All services sold through the Bookings solution must be defined as activity products, where the user can set up pricing, posting related settings, and define how date and time duration is calculated.
The product can be set to print out a label (ticket) or a report when the product is being sold at the POS. This could be rental contracts or admission tickets, for example.
Also, any consumption or additional charges (retail items) can be linked to the product and automatically pulled and attached to the sale (reservation). But most importantly, the user defines what resources are needed when the product is sold (performed), which basically determines the availability of the product for a chosen date and time.
To create an activity product
- Click the
icon, enter Activity Product List, and select the relevant link. - Click the New action to display the Activity Product Card.
Here is a shortcut to a description of the card's FastTabs and fields:
- General FastTab
- Calculations FastTab
- Defaults FastTab
- Restrictions FastTab
- Point of Sale FastTab
- Admission FastTab
To see a description of the actions on page, click here.
General FastTab
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| No. | A unique ID to reference to the product. |
| Description | General description of the product. |
| Activity Type | The activity types the product belongs to and retrieves default settings. |
| Posting Item | The retail item used for posting and, optionally, pricing. |
| Interval Type | The interval settings used for viewing availability. If you leave this field blank, the setting derives from the activity type setup. |
| Product Type | To specify the type of product, control the placement of the product in the Role Center product list, and to assign certain behavior. The options are:
|
| Status | Specifies if the product is a draft, in use, or not supported. Note: If you create a new product, the product will not be added to the product selection until it has the status In use assigned. Note: When activating products of the type Class or Course, and there are no resources required assignment on the product, users are asked if they want to create a new resource and assign it automatically. If the user answers with YES, Sa list of resource groups will prompt the user to select the related resource group to assign to the new resource. This is due to the fact that normally you need to create a resource to keep track of availability and schedule of the class and course products, and this automated handling will simplify the process for the user. |
| Fixed Location | Specifies if the product is only available in a single location. |
| Default Price | The unit price of the product (if the value in the Price Method field is Default). |
| Default View | Defines which card should be used to open the Card view on these types of activities, that is the default Activity Card or the Reservation Card. |
| Availability View | Defines how the availability of this item will be displayed. The default is showing availability per product/date/time, but can also be set to detail the view per Human resource or By All Resources as defined by the product resource requirements. |
| Custom Availability | The system offers partners the possibility to make a custom availability logic that can be assigned on the activity product, and thus bypass the standard logic. This is normally used for specific custom requirements. This field should be left blank if standard settings should apply, but to see the available custom replacement possibilities, simply do lookup in the field. The system includes DINING as a custom logic to get availability from the Hospitality dining module. Retrieving availability from external sources using web services is one example of use. |
| Search Tags | You can add search tags which will be visible at the "Create new activity" process from the Role Center or from the product search in the Reservation and Group Reservation cards. You can then use the standard Business Central search option on the page to filter the product view and tags will be used as the search criteria. Any Product attribute will also be added automatically to the search tag field in the product search page. |
| Cancellation Policy | The default cancellation policy to be used for this particular product. Specifies if cancellation charges apply when this product reservation is canceled. |
Calculations FastTab
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Price Method | Defines how the price for the product will be determined.
Note: Even if the product is using retail pricing, it is still possible to use the activity discount possibilities. |
| Quantity Conversion | Specify here if the quantity should calculate the duration and set the date or time according to the quantity setting, or if it should be vice versa, that is date/time settings should convert to quantity. This would be valid for products that are sold in quantities based on the time, that is the number of days, hours, or minutes. Note: There are two settings for number of days: No. of Days (Overnight) would convert a quantity of 1 day to a reservation spanning from Day 1 to Day 2 (both days included), but the normal No. of Days setting would only set it to a single day (that is the From and To dates). When you are selling overnight products, it is good practice to use the fixed time settings for default check-in and check-out times. This will also make the availability views realize that the product reserves the resources overnight. Note: When you use Quantity Conversion, the Quantity field in the activity reservation is always representing the duration of the activity, and pricing also becomes based on the duration unit (that is per. minute, hour, or days). |
| Price per Person | Use this setting, if the number of persons should multiply the unit price for a total amount. If that is the case, the unit price is multiplied by the number of persons before it is assigned on the POS as a unit price. |
| Duration | The fixed duration of the activity. Note: If quantity conversion is assigned on the product, the quantity will always dictate the duration, thus making this setting irrelevant. Duration is only needed and only dictates activity duration if Quantity Conversion is set to None. |
| Duration Type | Duration as minutes, hours, or days. Note: If quantity conversion is being used, the duration is recalculated based on the quantity assigned on the activity. For example, a quantity of 2, might be converted to 2 days, thus setting the Date to/Time to accordingly. |
| Late Return Handling | Only applicable for rental products. Defines how late rentals should be charged. By default this setting is according to the activity type settings, but can be overwritten by the product settings. See more information about each setting on the activity type. |
| Late Return Charge Amt | Only set if Late Return Handling is set to a fixed amount. |
Defaults FastTab
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Max/Min Quantity | The maximum and minimum quantity values allowed. |
| Default Quantity | The default quantity used when an activity is created. |
| Default Event Category | Specifies the default Event Category for the activity product when used by the Banquet Event Order functionality. |
| Additional Items Allowance | Specifies the default Item Allowance setting for any charges that might be added to the activity reservation. |
| Additional Items Multiplier | Specifies the default additional items multiplier when the user adds new additional charges to an activity, either at the POS or on the Reservation card. The multiplier can be based on the quantity in the related activity or the number of persons. Default setting is None, meaning no additional multiplier. |
Restrictions FastTab
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Allow Quantity Change | Specifies if the user is allowed to modify the quantity during reservation. |
| Allow Duration Change | Specifies if the user is allowed to manually change Date To/Time To on the activity reservation entry. |
| Allow Price Change | Specifies if the user is allowed to change the price or discounts at the activity reservation entry. |
| Allow No. of Persons | Specifies if the user can enter any number of persons at the activity reservation entry. |
| Allow Time Change | Specifies if users are allowed to change the time manually, or if they are required to select the time according to the interval settings for the product. |
| Participant List | Specifies if the product allows the entering of a multiple participant list for detailing the names of each individual in a group. Normally, the Min. and Max No. of Persons setting would also be set on this type of product.
