Amadeus Training User Guide v1

23
1 June 2012 Page 1 of 23 Amadeus Training User Guide Version 1.0 1 June 2012

description

MANUAL

Transcript of Amadeus Training User Guide v1

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Amadeus Training

User Guide

Version 1.0

1 June 2012

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Document control Security level Internal / external use

Company Amadeus IT Group SA

Version Date Change Comment

1.0 01 June 2012 First release for external use, based on previous

internal version

Audience = all

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Table of Contents

1 Introducing Amadeus Training ...................................................................................... 4 1.1 The Amadeus Training (SKL) Environment ........................................................ 4

1.1.1 Separate from Production ........................................................................... 4 1.1.2 System Date ............................................................................................... 4 1.1.3 Scheduled Outages .................................................................................... 4 1.1.4 Production Level Software .......................................................................... 4 1.1.5 Data Control ............................................................................................... 5

1.2 Capture/Restore Process ................................................................................... 5

2 Managing Training Data ............................................................................................... 8 2.1 General Information ........................................................................................... 8 2.2 Loading Data for Training Delivery ..................................................................... 9

3 Delivering Training Courses ....................................................................................... 10 3.1 What's Available: Practice Training vs Amadeus Training ................................ 10 3.2 Functionality .................................................................................................... 12

3.2.1 Smart Tabs in Selling Platform ................................................................. 12 3.3 Accessing Amadeus Training........................................................................... 13 3.4 Checking Your Training Works ........................................................................ 14 3.5 Training Specifics ............................................................................................ 15

3.5.1 User Groups ............................................................................................. 15 3.5.2 Refunds .................................................................................................... 16

3.6 Printing ............................................................................................................ 16 3.6.1 Virtual Printer ............................................................................................ 16 3.6.2 Physical Printer ......................................................................................... 16

3.7 Summary of Practical Points ............................................................................ 17

4 Appendix 1 – Ticketable Airlines ................................................................................. 18 4.1 Sorted by Airline Code ..................................................................................... 18 4.2 Sorted by Airline Name .................................................................................... 21

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1 Introducing Amadeus Training Amadeus Training is replacing the current Practice Training system that has supported Amadeus for many years. Amadeus Training contains all of the data and functionalities for you to train Amadeus products and functionality.

1.1 The Amadeus Training (SKL) Environment

1.1.1 Separate from Production

Amadeus Training (SKL) is not a part of Production - it is a separate system, dedicated to delivering training. You may like to think of it as a clone of the Production system with a system date that is five weeks behind Production. Sometimes Amadeus Training is identified with the name Skilling or the acronym SKL – both refer to the name of the technical platform from which it evolved.

1.1.2 System Date

The date on Amadeus Training is always five weeks behind Production. For example, when the date on Production was the 23 May 2012, the date on Amadeus Training was the 18 April 2012. This is because the standard Amadeus capture/restore process is used to update the data on Amadeus Training.

1.1.3 Scheduled Outages

Amadeus Training is available 24/7 except for these scheduled outages:

5 maintenance outages per year (Saturday, 14:00 – 18:00 GMT) In 2012 these are 28 Jan, 28 Apr, 28 Jul, 22 Sep, 01 Dec.

3 restore outages (Saturday, 14:00 – 20:00 GMT) In 2012 these are on 3 Mar, 30 Jun, 27 Oct.

All scheduled and unscheduled outages will be notified by email.

1.1.4 Production Level Software

Software on Amadeus Training is "production-level". Production software is automatically loaded in Amadeus Training on the weekend following the load in the production system. Amadeus Training remains available for use during these loads.

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1.1.5 Data Control

It is important to understand how data is updated on Amadeus Training as this will help you to:

Plan your training schedule

Prepare more effectively for the delivery of your training courses. Data on Amadeus Training is updated via the capture/restore process. This is a standard process used with Amadeus platforms other than Production, and is explained below.

1.2 Capture/Restore Process The capture/restore process is one of the significant differences between Amadeus Training and Practice Training. It is important because this is how most of the Production data arrives on Amadeus Training. For example, any data loaded in Production usually appears in Amadeus Training after the next capture/restore process completes; replacing all data that was previously present in Amadeus Training The capture/restore process concerns the loading of production data on Amadeus Training. Production software is loaded on Amadeus Training on the Saturday after its load in Production.

The capture/restore process comprises the following steps:

1. Making a copy of the data on Production (this is the capture)

2. Customising the data as necessary (Running scripts based on work orders to modify production settings within the training environment).

