eRES Nautical Overview

The diagram, below, shows the major areas of your shipping company that eRES Nautical supports.

The relational SQL database is common to all applications installed at your shipping company. This means that all data can be used by all applications. Data is input only once, thereby eliminated input errors from multiple entries of the same data. Both productivity and accuracy are improved.

eRES Nautical provides:

• Central, in-house, relational SQL database.
• Data is input only once.
• Real-time reporting of all business aspects.
• Direct availability of all data to external applications via Java JDBC and MS Windows ODBC.
• Every transaction made in the system is summarised and placed into a transaction log. You can view every transaction at any time in the same detail it was input into the system as. All transactions are available to anyone with proper authority.

The data contained in the relational SQL booking database is originated at:

Local Terminals	Shipping Company: Passenger Reservations, Management, Accounting, Operations, Maintenance, etc..
Internet - World Wide Web	Remote Terminals: Shipping Company Stations, Travel/Tour Agents, Customers, Corporate Customers, etc..
Communication Lines	Connection To/From: other Booking Systems, Travel/Tour Agents, Customers, Auto Rental Agencies, Hotels, Credit Card Clearing Houses/Banks, shipping company Telex Network. In addition eRES Nautical terminals would be installed at: Management locations Accounting Reservation centers Departure Control at all ports Operations Remote locations Help Desks External terminals that would access your system would be: Passengers Shipping Company Reservation Agents Travel/Tour Agencies Corporate Customers Other Shipping Companies

Internet Web Site For your shipping company

eRES Nautical provides an Internet web site that is capable of allowing reservations to be booked directly from:

• Travel/Tour Agents
• The shipping company's Reservation Agents.
• Passengers
• Corporate Customers
• Other Shipping Companies

eRES Nautical Installation.

If you have an existing web site then, at your decision, eRES Nautical can be integrated into your existing web site.

To install eRES Nautical on your website, your graphic artist places the booking panel on your existing web site. This process should only take one or two hours assuming you already have a web site. If you do not have a website we will build one for you if you want.

Reservations

Reservations Introduction

There are four separate versions of the reservation system included in eRES Nautical:

1. Passengers
2. Shipping Company Reservation Agents
3. Travel/Tour Agents
4. Corporate Customers

The basic reservation flow and panels are the same, except that each of the four users are offered different options and functions as well as different payment options.

Inventory Capture

Travel Requirements

The panel on the left is the passenger on-line booking interface that is installed on your web site.

To view the desired trips the user inputs the following data:

• Select the to and from ports
• Select the desired travel date
• Select the number of passengers
• Select "Book Now"

Selecting "Book Now" will select from the database the ships that satisfy the input criteria, only the ships that have seats available are displayed. Ships that are scheduled but have no seats available are not shown.

Select Desired trip

The panel below and the rest of the panels shown are from the Travel Agent/Corporate/shipping company booking system version of eRES Nautical.

Ship Information Panel

When you continue from the selection panel you are shown the information about the selected ship.

The Information Panel allows the reservation agent to confirm that the ship selected, time, fare and number of passengers are correct. Also included are the rules for this Fare Basis/Class Of Service for this ship so that they can be explained to the customer.

At the bottom of this panel (not shown) the person making the reservation can make the decision to:

• Add more trips to the itinerary
• Complete the reservation
• Cancel the reservation being made

Itineraries can contain as many reservations as desired, there is no limit. Multiple passengers can also be defined in a single itinerary.

Payment

The standard payment choices are:

• Credit/Debit Card
• Cash
• Check
• Invoice
• Western Union
• Cellular Telephone Payment
• Passenger Credit
• Reserve
• Coupon
• Voucher
• Pass
• BSP
• ACH
• IDxx

The types of payment methods that your shipping company supports can be configured and supported by using the reservation configuration tool.

Credit/Debit Card - All credit and debit cards are supported.

