Picasso & Appetite:
 
Release notes are released every time there are changes or new features added in Picasso.

If you would like to optimize the usage of Picasso, get one of the Techotel consultants to review the changes with you.

The latest release notes and user guide are always available under ”Help” in all menus.

Enjoy!
         

New in Version 8.0  -  April 2013
         
Feature General      
         
1 The access to the database has now been optimised in all modules      
         
2 Picasso is fully compatible with Microsoft SQL Server 2008      
         
       
         
Feature Booking      
         
1 We have developed facilities for offshore industry training centers, Including course management for students, instructors and certification.      
         
2 The Maintenance Center module is now faster.      
         
3 A search option has been added to allow reservations to be found on the related passport number.      
         
4 When Hall reservations are copied, any extra arrangements will now be copied to the respective days. If the hall is occupied on one or more of the new days, a warning will pop up for the user.      
         
5 It is possible to send confirmations to all course participants involved in day meetings. You need to enable "namelist" for day meetings and each participant must be booked individually      
         
6 When a room is returned from "Out Of Order" the room status is the same as before it was placed there.      
         
7 With BAR (Best Available Rate) prices when there are different prices on different days during the stay, this is managed in Picasso with "+ product" and addons in the product. Remember to set "Auto Plus product" and "Overwrite price" of the product.      
         
8 N/A In Ireland      
         
9 A choice is now available with Setup for products with 0-rates. These can either not be booked at all or the user is warned about it. Hotel Setup, Basic, Rate, No days with zero price.      
         
10 Salesnotes can show available products. Remember to set up the product under "Setup 2".      
         
11 On each reservation you can now determine as to whether the confirmation letter should be sent as pdf or rtf document.      
         
12 You can now arrange to receive a copy of all confirmations as a BCC. Hotel Setup, Basic, Emails.      
         
13 N/A for Ireland      
         
14 The reservation can create campaign codes, so it is now possible to measure the return on investment of a particular campaign.      
         
15 When prices are overridden, Picasso will now ask for a product price that must be recalculated if you change the room type, dates, number of days or pax. Hotel Setup, Basic, Rate, Ask for update price when price overwrite.      
         
       
         
Feature Cashier      
         
1 Debtor report can be set to automatically print or email transmission, for example after night audit. Contact Techotel for setup.      
         
2 Debtor report can now be sorted by reservation status.      
         
3 N/A in Ireland      
         
4 Gift Certificates via the gift card module can now be part redeemed. Setup contact Techotel.      
         
5 You can now search for the total figure of the invoice in the invoice search.      
         
6 N/A In Ireland      
         
7 It is possible to set up the BCC email address for invoices and owner settlements so the user can receive a copy. Hotel Setup, Basic, Emails.      
         
8 N/A in Ireland      
         
       
         
Feature Management      
         
1 You are now able to designate a colour to an individual item, making it easier to differenciate between items in the cashier.      
         
2 Allotment search can now also show expired allotments.      
         
3 In the allotment report you can search for customer number.      
         
4 Selected reports can be set to automatically print or email, for example, right after Night Audit. Contact Techotel for setup.      
         
5 It is now possible to display the budget figures in graphs and charts. They can also be printed in the budget report.      
         
         
Feature Reports      
         
1 Selected reports can be set to automatically print or email, for example right after Night Audit. Contact Techotel for setup.      
         
2 You can now search under country code or zip code.      
         
3 In Total Room Report, you can now choose which room types you want to see.      
         
4 Rooms Spec. can now be searched under campaign codes.      
         
5 Stat. Pro turnover report is now able to show fugures per day of arrival or per day of booking.      
         
6 In F & B plan you can now choose specific room numbers for the report.      
         
7 National Irish statistics can now print from Picasso      
         
8 Hall Spec reports can now search large meetings, with minimum number of pax.      
         
9 Customer number can now be displayed on New/Cancelled Bookings..      
         
10 Delete Note report now shows folio number and department.      
         
11 Booking Status shows 0 in vacant if it's sold out.      
         
12 On the ToDo Reservation you can now choose which Reservation Status you want to view.      
         
13 Arrival & Inhouse Halls can now be displayed in landscape format. The days are now horizontally at the top and the halls vertically. There may be maximum of 7 days displayed on the report.      
         
