DID YOU MISS ANOTHER GREAT TMU?

TRAMS Technology and Marketing University - A Great Success! Check out pictures and download classroom documentation at www.trams.com.

SAVE THE DATE!

Join us at TRAMS Summer Camp, August 9-11, 2006, at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa in Phoenix, Arizona. Click here for more details.

TRAMS WELCOMES WILL TAYLOR

TRAMS is happy to announce the newest member of the TMA team, Will Taylor, who will serve in the capacity of TMA Marketing Manager. Will has a Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic design from Woodbury University and is just recently married.

Will comes with a varied job history - from Office Management at a non-profit organization, to working with some of Hollywood’s Music Industry’s top people. His hobbies include Paintballing, R/C car racing, snowboarding, and traveling.

We are happy to have Will join our TRAMS family and wish him much success!

In my 20 years of working closely with travel agents, I have learned how we learn and evolve.

The pattern is that first an opportunity presents itself. Then “early adapters” pursue that opportunity adapting the new technology to meet their business needs. While there may be some early challenges, the success stories start to pour in. The early adapters are some 5 – 15% of the market, and this group does a lot of trail blazing and proof of concept to get things running prior to the masses jumping in.

Then the masses of travel agents come and quickly the majority – 85% or even higher – adopt the technology, pursue the opportunity, and reap the benefits.

TRAMS Back Office had the fortunate timing of catching this wave. When we started TRAMS Back Office in the late 80’s the early adapters were in, and the masses were ready to pursue the opportunity and reap the benefits. Coincidentally, technology had evolved to the point that quality, pricing, training, and functionality were all coming to the point that all agencies could benefit from using a Back Office product. Today some 85% of the leisure agencies employ TRAMS Back Office.

Next, and really an evolution we are still in the middle of, is CRM or Customer Relationship Management. The early adapters started years ago with CRM technology, and helped get the “technology running well” for them, and also for the masses. We are in the process now of the majority of agencies adopting the technology and reaping the benefits. With the growth rate and success of leisure agents using ClientBase, we are fully confident that 85% or more of agencies will soon enjoy the benefit of having a successful CRM program.

The CRS (now called GDS) evolution was before my time, but I am sure it too followed this pattern. A few early adapters, evolution, success, and then the masses followed and reaped the benefits.

MARKETING

Now we are seeing the migration and adoption of marketing technology. The early adapters are in and successfully enjoying the benefits of their work. Marketing technology and systems have evolved to the point that the masses can truly benefit from this next evolution of applications.

Of course, I am referring to professional e-mail marketing!

The early adapters are in, developed, and reaping the benefits. And yes, marketing works! Very soon we will evolve from the minority (roughly 15%) to the majority of agents (over 85%) having successful email marketing programs.

The reason again is not only the opportunity, but also the evolution of technology. Today’s TMA (TRAMS Marketing Advantage) includes beautiful and effective promotions, professional sending, plus the ability to segment or target promotions with complete tracking. The cost for this service is less than $1 a day. That’s right - for only $20 per month your agency can have a professional email marketing program.

TMA also powers many consortia marketing programs, meaning more and more agents have the ability to pick the marketing options that work best for them.

It is fun to be part of the technology side of travel and to be a part of the adoption and success we see agencies having in using CRM and Marketing tools. Thanks for the opportunity!

If you want more information about TMA or ClientBase, or if I can help you with any other marketing or other programs, just let me know.

Lee

Funjet Vacations and United Vacations are the 2 newest suppliers to join TRAMS Marketing Advantage (TMA). We are excited to offer you Funjet Vacations, as well as United Vacations, both supplying us with their beautiful promotions to advertise special offers to entice your customers!

Funjet Vacations is a leader in providing complete vacation packages for over 32 years to more than 260 destinations in Mexico, Hawaii, the Caribbean, Europe, Las Vegas, Florida and more. Funjet is looking forward to being an active participant in TMA to provide you with e-mail selling tools to reach your clients.

