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Introduction to Transaction Codes

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For every charge or payment that you wish to post in RoomkeyPMS, a corresponding Transaction Code or Payment Code must first be set up.  The Transaction Code module (System Configuration > Transaction Codes) is where this is controlled.

This article provides an overview of the Transaction Code module's 3 main tabs; Codes, Taxes, and GL Accounts.

Transaction Code Module

To open the Transaction Code module, go to System Configuration > Transaction Codes

Transaction Code Module

Codes

When opened, the Transaction Code module defaults to the first tab, Codes.  This tab contains a list of all transaction codes and payment methods in the PMS.

Codes

The types of Transaction Codes are broken down into 4 groups:

  • Room Charge - Only Room Charge codes should be placed in this area as this is where your Average Daily Rate and Room Revenue figures pulled from. Transaction Codes such as “Meeting Room Rental” should be placed under the Other Charge Code area
  • Other Charge - All Transaction Codes that are not a Room Charge Code or not a Payment Code should go under this area
  • Special - Contains the Deposit Holdings and T/A Commission Transaction Codes. These codes are created when the PMS Database is setup, and are required for it to function properly - DO NOT CREATE OR ALTER Transaction Codes within this Code Type, or the function of the PMS will be compromised.
  • Payment - All payment related Transaction Codes should go under this area

The code group that is selected in this list on the right determines what codes are displayed on the left.

General Tab

The bottom half of the screen will show the information in relation to the code you have selected (with the little black arrow) at the top.

  • Code - abbreviated code for Transaction Code Name (this is the code that will appear when posting payments/charges)
  • Description – full Transaction Code Name
  • Tran Subgroup – there are two tran subgroups available in the PMS
    Lift Tickets – developed for one specific property and should not to be used without consulting our Support Team first.
    Cancellation Fee – Assign only to Transaction Codes intended to be used during the cancelling of a reservation (ie: Cancellation Fee or No Show Transaction Codes only)
  • Sort Order Number - allows you to sort the order in which your transaction codes will appear in PMS
  • Active – checking this box will make your Transaction Code active however, this cannot be checked until AFTER the proper GL Accounts have been assigned to the Transaction Code
  • Non Tax Transactions – this function allows you to have a transaction code change from a taxed Transaction Code to a non-taxed Transaction Code after a specific period of time. For example: You may set up your Room Charge Transaction Code (RCH) to change to your Room Charge Tax Exempt Transaction Code (RCHTE) on Day 30 of a guest's stay. This means, on the 30th day of the guest's stay, the Room Charge will begin to post without taxes
  • Repeatable – select if this Transaction Code is a repeatable charge
  • Repeated – if Repeatable is yes, then you would select the charge will be repeated per STAY (only occurs once per stay), DAILY (occurs every day), WEEKLY (occurs once a week) or MONTHLY (occurs once a month)
  • Per – select if this charge a Per Person or a Per Room charge
  • Long Term Stay (appears on Room Charges screen only) - Disregard, no longer relevant
General Tab

Accounts Tab

The Accounts tab displays the mapping of the selected Transaction Code to it's corresponding GL Accounts. This area is crucial to how the revenue flows through the Accounts when a transaction code is posted, as it dictates how the Journal Entries (account Debits and Credits) post in the back-end of the PMS.

Accounts Tab

Taxes Tab

The Taxes tab of a Transaction Code is broken into two areas:

  • Available Taxes - All available taxes in the PMS
  • Assigned Taxes - Taxes that have been appended to this specific transaction code, and will post simultaneously when the transaction code is posted

Using the Add and Remove buttons allow the user to select which taxes apply to a transaction code, and apply them accordingly.

Taxes Tab

Guest Services Tab (appears only on the Room Charge code group)

If a property is using Guest Services, they can be appended to post along with a Transaction Code, similarly to a Tax. For this to be possible, a Guest Service must have already been created in the Guest Services module under System Configuration > Guest Services.

A common example of this would be adding a "Resort Fee" guest service to attach to the Room Charge, so that it posts nightly with the Room Charge.

Guest Services Tab (appears only on the Room Charge code group)

Fixed Amount Tab

The Fixed Amount tab allows a Transaction Code to post at a predetermined amount whenever the code is selected. This is an optional setting.  Using this feature prevents people from posting incorrect amounts, however also limits the poster in being able to adjust the posting amount if needed.

  • Date From - will automatically populate with the current date
  • Date To - Click on the drop down box below Date To to insert and end date for this fixed price. If you leave the Date To blank, the fixed amount will remain until it is manually changed
  • Fixed Amount - Input the dollar amount of the charge
  • Commission - If a commission is charged on top of the fixed fee, enter the amount
  • IsCommAmount - If the commission is a dollar amount, check the box under IsCommAmount, otherwise, the commission will calculate as a percentage.
Fixed Amount Tab

Taxes

The second tab in the Transaction Code module is the Taxes tab. This is the area where all applicable taxes for the PMS need to be set up. Much like Transaction Codes, taxes will also need to be mapped to their corresponding GL Accounts before they can be used. Again, this is to ensure that the Journal Entry postings can take place properly on the back-end, when the Tax is posted.