14 Departures, there are now Early & Prolonged reports showing shortened or extended bookings.      
         
15 At the Hotel Manager report, reservations with NUL or no product can now be deselected.      
         
16 On the ToDo, you can now select which users' tasks you wish to see.      
         
       
         
Feature Marketing      
         
1

DSL functionality is now available within the customer search results.

      
         
2

MIS has now average price per room and per person.

      
         
3

It is possible to set up the BCC email address for newsletters so the user can receive a copy. Hotel Setup, Basic, Emails.

     
         
4

N/A in Ireland

      
         
5

Users who should not have access to edit MIS budget can be set to read-only MIS in their user profile.

      
         
6

In order book, you can now double-click on the booking line, then open the reservation in booking module.

     
         
       
         
Feature Night Audit      
         
         
       
Feature Selector      
         
         
       
Feature Online      
         
         
       
Feature Interfaces      
         
1 N/A in Ireland      
         
2 It is now possible to export all individual transactions      
         
         
       
         

New in Version 4.3  -  September 2010
         
Feature Booking      
         
1 When creating the name list on a group reservation, there will be a dialogue box on which the user can specify the status that the sub-reservations must have. This can be activated via the Hotel - Setup - Basic - Name List.      
         
2 Maximum Pax on a product. You are now able to specify the maximum number of people that can be booked on an individual product. This check will be performed when the booking is created. This is set up on the "Event Space" Tab on the individual product.      
         
3 In a reservation, you can now specify which member of staff made the reservation. You can now produce a report of statistics for sales staff.      
         
4 To-do. You can now configure Picasso to alert the member of staff if there is a number of tasks in the calendar pop-up. The staff member will be alerted by the number flashing. This is enabled in Hotel Setup - Basic - To-do - Setup.      
         
5

Extended and early departures can now be specified in the Leads Plan. This is shown in the table in the Leads Plan by double-clicking on the figure.

     
         
6 You can now set a padlock on the spaces inside the Room Number Plan. At the same time you can now select multiple reservations in the Arrival plan and put the lock on by right-clicking.      
         
7 In ToDo it is possible to create a group that certain users can be linked to. This allows the possibility to assign tasks to certain staff members within a or accross departments. The groups are set up in the Management module. Please see "Management" for more details.      
         
       
         
Feature Cashier      
         
1 New Additional Module - Picasso can track your Vouchers. Different templates, purchases and sales and recorded directly in the Cashier. Please contact AK Techotel Ltd. for more details.      
         
2 On the Settlement, Turnover and Transaction reports you are now able to specify the time scales that the report is taken.      
         
3 Loyalty Reward Scheme can now be used for payments. Please contact Techotel for more information.      
         
       
         
Feature Management      
         
1 For Wares, you can now choose the conditions that weekday restrictions apply only to online reservations. With the box ticked, availability will checked if the Ware is available on selected weekdays on your Picasso on-line reservation.      
         
2 Within the on-line product description, it is now possible to describe the product in a new text box called "On-Line Discription". It can also be used to describe the product, such as the contents of the stay. The field is displayed only in Picasso Online.      
         
3 An option is now available to include deleted packages on the Packet report.      
         
4 You can now choose whether a user has the rights to update the budget in MIS. The user should only have the read-only rights in the MIS.      
         
5 ToDo Groups are created in Management - Catagories. Choose "New Group", the group must be created as the type of Staff. When the group is created you can link users to the group by double-clicking the group and choosing the staff members required. You can see more about the use of this in Booking above.      
         