United Vacations combines the best of 2 great travel companies. The reliability and extensive route network of United Airlines, flying to more than 200 destinations worldwide combined with the service and expertise of the Mark Travel Corporation provides your clients the vacation experience that exceeds their expectations. United Vacations wants to help grow your vacation package business by offering your clients breadth of product, frequent special offers, preferred relationships at the finest hotels and the ease of using VAX (Vacation Access). United Vacations encourages you to take advantage of its email program offered through TMA to build your business.

CALL YOUR TMA MARKETING MANAGER TODAY!

Are you speaking with your TMA Marketing Manager on a regular basis? Your Marketing Manager helps you plan your email advertising program, assists in segmenting your database (if you have ClientBase Plus), reviews with you your open rate reports, and helps you select the special offers that are the most meaningful for your clients. We encourage you to call or email your TMA Marketing Manager to make your email marketing program a success today!

If you have not signed up for TMA, why not? Contact your TRAMS sales rep to sign up for TMA's email marketing services or to learn more about our supplier program.

The contact information for your TMA Marketing Manager is…

Susan Marshall at 310-641-8726 Extension 255 or Susanm@trams.com

Jackie McMahon at 970-622-8007 or Jackiem@trams.com

Susan and Jackie's territories can be found here.

Updating Your Database:

By following a few simple rules when updating your database, you will save time and be more apt to keep a healthy stress level.

• Be sure you have a valid and current back-up so if you have to restore for any reason, you won’t lose data.
• Make certain you are downloading the correct version for the country in which you reside.
• Note the “upgradeable from version” and make sure the version you are on is compatible with the upgrade.
• Do not stop in the middle of the upgrade as you are likely to end up with a corrupt database. If this happens due to a power outage or other occurrence that you cannot control, you can restore your back-up if you followed the first rule.
• When the upgrade is finished, run TFW Update from the Program Group for TRAMS Back Office, and CB+ Database Update from the Program Group for ClientBase.

myTRAMS:

myTRAMS gives you access to your TRAMS accounts 24 hours a day. You can obtain access codes for your software, register for training and events, download software updates, update your company profile and more. For new users, simply go to the TRAMS Website at www.trams.com and on the left hand side, click myTRAMS. Complete the “new user” profile information and you’ll be all set. It may save you a phone call and it’s a real time saver!!

Reminders:

Lunch break for the support staff is between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. PDT. Calling outside of these hours, if at all possible, is another time saver.

The support center is closed every Wednesday from 1:45 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. for training purposes.

Thank you for being a TRAMS customer.

At our recent TRAMS Marketing University (TMU) conference in Las Vegas, I had the pleasure of meeting with over 500 ClientBase subscribers. One thing that I’m always surprised by is the general excitement over the simplest of tricks when discovered. So this quarter’s newsletter focuses on the small but powerful tips that every ClientBase user should know.

Did you know you could . . .

• Copy a profile’s entire name and address with a single click for pasting into an e-mail, document or other application? Query for the profile using Profile Manager and from the results, right-click and select “Send Address to Clipboard”. Use Ctrl V or Edit|Paste to paste the name and address to the desired location.
  
• Use the Dupe Check “merge” feature from the results of a query? Ever do a query and notice a duplicate profile from the results? If so, from the query results, right click and select “Dupe Check”. A Dupe Check window appears allowing you to use the “Current Results” in the query. All profile results are grouped, and from that group you can pick a “Master” and then merge the duplicate into that master profile.
  
• Re-save, Re-name or Re-order an existing Saved Query? To rename or re-save as Saved Query, right-click on the Saved Query folder and select either “Rename Query” or “Replace Query with Active Query”. To rearrange the order of your Saved Queries, simply click the folder and drag it to the desired position.
  
