• Update to the Supplier Rates Copy feature
• Intro to the feature to Assign Users to the Task grid
• An overview of the Clients payments & refunds section
• And a brief overview on the newly available reports.

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Supplier Payments Setup

In order to use the Supplier Payments feature, Payment Types must be set up in Tourwriter. Different Payment Types should be created based on how you pay your Suppliers.

To set up Payment Types, see Tools > Setup > General lists > Payment Types.

The next step is to download and Save the SupplierPaymentTemplate.csv file to your TourwriterData\Templates folder, and link it to this from Tools > Setup > Accounting Setup > Accounting Templates as shown below.

The New Supplier Payment Window

The new Supplier Payment window can be accessed in two ways.

1. It can be accessed through the Supplier Payment workspace. Go to Tools > Additional > Supplier Payments to access the Supplier Payments workspace. Once you load the booking items, double-click a booking item to open the Supplier Payment window. When Supplier Payment window is launched from here, all booking items that have the same booking ID will get displayed.

2. In an itinerary, right-click a booking item in the Bookings List tab of an Itinerary and select Supplier Payment.

Features

The new Supplier Payment window has an upper grid called Invoice Reconciliation where booking items are displayed and a lower grid called Payment Records, where payments can be recorded for each booking item.

When you right-click a booking item (from within an itinerary) to open the Supplier Payment window, all the booking items associated with that Supplier will be displayed. So for example, since Ziptrek Ecotours has two Activity bookings in the itinerary, two booking item rows will appear in the Supplier Payments window, even though you right-click and select Supplier Payment off a single booking item.

Multiple Payments

Each booking item can have multiple payment records associated with it. With the new Supplier Payment window, you have an option to make partial payments against a booking item. For example, in the itinerary below there are two booking items listed for the Supplier Copthorne Hotel and Apartments. The first booking item is for an Accommodation Service type and the second one is for an Activity Service type.

A partial payment can be made for the first booking item (first row), which is a booking item for an Accommodation Type. When we click the   sign with the first row highlighted, we can make an entire payment of $286.40 for the first row or alternatively, make a partial payment of say $143.20, to begin with, and later make a second payment of $143.20. This will cause two Payment record rows to be displayed in the bottom grid against the first booking item in the top grid.

Additionally, the total payable amount for the Supplier, i.e. both booking items,  Accommodation as well as Activity can be paid together. This option allows you to pay off the Supplier at once. To make a payment for multiple booking items, tick the check-box in the first column to select multiple booking items.

Click  to open a Multiple Bookings Payment window.

Payment Amount: This field will display the sum of the total amount for the two booking items. When a payment is recorded for multiple bookings at once, Tourwriter will allocate the payment proportionally, based on Total Amount, to both booking items automatically.

Using a different Currency

The payment can be recorded in any one of the enabled currencies by merely selecting the applicable currency in the currency column in the Payment Records section. By default, the payment will be recorded in the supplier/service currency.

Setting up Currency Exchange Rate

You can also modify the exchange rate manually. For example, your Supplier currency is New Zealand Dollars and you change the currency to Australian Dollars by selecting AUD from the Currency drop-down. The Exchange Rate column will display the current NZD to AUD exchange rates. The exchange rate loaded will be as per the configuration set in your Exchange Rates Source. This can be found in Tools > Setup > Currencies area. In the example below, it is set to Google Exchange rates.

To modify the exchange rate, click the value in the Exchange rate column and overwrite manually. The Converted Amount will be updated automatically in AUD to reflect the new exchange rate. Furthermore, you can modify the Converted Amount field, and the system will automatically update the Payment Amount in the Supplier currency, in this case, NZD.

Supplier Payment fields

The fields in the Supplier Payment workspace and the new Supplier Payment window are explained below.

Supplier Payment Search

Search bookings by: Use the criteria to search for Bookings by Itinerary  Name, Itinerary ID, Supplier Name, Supplier ID, Booking Name or Booking ID, and Service Name

Date range: Use these fields to search for bookings based on the Booking Date, Payment Date or Due Date. Use the filters ‘Paid’ and ‘Reconciled’ to refine the search results.