Three options are supported by the reservation system to clear debit/credit cards:

1. Credit/Debit card clearing is done by the reservation system automatically connecting to the shipping company's bank's credit authority and obtaining the authorization number and clearing the passenger's credit real time.
2. The credit/debit cards are automatically cleared with the credit authority and a authorization number obtained. At the end of the day a reconciliation batch is credited and sent to the credit authority to clear the batch of credit cards.
3. Credit/Debit cards are checked locally by the reservation system to determine if the credit/debit card number is a valid number, that the customer name is input and that the card's expiration date is in the future. The credit/debit cards are then cleared using a terminal supplied by the bank.

The method to be used is a configuration option available in the reservation system.

Cash - The acceptance of cash can be limited to particular areas. Such as at approved travel agencies, approved corporate customers, ticket agencies or airports. A system is provided to track and account for cash transactions.

Checks - The acceptance of checks can be limited to particular areas within the shipping company. Such as at ticket agencies or airports. A system is provided to account for check transactions.

Invoices - The acceptance of invoices can be limited to particular outside companies or agencies. Such as at corporate customers or travel/tour agencies. A system is provided to account for invoiced itineraries.

Western Union - The reservation is booked as delayed and the person booking is given instructions on how to make payment at Western Union. Western Union, when payment is received, notifies the shipping company immediately. The itineraries status is immediately set to confirmed. Western Union deposits the payment into the shipping company's bank account directly.

Cellular Telephone Payment - Many counties have support for payment to be made via a cellular telephone. The payment is transfered to the shipping companies bank account immediately and payment confirmation is sent to the reservation system.

Passenger Credit - Passenger credit is generated when a passenger cancels a reservation. Cancellations can carry a cancellation penalty or to be penalty free. Passenger credit is available for one year after the reservation was made. At payment time the passenger credit file is automatically searched and if there is a credit for this passenger it is automatically applied to the payment.

Reserve - Reserve provides a way for a passenger to request a reservation and to delay the payment until check-in for the ship closes. Resever is displayed in the system but there is no confirmed reservation until the resever booking is paid for.

Coupons - Coupons are used as advertising and are given out as a free trip. Coupons pay for a particular trip or itinerary in full. Coupons are tracked and checked for validity.

Voucher - Vouchers are used as advertising and are given out as a free trip. Vouchers must be paid for by a fee charged on a per segment basis. Vouchers are tracked and checked for validity.

Passes - Passes are for company travel and are valid for the period in which they are issued. There is no cost for an employee flying using a pass. Passes are tracked and checked for validity.

BSP is provided to allow travel agents to pay for their reservations.

ACH is provided to allow other shipping companies to pay for their reservations.

IDxx provides fares for employee on other shipping companies and other shipping company employees on your shipping company.

Interline fares can be based on a percentage or a fixed fare. Provisions are included to allow both wait-listed or confirmed reservations.

eTicket

When the ticket is paid for an eTicket is generated for each trip in the itinerary. It can be emailed, faxed or printed and mailed to the customer.

Passenger Departure

Check-In Operation

• Walk-Ups
• No Shows
• Stand-By
• Baggage
• Special Needs

The check-in function is accomplished, by each check-in agent, from an eRES Nautical panel displayed on their terminal. The single panel contains a listing of all passengers booked on the trip being checked in.

The agent, to check-in a passenger is only required to select the correct passenger and select "Checked-In" with the mouse. Selecting the "Update" button immediately updates the central database so that the manifest report is accurate to the second no matter where it is viewed/printed.

The agent can display the original reservation and also print an eTicket if needed by the passenger.

eRES Nautical uses a standard laser printer to print the standard 2D boarding pass. The laser printer supports standard 2D boarding passes printed on plain paper.

Baggage

The passenger, if they have baggage to check-in, must check baggage in with the agent in order to insure the baggage is routed correctly and that it is labeled. A baggage check-in function is provided that records the bags being checked in as well as automatically calculating any baggage charges due. To activate the baggage check-in function the agent selects the "Baggage Link" on the row representing the current passenger. This automatically presents the baggage check-in panel to the agent.

Fast Check-In

Fast Check-in allows your agents to check-in passengers at the check-in counter in less than 1 minuet per passenger.