• Right click to “invert all”? Anytime you have a drop down list that allows for checking all or any within the list, you can right-click and select Invert All to either remove all the checks defaulting or add checks. For example, in the Travel History tab, a query is run by default for “All” Travel Categories. If you want to filter the query to just “Cruise” history, right-click on the Travel Category field, select “Invert All” and all Travel Category checks are removed. Now click on Travel Category again and place a check in just the Cruise category. This is much easier than removing the check for each category other than Cruise.
  
• Use the Profile Header to quickly jump to the corresponding field for editing? Let’s say you are in the habit of using the Header to reconfirm a client’s address and communication information and find out the e-mail has changed. You can click on the e-mail displayed in the Profile Header and regardless of what tab you are currently viewing, the system moves to the General Info tab, and lands your cursor within the e-mail field for easy editing.
  
• Use the black Arrows located within the Profile Header to page up and down through the current query’s profile results? Let’s say you are looking for John Anderson’s profile and the Anderson profile you selected from your query is the wrong one. Rather than going back and forth between the query and the profile, click the black Arrows to move through the various Anderson profiles until you get to the one you are looking for. This also works great if you perform a query for a certain group or niche (cruisers or skiers) and you want to page through the resulting profiles.
  
• Launch a Vendor’s web site directly from its Vendor Profile? To launch a Vendor’s Web Site, simply retrieve its profile and click the Web Site button on the Vendor profile toolbar. The system automatically launches the Internet Manager to take you to the Vendor Profile’s Web Site, as long as the web address is captured within the Vendor’s Communication entries.
  
• Hop to the client profile while in the middle of working in his Res Card? Ever start a Res Card and before being ready to save or close it, want to view or edit the client’s profile? Without saving or closing a Res Card, click on the button located to the right of the “Prepared For” field to jump into the Profile and its various tabs. Make any desired changes, and upon saving or closing the profile, the system returns you right back to the Res Card you were working in. The same feature applies to Activities. From an Activity you can seamlessly hop into the Profile or the Res Card it is linked to for viewing or editing. Simply click the button to the right of the Profile field or Res Card field located within the Activity record, and upon closing the Profile or Res Card, return right back to the Activity you were working in.
  
• View a summary of many of the client profile tabs in one screen? Well, this one is coming in the next version of ClientBase, version 3.02. Here’s a sneak peak at the new “Quick View” feature:

Though many users are already aware of or already using many of these Tips & Tricks, you are probably not utilizing all of them. You may have been exposed to many of these in the past, but for whatever reason are not actively using these features on a daily basis.

Hopefully you will consider some or all of these Tips & Tricks and they will make your use of Back Office a bit smoother and more efficient.

If you have any Tips and Tricks of your own, and you don’t mind sharing those with us and your fellow Back Office users, I would love to hear from you. Just e-mail me, lloyd@trams.com with your Tips & Tricks and I’ll get them out to everyone in a future newsletter.

1. Entering an = sign in any date field is a shortcut to entering “today’s” date. This can save a keystroke or two.
   
   
2. A quick way to ‘Hot Key’ to any of the Query Screen Tabs across the bottom of the TBO screen is by using the <Ctrl>, <Shift> and <Tab> keys.
   
   Ctrl/Tab Keys
   Starting on the Main Tab, hold down the <Ctrl> key while repeatedly selecting the <Tab> key. This moves you left to right from the Main Tab through each Query Screen Tab (Invoices, Payments, Operating Payables, Journal Entry, Profiles, and Agent Adjustments). You never have to use the mouse to click the Tab or ‘find’ the correct Query Screen under the File Menu on the top of the screen. It’s so much faster to use <Ctrl> and <Tab>.
   
   Ctrl/Shift/Tab Keys
   To move from right to left across the bottom Query Screen Tabs, hold down both the <Ctrl> and <Shift> keys while repeatedly selecting the <Tab> key.
   
