Figure 1.1 Direct Group Creation Page
Mandatory Information:
The mandatory fields that are required to be filled in before an Agency can be saved by the system is:
1.Direct Group Name
2. Contact Name
What are the other fields on this screen?
The operator can now fill in the details of the fields. Some of these fields are described below as others are self explanatory.
1. Client Category: Can be FIT or Packaged Tour Reservation Agency (PAR).
2. Original Source: The operator can select the available sources under which the new agency can be placed as sourced from.
3. Operational Notes:
4. Client Notes:
5. Marketing/Sales Notes:
The address fields and other optional information and preferences about the Direct Group are picked up using different tabs that are arranged below the main tab. These can be expanded and collapsed after entering the required information.
The additional tabs that can be expanded to view each of them carry additional information as explained below.
Address Details
The Agency address is captured under 3 sections. The first one is the primary address followed by additional two alternate addresses. All of these addresses have a validity date range for which they are valid.
Contact Details
Under Contact Details, 2 contact phone numbers can be entered with one of these marked as a primary contact. A primary contact is one who would be contacted first while getting in touch with the traveler. Also a fax number and 3 email addresses can be provided.
Restrictions
Any restrictions that need to be in place.
Mailing List
The agency can be added to preset mailing groups here.
Commission
Agency commission can be earmarked upfront based on which calculations in billing are carried out.
Marketing
Contains the Payable to and Bill to details.
Territories
Associated Territory for this group can be selected here.
Record Details
The record details help us to record the status and type of the agency. Additionally it also provides when the agency information was modified in the system.
Who is a Group Leader?
For functionality purposes, a Direct Group Information is deemed to be complete only when a Group Leader information is also added. We can add or associate more than one group leader to a Direct Group, as all reservations or bookings are handled by this person. For example, all South American Tours may be handled by one group leader, whereas Europe could be handled by another. This way we have accounting reports and agent in turn being accounted for all transactions carried out under the leader’s name and thereby billed to the Group to which they belong.
How do we add a Group Leader to a Direct Group?
As is evident in Figure 1.1 above, the moment a Direct Group is created, a new tab named Group Leader is visible and once the operator clicks on this tab, the Group Leader List form appears as shown below in Figure 1.2. If there are already group leaders added previously, these are shown in the list. A new leader can be added by clicking on the New Group Leader button on the right.
Figure 1.2 List of Group Leaders linked to a Direct Group
Click on the New Group Leader button and presto, another form appears, this time to enter the group leader that you or the operator intended to add to this direct group. Please see below for the visual in Figure 1.3.
Also, if one needs to edit or view more on the leader who was selected, the operator needs to click on the Group Leader No for the details page to appear as shown below.
Figure 1.3 Group Leader Form
The Group Leader details page is shown as a tabbed interface. Following are the tabs with explanation on what they contain. If you see the Edit option for the various sections, this means you have permission rights to change some or all of the information on these sections. Notes on Client, Operations and Marketing can also be added if the user has edit permission on this page.
Mandatory Information:
The mandatory fields that are required to be filled in before an Agency can be saved by the system is:
1.Group Leader First Name
2. Group Leader Last Name
3. Territory
Summary: A snapshot of details that was entered while filling in the agent details.
Communications: Shows all the online and manual communication requests for example, a brochure request and follow up calls are listed here.
Profile: Same as Agent profile.
Reservations:Lists all the reservation, FIT or PAR carried out by or for this agent.
Interests: Any interests saved for this agent are listed here. Interests for an agent are added using the Action menu on the right rail of the Agent page.
Opportunities:Any sales opportunity that may exist from this agent or any potential opportunities in the future may be recorded using the opportunity tab for an agent. Under this tab, there is a Add Opportunity button to enter the relevant details.
Search Direct Group Section
The Agency Search Screen is used to find the details of an Agency Group during an inbound call. The Search screen also has the option to enter a New Agency Group once the operator was unsucessful while searching for the same and now wishes to enter the agency details newly into the system.
There are 2 ways of carrying out a search as per operator needs. These are the General and the Advanced. Let us look at the General Search which is the most popular one.
General Search
The Agency Group Search screen is shown below in Figure 1.4.
Figure 1.4 The Direct Group Search Screen
Any existing Agency can be searched giving one or more of the fields as shown above and clicking on the Search button. The search results will be displayed in the Agency Search Results screen as shown in Fig 1.5 below with the Direct Group ID, Direct Group Name,Group Leader Name, State and Postal Code fields.
Figure 1.5 Direct Group Search Results
To view the remaining recordsin case there are more than what can fit on one page, the operator can click on the –> button provided on the bottom right corner.
If you look at the Search results page, and you need to zero in on any specific agency on that page, you need to click on the No. field upon which the group details are shown to you as seen in Figure 1.6 below.
Figure 1.6 Direct Group Profile on clicking Search Result
The Direct Group details page is shown as a tabbed interface. Following are the tabs with explanation on what they contain. If you see the Edit option on the top right corner, this means you can have permission rights to change some or all of the information on these sections.
The additional tabs that can be expanded to view each of them carry additional information and are explained below.
Address Details
The Agency address is captured under 3 sections. The first one is the primary address followed additional two alternate addresses. All of these addresses have a validity date range for which they are valid.
Contact Details
Under Contact Details, 2 contact phone numbers can be entered with one of these marked as a primary contact. A primary contact is one who would be contacted first while getting in touch with the traveler. Also a fax number and 3 email addresses can be provided.
Mailing List
The agency can be added to preset mailing groups here.
Commission
Agency commission can be earmarked upfront based on which calculations in billing are carried out.
Marketing
This contains the relevant Payable to and Bill to details.
Territories
Associated Territory for this group can be selected here.
Record Details
The record details help us to record the status and type of the agency. Additionally it also provides when the agency information was modified in the system.
With this, we finish the section on Direct Group Search.
