Initial Synchronization |
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If you have not already done so, and assuming you've completed the rest of the setup, then you should check the "Enable" box under Hercules Setup. That will start the communications task and begin the count-down to the next polling time (assuming Automatic mode). Nothing will happen immediately -- but if you begin to make a reservation or edit an existing one on a Site that's also available online, then it will begin communications.
The first time it communicates, it will automatically Send a Full Synchronization to Hercules. You can also do this manually, through the Hercules menu, if you don't see your reservations on Hercules (through their web interface). This function sends all local availability information to Hercules. After that, it will most likely Request a Full Sync from Hercules. This will verify that the sync upload worked, as well as check for any online reservations that we don't have locally. Again, it wouldn't hurt to request one manually, just so you know it's done.
If the synchronization goes well, you may see one or more of these Alerts:
ALERT -- ERROR -- Sync errors found in Hercules download synchronization
This can be expected one time during the first synchronization, especially if there are any online orders that were entered manually in Campground Master. You can safely ignore the first time this error (just "Dismiss" the alert). If it continues to appear, though, more attention is needed (see the Error Handling section).
ALERT -- Online Reservations received from Hercules
One or more Online Reservations have been automatically imported from Hercules...
This indicates that some online-created reservations were on Hercules that had not yet been imported to Campground Master (e.g. through the 1-way integration). This could be a normal situation, e.g. if you have not retrieved online reservations in awhile. Note however that if you had been manually entering the online reservations previously, then this may indicate that the online reservation has been imported as a duplicate, e.g. if you had assigned it to a different site when you entered it manually (so it didn't notice a conflict). You should review the imported reservations using the "Review Now" button on the Alert (or go to Reservations / View Recent Online Reservations), and make sure they are accurate and that they weren't duplications of previously imported reservations.
Note that when you "Review" the reservations, you may not see them immediately because the "View Recent Online Reservations" dialog it uses will default to just showing today's reservations. Adjust the "From" date as needed to go back and see older reservations.
ALERT -- ERRORS in Online Reservations received from Hercules
One or more Online Reservations could not be automatically processed....
This indicates that some online reservations were downloaded but could not be imported automatically due to some error (usually a conflict). While this could be actual double-bookings created prior to enabling the 2-way integration, this would commonly be due to manually entering the online reservations prior to enabling the 2-way communications. The online reservations will appear as conflicts with the ones you manually entered, when in reality they are the same reservation. It's important that you "Link" them so that instead of showing them as a conflict, they will be tagged with the appropriate online Order ID so they can synchronize properly with Hercules.
Another likely cause of this error is a mis-match of the "Space number" or missing space numbers (an error in setting up Site Data Fields).
Processing the errors
You will need to correct the errors before it will consider Campground Master "synchronized" with Hercules. To discover the cause and correct the problems, use the "Process Now" button on the Alert (or go to Reservations / Retrieve Online Reservations). This will get you to the Retrieve Online Reservations dialog. Any problem reservations will be shown in the list here as Unprocessed.
If you double-click on one of the reservations to process it, an error message should be shown reporting either a conflict or that no matching site was found.
It will then open another dialog showing the reservation details, where you could select an available site and "Save" the reservation -- assuming it really is a new reservation that needs to be imported. (Again, note that if it wasn't a conflict and didn't find a matching site for it, then that's a problem in the Site Data Fields setup.)
If it shows as a conflict, presumably because the reservation had manually been entered already and is thus a duplicate, then you need to use the "Link to an existing reservation" function to link the online reservation with the one already in Campground Master. Close/Cancel the Details dialog to get back to the list of reservations, select the reservation, and then click the "Link to an existing reservation" button at the bottom.
That will open a Find Reservation dialog, where you can enter the last name to locate the existing Campground Master reservation that matches the online request. Tip -- you may want to move the Find dialog around so you can see the online reservation information in the grid to help match up the customer, site and dates to make sure you have the right one.
Once you locate the desired local reservation and click "Use", the local one will be updated with the Online Order ID so they will stay synchronized. No other information from the online reservation is kept, since it should already be in the local reservation. The reservation will be marked "Saved" in the list to confirm this. Continue selecting each reservation listed to select a site or link it, and once all are "Saved" then close the dialog.
See the documentation on the Retrieve Online Reservations function for more details on this dialog if needed.
Other Synchronization Errors
If there are any problems with the synchronization, a dialog or Alert will appear with a list of problems. These may include local reservations that aren't on Hercules (failure to sync properly), or online reservations not in Campground Master, or reservations that have a mismatch in the data. These are covered in the Error Handling section.
Further Topics:
Viewing Recent Online Reservations
Send/Request Full Synchronization