3. Pasting the copied production data on Amadeus Training (this is the restore).

It takes 5 weeks to complete. The official capture and restore dates for 2012 are given in section 1.1.3 of this guide. An example of the timeframe is given below for the last capture/restore process of 2012:

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The frequency with which the capture and restore process happens varies, but they are usually spaced at approximately 4 month intervals. Remember to look at the official capture and restore dates before scheduling training in order to avoid delivering training on the day of a restore. After the first restore cycle, you may want to take time to check that the data has restored as you expected.

Any updates to Production data will appear in Amadeus Training (SKL) after the next full capture/restore process. For example: Data loaded after the capture on 26 May, will appear on Amadeus Training only after the capture and restore cycle of 22Sep/27Oct completes:

What is included in the Capture/Restore process? All Production data (for example, PNRs, Fares, Profiles, Schedules, Ancillary Services, Availability, Timetables, Office Profiles, e-Tickets, EMDs, Airline specific and market specific tables, etc.) is included in the capture. This data is restored onto Amadeus Training (SKL) to ensure the quality of data and the system functionality on is equivalent to that of the production environment. The Schedules database is copied from the production environment, but the data copied is the data available at the time of the capture. Therefore, when the data is restored on Amadeus Training, the availability displays may not include flights for the whole of the following season. For example, if the schedules database captured only has flights until the 25th April, any availability requests after that date for the airline will not return anything. The same behavior occurs for Fares.

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Customising data, training new products Some customization may be required for a given market in order for them to be able to train specific functionalities that may not yet be available in Production. For example, a certain market may wish to train agents on EMD and Ancillary services before the product is deployed in the market. In addition to certain office profile and table changes being made to Amadeus Training (i.e. only to the training environment so as not to impact the production environment), there must also be the airline data present in the system and made available to the travel agency community. Amadeus can set up the tables, but the airline must agree and load the data for the fares/pricing records required for the ancillary services. Any such specific set-ups must be requested well in advance. Office Profile Data Office Profiles and sign banks are copied from Production and restored on Amadeus Training. By default, a specific User Group (SKL08) and a virtual printer will be defined for all training offices. The user group SKL08 has been set with values necessary for training delivery – for example, EOT is authorized and TRCS is set. If the office in question requires different settings, a Work Order must be opened requesting these settings. The Sign Bank is also copied from production and restored to the training platform. All signs that existed in the office sign bank at the time of capture will be restored (It should be noted that the password associated to the sign is based on the user password at the time of the capture). In certain cases, the nightly file maintenance may consider some signs as unused for a long period of time and will delete them from the sign bank. If this happens, your Local Security Administrator can recreate the sign.

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2 Managing Training Data

2.1 General Information Changing data without affecting Production One of the benefits of Amadeus Training being a separate environment is that you can change data without affecting the data in Production. For example:

If you create a PNR in Amadeus Training, you do not create a booking or reduce inventory in Production.

You can update EOS agreements (Extended Ownership Security) to increase your security in Amadeus Training without making the changes in Production.

Such changes will last until the next restore unless a work order is opened and the data is requested to be permanently available (as explained in section 2.2).

Minor differences in data When delivering a training course in Amadeus Training, remember that some data may not be the same as in Production because of the time taken by the capture/restore process. For example you may not find "fresh" production data on the training environment! However this is unlikely to affect your training - and you can most likely work around this easily when selecting flights and trips. A best practice is to make bookings after the current date (and not in the 5 week period between the date on Amadeus Training and today’s date.

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2.2 Loading Data for Training Delivery There are 2 different ways of loading data to Amadeus Training: 1. Via the capture/restore process - this is the recommended way as it takes least effort.

After the data has been captured and restored from Production to Amadeus Training, the data is always available on Amadeus Training (unless it is removed from Production). In order for this process to apply, the data must be in Production at the time of the capture. It takes least effort to have data loaded from Production to Amadeus Training using the standard capture/restore process. The data must be in Production in time for a full capture/restore process to complete. Check the official capture/restore dates to work out when the data needs to be on Production in order to be restored to Amadeus Training in time for the delivery of any planned training course. .

2. By work orders - requesting data to be loaded by work order allows data to be loaded to Amadeus Training only (and not to Production), or load it to Amadeus Training at the same time it is loaded into Production. The work order specifies if the data is to be loaded once only to Amadeus Training or after each restore on Amadeus Training. Data must be loaded to Amadeus Training by work order if the data could adversely impact the data in Production.

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3 Delivering Training Courses

3.1 What's Available: Practice Training vs Amadeus Training The table below compares the functionality for which training courses can be delivered on Practice Training and Amadeus Training.

In Practice

Training?

In Amadeus Training?

