Dear customers, dear partners,
at the end of May, we were finally able to embark on a trip that has been close to our hearts since 2019: Back then, we had started our charity project at the Mzambazi School in Malawi together with the Fly & Help Foundation.
The „Best of“ DaVinci Release 1097
• IATA requirement fulfilled: Transmission of the cell phone number to the flight provider
From Vision to Start-Up Application – Sneak Preview DaVinci New Technology
Six new classrooms, two renovated teachers’ houses, three toilets and two water wells after only one year construction time were handed over to the school, where around 1,360 students are learning.
Unfortunately, the inauguration ceremony had to be cancelled at that time because of Corona, but now we of BEWOTEC’s management team were able to see for ourselves how meaningful our commitment was: It enabled the children of Mzambazi to learn better. Many thanks to all who have contributed to this together with BEWOTEC!
Best regards
Michael Becher
CEO BEWOTEC GmbH
PS: If you want to know more about our school project in Malawi, please click here.
• DaVinci NT: The new master data system for cruise prices
More News from DaVinci and Dynamic Production
• Better overview for PNR import: Move test airfiles from the error folder
• Filter for cancelable hotel rates in flexStore
• With OTDS in CETS Powersearch: Universal benefits from BEWOTEC OTDS player
Technical Data
• Additional component required for SFTP access
• System Requirements DaVinci
• Release Dates DaVinci
The „Best of“ DaVinci Release 1097
IATA requirement fulfilled: Transmission of the cell phone number to the flight provider
With version 1097, DaVinci has been enabled to fulfill an IATA requirement when booking a flexFlight, which requires a phone number in the PNR as (emergency) contact number of the travelers.
Now it is possible to transmit a cell phone number to the PNR. In the booking process, the system first checks whether a number is stored for the participants. Here, cell phone number takes precedence over telephone number.
If no number is detected at any of the participants, the address data record of the customer of the booking is used and checked for the existence of a number (prioritized: the cell phone number), which is then transferred.
If there is also no number in the customer record, the phone number of the tour operator is entered as default, so that a contact number is always stored in the PNR.
From Vision to Start-Up Application – Sneak Preview DaVinci New Technology
Our new tour operator software “DaVinci New Technology” has long since left the visionary stage in many areas and, as cloud-based “Software as a Service”, delivers solutions for the requirements of our pilot customers that are as powerful as they are user-friendly. The working title has now been lovingly shortened to “DaVinci NT” in our day-to-day dealings with the software. What has remained the same is our ambition to use this DaVinci NT in the future to remove the boundaries between classic and dynamic production and to redesign the relevant processes in travel production in a new and stringent way.
At irregular intervals, we would like to share with you here what is happening around DaVinci NT.
DaVinci NT: The new master data system for cruise prices
Our DaVinci NT team has completed the master data setup for cruise prices. Because we ourselves are enthusiastic about the smart, user-friendly navigation and the modern, clear design, we take you on an excursion into the world of cruisers, which can also be applied in many aspects to the master data creation for hotel prices.
In screenshot 1, the Sales Prices including Early Birds are shown in an overview.
1 – Illustration Cruise prices with open side panel
With a click you can quickly switch between the “View” and “Edit” mode. The prices defined can be filtered via selection lists.
In the side panel on the right, the details of the selected price are always displayed; the “Campaigns” created for this price can also be viewed here. Also in the additional window, the validity period of the prices is displayed in a “Timeline”. Editing of individual prices is possible directly in the tabular display. If the prices are to be exported, this is possible with a mouse click in the practical JSON format – the same applies to the import of prices.
For a detailed view of the development of the different price components of a category, the history of the prices opens in an extra window with a timeline (see screenshot 2).
2 – Cruise prices and its history
More News from DaVinci and Dynamic Production
Better overview for PNR import: Move test airfiles from the error folder
The error folder of the PNR import dialog correctly also contains airfiles that were created with fake names for test purposes. Because there are no suitable processes in DaVinci for this, they are automatically stored in the error folder – sometimes in considerable quantities, which can quickly make it difficult to keep track of them.
