Download this document in PDF here

Training Videos

Online demonstration and training videos are available for viewing here:-

http://www.webformatique.com/videos/resmanpro.html

Requirements

PRO requirements:-

• Joomla 1.0.12 or above (Not 1.5)
• JoomFish for front-end multi-lingual support.
• Support for Ioncube loaders.
• MySQL 4.0 or higher
• PHP 4 or higher

Terminology

Installation

From the Joomla Administration console locate Installers->Components click on Browse... and select the file com_resmanpro.zip (this is the component file included when you purchased Reservation Manager) then click Upload File & Install.

Upgrading from Standard Edition to PRO

Please Note this upgrade is only valid from Standard Edition 1.6.6 or above to PRO we strongly advise you to backup your database prior to performing this upgrade as should you need to downgrade this requires database restoration.

1. To upgrade first un-install Reservation Manager, this is performed from Installers->Components Select Reservation Manager from the list and then click Uninstall
2. Click on Browse... and select the file com_resmanpro.zip (this is the component file included when you purchased Reservation Manager) then click Upload File & Install.
3. Click on the option to Upgrade Database.

Getting Started

All our products feature a left hand vertical menu system that allows you to easily navigate and move from one option to another in just a few clicks.
While PRO is inherently more complex than Standard Edition we have endeavoured to ensure that the interface remains easy to use and is intuitive.

Because of how PRO organises Unit Managers and Units it requires a Unit Manager to be created first so that units can then be assigned to them.
It is recommended that you create a Unit Manager called Manager this Unit Manager will be used to move or assign units temporarily should you need to; one example if you have the details to create a property but not all of the customer's information required to create their account so you could create the Unit and temporarily assign this to Manager of course the setup, configuration and how you run your establishment is different for every business so we leave this choice to you.

Basic steps for setting up the system and adding the first Unit.

1. Check the site configuration.
2. Define a Unit Manager (See the section Customers for Unit Manager creation)
3. Define a Unit (Hotel or Property) assigned to the Unit Manager (See the section Units)
4. Define Unit Price configuration and Unit Price information (See the section Price Configuration and Management)
5. Upload and Organise Photos (See the section Photo Management)
6. Publish Front-end Menu Links (See the section Front-end links)

Customers

Customers consist of two types of customers:-
Customers – this is customers that reserve accommodation but do not have a Unit assigned to them.
Managers – these are customers which have the attribute of “Unit Manager” set and can have Units assigned to them.

Unit Manager Creation

Unit Manager can be created from the Joomla Administration Console Components ->Reservation Manager PRO, Click on Customers->Managers then Click New...

Units

Once you have defined at least one Unit Manager you can then proceed and create Units.
PRO allows for several different unit types:-

• Hotel
• Hotel Room (this is a Hotel Sub-item)
• Property
• Group of Properties

Hotels

A Hotel is a special Unit that does not have some properties directly within the menu item such as Unit Pricing, however, it does allows rooms to be created as sub-items and grouped under the main Hotel menu object.

Properties

Properties applies to any Unit which is not a hotel item (Hotel or Room sub-item). A property will present a generic front-end advert which can be populated with information about the Unit and will display this in an easy to read tabbed dialogue for website visitors.
Properties do not have room sub-items and can be viewed as a complete rental item such as a house or apartment.

Property Group

Price Configuration and Management

Price Configuration

Price configuration allows you to define how you want to display prices to customers and also charge for reservations.
Price configuration is on a per unit basis and is configured through the Unit Config menu item:-

Unit Config allows you to define the following price schema for the unit:-

• Daily Prices
  • Allows daily pricing, when checked shows daily pricing and calculates the reservation price based on the daily price.
  Please Note: Daily prices is always enabled as this is used as the fallback price for calculations. Should the system not be able to determine the charge to apply it will use the Daily Rate to calculate this.

• Weekend Price
  • This is defined as any rental under 3 days with the start day on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. If enabled and a reservation is detected as being a weekend this Price overrides the Daily price.

• Weekly Prices
  • Defines the price for 7 to under 14 days rental. If enabled and a reservation is detected as being over 7 days and under 14 days this price overrides the daily price.