Paid: This will return booking items that have been closed off.

Invoiced: Filters payments that have been reconciled. This will return booking items where ‘Invoiced’ is checked.

Invoice Reconciliation Section – Top Grid

Accounting Category: This is the Net Accounting Category code and Name, which is configured in the Accounting setup area.

Tax Type: This is Net Tax Type set up for the Service Type in the Accounting Setup area.

Invoice number: A dedicated field to store the supplier invoice number

Invoice Date: The field defaults to the start date of the Booking item.

Due Date: The field defaults to a date calculated based on Payment Terms. If Payment Terms aren’t setup, it will default to booking start date.

Paid: The field displays the amount paid against the Total Amount.

Outstanding: By default, Tourwriter will calculate the outstanding amount that is to be paid. If there were a payment recorded, Tourwriter would automatically recalculate the outstanding amount. The Outstanding field will show a value that is the difference between the Total Amount and Amount Paid.  

Invoiced: Click this checkbox if you have reconciled the booking item against the invoice.

Closed: Once the Supplier has been paid in full, check this box to indicate that this is now Closed. When checked, the Outstanding balance will be shown as 0 even if there’s a balance outstanding. If this check box is not checked, Tourwriter will calculate the Outstanding balance as described above.

Payment Records Section –  Bottom Grid

Payment Invoice #: The field lets you add an invoice number to the payment lodged against the booking. The Payment Invoice # is a field different to the Invoice number field in the Invoice Reconciliation section. You can perform a search by entering the Payment Invoice # in the Supplier Payment Workspace.  

Payment Invoice Date: When you make a payment, the Invoice date is carried across from the Invoice Reconciliation section. The Invoice Date defaults to the Booking date. However, this can be overridden.

Invoice Amount: The invoice amount is different to the payment amount. The Invoice amount relates to the amount paid to the Payment Invoice #, which could be different to the Invoice# in the Invoice Reconciliation section. 

Invoice Due Date: The Invoice Due Date defaults to Payment Terms set for the database. If payment terms aren’t set, the due date maps to the booking start date

Payment Amount: By default, the Outstanding balance amount will be displayed here. However, this amount can be edited to reflect the actual amount you will pay the Supplier.

Currency: By default, this is the Service Currency of the booking. It can be changed to any one of the enabled currencies.

Exchange rate: This is an editable field, in case you need to overwrite it.

Converted Amount: Displays the amount converted.

Payment Date: Select the day on which the Payment has been made.

Type: It allows a Payment option to be selected from the Payment options listed in Tools > Setup > General lists > Payment Types.

Notes: Enter any payment related notes for your reference.

The Export Feature in Supplier Payments

Payments records can be exported from the Supplier Payments workspace. Once you’ve recorded payments in the Supplier Payment workspace, you can either export payments for a select few bookings or the entire search result set. To export multiple booking items, tick multiple checkboxes in the leftmost column and click Export.

To export the entire booking list, untick the leftmost checkbox header to unselect the ones that are currently selected and then tick the checkbox header again to select all the booking items. Once you see all the booking items ticked, click Export.

Ensure that the SupplierPayment.csv file has been added to your TourwriterData > Templates folder, as explained in the Supplier Payment Setup section. Not doing so, will result in a Tourwriter error message. The message results due to Tourwriter not being able to locate a spreadsheet format (for example, Microsoft Excel or Google Spreadsheet) to export the data in.

Clicking Export after selecting the booking items, will open a Tourwriter Accounting Export window which will allow you to choose the location to save your bookings. You can change the name of the file in the window itself.

Exporting Multiple Payments

Exporting bookings for a Booking ID will export all payments associated with the Booking ID. For example, if Booking ID 8446 has been paid through multiple payments, all the payment records for underlying booking items will be exported across.

