Let’s continue our look at a selection of specialized reports that are available in your SMS|Host system should you choose to add them to the (Z)Custom Reports menu.
Newly Added Rates – new_rates.rrw
As rate management becomes increasingly complex and critical to your daily operations, it is important to provide an oversight function to review the accuracy of additions. This report will list all Rate/Package components (i.e. Codes, Plans, Tiers and Calendars) created within a date range. It can be filtered by User Codes and sorted by Date Added or User. Using this report, an Auditor can easily assess and monitor the creation of these specific components.
Work Orders with Non-Zero Balances – wo_nonzero.rrw
Properties with the SMS|Work Order and Guest Response module sometimes find themselves perplexed by the state of transactions associated with long-term Work Orders with multiple postings over multiple days. This report contains no prompts as it provides a snapshot of the contents of all currently active (i.e. non-Closed) Work Order folios. All of these transactions reside within the AMTRN database. The Labor and Parts transactions can be tied to closed SMS|POS checks but none of these postings will appear in the Guest (IN_TRN) or Owner (OA_OTRN) transaction databases until the Work Order is closed or, less commonly, if they are forced to be settled while the Work Order remains open.
Manual Work Order Folio Postings – manualwopost.rrw
Another Work Order topic that benefits from a specialized report is the ability to distinguish manual from automated postings. This report allows the user to search within a posting date-range for all Work Order folio transactions that were manually posted, regardless of the current status of the Work Order. These will include Vendor related transactions, as well as the use of any Guest Transaction (Miscellaneous) code posted via the (B)ills command. A prompt also requests the user identify the system-configured transfer credit transaction code which is interpreted as being a manual posting.
Nights by Unit – nights_by_unit.rrw
Although this report is slated for a makeover in an upcoming release, it can still be extremely useful in its present design for several purposes. Its biggest asset is the ability to display counts of occupancy by Market Segments for individual Unit numbers within a data range, past and/or future, making it the preferred tool for monitoring compliance with Comp usage limitations in Owner properties. It can be used in a similar manner for keeping track of Owner utilization as may be required by a Rental Contract. When Reservation Detail is requested, it can serve to provide a list of Reservations that are blocked into a specific unit. Once enhanced, you will be able to create and save multiple sets of parameters to apply to differing scenarios, as well as subtotaling results by Owner Contract numbers.
Next time we’ll continue with the subject of reports, taking a look at some frequently overlooked and underutilized options. With a library of hundreds in your SMS|Host system, there are always more to discover.
Written by Rick Downing, Senior Product Manager, SMS|Host
Posted 08/12/2022
