2 | Opera Interface BackOffice Setup

This article covers the BackOffice setup requirements for the Opera Interface.

This interface connects Bepoz with the Opera Property Management System via a direct TCP connection utilizing the Bepoz gateway - Reslink. Bepoz has an existing interface to Opera via Reslink, however, functional requirements dictate the requirement to further enhance the integration for the purpose of retrieving additional guest data such as arrival date, departure date, and other definable fields as well as retrieving member details if they are a KCMS (Konami) loyalty member.

Prerequisites

To access PMS features, the applicable Operator Privileges will need to be enabled

Operator Maintenance 'General' Tab

System Setup: "Access Venue, Stores & Tills" Flag
System Setup: "Maintain Venue, Stores & Tills" Flag
System Setup: "Maintain Till Function Maps" Flag

Implementation

The Opera interface is implemented utilizing the Bepoz Reslink Gateway

This gateway will act as the direct communications from each Bepoz POS back to the Opera system

Each Venue will require the Reslink gateway to be configured and be running within the environment and requires all POS in the environment to be able to connect to the Reslink Gateway on a specified port
The Reslink Gateway will connect to a local instance of the Opera PMS Gateway at each Venue

BackOffice Settings Venue, Stores & Tills

Within the Venue, Stores & Tills component of Backoffice is where the majority of configuration is required to ensure operability of the PMS interface
The standard setups prior to the enhancement of the interface are still required such as IP, Port, etc. with the addition of further controls to support the added functionality listed above
Within the Venue record specifically, navigate to the External Links tab and configure as per the below example:

The Room Charge Link Options section within the External Links tab under Venue Maintenance allows for configuring BackOffice for the Opera interface
The configuration settings for the Opera PMS are as explained below:

Configuration Option	Description
ResLink IP Address	Enter the IP address of the computer that Bepoz will connect to in order to process the Room charge
TCP Port	Enter the port of the computer that Bepoz will connect to in order to process the Room charge
Name	Enter the Name that the actual Room charge is called
"Item Totals" drop-down	This drop-down allows for defining which of the groups will be used to define the charge to the PMS Select from Sorts Types SortGroups TypeGroups Typically, SortGroups are used, but this is not "set" The majority of PMS do not support a large number of definitions for the makeup of the room charge; e.g., they often support a maximum of 8 definitions - or groups - and sometimes fewer E.g., the SortGroups could be Food, Beverage, Merchandise, and Services
"Revenue Center" drop-down	This drop-down is used to set either the TIll ID or the desired Export code so the PMS can determine which Revenue Center the sale is coming from
Totals Base Room	The totals for the Media Types that are sent to the PMS are usually posted to pseudo or dummy rooms in the PMS
Offsets	This setting allows for the Base Offset for the Room Numbers to be set, then the corresponding offsets for Cash, Credit Card, etc. are entered below Note: For exporting Gift Certificate transactions to Opera PMS, a device is needed to set up which has been explained in detailed in Gift Certificate Interface for PMS
"No Points Earn on Reslink Charge"	Enabling this flag prevents the system from earning points to an attached Account when using the Room Charge Payment
"Advanced RMS Protocol" flag	To enable support for A0-A9 and GA / GD fields, this flag must be turned ON

Revenue Centre:

This determines which Export Code to be used when sending the Revenue Centre to Opera
Configuration options include TillID, Till Export Code 1-4 and Store Export Code 1-4

No Points Earn on Reslink Charge:

When this option is flagged on, it prevents the system from earning points to an attached Account when using the Room Charge payment option

New RMS Protocol:

To enable support for A0-A9 and GA / GD fields, this flag must be enabled

Till Function Maps

To access the Opera PMS guest information on SmartPOS, the respective Till Functions must first be set up in BackOffice

To enable the use of the user-definable and GA / GD fields, adjust the Till Function Map button used to charge/inquire against Opera PMS

The standard Reslink Charge function can be used to perform Charges, Inquiries and Custom Data lookups

This can be found in the Tender & Payment Functions and is called ResLink (PMS) Charge

To setup Till Functions in BackOffice for the Opera Room inquiry, navigate to the Till Function Maps menu under System Setup and open the desired Function Override map to add Room Inquiry options/button on SmartPOS

Select the function Panel from Panel drop-down menu and select/click a button space on the displayed map to create new Reslink Inquiry function button
In the Button Settings section configure the options as below in the figure:

After setting the Reslink (PMS) Charge to the desired button, the following options are configurable:

Item:

This option can be set to a number of different bit values:

1 = Inquiry Only
2 = Display Guest Data Only
4 = Display Dates

To show Dates as well as Guest Date, simply combine the options' numbers; e.g., combining 1 & 4 and entering "5" into the Item field will show Guest Data along with the Guest Arrival and Departure Dates

Key:

This option determines which user-defined fields from Opera are shown
The user is required to enter a Name for each A0-A9 field required, separated by a comma

E.g., if the string is set to "Member#,,Breakfast,VIP,,Status" this will force the interface to expect the user-defined fields from Opera A0, A2, A3, and A5
As demonstrated in this string example, if a field is not required it can be comma delimited out
Also, if only fields A0 - A2 are required then there is no requirement to comma delimit after A2; e.g., "Member#,Breakfast, VIP,Status"