In the example above, a single Booking ID 8403 is exported. However, when we open the exported file, we see that two booking items have been exported, as multiple supplier bookings were made under one Booking ID in a single itinerary.  

Supplier Payment Reports

Loading and exporting booking items through the Supplier Payment workspace can be modelled to function as an ad-hoc reporting tool. The report can present bookings per Itinerary, per Supplier or can even list bookings per Booking ID. Bookings that have been invoiced can be filtered to display per Invoice Number.

The date range in the report can further be categorized to display bookings by Booking Date, Payment Date and Due Date.

To go through all the Tourwriter Accounting Tags present on your Accounting Purchases & Accounting Sales CSV template along with their mappings to the Tourwriter UI please refer to the Accounting Tags section in the Supplier Payments Webinar Part 2 article.

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The Details Subtab is where the details of the passengers travelling, such as name and age, are listed. It is also where payments and refunds are recorded for an Itinerary.

Pax Override

Pax override is used to indicate the total number of passengers travelling on an Itinerary. For example 4 people are travelling, but you only want to record the contact details of one passenger. It is useful in situations where you do not know the Names of every Passenger, but you know how many Passengers there are, or when you do not wish to detail the Name of every Passenger. If this field is populated, it can also be pulled through to a customised report, if desired.

Room Types

Room types is used for Group bookings and Packages.

To add a Room, click the yellow plus button , which will open a drop-down menu with your Room Type options. These options are pulled from Option Configs in your Setup.
Once the line has been added, input the required number of rooms of that type, into the Rms Bkd field. In the example below, my Itinerary is for two people, as such they will need one Double room. Make sure to Save when finished.

Passengers

A passenger in Tourwriter is an individual travelling on an Itinerary. You may refer to these as clients, customers or contacts.

Passengers can be added to the Clients’ Passengers workspace in two ways:

1. Adding a Passenger to an Itinerary only
2. Creating a permanent Contact Card, and attaching this to an Itinerary.

Adding a Passenger to an Itinerary Only
Members of the group or family can be added to the Passengers workspace by using  and typing over the text New Member.  From the drop down box choose the age-group to which the person belongs. If required, the Age of the members can be typed in alongside the Age-group.

Creating a Permanent Contact Card, and Attaching this to an Itinerary

1. Open the Contacts Menu and select the folder in which you want to store the contact
2. Right click on the folder, select New > New Contact. A New Contact card will open
3. Complete the contact details for each Tab, then select Save and Close
4. Drag and drop the New Contact card from the Contacts Menu into the Passengers work space of the Clients Tab in the Itinerary
5. Save the Itinerary

Create the Contact Card from the Clients Tab of the Itinerary

1. Click the  on the Passengers work space and type over the text New Member
2. Click the More button or double click the Passenger record
3. A pop up will appear The data does not exist, would you like to create it?. Click Yes
4. A New Contact card will open
5. Complete the contact details for each Tab
6. Select Save and Close and Save the Itinerary

The benefit of creating a contact card for a Passenger is that their email address is stored in Tourwriter, and reports (e.g. Quotation) can be emailed directly to them from Tourwriter.

Please note that the contact card will not appear in the Contacts Menu until you refresh the Contacts Menu (parent folder). Do this by right clicking the Contacts folder and selecting Refresh.

Client Payments and Refunds

The Client’s payments and refunds workspace allows users to record payments received from passengers or agents for this Itinerary. These payment details pull through onto the Client Pricing report, Client Pricing Detailed report and can be coded to appear on custom itinerary reports.

1. To add a payment or refund, click the 
2. Apply the payment to a passenger from the Person Name drop down list. A passenger must be added to the Passengers workspace before being able to allocate a payment
3. Select the payment type
4. Complete the Details field. This information will pull through onto the Client Pricing Detailed report. For example, Deposit payment
5. The Sale field is only completed if your are integrating Tourwriter with your Accounting software
6. Select the Date of payment or refund
7. Type in the Amount of the payment. If it is a refund, add a – in front of the amount
8. Save your changes

IMPORTANT – Payments and refunds can only be recorded in the Itinerary Output Currency. You cannot change the Itinerary Output Currency if payments or refunds have been recorded against an Itinerary.

