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.