• Fortnightly Prices
  • Defines the price for 14 to under 30 days rental. If enabled and a reservation is detected as being over 14 days and under 30 days this price overrides all other prices.

• Monthly Prices
  • Defines the price for 30 days or more. If enabled and a reservation is detected as being over 30 days this price overrides all other prices.

• Enable Per Person Pricing
  
  • When enabled this adds a per person price column to the Price information page.
    
• Use Per-Person Multiplier - This allows you to define prices based on the number of people placing a reservation i.e.: 1 person = 1 x $price / 2 x $price. The checkbox "Include Children in Total People" allows you to choose if children are counted in the price muiltiplier.
  

• Calculate Prices Based on Price Bands
  • When enabled allows you to enter price bands in days I.E.:- 0 to 5 days charged at a rate of XX; 6 days to 10 days charged at a rate of XX; 11 to 14 days charged at a rate of XX.

Note: When price bands are employed, the bands must be configured to be contiguous and must not over-lap.
ie: 0 to 6 days/ 7 to 10 days/11 to 14 days.
It is also highly recommended that the last entry be 999
To disable a band set the entries to -1

Price Information

PRO features a new AJAX DHTML Price management system this allows the prices to be manipulated much easier.
The price system uses similar controls to spreadsheet applications such as Excel or OpenOffice and you can insert a price row, delete a row, export and import a price tariff.

Photo management

Photo management within PRO is very simply. In basic upload your photos, decide the order and that's it.
Please Note: at this time PRO does not automatically re-size images based on administrator defined settings however this will be included in V1.1 to ensure images conform to site defined standards.
Photo Management can be accessed via the Unit Menu item then Photos

Configuration

PRO includes a comprehensive tabbed configuration system that allows you to configure the system for your requirements.
This defines site specific and site global configuration for PRO and should be the first place to look for tailoring PRO to your configuration. It is also the place where additional payment modules and languages are defined.

Payment Modules and Configuration

PRO features four payment modules are included with this distribution.

Save and Pay Later – This allows customers the option to save their reservation and return later to pay the balance or to contact the site administrator for alternative payment methods.

Authorize.net – This payment module prompts the customer for credit card details. This payment module does have the following Pre-requisites:-

• SSL sertificate installed on server.
• cURL PHP extension installed on server
• Authorize.NET account.

PayPal – The simplest and easiest form of online payments, simply sign up for a PayPal account enable this module and enter your PayPal registered email address.

Offline Credit Card Payment - This prompts the customer to enter their credit card information which is emailed to the Unit Manager for offline processing. Please note this page should be protected with SSL.

Note: All billing and administration systems require Use the PayPal system for automated billing. This is separate from the from-end customer billing.

Front-end Menu Links

To publish PRO to the main menu:-
From the Administrator Console, select Menu->Main Menu (or the menu you wish to edit). Click New, and select Component. Enter a name for the Menu item i.e.: “List Properties” and choose Reservation Manager PRO from the list. Then click Save.
You may also wish to publish the following links:-

Modifying PRO for your website

So you've bought PRO and you need to make it fit with your website's look and feel.

HTML Templates

Well all of PRO's front-end HTML code is defined in HTML templates. These are accessible from /components/com_resman/templates
These define how each front-end form is designed and can easily be edited in a text editor or with an HTML editor such as Dreamweaver.

CSS Styles

Web page styles, colours and pages used by PRO are also defined in a single CSS file located in /components/com_resman/css_themes/resman_style.original.css

Images and Icons

Misc Functions

Backup

Featured Properties

1. Locate Misc->Featured Properties, click on the publish "X" for the property you wish to feature.
2. Click on the the date to enter dates for when the property will be featured.
3. Locate Mambots->Site Mambots. And publish the Reservation Manager Featured Properties Mambot.
4. Locate the content article you wish to insert the featured properties into then add the following entry where you wish the featured properties to appear:- {resmanfeatured}
5. From the front-end if you view the page you will now see the featured properties.

Search Mambot

1. Locate Installers->Mambots
2. Click on Browse to select the Reservation Manager Search mambot (mos_resman_searchbot.zip) then click on Upload and Install.
3. From Mambots->Site Mambot publish the Reservation Manager Search Bot