On the top of the eTicket is a bar code that contains the passenger and trip locater number. If you install a bar code scanner all that has to be done is to scan the eTicket and the passenger will be checked-in. If the passenger has baggage just input the number of bags. If you have a bag tag printer installed the bag tags will be automatically printed.

eRES Nautical allows check-in of both checked and carry on baggage. For security reasons check-on baggage (including Personal Computers, large hand bags, etc.) should be checked-in at the check-in counter and a tag be placed on the baggage. This will allow identification of checked carry-on baggage at the departure gate.

If the passenger has excess baggage or baggage weight just select the baggage button and check in the excess baggage, collect the additional revenue and then move onto the next passenger.

When the agent selects "Continue" the passenger is automatically checked-in.

The scanner shown is a Metrologic MS700i.

If you choose not to purchase bar code scanners the check-in agent can input the passenger and trip locater number and bag tag numbers using the Personal Computer keyboard.

When you scan or manually input the trip locater number the following panel will pop up providing confirmation that the passenger is checkin-in to the correct trip.

Boarding Operation

The boarding function is accomplished from a single eRES Nautical panel. The single panel contains a listing of all passengers booked on the trip being boarded.

The functions provided for the boarding agent are the same as the check-in agent with the following additions:

• Print Boarding Passes
• Print Trip Manifest
• Update the Trip Following report

The agent, to board a passenger is only required to select the correct passenger and select the "Continue" button. This function immediately updates the central database so that the manifest report is accurate to the second no matter where it is viewed/printed.

When all passengers have boarded the ship/boat, the agent can then print the trip manifest for the ships's crew and captain.

If all passengers are accounted for the trip manifest is printed.

Fast Passenger Boarding

Fast Boarding allows your agents to positively board passengers at the gate in less than 3 seconds per passenger.

On the top of the eTicket or boarding pass is a bar code that contains the passenger and trip locater number. If you install a bar code scanner all that has to be done is to scan the eTicket or boarding pass and the passenger will be boarded.

If you choose not to purchase bar code scanners the boarding agent can input the passenger and trip locater number using the Personal Computer keyboard.

When you scan or manually input the trip locater number the following panel will pop up providing confirmation that the passenger boarding is getting onto the correct trip.

Trip Following

The trip following information is either input by the trip operations personnel or the boarding agent. The trip following panel is shown below.

Passenger Arrival

The processing provides:

• Baggage
• Lost/Damaged Baggage
• Wheel Chairs
• Special Needs

Upon arrival the passengers, if any baggage was checked, must collect their baggage and then depart the ship/boat.

If the passenger's baggage was misplaced, lost or damaged the baggage agent merely needs to input a passenger's baggage claim number and the entire baggage records are displayed.

The assigned agent, prior to trip arrival, views the special need report for the trip. This allows the agent to prepare for any special needs indicated.

Dynamic trip Modification

eRES Nautical configuration provides trip dynamic insertion and modification based on today's or even this instant requirements.

The trip configuration tool allows insertion of new segment(s) into a trip or creation of a new trip in a matter of minutes. Trips can be modified or new ones created in a matter of minutes. This feature allows an shipping company that has a requirement to dynamically change a trip, segment or route to do so with a minimum of effort and in minutes.

Pricing Of Inventory

The fares are input into the system using a tool that allows the shipping company to define fares.

Unlimited Fares/Class Of Service are available for each defined trip.

Each Fare/Class Of Service may have their own or shared rule definitions.

Inventory Reporting

The inventory reports are available, to the appropriate personnel, on a real-time basis. The reports can be reviewed, printed or exported to external applications. The following represents a basic set of reports. We will produce the necessary reports to allow you to run your business at no additional cost to you. The data contained in the following reports are based on the information as we understand it and will be refined to reflect what you actually need.

Operational Reports

Booked Inventory

The booked Inventory Report shows the inventory booked on a trip basis.

Trip Manifest

This is a report that shows the passenger inventory boarded on a trip basis. It is provided to the ship's crew and captain in a printed format and can be viewed, printed or exported by the personnel allowed to access this report.

