric user defined fields allow this automatic %

mark-up adjustment to be made per inventory category.

4. Design System to adjust stock on hand per inventory item to “0″ quantity on hand with the click

of one button; allow this adjust stock to “0″adjustment to be made per inventory category.  This feature is to help with the take

on of new stock balances at last cost.

Manufacture at last cost

Pastel can only manufacture at average cost.

For the Novtel Manufacturing system to work the Bill of Materials item have to exist as an Inventory item in Pastel

the Lock BOM to this item and Update Selling Price tick boxes must be ticked as shown in the example below.

Each component of the Bill of Materials do have a average cost and last cost. Pastel’s calculation of

average cost calculated as follows:

Total amount paid for the inventory item divided by the quantity purchased.

There is no periods or dates linked the calculation of Pastel Average Cost it is simply average of all transactions on the master file

for that specific inventory item over the period purchases were done by the system.

The Edit Bills of Materials screen of Pastel can show what the selling prices should be at last cost in the example below.

The only problem is that when the actual manufacturing process is done in Pastel the system will manufacture at average cost only.

Issues resolved and new features:

Grid:

Change the Tooltip transparency to make the content more visible – Location: right-click on grid (Room number) and selecting ‘Detailed Description’

Status changes:

Change colour of Status – ‘Departed’

Added Status – ‘Fully Paid’

Remove Pastel balance from Reservation tooltip.

Added the following to the bottom of the Grid display:

Individual Reservations:

Reservation Balance

Invoice Total

Receipt Total

Deposit Forfeit Total

Deposit Refund Total

Deposit Paid

Group Reservations paid by the Group will show zero balances and totals for the individual Reservation. This information is only available by clicking on the Group container.

Group container (virtual room)

Group Balance

Group Invoice Total

Group Receipt Total

Group Deposit Forfeit

Group Deposit Refund

Group Deposit Paid

Note: This financial data displays on a left mouse click with the mouse pointer on the specific reservation.

Reports:

Items not linked to a Pastel:

This report is now also available at Reports – List

Bednights Repost:

Fix report to work with Group virtual room and to calculate and display Group additional costs. Previously only Reservation additional costs were taken into account in this report.

Reservation Details:

Made some general changes when cancelling a reservation to incorporate the refund and partial refund of deposits with and without the limitation of first settle or reverse outstanding amount on reservation.

Un-Update:

Un-updating a Reservation changed to create a Credit Note to Pastel as a reversal of the Invoice.

New checkbox – Apply Tariff towards Reservation:

Added this control to assist with Group reservations. ‘Check’ or ‘Un-check’ of this control will apply Accommodation tariff and Service Charge on accommodation towards Reservation or Group. When updating the Reservation the Group additional costs are dynamically updated with the Service Charge

Front desk Cashup:

Fixed – After a money count is done,  if there is an “In House Total”  this shows as the “Shortage Amount” on return to the Shift Cash Up screen and also gets posted to the Pastel GL account for that user/

Service Charge:

Fix the generation of a zero (0) value Service Charge line where Service Charge is not applicable on Payouts, Credit Notes and in POS transactions.

Groups

Added a Group ‘container’. It is not necessary to create this ‘container or ‘virtual room’ as it is created when adding a Reservation to a Group. The format is ZGROUPxx where xx starts with 01. In the event of more than one Group reservation in the same reservation period a new ‘container’ will be created to accommodate the additional Group reservation.

Un-update:

Un-updating a Group changed to create a Credit Note to Pastel as a reversal of the Invoice.

Group configuration:

Group members can be added to the Group according to the following criteria:

-      Group responsible for payment

-      Group member responsible for accommodation

-      Group member responsible for additional costs

-      Group member responsible for accommodation and additional costs

Details on adding a Group member:

Group responsible for payment

Option 1

Add member with the same Customer code as entered at Group Details General tab.

Deposit if entered will be applied towards Group account

Option 2

Un-check ‘Apply Tariff to Reservation’ and ‘Apply Charges to Reservation’ where the Customer code is not the same as entered at Group Details General tab.

Deposit if entered will be applied towards Group member account and checking ‘Apply Tariff to Reservation and/or ‘Apply Charges to Reservation’ will be required.

Group member responsible for accommodation

Customer code not the same as entered at Group Details General tab.

Check ‘Apply Tariff to Reservation’ and un-check ‘Apply Charges to Reservation’

Deposit if entered will be applied towards Group member account

Group member responsible for additional costs

Customer code not the same as entered at Group Details General tab.

Un-check ‘Apply Tariff to Reservation’ and check ‘Apply Charges to Reservation’

Deposit if entered will be applied towards Group member account

Group member responsible for accommodation and additional costs

Customer code not the same as entered at Group Details General tab.