   
3. To Add or Modify Profile Groups, use the Global Modify button on the Profile Query Screen.
   
   You can add a Profile 'Group' value to whatever profiles you want to. This allows you to more quickly and easily modify queried profiles with a Group Code. This is especially helpful for adding the Hotel Chain Code to the Group Tab of a Vendor Profile.
   
   If your query screen has some profiles with a good Group Code and others do not have one, selecting Add For All Query Results adds the Group Code to all profiles without one and does NOT add the code again to all profiles that have it. This adds the Group Code to all profiles in a query without having to specifically select individual profiles using the <Ctl> or <Shift> keys.
   
   
4. Find multiple hotel properties using the same chain code when applying commission payments without having a Vendor Group Code in each properties profile.
   
   Create a vendor profile for the hotel chain as a place to attach the payment received for the multiple individual properties.
   
   On the Create New Payment Screen on the Vendor Settings Tab, check Vendors By Interface ID, and enter the two-letter hotel chain code. All property bookings where their profile starts with that ‘chain code’ will be displayed for closing.
   
   
5. Import Journal Entries (JE’s) from a File.
   
   If you are an agency that has large recurring periodic Journal Entries that would normally be entered by hand or copied, and then modified manually in Back Office, there is an option to import external JE’s from another source.
   
   From the Journal Entry Query screen click on New/Journal Entry and then right-click anywhere in the JE line-by-line creation window. Click the Import From File button that is displayed and browse for the Tab Delimited .txt file you created outside of Back Office. When found, click Open button, and the file is imported as a JE in Back Office.
   
   The Tab Delimited .txt file needs to be created using the following column headers.
   
   GLNO GLNAME BRANCHNO DEBITAMT CREDITAMT REMARKS
   
   
6. Track Client Receivables when an invoice is not available.
   
   To track that the client owes the agency monies when there is no invoice, create a ‘negative’ client voucher by selecting Payments|Made. This appears on the Client Statement and allows you to track these amounts owed the agency. Specific steps on creating and tracking these ‘negative’ vouchers can be found here.
   
   This situation usually arises when an agency uses its company credit card for paying a vendor invoice and the client pays the agency in cash. If the client is paying from a statement, the agency needs to be able to track the amount the client owes the agency for the use of the agency’s credit card.
   
   It could also arise when an agency receives a NSF check and wants to leave the invoice closed, but still be able to track that the client owes the agency for the NSF check.
   
   
7. View New and Original Ticket details for an Exchange Add Collect booking.
   
   Back Office only displays the Add Collect amount for the Total Fare on Exchange Add Collect ticket bookings. The details for the New and Original Ticket Total Fare and the Original Ticket Taxes can be viewed under Invoices|Print REN’s.
   
   Enter the date for the exchange ticket transaction, and ARC number on the Print REN screen. All REN’s for the date range entered will be displayed one at a time with the TF and Taxes applying to the Exchange Add Collect tickets requested. Just click Next to view the next REN. There is no need to print the REN’s.
   
   
8. Track Ticket History by typing the ticket number in the Ticket/Conf No. Ref field on the General Tab of the Invoice Query screen.
   
   Use this when you want to see the history of a ticket. All transactions dealing with the ticket in question are displayed including the Sales (original & exchanges), Refunds and Adjustments.
   
   
9. For corporate agencies attached to knowing client Interface ID’s, you can quickly change the Name field from the profile name by just right clicking in the Name field, and selecting Search By ID. Entering the Profile ID finds the invoice, payment, payable or agent adjustment without entering the profile name.
   
   
10. Accessing Client/Vendor/Agent Profiles, Profile Passengers and Groups can be done quickly and easily by just clicking on the Button to the left of the profile, passenger or group name field on most any screen where they appear.
    
    These buttons allow for a quick link to the Query Screens if the Name fields are blank or to open the specific profile entered in the name field.
    
    Generally when there is a button to the left of a data entry field, you can click that button and be linked into the appropriate screen where you can select from a list of options and usually add, modify or delete existing items on the screen.