Management Reports

Booking Report

The Booked Revenue report shows the number of reservations made for a specific date and time frame as input by the user.

Shown in this report are:

• Ticket Cost
• Taxes and Charges
• Number of Passengers
• Payment Method and Amount Paid
• Customer Credit

A total summary is provided for each column including the total number of passengers booked.

Future Booking Report

The Gross Revenue Report is a report that is intended for planning and accounting purposes. It allows management to produce a report that shows for a specific period (time and date, from one minute to as long as desired) the number of bookings on every trip flown by your shipping company.

Accounting

The accounting system provides a processing module with the capability to automatically capture the sales transactions, retain the transactions and transfer the daily sales into the shipping company central accounting system for input free processing.

The revenue system provides the following capabilities:

• Automate billings including direct bills, credit cards.
• Revenue recovery of unreported sales.
• Variance processing with automatic creation of debit/credit and rejection memos.
• Extensive audit capabilities and trails are provided.
• Evaluate travel agency effectiveness through sales analysis reports.

The accounting modules have extensive interfacing capability to methodically track, maintain, control and monitor revenue system management by passenger confirmation number, location, status and agency pricing factors. All the methods and procedures required for a fully functional shipping company passenger revenue system department are incorporated into these modules. In addition, full reporting capability assures accounting and budget projection accuracy, and marketing support. Passenger confirmation number tracking establishes inventory control to on-line sales and serves as the source for the reports of unreported sales, sold reservations open, and sold reservation tickets closed including variance capture, and the earned/unearned revenue position.

The accounting modules allow the data to be automatically exported into a spread sheet application. The spread sheet application can tailored or create new ones reports on a real time basis.

The following image shows a report on "Customer Credit" transactions"

The following shows the same report but the format was selected to export the report when it was executed.

The following shows the same report but displayed in a spread sheet. The spread sheet just imported the unchanged data. The steps between the export report above and the display in the spread sheet are:

1. Using the browser file function save the exported file using the "Save As Function" of the browser.
2. Import the saved file into your spread sheet.

Once the data is in your spread sheet there are no limitations to the reports and their format that can be produced by your accounting department.

We will meet with your accounting department and determine the needed functions and reports. We will provide the support and reports as required at no cost to your shipping company.

System Management Functions/Reports

System Management Definition Functions

• Travel Agent edit/create/delete
• System Default Settings
• Language Used
• Currency Used
• Credit Card Clearing
• Prices
• Date Format
• Report Headers
• Include Cargo
• Include trip Operations
• Assign Seats
• Include Check-In Operation
• Include Gate Operation
• Function(s) Priority Definition
• Use Bank Rates for currency conversion
• Add Class Of Service
• Port Code and Description Definition
• Trip creation/edit/delete
• Ship/Boat Definition
• Optional Charges (Up to 10)
• Block trips or Holiday Definitions
• Edit Customer Credit
• Edit Travel/Tour Agent Commission
• Edit Passenger or Company Records
• Dangerous Goods Code Definition

System Management Reports

• Passenger Boarded Report, For Government Authorities to pay port fees
• Trip Report, automatic generation of require reports

Accounting Reports

Provided Reports

• Gross Revenue
• Earned Revenue
• Booked Revenue
• Summary Report
• Customer Credit
• Customer Refund
• Credit Card History
• Travel Agency Due
• Corporate Booking
• Corporate Invoicing
• Cargo Invoicing
• Cargo Booked
• Cargo Gross Revenue
• Cargo Earned Revenue
• Cargo Unearned Revenue

Pre-Trip Validation

Functionally, in performing the pre-trip validation, the system uses the passenger confirmation number to identify each passenger record. If the case where tickets are used the passenger record contains both a ticket number and a confirmation number. When the reservation is booked there is an extensive audit to validate accuracy of all input and system generated data. The validation of the itinerary price is automatic as all reservation are made in the centralized reservations system and the fare cost, tax, port charges, and optional charges are all system generated using the trip price master table.