Check ‘Apply Tariff to Reservation’ and check ‘Apply Charges to Reservation’

Deposit if entered will be applied towards Group member account

Reservation Payments:

Fix not to show Groups with zero balances on selection.

Restaurant/Bar:

Remove message “The cash drawer is not enabled for this user.” as this creates problems when not using a Cash Drawer.

Setup Cash Drawer:

Fix error when saving to database

Add New Charge:

Fix an error when adding a charge on a new installation from a ‘Clean database’. This error occurred on some ‘Clean database’ with a setup of ‘Use Tax defaulting’ to ‘No’. The system was changed to allow adding a charge irrespective of the Tax setup at Setup Company Financial.

The following charges must be created for a new installation with ‘Create Item in Pastel’ un-checked.

-      Bar/Restaurant In House Charge Code

-      POS/Shop In House Charge Code

-      POS/Shop In House Payout/Credit Note

Once done select the above codes at Setup Company Financial and change ‘Use Tax’ to Yes. Once this is done it will be possible to save the Company details.

Added the Edit Contract sub-menu on the menu generated when right-clicking on a booking.

Modified the application to work with Pastel 11. Currently the DDFs for Pastel 2009 are being used and work fine,
but when a new CD installation is compiled the Pastel 11 DDFs should distributed along with it.

Modified the cash-up to display the appropriate error message when attempting to write to the cash sales journal and the
customer code cannot be determined from the linked reservation, group or contract, instead of crashing the application

Issues resolved and new features:

Grid:

Added Account Balance (Pastel or Local if not integrated) to the tool tip that comes up when you point to a departed reservation on the grid.

Added the User Defined Fields to the Tooltip on right-click on grid (Room number) and selecting ‘Detailed Description’

Credit Note:

Added the option to do Credit Notes towards In-House Group reservations.

Added functionality to select a Multi-store location per line to enable passing correct Credit Notes on Invoices utilizing the recently added additional Multi-store for Restaurant/Bar staff.

Charges:

Added ‘Recipe Item’ and ‘BOM Code’ to accommodate “Manufacturing”

Pastel Interface:

Added the option to enable BOM (Manufacturing) or disable.

Note: Enabling this option is at the moment only functional for testing and not available for commercial use.

Reservation Payment:

Limit the number of character on the Credit Card number to Max 20.

Short/Over Journal processing:

Incorporate the following changes to accommodate all users allowed to do cash based transaction and cash based credit note transactions.

@ Interface Pastel:

Short/Over Account must be entered on POS tab if ‘Posting of Shortage/Over Journal by Supervisor Shift Cashup’ is checked on Setup Company – POS tab. All Short/Over will be posted towards the Short/Over Account if Gratuity GL Account as described below is not present.

@ Setup Users/Passwords:

By entering a ‘Gratuity GL Account’ on the Restaurant tab (only available for Restaurant/Bar Staff) this account will be used for processing the specific Staff member’s Short/Over.

Setup Users/Passwords:

Custom user permission

Merge user permission on Setup Company and 3^rd Party Interface to allow or disallow a ‘Custom’ user accessing Setup Company and Interface.

Reports:

Utilization report:

Remove check box “Show Disposed Rooms”

List Availability Report:

Fix ‘From’ and ‘To’ time picker

Rental Statistics Report:

Remove this report from the menu as it is not used

Current Activity Report

Fix error incorrectly displaying the RA number instead of the Reservation number on Departure. This error was due to previously changing the report not to show the RA number.

Restaurant & Diet

Change to populate values from the ‘Adults’ and ‘Children’ entry on Details Reservation General TAB. Report sort order changed to place ‘Adults’ first and then the ‘Children’.

Usage Report:

Change Category to Guest Tariff

Income Projection:

Remove the Paid status from selection.

Deposit Transaction listing:

Change to accommodate the changes made in handling deposits.

Reservation Details:

Deposit Refund:

Fix Amount Refunded displaying incorrectly when Deposit refunded in total.

Made some changes to dynamically display Deposit Refund and Forfeit on the Financial tab.

Added an option not to cancel the individual reservation when refunding the deposit.

Added the option to refund a deposit in part without cancelling the Reservation.

Added a checkbox ‘Apply Charges to Reservation’ on Financial tab to accommodate Group members responsible for own expenses.

Restaurant:

Made the necessary changes to incorporate Multi-store on the Extra/Component Item level.

Group Additional Cost Allocation Manager:

Change to dynamically update Service Charges when opening the Group Additional Cost Manager.

Fix an error occurring on Service Charges when moving line transactions from Group Reservation to Group and back.