Reservations

Segment Sell Yes* Yes

Dynamic Discount Fares Yes Yes

Information Pages Yes Yes

Service Fee Manager Yes Yes

Availability Yes Yes

Ancillary Services No Yes

Itinerary and invoice Yes Yes

Profiles Yes Yes

Queues Yes Yes

Local security Yes Yes

AIP and conversion Yes Yes

Air displays Yes Yes

PNR creation, modification, deletion Yes Yes

Teletype No Yes**

Past Date Record No No

Offers No Yes

PNR history No Yes

Fares

Negotiated Fares Yes Yes

Fare Quote Yes Yes

Amadeus Ticketless Access Yes Yes

Electronic Ticketing Yes Yes

Pricing Yes Yes

Ticketing

Ticketing, TST Yes*** Yes

Ticketing Quota System No Yes

Central Ticketing Yes*** Yes

Central ticketing Sales Reports Yes*** Yes

Amadeus Ticket Changer Yes*** Yes

EMD No Yes

Amadeus Interface Record Yes Yes

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In Practice

Training?

In Amadeus Training?

Travel Services & Leisure

Rail (except SNCF) No No

SNCF Yes Yes

Cruise No No

Insurance Yes Yes

Hotels Yes Yes

Cars Yes Yes

e-Travel

Amadeus e-Retail Engine Yes Yes

Amadeus e-Travel Management Yes Yes

Amadeus Flex Pricer Yes Yes

Help Desk

ACE & Web Configuration Yes No

Problem Handling and Reporting (for Help Desks) Yes Yes

Distribution System (for Help Desks) Yes Yes

Terminals (for Help Desks) Yes Yes

Office Id and Office Profile (for Help Desks) Yes Yes

Local Security (for Help Desks) Yes Yes

Transaction Security (for Help Desks) Yes Yes

Extended Ownership (for Help Desks) Yes Yes

End User Maintenance (for Help Desks) Yes Yes

Fares and Pricing (for Help Desks) Yes Yes

Air (for Help Desks) Yes Yes

Travel Service Leisure (for Help Desks) Yes Yes

Printing (for Help Desks) Yes Yes

Corporate

Amadeus Quality Control Yes NO

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3.2 Functionality There are some changes from the Production and the Practice Training environments that need to be taken into consideration when planning and performing a training course. In Practice Training, links are not in place with the external world. This means that bookings made on non Altéa airlines do not target inventory and use simulated messages to generate the replies. On Amadeus Training, Amadeus will have a link to the test system of the target airline thus enabling a real interaction with the other system. This is required so that ticketing (and potentially Ancillary Services) may be performed on Non Altéa Hosted Airlines. The drawback of having interactive links is that the following:

Amadeus does not control what the receiving system sends back

Amadeus does not control when the receiving system may be down or does not reply Whenever possible, it is recommended to use Altéa hosted airlines but in certain markets, it will be necessary to use other airlines.

3.2.1 Smart Tabs in Selling Platform

Smart tabs in Amadeus Selling Platform (and Amadeus Reservation Desktop) are available as follows when using the training URL to access Amadeus Training – see section 3.3.

Sell Version Access to Smart Tabs via Training URL

5.2P100

5.2P200

6.1P100

6.2P100

7.1P100 and higher

Note: Access requires the correct setup in WebConfig, and any issues can be opened as Incident Reports (IRs). Notes:

The “Plus” components (Cars Plus, Hotels Plus etc.) are not smart tabs. They are new generation components of Selling Platform..

Smart keys are basically scripts of cryptic entries, and smart keys work correctly in Amadeus Training.

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3.3 Accessing Amadeus Training The recommended way to access Amadeus Training requires Selling Platform version 5.2 or higher. If this requirement is met, use one of the following URLs to connect to Selling Platform and the training environment (i.e. Selling Platform is not connected to Production).

training.amadeusvista.com if you are connected to the Internet.

training.1a.amadeusvista.com if you are connected to Amadeus network Ways to access to Amadeus Training are detailed below. .

SELL V5.2 and higher Comments

The dedicated urls below are available with V5.2 or higher for a direct connection to Amadeus Training: training.amadeusvista.com (by Internet)

training.1a.amadeusvista.com (by Amadeus network)

To access Production, log out of Selling Platform and log in to your Production version of Selling Platform.

SELL V3.1 to V5.0 Comments

Your terminal or office must be switched to use Amadeus Training. Contact your ACO.

SELL lower than V3.1 Amadeus Selling Platform versions lower than 3.1 need to be upgraded in order to deliver training in the GUI.