Taxes

As with the Codes screen the Taxes screen is displayed similarly. The bottom half of the screen will show the information in relation to the tax code you have selected (with the little black arrow) at the top.

  • Description – insert name of the tax
  • VAT – check this box if the tax is a Value Added Tax
  • Compound – checking this box indicates that this tax is a compounded tax

    Example: My Room Charge Transaction Code has two taxes; GST at 7%, and PST at 6.5%
       GST is set to Sort Order 1
       PST is set to Sort Order 2, and the compound box is checked

    For a $100 room charge, the calculation would be:
       100 + (100 x 7%) = $107
       107 + (107 x 6.5%) = $113.96

    If the PST was not compounded, then the calculation would be:
       100 + (100 x 7%) + (100 x 6.5%) = $113.50
  • Rate – enter the amount of the tax
  • Rate is percent – check this box if the rate is a percentage, leave unchecked if it is an amount
  • Sort Order- defines the order in which the taxes will appear on a Guest Folio. Also used for compounded taxes to determine which tax is calculate first, second and so on.

Tax Rates Tab

When a tax is initially set up, a tax rate is established. However, Tax rates can change based on inflation and new laws. When a tax rate needs to be changed, this area allows the user to make the necessary changes, which will take effect on the designated start date.

NOTE: Tax changes must be setup at least by the night before the change. They cannot be setup the day the tax change occurs. Therefore, if your tax change is suppose to start March 22nd, you must setup the change prior to March 21st.

  • Rate – enter the new Tax Rate
  • Date From – click on the box and use the drop down menu to select the date you wish to new rate to START.
  • Date To – leave BLANK
  • IsPercent – check this box if the rate is a percent. Uncheck if it is an amount.
Tax Rates Tab

Accounts Tab

The Accounts tab displays the mapping of the selected Tax Code to it's corresponding GL Accounts. This area is crucial to how the revenue flows through the Accounts when a Tax code is posted, as it dictates how the Journal Entries (account Debits and Credits) post in the back-end of the PMS.

Accounts Tab

GL Accounts

The GL (General Ledger) Accounts Tab is where all the GL Accounts of the PMS are set up. General Ledger Accounts contain a complete record of all financial transactions in the PMS. Typically, this information is pulled from the PMS and then used to prepare the financial statements, tracking profits and losses over the life of the business.

The PMS comes with three Receivable GL Accounts that must not be changed for any reason, as they are integral to the way the system performs.  Each of the Accounts serve a specific purpose by tracking revenue through the different stages of a reservation; pre-stay, stay, and post-stay.

  • Deposit Holdings (pre-stay) - This account will contain revenue that is collected on a reservation before it is checked in. Any Advance Deposits will be tracked through this account. When a reservation with a deposit is checked in, the deposit will be moved from the Deposit Holdings GL to the A/R Guest GL through the Deposit Transfer transaction code, a special code that auto-posts on the back-end through a journal entry.
  • A/R Guest (stay) - This GL Account holds the balances of all In-House Guest accounts. All postings and payments to In-House reservations or House Accounts will contribute to the balance of this GL Account. When a reservation is checked out, if it is being direct billed to a City Ledger Account, the balance will then be transferred to the A/R City GL as an invoice. It will remain an outstanding invoice on the City Ledger until a payment is received.
  • A/R City (post-stay) - All outstanding balances transferred from the Guest Ledger to the City Ledger will be reflected on this GL Account. This includes invoices for individual guests, as well as Groups or Wholesalers.  In addition to the invoices on the City Ledger, all transactions posted through the Sundry Sales module will also impact the A/R City. As the Sundry Sales module is based on over-the-counter transactions, and does not require charges to be posted to an In-House reservation or room, revenue from this module is tracked through the A/R City GL Account.

These 3 GL Accounts should be the ONLY Receivable GL Accounts in the system. Adding other Receivable GL Accounts can compromise the integrity of these accounts in the PMS, and result in imbalances.

GL Accounts

Based on the GL Account selected at the top, corresponding information for that account will display below.

  • Account Identifier – can be an abbreviated form of the General Account Name or the full name if desired (NOTE: If you are  using an Accounting Export Interface such as Quickbooks then this should be the Quickbooks Account Number for the General Ledger Account you are Creating. This may also apply to any external accounting software package using numbered GL Accounts).
  • Account Name – full name of the General Ledger Account
  • Active – check this box to activate the General Ledger Account
  • Receivable – As mentioned above, the PMS only has 3 Receivable Accounts – A/R Guest, A/R City and Deposit Holdings. These are configured during the initial PMS setup. No other Receivable Accounts should ever be added.
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