Added the following Captions to accommodate ‘Deposit Refund’ and ‘Deposit Forfeiture’ on ‘Group Reservations’ and ‘Group’:

-      Deposit Refund Total

-      Deposit Forfeit Total

Added ‘Room Rental’ Caption to the Group Reservations to accommodate the new option to apply ‘Room Rental’ on a Group Reservation towards the individual Reservation.

18/05/2010

NOVTEL  RELATIONS  MANAGEMENT  SYSTEM (RM) FOR EFFECTIVE CONTROL OF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE  AND  BUSINESS OPERATIONS

1.  INTRODUCTION

This is a call to all Managers experiencing difficulties to control their business correspondence (incoming and outgoing) as well as their business operations.    Successfull Managers know that precision control over correspondence and operations is the centre of growth and financial stability.    It is usually not possible to keep track of all communication activities of staff members especially communication regarding queries and problems experienced by clients.

As far as business operations are concerned the integration of business data is vital.   Business data is inter alia used by the sales department. (including cash and credit sales), the transport and delivery divisions and the marketing and research divisions.    The Administration section will off course also rely on the business data to obtain an effective administrative division.

2.   SOLUTION

The obvious solution is the NOVTEL  Relations  Management  System.   The System is divided into two sub-systems via the

. Business Correspondence System

. Business Operation System.

2.1  BUSINESS  CORRESPONDENCE  SYSTEM

The RM – system is user friendly and is able to centralize all correspondence between customers, suppliers and staff members.   Any form of correspondence like an e-mail, SMS message, a note or an ordinary letter is done perfectly and with ease.   All correspondence is immediately available to each and every staff member and of course to the Manager.   The System includes the sending of final notices and letters to Customers and the capability of  sending e-mails or SMS’s in bulk.   Only one master file is used for all correspondence activities and the program easily integrates to PASTEL accounting.

2.2   BUSINESS  OPERATION  SYSTEM

The Novtel RM System creates a data integration base.   This means that all relevant business entities use the same data system.   The advantage of the integration base is especially usable by the manage to do the following:

Draw at anytime a list of outstanding accounts;

Arrange the sending of letters of final demand to customers in arrears with their payments;

Control the Cash and Credit Sales at any time.

Evaluate the merchandise in stock;

Control all the correspondence between staff members as well as correspondence between staff members and the public;

Advise the marketing Division of problems relating to a drop in sales;

Advise the Purchasing Division about new stocks on to market;

Control the Bank and Financial Situation of the Company.

Pay attention to staff problems which are reported by the Human Relation Department;

Use the information necessary to adjust the policy of the decisions of the Company;

Compare the performance of the Company to that of similar companies;

To report in the financial Statements to whom it may concern.

3.   The  Novtel Relations Management system has proved to be an excellent time saver;   a reliable vehicle for all administration and a System without which no Manager can perform.

Group:

Fix when changing ‘Duration Charged’ to NOT dynamically update Reservation end date and Grid after saving Reservation.

This is used for a longer stay shown on the grid than at ‘Duration Charged’. Example – Guest stays 14 days and gets 2 days free. Show on grid 14 days but only 12 days at ‘Duration Charged’.

Reports:

Restaurant & Diet

Fix to show only selected day’s records.

User/Password:

Fixed an error encountered when editing a Bar/Restaurant User with Gratuity code not entered.

Fixed an error encountered when not populating and using Multi-store code 2.

Fix to only make Setup – Users/Passwords – Restaurant TAB ‘Gratuity GL Account’ required…

if Setup – Company – POS TAB ‘Posting of Shortages/Surplus by Supervisor Shift Cashup’ is checked

and Setup – Interface – Pastel POS TAB ‘Short/Over Account’ is left blank.

Issues resolved and new features:

Group:

Fix when adding a Reservation from Group Details – Reservation Tab to dynamically update Reservation Details with the correct Price per Room or Price per Person.

POS Retail:

Fix Receipt captions to display only relevant information for the different payment types.

Add option to make In-House Group transactions

Group Additional Cost Allocation Manager:

Fix not to show and calculate individual deposits.

Reservation Details:

Quick View:

Fix not to show previous Applied Deposit when creating a new reservation.

Fix changing ‘Duration Charged’ to dynamically update Reservation end date and Grid after saving Reservation.

Reservation Record Create Date:

Change the program to utilize the Windows regional settings in the date and time format.

Deposits:

Remove selection by Contract Number. Not used in Hospitality.

Reports:

Deposits

Remove Out of Date Contract Deposits report from menu.

Restaurant & Diet Report:

Fix to show only in house guests with an entry in their Restaurant & Diet record.

Money Count:

Added a 0.25 currency denomination for international use.

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