| Scott's Tech Tip- Long Term Deposits & Non Cash Vouchers Re-Visited |
 Here is an update to the Voucher feature that has caused some confusion in the past.
Vouchers and other non-cash Check Types can be applied to outstanding invoices in
CM. However there are two levels of tracking and I think this is the reason for the
confusion. The simple method would be to allow Vouchers but not to apply the
voucher(s) to a customer's history file. If you do not check the box titled "Track
Customer Credits/Vouchers" on the Camp Setup, Parameters II screen, then this will be
the case. You may set up as many Non Cash voucher types as you wish and assign
account numbers to them. The accounting system will revenue them without throwing
off your real cash balances.
The more complex way would be to allow vouchers and to have CM track the unused
value of the vouchers by applying them to the customer's history file. This method will
tie any unused vouchers directly to the customer. The total value of the voucher will
show on the customer's account and can be redeemed during any future stay.
Here is where I believe the main point of confusion occurs. You may use any Non Cash
Check Type to reduce the amount of the customer's balance. As you accept Non cash
vouchers as payment in the cash receipts screen the system will automatically reduce
the Long Term Deposit balance on the customer's account. You do not have to use the
Apply Deposit button on the Customer Details screen in order to redeem the voucher.
The only reason to use the Apply Deposit button would be if you wish to redeem the
whole amount at once and apply the full amount to an existing transaction.
You may not have enough charges on the account to absorb the whole credit but you
want to leave it in an unapplied state until you can use it up.
What was happening was that the complex voucher method assumed that each
voucher issued was being tracked to a customer and each customer that would redeem
a voucher would have a physical coupon to present to the clerk in order to reduce the
balance of the credit that was applied to the history file.
Therefore a $100 balance would be redeemed with a $100 voucher/coupon at the park.
This was not the case at some parks and they were using a variety of non cash
payment methods without having a credit on the customer account to offset it.
Therefore the non cash payments were reducing the balance below zero and into the
negative amount. This is what causes the confusion.
|
|
|
Campground Manager SoftwareŽ Updates
|
  The following is the latest upgrade information on Campground Manager SoftwareŽ.The the link to download it for our customers remains the same. You will have to enter your access code and password. Hope you enjoy it!
7.40 is now available for download ...
; Version 7.40 released on January 27, 2008
; Enhancements:
; - Customer history export button on the customer info screen has been eliminated and two new export button options have been added to the side button bar. Export button 1 builds an export file ...Cont.
; ...continued that exports the main customer name and address details. Button 2 exports out name and address information as as well as detailed information found in the details window and the user defined window.
; - Special shift locations have been added for customers using a call center through the central reporting module. This enables clerks to see which shifts are used at the call center vs the local park front desk.
; - Added a "Move In" and "Move Out" status window that tracks movements of long term customers and provides a reason for the move in/out. This feature can be accessed on the Transaction Screen beside the notes button.
; - Added a "Move In" and "Move Out" Report to the Reports window. This displays all the scheduled move ins and outs for the period of time requested.
; - Added the ability to process credit cards with dual merchant accounts. One merchant account for swiped credit cards and a separate merchant account for manual credit card entries.
; - Added an alternative merchant number strategy to allow individual workstations to process credit cards using a unique merchant number for each workstation (M2307)
; - Credit card batch window list and report will now contain the merchant number used for the processing of the credit card. The report will now sort and subtotal on Merchant number and card type
;
; Bug fixes:
; - fixed the disappearing tax problem when tabbing out of discount field on phone charge screen - CASH Call Accounting (M2279)
; - Cash Receipt printout was occasionally printing in landscape mode. This inconsistency has been addressed.
; - Fixed archive procedure for Macintosh users. Process was giving an error message that the Camp detailed was not able to open. Then the process would quit and not complete the archive.
;
; Maintenance (internal)
; - Customer statement used in the update payment schedule list did not line up the customer address section with a standard window envelope. This has been corrected.
; - Added functionality to hide Rate Codes when inactivating rates under the Scheduled Charges, Guest Charges, Rental Fees, and Meter Rate Codes. continued...
; ... continued This feature was already in place for Camping charges and the same functionality has been extended to the rest of the billing types.
; - Update the direct email button found on the print dialog screen to work with Outlook Express over a domain server. Also address a Microsoft patch that limited the size of the email being sent.¨"
Version 7.40.1 (BETA) released on March 24, 2008
This is the beta version that requires registration as a beta user.
Features and Enhancements
ˇ Added a "remove from group" button to the group booking screen. This function removes a customer from
being part of a designated group.
ˇ Added a sort level to the unoccupied site report to group sites on the report by Site Type and Site Number.
