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Data Conversion Defined
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A hotel’s existing data can go through a conversion process
to allow it to be accessed and read by the CSS System.
CSS History of Data
Conversion -
The first hospitality specific application released by CSS Hotel
Systems was Corporate Accounting. This was later followed by the
release of on-site Back Office Accounting and Front Office
Systems.
As these Applications
gained acceptance in the hospitality marketplace, there were many
instances when a hotel management firm operating on the CSS
Corporate Accounting would take over the management of a
property. These properties usually had a property management
system in place and often replaced this software with the CSS
Front Office System, however, they preferred not to replace the
hardware. Instead CSS was asked to port our applications to the
existing hardware platform and operating system. Consequently, we
were also requested to convert the existing data from the
previous system format to the CSS Format.
At the time, these data
conversions were quite an undertaking. This was particularly true
for the conversions that went cross platform -- data captured by
a property management system operating in a System 36 or UNIX
environment and converted to the CSS format installed on a PC
Local Area Network. This conversion expertise has now become
quite an advantage. Few property management system vendors have
the distinction of considering themselves "Data Conversion
Specialists".
CSS is in a unique
position with the ability to do Data Conversions from a variety
of different property management systems operating on the
following hardware platforms, and be accessed by the CSS System
Applications.
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IBM AS/400
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IBM System 36
or Advanced 36
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PC Local Area
Networks - Novell or Windows NT
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Several
variations of UNIX, including but not limited to:
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RS6000/AIX, HP9000/HPUX, Intel
Server/SCO UNIX.
What are the advantages
of Data Conversion?
There is but one alternative to data conversion and it’s
re-keying the data from the old system to the replacement system.
Depending on how long the old system has been in operation and
what data will come across, this can take hundreds of man-hours.
Of course re-keying this much data is subject to typing errors
inherent in this type of task. Data Conversion simply avoids the
re-keying and associated errors.
What data can be
converted?
Here is a list of the types of data that can typically be
converted. It would be at the discretion of hotel management
which of the following data types would be converted and which
would not. For example, a new Chart of Accounts may be put in
place, consequently, the old Chart of Accounts would not be
converted.
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Front
Office:
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Reservations
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Checked In
Guests including Folio Detail
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Advanced
Deposits
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Accounts
Receivable - Master Accounts and Detail Records
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Group Masters -
Note: group blocking will need to be re-keyed
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Guest History
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Folio History -
Can include Off-Line (on media) Folio History.
Required Specifications:
CSS has done many successful data conversions, but it’s not
always feasible. There are proprietary and obscure systems, both
software and hardware, in the marketplace that may present a
problem in salvaging the data.
CSS would require
detailed specifications from your current system, for example is
it capable of exporting data in an ASCII Fixed Length Format, a
sample of the Record Layouts and File Structures will need to be
provided.
A property management
system change is always a major project and a disruption in the
flow of business. This disruption can be minimized and
streamlined by the CSS Data Conversion Specialists.
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