6 New Report - "Product" - Simple report showing product name and start/end date.      
         
       
         
Feature Reports      
         
1 Booking statistics on staff. This is available in Reports-Statistics-Staff Sales. The report shows the reservation total by employee and month. The report can be grouped by POS, Segment, Reservation Type, Guest Type, Purpose Code, and Products and can be shown in totals Rooms, Halls, Daymeetings and Extras. This is available for past and future statistics.      
         
2 "Inhouse Rooms" now also shows the number of days in total.      
         
3 "Delete Note" In the report you can now choose which user/s to display.      
         
4 Cleaning List - A new simple report is available, This can be found by marking the 'Reduce number of fields' checkbox. This setting can be saved by using DSL functionality.
      
         
5 Arrival, InHouse and Deoparture can now show the number of persons divided between Adults, Child1 and Child2. The report also shows how many extra people can be accomodated. Use the "Show no. Of vacant pax".      
         
6 At the inhouse report, the criteria has been expanded to include guest types.      
         
       
         
Feature Marketing      
         
1

You can have the order book specified by reservation status, e.g. Tentative.

     
         
       
         
Feature Night Audit      
         
1 In Hotel SetUp - Basic - NightAudit - NoShow Status Change, you are now able to set a default setting that would automatically check the reservation in, if a room number is allocated.      
         
2 In Hotel SetUp - Basic - NightAudit - Status on No Show Report, will determine what is shown on the NoShow Report.      
         
       
         
Feature Online      
         
1 When booking On-Line Picasso can select a default SplitBill. Setup is in HotelSetUp - Basic - OnLine.      
         
       
         

New in Version 4.2  -  May 2010
         
     
     
Feature Booking      
         
1 A new and faster way of booking; Drag and drop on the plans: Roomtypes, Room Number, Hall Time or Hall Days. If you press CTRL, while you select with the left mouse button and drag, release the left mouse button, click again and drag it down to your already open booking. This will allow the new booking to be taken into the existing booking.      
         
2 Colours: The number of colours available for Colour Coding has increased from 4 to 10. If you wish to use multiple colours for Yield Management, the Colours are posted in Hotel Setup – Basic – Yield, use in Room Types, Filters and Products.      
         
3 Halls Tab: It is now possible to sort automatically by day and time of arrival. Default setting from version 4.2      
         
4 Todo: When a Todo is generated automatically from a reservation and a payment is received, the Todo is automatically deleted.      
         
5

SMS: SMS Confirmations are now available. This requires a separate agreement with Techotel.
The Mobile Phone Number must be entered in the Cell Number Field,
This must include the Country Code in the reservations. (00353/+353)

     
         
6 You can now configure your table plan in to seating's. Hotel Setup-Hall/Table-Table Seating's. This enables you to see the number of people in the different seating's within the restaurant.      
         
7 Confirmation: The Number of Nights booked can now be shown on the confirmation letter.      
         
8 Laser Card is now also recognized in Creditcards.      
         
       
         
Feature Cashier      
         
1 Table Booking. You can now select multiple table numbers and drag them to the confirmed or in-house simultaneously.      
         
2 When a member of staff deletes a transaction, you can now configure Picasso to question why it is being deleted. This information is then stored and used as a control. This feature is set up in Hotel Setup – Basic – Cashier - Delete Notes and Hotel Setup – Types – Delete Notes. There is also a report available that allows the control of delete notes to be monitored, arranged by turnover, settlement and transactions.
Note: - Negative transactions can be deleted without having to justify the reason.		      
         
3 Todo: You can now see your number of tasks in the Cashier Module.      
         
4 Locking Residential Address After Checkout. This can be set up in Hotel Basic – Bill – Allow Editing Of Bills.      
         
5 Uncompleted Sales – It is now possible to say no to deleting unpaid transactions. These can be found in the ” Invoices” plan. Hotel Setup - Basic - Bill.      
         