With two clicks, a test airfile can now be moved from the Error folder to the History folder: Select an airfile and use the new “Move” button to place it in the history folder, including the logged error description.
In the manual CRS import dialog, the new radio button “Error” provides for the selection of the error airfiles. Moving to the history folder is also possible from this dialog.
Filter for cancelable hotel rates in flexStore
Hotels that can be canceled until shortly before departure are very popular with end consumers, as they offer flexibility even in the event of last-minute changes to plans. To enable tour operators to offer their customers only hotels that can be canceled, an extension of the filters in flexStore has been implemented.
For dynamic packaging, hotel contracts from Hotelbeds and Webbeds that would cause cancellation fees within a defined period of time can now be excluded. Contracts for which cancellation fees would already be incurred on the booking day can also be filtered out.
In the display of eligible hotels, a new column also shows the number of days in which a free cancellation is possible.
Don’t hesitate to contact us if you are interested in this solution.
Multiple currencies in flexStore thanks to currency conversion
The flexStore now allows the display of prices in multiple currencies based on conversions: For this purpose, the tour operator must allow the calculation of currencies in the settings of his flexStore.
When a request is made to the GENVAS booking service, it sends the amount to be converted to the sales currency to the services flexFlight and/or flexHotel. The conversion rate stored in flexStore is then used to determine the price in the target currency for the sales price. The currency on the purchasing side in payment transactions with the service provider remains unaffected by this process.
With OTDS in CETS Powersearch: Universal benefits from BEWOTEC OTDS player
With immediate effect, all Mallorca package tours offered by Swiss tour operator Universal Flugreisen AG are fully searchable and bookable in the CETS Powersearch price comparison tool. The combination of the DaVinci tour operator system and the OTDS player allows the specialist to link its so-called “flexi offers” (own hotel offers with dynamically added scheduled flights) in the smart OTDS format to CETS Powersearch from Travelport. Thanks to extensive filter options, travel agencies can find exactly the right Mallorca trips for their customers and also offer them alternative flights on the same day.
For Universal, this offers the opportunity to give its own dynamic “Flexi product” a high reach in the leading tourist CRS in the Swiss market and to gain market share.
The configuration of the OTDS player for a connection to CETS Powersearch has already been successfully realized by BEWOTEC in cooperation with Travelport Austria for several of our tour operator customers. Please contact us about this uncomplicated and cost-effective distribution channel to the Swiss and/or Austrian market.
Technical Data
Additional component required for SFTP access
For users who run DaVinci outside the BEWOTEC data center and use DaVinci interfaces that include SFTP data transfer we have an important technical information.
As of now, an additional component is required for SFTP access: Renci.SshNet.dll. This component must be registered on the server where the SSIS package is listed. The prerequisite is the installation of the “GACUTIL” tool on the server.
Instructions for the installation can be found in the technical Wiki.
System Requirements DaVinci
Attention: As of version 1097, SQL Server 2016 is no longer supported!
Incidentally, as an ISV partner of Microsoft (Independent Software Vendor), we can pass on our favorable BEWOTEC conditions for SQL servers to you. So if you want to host your DaVinci system yourself and upgrade your SQL servers, contact our Director Sales Rüdiger Schmidt for a non-binding offer or create a ticket.
As of version 1097, the following system requirements apply:
- OS: Windows 10 / Server 2016 / Windows 11 / Server 2019
- SQL: Server 2017 / Server 2019 of von 15.0.4236.7 (including full-text-search)
- ODBC Driver: SQL Server Native Client 11.0
- Microsoft Framework 3.5 SP1 / 4.8
- Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Package (x86) 2010 / 2013 / 2015 / 2017 / 2019
- Crystal Report: Runtime 2013 / QRCodeWindowsFontEncoder
- Microsoft ReportViewer 2015 Redistributables (in case of using Reporting Services Reports within DaVinci)
Release Dates DaVinci
- Version 1094: February 11, 2022
- Version 1095: June 28, 2022
- Version 1096: November 29, 2022
- Version 1097: May 8, 2023
