Agent Settlement
- Noopur Joshi
Introduction
What are agent settlements?
Agent settlements facilitate the periodic reconciliation of invoices for tour operators, agents, and resellers. They provide a comprehensive overview of reservations made through distribution channels, typically for departures in the previous month.
Conceptual flow
The agent settlement process consists of three main conceptual flows::
Creation of Agent Settlement – Compiling reservation data from distribution channels.
Verification in the Finance Tab – Reviewing and validating settlement details.
Finalizing the Settlement – Making the settlement permanent.
Additional steps may include generating burst reports and handling split payments as needed.
Initial setup
Prerequisites
Navigate to the Channel Manager, navigate to the required distribution channel on the Distribution channels page, go to settings and scroll down to the Agent settlement settings section.
Enable agent settlement for this DC level: to generate the agent settlement for this DC level, ensure this toggle is enabled, as it is required for the settlement generation.
Agent settlement overview number generation for this DC will be per: The agent settlement overview number for this DC will be generated based on this toggle's configuration. It can either apply to the entire agent settlement (assigning a single overview number to the DC’s records) or be set per location AO (assigning a unique overview number per location AO for its records in the agent settlement).
Link ledger: The linked ledger is used to record split entries, capturing the outcome of split payments.
Unassigned account: Select the applicable unassigned account to temporarily hold payments before they are matched to a specific agent settlement using the split payment functionality.
Access
The agent settlements can be created in the Channel Manager, in the Agent settlement page. Also, the burst reports can be generated in the Channel Manager.
However, the slit payment functionality is available in the Finance Manager.
Configuration of agent settlement
Creating a new agent settlement
To configure a new agent settlement in Maxxton Software, navigate to the Channel Manager on the Agent Settlement page.
Click on the Create settlement button.
On the Settlement page, in the Agent settlement widget, select valid input for below fields:
Settlement type: this drop down has two options to choose from, New and Correction:
New: this option is selected when a new settlement is required to be created for new reservations.
Correction: Correction settlement is selected when some correction or modification is done to a reservation.
Settlement date: select the date
Selection of reservations: Choose one of the two available radio button options:
Using criteria: Reservations are selected based on specific criteria, including Reservation Date, Arrival Date, Departure Date, and Reservation Status.
Reservation number: A specific reservation can be searched and selected from the dropdown list.. After selecting the required option, click Next Step to proceed.
On the next page Distribution channel groups, in the agent settlement widget, select all the required distribution channel groups and click Next step.
On the third page Distribution channels, select the Distribution channel type from the drop down (CSE, Touroperator or Touroperator+CSE) ) then select all the required distribution channels and click Next step.
The fourth page in the Agent settlement widget is Reservation categories. Choose the reservation categories which are required to be included in this settlement and click Next step.
On the fifth page Admin organisations, select all the required admin organisations and click Next step.
For next Locations page, select the required locations and click on Next step.
An Overview page is displayed at the end which lists down all the reservations which will be included in the settlement, based upon the criteria. Click on Create settlement.
The newly created settlement is displayed with details for all the included reservation numbers and the total amount. Click on the Total amount, the Details of settlement are displayed. The bifurcation of the total amount is with respect to each Settlement DC.
Making the agent settlement permanent
To make the agent settlement permanent, navigate to the Agent Settlement Details page and click the Make Permanent button. A confirmation pop-up will appear; click Make Permanent to finalize the process. Once confirmed, the settlement is marked as permanent, and two new columns—Overview Number and Payment Reference Number—are added.
Overview number: this is the bill number, generated per location, per DC. Overview number is the key for generating reports.
Payment reference number: this is a unique identifier assigned to the transaction to help track the payments. Payment reference number is the key for making payments.
Agent settlement records in the Finance tab
Once the agent settlement is made permanent, it is displayed in the Finance tab within Distribution channel:
Navigate to the Distribution channel page.
Search for the distribution channel whose reservation was included in the agent settlement.
On the Distribution channel details page, navigate to the Finance tab. The latest created agent settlement is displayed. Upon clicking the agent settlement number, user is navigated to the settlement details screen.
In the Finance tab, the agent settlement list is displayed in two formats: Grouped and Traditional. Both formats present settlement information, but with slight variations in the displayed columns.
In the Finance tab, you can also configure the displayed columns. Click on the Configure Columns icon to open the Configure Columns widget, where you can show or hide specific columns and rearrange their order using drag-and-drop functionality.
Burst report
A Burst Report refers to the creation of multiple reports within a single agent settlement, covering multiple distribution channels (DCs), overview numbers, locations, and admin organizations.
To create a burst report, click the Create report button on the Settlement details page. In the Create report widget, select Burst from the Report list dropdown, enter the required details, and click Export. The burst reports will then be generated and the PDF file gets stored automatically.
Downloading burst report
The burst reports generated for the agent settlement can be accessed in the Documents tab on the Distribution Channel Details page. To download the reports, click on the three dots next to the report and select Download. To delete the report, choose the Remove option.
Navigate to the Finance tab on the Distribution Channel Details page and click the three dots next to the agent settlement. Two options will appear:
Download PDF: This downloads all the reports available in the Download tab corresponding to the agent settlement.
Download ZIP File: This downloads the tax invoices generated for the reservations included in the selected agent settlement.
Split payment
What is split payment
If it is required to split the entire amount for all reservations under a particular payment reference, it can be achieved through split payment functionality. This allows for the distribution of the total amount across multiple reservations.
Prerequisites
To enable the split transaction, it is required that the End balance should match the Current balance.
Adding new transaction
Split payment functionality can be accessed in Finance Manager.
From the Payments menu, select Statements.
Click on Create statement button.
In the Create statement widget select Create statement manually radio button.
Select Account from the drop down. Click on Next step.
The account and statement number are displayed. click Close.
On the statement screen, click on Add transaction.
On the New transaction screen add following details:
Amount: add amount to be settled
Payment reference: add the relevant payment reference number.
Click on Add transaction and close.
Configuring split payment
Once the transaction is created, the Transaction details page is displayed.
Click on the three dots displayed on the top right corner of the page. Split transaction option is available there. Click on Split transaction.
The Split transaction widget is displayed, which displays the Statement number, Payment reference, Distribution channel, Transaction date and list of reservations included in the Payment reference number, along with other details.
Corresponding to each reservation Due amount, Reservation amount and Amount to split are specified. User can choose to edit the amount to split as per requirement. Also, there is a toggle to copy the due amount to amount to split column. By default, the amount to split is same as reservation amount.
If the user does not wish to pay for a certain reservation in this split transaction, they can remove it from the list by selecting the reservation and clicking on Remove selected.
To complete the split transaction, select all the required reservations and click on Split allocate payment. The page with details about the split is displayed. To validate the transaction, select all the entries and click Mark as validated. In the Validated tab, click on Mark as permanent.
The payment entry can be verified in the Channel Manager, on the Distribution channels page for the DC in Finance tab.
Deleting agent settlement
A new agent settlement can be deleted from the settlement details page, before or after making it permanent, by clicking the three dots on the top right corner and selecting Delete.
To delete the entries of an older permanent agent settlement it should not have any Booked any payments against it.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Agent Settlement feature in Maxxton Software streamlines the process of generating invoices and reports, consolidating multiple reservations, distribution channels, locations, and admin organizations into a single, efficient workflow. This not only enhances operational efficiency but also saves valuable time, empowering users to focus on more strategic tasks while maintaining accuracy and consistency across settlements.