|
| Sell to Same (X Times) | Set this value, if there is a limitation on how many times the product can be sold to a client within a certain period. |
| Sell to Same Period Calc | The date period calculation (see the Business Central help on date calculations). It is automatically assumed that the period is in the past. |
| Available on Web | If the product is available to be reserved through the WEB API. Also used to indicate if it is allowed to reserve without payment. |
| Security Deposit | Specifies if a security deposit amount is added to the sale during payment. The deposit can then be returned using POS commands to specifically return deposits. Most commonly used with rental products. |
| Time Restrictions | Specifies if the product can only be sold within the opening hours of the related activity location. |
| Required Deposit | Specifies if the product can only be booked at the POS with collecting a deposit. The deposit amount is then always assigned automatically during the POS process and collected when booking the activity. The deposit is deducted when the activity is fully paid. Note: The deposit process is only enforced when the product is booked through the POS. |
| Overbooking | Specifies if the product can be overbooked, if the user is allowed to overbook. Note: You can also define if the product can be overbooked by another product or not. |
Point of Sale FastTab
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Allow Retail Offers | Specifies if retail offers should be allowed. |
| Open Calendar | Specifies if the date calendar should pop up for selection on the POS when selling the product. |
| Quantity Dialog | If the Quantity window should pop up for selection on the POS when selling the product. |
| No. of Persons Dialog | If the Number of Persons window should pop up for selection on the POS when selling the product. |
| Open Card at Sale | If the default View card should be opened automatically on the POS after the product has been selected and reserved. |
| Report Printing | If the product should start a report printing when the sale is posted.
|
| Report ID | The object ID of the report to print, depending on the Report Printing setup. |
| Booking flow | Defines in which order the booking process is executed at the POS, that is if the Client is selected before or after the availability has been displayed and time selected. This might be relevant if the availability is depending on member club/scheme, and in those cases the user should first select the client before viewing availability and pricing. |
Admission FastTab
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Admission Output Type | Determines if the system prints a label ticket or a Windows report when tickets are printed. |
| Admission Label | Lets you select a label template to use for printing tickets (based on template script). For each Quantity of the product in the sale, a ticket is issued and printed. Therefore, if you sell a Quantity of 10 for the item, this template would be printed 10 times and 10 admission entries would be created. Tickets are printed at the posting of the sale. |
| Admission Report ID | The object number of the report to be printed, if Report is used as output type. |
| Admission No. Series | The number series used for assigning a unique barcode ID on each ticket. Note: If no number series is assigned here, the ticket entries are not created but the mechanism is only used for printing a label. |
| Expiry Date Calculation | The admission entry gets an expiry date which can be checked at the admission control scanning. |
| Multiple Admission (Qty) | An issued admission (ticket) can provide for multiple admission, for example a session of 10 admissions. Every time the admission control scans the ticket, arrival is tracked and the value of 1 subtracted from the original issued quantity to keep track of the admission balance. |
| Extend Membership | Used only in combination with the membership products. Used to extend membership time period by this setting, if the client purchases this product and also has membership assigned. |
| Access Profile | Activity products can have an access profile assigned (which is shared with the membership functionality). If assigned, then when booking the product, the system can issue an "Admission" entry to the Issued Admission table. This process is defined by the Status assigned to the booked activity. The admission entry can then be the basis for integration to a 3rd party access control, and defines which physical locations the associated client is allowed to enter, and at which date and time. |
Pricing and Discounting
The Activity Products support two types of pricing:
- The pricing can be deriving from the Retail pricing that is associated with the activity product (the posting item). The store that is assigned to the related activity location, will dictate the currency and handle pricing logic as with any other retail item. The Price Group and the Customer Discount group are derived from any Customer Account (if any) set on the activity group or the activity reservation.
Note: These fields are for display on the reservation tables, but are only populated if a customer is associated with the reservation. The fields cannot be edited by the user. -
The second type is the Activity Pricing settings, which support more features and advanced possibilities related to reservation dates and availability. Also, the Customer Discount settings in standard Business Central are supported as with the retail pricing setup.
Note: Activity pricing is always in single currency, and this should be the same currency as set in the store. If the store currency is different from the accounting currency, the user must define the currency of the activity pricing specifically in the activity setup. If accounting currency and store currency are the same, there is no need to define the activity pricing currency.
It is not possible to have the reservations in multiple currencies, since they all have to operate within the same currency as the related store. However, making quotes or standard BC invoices, the user can deliver the final invoice in the currency the customer account has been assigned to. At the POS, the pricing and final receipt is always in the store currency, but can be paid in multiple currencies.
Any advanced POS discounting and promotions are only supported when the reservation is pulled into the POS journal lines for payment or at the eCommerce basket price handling.
The Activity Pricing option can also support pricing per specific resource or based on the resource skill levels.
Note: Currently, pricing per resource is only supported in the Reservation Card if the Show Main Resource option is used on the related reservation type. If product price is related to which resource performs the service, LS Retail recommends that the product is set to show availability per resource. That way, all booking options (BO, POS, API) will then allow the user or customer to select the resource during the booking process, as well as show pricing based on the resource.
See also