Boarded Validation

Once a boarding pass has been processed, the passenger transaction record is automatically validated to insure that the monetary value, transaction type, date of usage, and method of payment are all correct.

For processing an itinerary's components the pre-trip validated reservation record and the actual sales record after the passenger has boarded ("the boarding pass/coupon is lifted") are used.

The actual sales record is used to validate the pricing and reporting of all itinerary sales. This includes passenger, baggage, upgrades, or any other sales transaction.

Boarded validation provides for the edit, pricing, reporting, and billing of boarded passengers. This audit includes refunds, exchanges, and re-bills. The boarded validation processing system is the source for earned income and the passenger data is now moved from the unearned to the earned table,

Financial Responsibility

Movement of the financial responsibility from reservation, counter and boarding agents occurs automatically when operations indicates to the trip following function that the trip has left the port. At this time the revenue becomes earned and the accounting department has complete control of the trip's financial records. Operations is still responsible to insure that the trip completes its schedule itinerary and to keep the trip following data current. All information is still available to the shipping company personnel but they are unable to modify the data after accounting is given control.

Daily Reconciliation

Daily Reconciliation is accomplished by accounting reviewing the unearned revenue report at the end of the day. If there are no entries in the unearned revenue report the entire days trips are reconciled. This is the first action required by accounting. If there any entries in this report accounting must manually reconcile them using the data made available by eRES Nautical.

Accounting was not required to manually input information from coupons which were pulled and received days later nor were they required to validate any data, it is automatically accomplished by the eRES Nautical accounting process.

Credit Card Batch Reconciliation

Credit cards can be processed using two methods.

The first and most used method is that the credit card is authorized and cleared by the credit authority in one step. This means that when the reservations are made the credit cards are authorized and cleared into your bank account.

The second method is when credit cards are only authorized at the time the reservation is made. And the reconciliation is handled at a later time when after a reconciliation batch is built and sent to the bank. The building of the batch file is accomplished by utilizing the "Credit Card" function, this is the reconciliation batch to be sent to the bank. This report assembles into one report any unreconciled credit card charges into one reconciliation batch to be sent to the credit authority. Once the report is verified as correct the accounting department can send the report automatically to the credit authority using the supplied support.

Each report is time stamped and dated. When the credit card payments are received the accounting department is required to input the actual payment received into the system. When the entire batch is reconciled it may be move to the archive files for later use.

Networking

Reservations may be made by anyone who has a Personal Computer and an operating system that supports a World Wide Web browser.

Access to the eRES Nautical functions can be connected to using the following methods:

Type of Access	Method of Access
Local Connection	Ethernet Local Area Network or by a direct communication connection
Remotely Access	Internet's World Wide Web or by dialing into the system or via leased lines.

When using the Internet's World Wide Web access can be made from anywhere in the World.

Local and remote terminals can be installed in less than 15 minutes.

The terminals are inexpensive Personal Computers with any Operating System installed that supports an Internet browser. This includes Microsoft Windows/NT client or Linux.

All inexpensive terminals include the necessary programming. There is no additional programming to load onto the terminals other than what is shipped with them.

To install a remote terminal you connect the remote terminals to the Internet, select the reservations system with the browser and it is installed.

To install a local terminal plug the LAN cable into the Personal computer, select the reservation system via the browser and it is installed.

There is no limit to the number of terminals you can connect to the reservation system.

We install, at no cost, a network/website traffic analyzation tool that will allow you to understand the people that are accessing your reservation system and what areas they are accessing.

PDA and Mobile Telephone Support

The eRES Nautical shipping application is accessible from mobile phones or PDAs.

Passengers, Travel/Tour Agents, Corporate Customers and your shipping company employees using a WAP equipped mobile phone can access your eRES Nautical shipping company Management System from anywhere the world.

All functions of the eRES Nautical shipping application are supported.

Passengers can:

• Make reservations
• Check trip status
• View trip schedules
• Remotely check-in
• Cancel and re-book trips

Your shipping company can:

• Check in-Passengers from the check-in queue
• Board Passengers at the boarding gate
• View work schedules
• Bid on work assignments