Agent Setup - How to Track and Pay Agent Commissions

An Overview of how to track and pay Agent Commissions, setting up agent profiles, commission rates, activity reports, statements, reconciliation and other agent reports. 

Creating an Agent Profile

• Go to Profiles > Agent

General Tab:

• Profile Name: The name or code used to identify the agent. Use any combination of letters and numbers.  If created by Interface, Trams Back Office uses the same code as the Interface ID.  
• Contact Title: the employees Job Title
• Payee Name: the name to be written on the check when paying an agent.
• Interface ID: For use with reservation system interface; enter corresponding agent code/ID which should match the agent's sine-in to the GDS.
• GL Accounts: Default GL account for the agent are available when a journal entry is needed for a payment to agent. 
• G/L Rate: specifically designed to calculate Canadian GST taxes during G/L entry.

Communication Tab:

• Enter Phone, Fax, E-mail and Web address if applicable. 

Contacts Tab:

• All Contacts must be a part of a profile, but can be linked to multiple profiles.

Payment Info Tab:  

• This Payment Method can be used for handing off data from TBO to a Payment Distribution Service or the local bank.  

Groups Tab:

• Any group(s) to which the agent belongs: Inside, Outside, Leisure, Corporate.  This field can be used as selection criteria for reports, or to run group statements and  Summary reports. 

Marketing Tab:

• Business Type- used as selection criteria for lists and labels.
• Other - used as selection criteria for lists and labels.
• Notes & Additional Notes - Any free flow information about the agent. Field can be used as selection criteria for lists and labels
• Statement Remarks - Note: Any remarks entered into this area of the agent profile appear on all statements generated for this profile. Field is used as selection criteria for lists and labels.
• Travel Preferences - Any particular travel preference the agent may have. Field is used as selection criteria for lists and labels.=
• Check Remarks - Enter a specific profile Account Number or remark that prints on the check for payments made using the profile.

Attachment Tab:

• Users can manage (add, view, delete, update) electronic documents of any type 

Agent Commission Rates

Agent Rates are applied as follows:  

• If an Agent Rate is specified at the booking level of the PNR, then that rate is entered into the Agent Tab of the Booking Screen during the processing of the interface records.

• If NO rate was specified in the PNR, then any rate/amount by Travel Type specified on the Default Rate Tab of the Agents Profile is used.  

• If NO rate is specified in the Default Rate Tab of the Agents Profile, then the rate/amount specified globally under Utilities|Setup|Travel Types will be used.  

  

• If there are no rates specified in the Default Rate Tab of the Agent Profile or in Utilities Travel Types, then the Inside or Outside Rate specified on the General Tab of the Agent Profile is used.

Note: These default tables, both in Utilities and in the Agent Profile, are only used during Interface Processing. When manually entering bookings, the system works if Inside and/or Outside Rates are entered on the Agent Profile General Tab, then those rates are used for whatever booking manually created. To assign a different rate based on Travel Type, change the rate on the Agent Tab of the Booking Screen.  

Agent can also be entered in a Client Profile:   

Enter the name(s) of the agent(s) that will be attached to this profile. Enter the commission percentage that each agent will receive on every invoice issued to this particular client. Note: This adds the agent to every invoice interfaced to Trams Back Office. This agent is added in addition to any agents assigned during the interface.  This can cause duplicate agent commissions being recorded.   

Utilities | Setup | Global Defaults | Interface/Mailmerge Prompt Tab:   

If only Read Booking Agent is checked, the PNR booking agent is the agent captured in the Agent Tab of the Booking. This is the default setting and only captures the Booking Agent. If both Booking Agent and Ticketing Agent boxes are checked, then two agents are captured in the Agent Tab. If they are the same agent, that agent is listed twice in the booking. If they are different agents, each agent is captured. The first agent listed is the Booking Agent and second agent is the Ticketing Agent. If no boxes are checked, NO AGENTS are captured. ALWAYS have at least one agent type checked.  

Allow Multiple Agents Per Booking  

When checked, multiple agents are interfaced into a booking. When unchecked, only the first agent listed in the interface record is captured. If any agents are assigned to the client's profile, those agents still are added to the booking. Any agents not processed from the record are listed on the Processing Error Log.  

Agent Activity Reports

Go to Reports > Agent > Activity

  

The Agent Activity report run with the selection criteria above will match the Booking Activity on the Management Summary Report. It can also be run using Agent Status: Inside or Outside and Agent Action:  Is Blank, Booking, or Ticketing.  This report can be run for all agents or by an individual agent name.

Note: When looking at the actual Agent Activity Report, the Fare Productivity Column is the total fare divided by the number of agents on the invoice. The Commission Productivity Column is the total commission divided by the number of agents on the invoice. 

Unpaid Commission by Agent - The selection criteria below will run a report of unpaid (by the Vendor) commissions for all agents or by individual agent name. 

Go to Reports > Agent > Statement

The selection criteria below will run a detailed report of all open (unpaid to agent) bookings where the agency has been paid by the client and has received the commissions from the vendor.  

The report can be modified by changing the Agent Status, Preferred Vendor Status, Depart dates and Agent Action. 

The Agent Statement can be run for a Group of Agents or for Individual agents. Be sure to Default the selection criteria so that the Agent Statement uses the same criteria every time. Print a copy of the selection criteria and place in each Agent’s folder as a backup.  

1. Total Sales generated by agent for agency.
2. Total agency commission received.
3. Agent commission amount.
4. Agent Adjustments: added under Adjustment Menu.
5. Travel Type Summary.
6. Total Commission due to Agent.

Agent Reconciliation

Go to Payments > Reconciliation > Agent Reconciliation

Enter the same criteria used for the Agent Statement to Query the open bookings.  The Selection Criteria can be defaulted to match the Agent Statement defaults.

Enter Agent Payment

Create the Journal Entry.  Once the Payment Made is entered the Date Paid field on the Agent Tab of each booking is stamped with the date of the check. 

Agent Reports

• Client Balance sorted by agent 
• Vendor Balance sorted by agent 
• Report Generator Reports: Report Generator reports are customizable.  Go to Reports > Report Generator > Print Reports.

• Trams Crystal Reports
  • Go to https://www.trestechnologies.com/trams-and-clientbase/trams-crystal-reports/ to review the library of Trams Crystal Reports including Agent Reports.