ˇ Added a report to display the individual sites that belong to each site type and site class. They can be
accessed from the Site Type and Site Class Lists.
ˇ Added a field to the Customer Details Screen that tracks if the customer wishes to be part of a marketing
program (ELS)
ˇ Added a report to the POS Reports section (Sales Detail Report-each item by Date). This report prints all
POS items that have been sold and displays the tax charges on each item for any date range. The report will
also break down the taxable and non taxable sales for each of the 5 tax codes.
ˇ On the Reports window, added "Print Car Pass by Arrival Date" report function which allows you to pre-print
all car passes for a certain arrival date range.
ˇ Invoices will now print the customer's name just below the signature line. If the card was swiped through
the credit card reader then that name will show even though the customer name may be different if the
card is not swiped then the cardholder name will be present.
ˇ The customer name will be the default name if a credit card was not provided.
ˇ Added Tag 1 and Tag 2 fields to the Storage List Report. Either field can be used to keep details about the
trailer in storage. The labels Tag1 and Tag2 can be defined by the park.
Fixes
ˇ Macintosh users experienced an error when trying to archive data. "Data File Not Found" then the process
would quit.
ˇ Move in, Move out report was not responding to the date parameters set as the report date range.
ˇ If a payment schedule has payment description lines without a date assigned to that payment line,
Campground Manager will lock up when refunding that transaction. This causes the program leaves the
refund half completed resulting in a corrupt record.
ˇ Print and Delete buttons were not working on the Customer Info Screen.
ˇ Mailing labels from mailing list did not adjust margin, header or footer distances for certain printers.
|
Campground Manager SoftwareŽ/ Bookyoursite.com Blog
|
 We are officially in the blog world! We posted our first blog last week and invite you to comment on it. Click here to read the blog and/or post a comment and let's start the dialogue.
Blogs are becoming an important to way to directly connect to your customer. A careful well thought out blog can be a very impressive and effective marketing tool. We will be adding the blog capability to all our Bookyoursite.com customers pages in the upcoming weeks. We would advise you to take advantage of this free service to drive business to your park. Connecting with your customers is the way to stay on top of your business.
|
Bookyoursite.com Price Changes
|
As we have been advising our Bookyoursite.com customers for the past 9 months our Bookyoursite.com pricing is changing to $5 per transaction come May 1/2008. This is the first increase in 5 years. The reasons are many least of which is an increase of server costs on our end. Most of our parks are passing the costs along to the consumer. Our competitors are charging upwards of 7% and the state park system is charging upwards of $12 per reservation so we feel we offer the best value in the market. Remember, it is vertically integrated with Campground Manager SoftwareŽ and we do not offer any discounts on the Bookyoursite.com server for the camping consumer.
Please contact Chris or myself if you have any questions or want to move forward. If you are a current Campground Manager SoftwareŽ customer and would like to learn more about Bookyoursite.com please give us a call.
Hope we can earn your trust and your business.
|
Campground Manager SoftwareŽ /Bookyoursite.com Coupon!
|
| Save $500 |
We
have a special offer for those people who receive our newsletter. Order
Campground Manager SoftwareŽ and sign up for our Bookyoursite.com
service and receive a $300 rebate upon activation. In addition receive $200 discount on the purchase of our POS module for a total saving of $500.
|
|
Offer Expires: April 30,2008.
|
|
Southern Bound Park owners
|
Are you a northern park that is open May to October? Do you head south in the winter? Do you forward your calls to your cell and continue to take reservations all winter?
If so we have a new package that might interest you.
If you have to transfer your data file to a laptop be very careful. Make sure you transfer the correct file, make sure you back-up every night on your laptop and make sure you sync your data file correctly when you get home. Your data is you business as we all know.
Why not forget all that hassle?
Why not sign up for our new Snowbird Owners ASP package?
We will put you on our ASP server at Fuse Point. You can access your data securely through the Internet the whole time you are away. All you need is a high speed Internet connection and you are in business. You take a call, go on the internet to your park on our ASP server, enter the reservation, take the payment through X-Charge Credit Card Processing Software and email the confirmation to the cutomer. All while not leaving your deck chair. Sound good?
We simply transfer your data to our server when you leave and download it back to your network when you get back.
No worries about back up, hardware failure, upgrades to Campground Manager SoftwareŽ/ Bookyoursite.com - we handle all that for you. More features and benefits can be found by clicking here.
Pricing is $500 one time fee (you can use it every year after) and $1 per site per month. So lets say you go from November to April 1 and you are a 100 site park. Your user fees total $500 + $500 set up fee. Next year all you need is the $500 user fee charge. What price can you put on piece of mind?
So give it some thought and contact Chris or myself if you have any interest or would like to book for next year.
|