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3.4 Checking Your Training Works

You need to check the entries for your training courses in Amadeus Training for the following reasons:

When migrating your courses from Practice Training, to ensure the entries work and make any minor adjustments if necessary

After the first capture/restore process completes and before delivering your training course to ensure that the data is as expected.

Depending on the situation, this can be done in different ways, for example:

Work through the entries and exercises at a terminal connected to Amadeus Training

Join a training course and validate the entries and exercises at the pilot terminal as the training is delivered.

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3.5 Training Specifics

3.5.1 User Groups

User groups contain the rules that must be followed for security purposes, for example identifying the entries that a user can make. A user group is usually attached to an office ID. User groups are maintained by the Security team in the Service Management Centre. User groups in Production and Amadeus Training are distinct entities. User groups in Amadeus Training define the security rules in Amadeus Training (not in Production). For example, a user group might grant more privileges on Amadeus Training than on Production for the same office. User groups used in Practice Training have changed names in Amadeus Training as shown in the table below:

Current user group on Practice Training Corresponding user group in Amadeus Training

HELPT HESKL

AFCHK SKL01

1APR1 SKL02

ATC1 SKL03

1ATR1 SKL04

1AWWW SKL05

HDCTS SKL06

ALTNG SKL07

SUTNG SKL08

The user group SKL08 has been set with values necessary for training delivery – for example, EOT is authorized and TRCS is set to allow refunds.

All training offices in Amadeus Training will be set to use the user group SKL08 by default from the 30 June 2012 onwards. Training offices are considered to be those with the setting CTO = TRN.

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3.5.2 Refunds

Performing refunds is permitted by everyone using Amadeus Training. You may need to check that the user group being used in Amadeus Training has TRCS set if you are using a user group other than those detailed in section 3.5.1.

3.6 Printing To deliver training on Amadeus Training you are recommended to use the virtual training printer that is set up by default for all user groups in Amadeus Training.

3.6.1 Virtual Printer

The virtual training printer provides all the functionality up to the point of printing the ticket but does not allow you to print a physical ticket. All office IDs – with the exception of airline office IDs - in Amadeus Training have been set to use the virtual printer by default from the 30 June 2012 onwards. The virtual training printer set, called mnemonic D00062, comprises these printers:

a generic document printer

a TAT printer

an ATB ticket printer

a DAIR printer When you are signed in to Amadeus Training, you can display the list of printers associated to your office by entering TTQLIST.

3.6.2 Physical Printer

A physical printer connected to Amadeus Training (SKL) allows you to print tickets; however the printer must be dedicated for use with Amadeus Training. It cannot be used with Production as well. This option is for exceptional cases. Please contact your ACO for further information.

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3.7 Summary of Practical Points The list below is a summary of the things that you will need to consider when delivering training courses on Amadeus Training. The majority of these points have been pulled together from different sections of this user guide for your convenience.

1. Understand that Amadeus Training (SKL) is a separate system to Production. You must sign in to Amadeus Training SKL in order to see the settings for user groups in SKL. The settings can be different in Amadeus Training, and any changes made in Amadeus Training do not affect Production.

2. An easy way to verify that you are working in Amadeus Training is to check the system date - it is always 5 weeks behind Production. The DD entry shows you the system date.

3. After each restore your training password will be over-ridden by the newly captured Production password (could be an old one!). Please bear this in mind when the next restore happens.

4. Avoid delivering training during scheduled outages.

5. After a restore, remember to check your course entries before delivering your training course to ensure that the data is as expected

6. As much as possible, use the standard capture/restore process to load your data to Amadeus Training.

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4 Appendix 1 – Ticketable Airlines The intention is to have all airlines available for ticketing in Amadeus Training. However there are certain restrictions. Non Amadeus ETS hosted Airlines are not controlled by Amadeus and the links and availability of these systems is dependent on each provider. The following airlines do allow the full ticketing flow to occur in Amadeus (Ticket issuance, display, cancellation and refund of ETKTs etc.). This Information is correct as of 21st March 2012.