       
         
Feature Management      
         
1 In the Staff profile, you can now decide if the member of staff can access the Wellness Module.      
         
2 Account setup list - Can now be displayed per property in Domino.
NOTE: You must be a designated power user. 		     
         
3 Budget in Domino version – Turnover groups which belong to only one hotel will no longer appear in other hotels accounts.      
         
4 Budget: You can now distinguish between budgets set over a financial year. This is arranged in Hotel Set Up – Basic – Economy - Budget.      
         
5 Product Over Views – The Domino Version will no longer show the Wares from all hotels, it will only show the wares from selected hotels or just your own.      
         
6 There is now an interface available that makes Picasso compatible with Sage Accounts software. It can output sales and receipt information to predefined nominal codes on either a daily basis. The link can also distinguish between different receipt types, for example reception, deposits and ledger transactions. Please contact Techotel Ireland for more information.      
         
       
         
Feature Reports      
         
1 New Commission Control Reports - There are now reports that enable the settlement of all Expedia and Gulliver's Travel commission charges.      
         
2 Products – You can now draw down a sales report for one or more selected customer numbers.      
         
3 Arrangement: There is an improved page break in the Arrangement Reports.
NOTE: You must save the reservation with all the notes before opening the report		      
         
4 Hotel Manager Report: The report can now be divided into room types and can also be reported for future bookings.
     
         
5 New/Changed: You can now show how many reservations each staff member has booked.      
         
6 Product Statistics: You can now display the average length of stay by product.      
         
7 Delete Notes: In Reports – Control – You can now produce a report showing the delete notes from the Cashier module.      
         
8 Occupancy Percent Report: You can now show your occupancy rate as a percentage or number of rooms sold.      
         
9 Arr/Time Report: Waiting List reservations can now be included in the Arrangement.      
         
10 Meeting manager. There is a now a report available of day meetings. Report - Statistics.      
         
11 New/Changed: This can now be set to only show reservations where there has been changes made to a certain minimum number of rooms.      
         
12 Occupancy Percentage for Halls – This can be found under Reports – Statistics.      
         
13 Cleaning List - A new simple report is available, This can be found by marking the 'Reduce number of fields' checkbox. This setting can be saved by using DSL functionality.      
         
       
         
Feature Marketing      
         
1

Orderbook – You can now see the orderbook on different statuses if you use the filter button. This can also now include tentative bookings.

     
         
2 MIS: You can now configure your MIS to calculate breakfast on the day of arrival. Hotel Setup – Basic – Statistic.      
         
3 MIS: Can now be shown without VAT.
Note: – This is a setting, if you would like to use this feature, you will need to update the MIS Module, please contact Techotel Support for more information. 		     
         
4 Customer Segment List: This can now be arranged to show which customers have used the hotel on specific days over a selected period time.      
         
5 Orderbook: You can now update the order book for an individual customer.
Note: - this may take a little time.		      
         
6 No News: Beside the e-mail field is a ”No News” button. By using this, the clients e-mail address is not used for marketing purposes. When selecting customers, you will be able to choose whether these customers are included for the marketing campaign. This is done via "STA. NN" button      
         
7 Online Customer Creation: You can now purchase a form for the creation and modification of customers directly from the web-site. For example, customers may want to hear more about your conference facilities, this can now be done from your web-site.      
         
       
         
Feature Night Audit      
         
1 Auto start of Night Audit: You can now purchase a programme that enables the Night Audit to begin automatically at a specified time. Please contact Techotel Ireland for more information.      
         
       
         
Feature Online      
         
1 Online Filter: You can now specify how many rooms you are allowed to overbook according to the colour of the day.      
         
2 Online Confirmations: Can now specify wares and notes included in the package.      
         
3 Mini booking calendar: You can now purchase a programme that allows the customer easy access to your on-line booking calendar This can be used on the homepage of your website. Please contact Techotel Ireland for more information.      
         
       
     
AK Techotel A/S
Sandager 8 - 2605 Broendby - Denmark
Phone: (+45) 3646 1155 - www.techotel.dk