Functions included in Charts Lite Property Management Software

Debtors Ledger

The fully integrated Debtors Ledger can be either a balance brought forward or an open item system on individual debtors. The charging of a guest account to a company account is instant with no restrictions on the number of active debtor accounts. Payments of debtor invoices is simple and accurate whether they are paid in full or only partially. Cash flow can be instantly improved by detailed management of accounts receivable. Outstanding balances as well as credit limits may be monitored daily.

If a discrepancy in a guest account needs to be discussed with the debtor it's simply a matter of pressing the F1 key. The guest account can be instantly accessed from within the debtor account.

Reception / Cashiering

Each room is capable of accommodating up to four guests and each of these guests can have his own account with 6 individual folios which are updated automatically. This gives exceptional flexibility on check out when guests request specific final account format. eg The guest requires a separate telephone account for which he pays cash, a separate food and beverage account which is paid by Amex and his company is charged with all the accommodation.

Check out reversal is possible if a guest wishes to continue his account or for the purposes of adding missed charges.

In addition to accommodation, 5 other charges can be made to post automatically at night audit, thus simplifying posting of regular charges to guests. For multiple room occupancy, cross charging to one room of any predefined charges from any of the other rooms is possible and very easy.

Two charging options are available – normal post and fast post. Fast post is particularly useful for batch posting of the same charge to multiple rooms.

Each receptionist can run a shift for balancing purposes and is able to accurately balance the takings with the tools and reports which are provided. Accuracy and control is made extremely easy.

Reservations

Charts Lite reservation functions are very comprehensive in the way that the room inventory is managed and provide full control and flexibility.

Reservations can be made 5 years in advance for up to 200 rooms in 10 different room types. A reservation may be made for one room or 50 rooms in the same process making group bookings simplicity itself.

Fully integrated guest profile function allows for instant recognition of previous guests and their personal preferences. All personal details such as address and telephone numbers are instantly transferred to the current reservation record – no need for lengthy searches of the history file.

Data entry is made easy by being able to make any fields compulsory. Different fields can be made compulsory for reservations and different fields for check in.

A graphical chart makes it extremely simple to see which rooms are occupied and which have been allocated to reservations. This is an invaluable tool for those properties which need to convert from a manual charts system.

Housekeeping

The housekeeping functions are simplified by the ability to configure eight different service types which require to be carried out by the housekeepers. For example such basic functions as linen change or dust and check may be programmed to be performed at specific time intervals, whether the room is vacant or occupied and on checkout. This in turn provides a comprehensive housekeeping report which shows which service is to be carried out on which room on the day. Rooms may be placed out of order for specific periods of time, thus taking them out of availability. A very powerful screen is available which shows the current status of all rooms in the hotel.

Security

Charts Lite allows the management to set up a very secure system based on their requirements. Each user can be assigned a Log in code and password. This Log in code in turn can give them access to the system as predefined by the management. The definition of access for the receptionists is very simple. The manager can simply assign which menu options will be visible for that particular receptionist. Full log of receptionist activity is maintained on each reservation and guest record. This makes it very easy for the management to check 'who did what and when'.

Marketing

The marketing statistics are tracked for up to 99 Sources of Business and 99 Marketing Areas. This includes such details as total rooms nights, total revenue (broken down into 7 departments), number of cancellations and no shows for 24 past individual months, last year and year to date. These are expressed as bar charts for the individual areas as well as pie charts for all areas showing relative comparisons. The management can quickly and accurately pinpoint which business types are high revenue earners or whether particular advertising campaign is working as expected.

Night Audit

The night audit functions are made extremely easy and flexible by the use of easy to change Macros and definable calendar. The night audit staff no longer need to keep unmanageable notes as to when certain tasks need to be done – they can all be preset by the management. This means that all required end of period reports and period ageing can be done quite automatically and cannot be forgotten. Full flexibility exists to perform the close of hotel day at night and yet have the close of revenue day after check outs in the middle of the day.

Travel Agents

Charts Lite comes with a fully integrated Travel Agents module. This means that a database of Travel Agents is kept with full accounting details. All types of commissions are tracked for each agent whether deducted at the time of deposit payment or simply requiring to be paid. Each Travel Agent has his own open item commission account which enables the hotel management to accurately select the commissions to be paid each month. This module will certainly gain more agency business by allowing the hotel to be in full control over commission payments and paying commissions on time without the Agent's intervention.

Miscellaneous

Hot keys – these may be easily configured to perform any function of a series of keystrokes on the keyboard. eg print a set of regularly used reports with one key.

F1 key is used throughout to provide additional information and 'point and shoot' methodology is used throughout

F2 key is available everywhere for user definable help. The management of the hotel can define their own help or internal procedures using this facility.

Library of standard reports – this is supplied as part of the package.;

Optional special reports – many special reports can be customised to each property's requirements and can be added to the standard library. Output forms easily customised to meet the needs of pre printed stationery.

Screens – available in different languages on the one system.