The Client payments and refunds Fields

The following list explains the fields in the Client payments and refunds grid:

Person name: The field copies the Display Name of the passenger from the Passengers grid. The drop-down option lets you restrict the entries to just the paying passengers.

Payment Type: Lets you select a Payment Type from the drop-down. The Payment Type options are populated from the Tools > Setup > General lists > Payment Types area.

Fee Type: The field lists the extra fees type charged by the issuing bank account. The options listed in the Fee Type drop-down are populated from the Tools > Setup > General lists > Fee Types area.

Details: A free-form text field to enter a note for the payment.

Sale: The field lists the Sale Accounting details as drop-down options. You can select the sales accounting details added to the itinerary under the Additional > Accounting > Sales area.  

• Note: The understand how to access the Sales Accounting area, you can refer to the webinar on Accounting Sales. The Accounting functionality is available as part of the Enterprise plan. To upgrade to the Enterprise plan, please contact your Customer Success Executive.

Payment amount: The amount that the passenger is expected to pay in the currency chosen in the Currency Code field.

Currency Code: By default, this is the Itinerary currency. It can be changed to any one of the default currencies listed in the drop-down. The drop-down option lists the currencies that are enabled in the Tools > Setup > Currencies area 

Exchange rate: The exchange rate used to convert the itinerary currency amount to the currency amount paid by the passenger. For instance, if the itinerary currency is USD and the payment received is in EUR, the current NZD to EUR exchange rate is applied. This is an editable field and hence can be overwritten.

Amount: This is the original Itinerary Amount field and your existing reports relate to this field. It is the amount converted after applying the exchange rate.

Inclusive: Indicates whether the Fee is inclusive of the Payment amount. The tickbox is defunct by default. Select it to include the Fees in the Payment amount.

Fee: A free-form text field to enter any fee charged by the Bank or the Travel Agency after the transaction.

Fee Percent: Indicates a percentage value of the Fee.

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Following up on Supplier Invoices can take up valuable time. Tourwriter’s Supplier Invoice Upload feature allows you to send invoice requests to all your Suppliers at once. Your Suppliers can then simply upload their invoice to your customised Submit Booking Invoice webpage.

Sending Invoice Requests

In your chosen Itinerary, go to the Bookings List and select your Invoice Request template from the Make Booking drop down options. Choose either Book all… or Book selected…

The Bookings Emailer Window will open.

Like all booking emails, the information included is customisable, but a standard Supplier Invoice Request email will show the Service booking details, including the Total Net for the booking, along with a link to the customised Submit Booking Invoice webpage.

Go through the Bookings Emailer as usual, and click Send. Your email will be sent to the Supplier.

What your Supplier will see

Your Supplier will receive the above email from Tourwriter. They can then follow the link to upload their invoice.

The link will take them to a webpage, which will look similar to the image below.

The webpage will ask the Supplier for the following information:

• Booking/voucher number
• Invoice amount
• a PDF attachment of the invoice
• Name of the person uploading the invoice

Receiving an Invoice

Once a Supplier has uploaded an invoice, the Is Invoice box will be ticked, this can also be seen in the Bookings List workspace.

You can then download a copy of the saved invoice, by clicking on the Download invoice link seen in the screenshot above. When you click the link, the invoice is available to be downloaded at a suitable place.

From here you can review the invoice, and process the payment.

Please note that if the Supplier chooses to reply to your email instead of clicking on the link, the invoice will be returned to you in your inbox, and will not be linked to Tourwriter as shown above.

To set up the Supplier Invoice Upload feature for your database, please contact our Support team for more information.

The Supplier Invoice Request & Upload feature is only available is part of the Enterprise plan. To learn more, please contact your Customer Success Manager.

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