4.1 Sorted by Airline Code

2U Ero Sun d'Or

4Q Safi Airways

7D Donbassaero Airlines

9B Access Rail

A3 Aegean Airlines

A4 Aero Commercial Oriente Norte

A5 Airlinair

AB Air Berlin

AF Air France

AT Royal Air Maroc

AV Avianca

AY Finnair

BA British Airways

BD British Midland Airways (BMI)

BT Air Baltic

CF City Airline

CX Cathay Pacific

DC Golden Air

DL Delta Airlines

DY Norwegian Air Shuttle

EI Aer Lingus

EY Ethiad

FB Bulgaria Air

FI Icelandair

FJ Air Pacific

FV Rossyia Airlines

HR Hahn Air

IB IBERIA

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IE Solomon Airlines

IF Islas Airways

J2 Azerbijan Airlines

JJ TAM

JP Adria Airways

JU JAT

JZ Skyways AB

KA Dragonair

KC Air Astana

KL KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

KQ Kenya Airways

LH Lufthansa

LJ Jin Air

LN Libyan Airlines

LO LOT Polish Airlines

LR LACSA

LY El Al

MD Air Madagascar

ME Middle East Airlines

MK Air Mauritius

MR Mongolian Airlines

MS Egyptair

MX Mexicana

NF Air Vanuatu

NH All Nippon

NP Nile Air

NT Binter Canarias

NZ Air New Zealand

OK Czech Airlines

OS Austrain

OU Croatian Airlines

OV Estonian Air

PC Pegasus Airlines

PH Transavia Denmark

PU Pluna

PZ TAM Mercosur

Q8 Trans Air Congo

QA Mexicana Click

QC Camair CO

QF QANTAS

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QI Cimber Sterling

QR QATAR

RC Atlantic Airways

RJ Royal Jordanian

S4 SATA International

SA South African Airways

SB Air Calin

SE XL Airways France

SN Brussels Airlines

SP SATA Air Açores

SQ Singapore Airlines

SS Corsair

SV Saudi Arabian Airlines

T0 TACA Peru

T7 Twin Jet

TA TACA

TG Thai Airways

TK Turkish Airlines

TL Airnorth

TP TAP

TU Tunisair

TX Air Caraibes

UD Hex Air

UG Tunisair Express

UU Air Austral

UX Air Europa

V0 Conviasa

VA Virgin Australia

VQ Viking Hellas Airlines

VS Virgin Atlantic

VU Air Ivoire

VV Aerosvit Airlines

VY Vueling Airlines

WF Wideroe

XK CCM Airlines

YM Montenegro Airlines

ZI Aigle Azur

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4.2 Sorted by Airline Name

Access Rail 9B

Adria Airways JP

Aegean Airlines A3

Aer Lingus EI

Aero Commercial Oriente Norte A4

Aerosvit Airlines VV

Aigle Azur ZI

Air Astana KC

Air Austral UU

Air Baltic BT

Air Berlin AB

Air Calin SB

Air Caraibes TX

Air Europa UX

Air France AF

Air Ivoire VU

Air Madagascar MD

Air Mauritius MK

Air New Zealand NZ

Air Pacific FJ

Air Vanuatu NF

Airlinair A5

Airnorth TL

All Nippon NH

Atlantic Airways RC

Austrain OS

Avianca AV

Azerbijan Airlines J2

Binter Canarias NT

British Airways BA

British Midland Airways (BMI) BD

Brussels Airlines SN

Bulgaria Air FB

Camair CO QC

Cathay Pacific CX

CCM Airlines XK

Cimber Sterling QI

City Airline CF

Conviasa V0

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Corsair SS

Croatian Airlines OU

Czech Airlines OK

Delta Airlines DL

Donbassaero Airlines 7D

Dragonair KA

Egyptair MS

El Al LY

Ero Sun d'Or 2U

Estonian Air OV

Ethiad EY

Finnair AY

Golden Air DC

Hahn Air HR

Hex Air UD

IBERIA IB

Icelandair FI

Islas Airways IF

JAT JU

Jin Air LJ

Kenya Airways KQ

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines KL

LACSA LR

Libyan Airlines LN

LOT Polish Airlines LO

Lufthansa LH

Mexicana MX

Mexicana Click QA

Middle East Airlines ME

Mongolian Airlines MR

Montenegro Airlines YM

Nile Air NP

Norwegian Air Shuttle DY

Pegasus Airlines PC

Pluna PU

QANTAS QF

QATAR QR

Rossyia Airlines FV

Royal Air Maroc AT

Royal Jordanian RJ

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Safi Airways 4Q

SATA Air Açores SP

SATA International S4

Saudi Arabian Airlines SV

Singapore Airlines SQ

Skyways AB JZ

Solomon Airlines IE

South African Airways SA

TACA TA

TACA Peru T0

TAM JJ

TAM Mercosur PZ

TAP TP

Thai Airways TG

Trans Air Congo Q8

Transavia Denmark PH

Tunisair TU

Tunisair Express UG

Turkish Airlines TK

Twin Jet T7

Viking Hellas Airlines VQ

Virgin Atlantic VS

Virgin Australia VA

Vueling Airlines VY

Wideroe WF

XL Airways France SE