Home → Arctic Reservations → Getting Started: Configuring your Installation → Step 1: System Settings

1.2. Step 1: System Settings

To access the system settings click on "Settings" in the left hand menu. On this page, there are several groups of settings that will affect and impact how your installation works. Arctic Reservations comes with a default configuration that should work for many organizations, but exploring this page now will help give you an idea what to change.

The "Configure Arctic Reservations" page is broken into several sections or boxes as shown here:

 

To expand each "box" of settings click on the blue box name, i.e. "General Settings", "Files", "Persons", etc., Arctic will then open the "box" and show you each of the settings contained therein with a short description that explains what each setting does and how to use it.

After you make any changes to the settings in each box, don't forget to click "Save Settings" or "Submit" so you do not lose your changes.

Below there is a brief description of the settings found in each box of the "Configure Arctic Reservations" page. As we continue through the setup guide we will re-visit several of these settings and give you more in depth information on how to configure them and what they do. Please note, your "Configure Arctic Reservations" page may not have all of the settings described here. The settings on this page are determined by the version of Arctic Reservations that you have chosen for your business. 

  • In the "General" box, you will see sections for configuring your installation name, your contact information and business groups.
  • Fill/check the "Contact Information" by clicking the "Pencil" in the Company Information Box.  This setting includes company name and contact information. We often enter this data for you, but it is good to check that the information is correct. Company information appears on invoices, as well as other customer forms.
  • The next section is "Manage Business Groups". Business groups allow you to organize and customize different parts of your company if needed. You can override specific settings on a per-business group basis, breakout income for each business group, run reports for a specific business group and even specify user access to certain business groups. Here are some suggestions on how business groups might help you manage your business:

Companies without physical locations (overnight rafting companies): You can create business groups for regions (e.g., states), if you are a spread out company, and then create business groups inside those for the rivers or tours you offer within each state or region. 

Companies with retail locations (rental, day rafting, etc.): You can create business groups for each retail location, then inside each location, create separate business groups for the activities offered at that location (e.g., "rentals," "zip-lines," "lodging," etc.).

It is best to configure your parent business groups first then create your sub-business groups. This will help you keep your business groups organized and keep you from getting confused. This is a powerful tool that you can use to track how each part of your business is performing and to keep each part organized so your business runs smoothly and simply. Take your time setting up the business groups you want to use. Once a business group has been created and been assigned any information you will not be able to delete it. Once you have created business groups Arctic will display a blue box at the top of the "Configure Arctic Reservations" page that looks like this: 

 

 

Notice the drop down menu. This will allow you to choose whether you are changing system wide settings or settings for a specific business group. If you leave during the set up process after creating business groups, every time you return to the "Configure Arctic Reservations" page, you will see this box. Arctic automatically chooses "System-Wide Settings" by default. If you want to edit the settings for a particular business group you must select that group from the drop down menu.

  • Next, you will see a box called "Integration". This box will allow you to connect your installation with your Marketing Email Provider, i.e. Mail Chimp, etc. This will allow you to be able to keep up with the customers that subscribe and unsubscribe from your mailing lists and keep your mailing lists in sync between your Arctic Installation and your Marketing Email Provider. For more in-depth instruction on how to set up email list integration, check out the Email List Integration. 
  • In the "Forms" settings box, you will be able to add custom fields to the "Built-In" forms shown in Arctic during the creation of customers, rentals, reservations, trips etc. By adding these additional fields you will be able to make sure that you are gathering all of the pertinent information that you need for each aspect of your business to run smoothly. You will also be able to create Reservation and Rental Registration Forms. For more information on managing forms in Arctic see the Forms Editor.
  • The next section is "Files". This is where you will upload all of the trip attachments, product information, brochures, flight schedules, directions, site maps, etc. that you use for the various aspects of your business. For more information regarding this feature and how to use it, see Step 6. 
  • Next are the "Email" settings. This is where you can create and manage email designs, email senders as well as email templates and triggers.  These settings are in depth and may take time for you to figure out how you want to use them to maximize their usefulness for you and your business. For a more in depth explanation of the "Email" settings go to Step 12 or see Emails.
  • In the next box you will see information on the "Persons" database. In this box you can tell Arctic whether you want to track past trip history or not. If you are a new customer and you provided us with a copy of your old customer database that included past trip and reservation information to import into your new Arctic Installation, this feature will be enabled automatically. If you do not care to track past information you can disable this feature here. You can also add and/or remove referral sources for the referral source information Arctic collects. To edit the referral sources, click the "Pencil" icon in the "Referral Sources" box
  • The "Inquiries" settings box is where you can set the default number of days for follow-up. The default setting is set at 7 days. For more detail about inquiries check out Inquiries.
  • The "Booking Agents" settings box will allow you to create commission groups for your booking agents. Once this feature is set up, you will be able to assign each booking agent to a predefined agent group. To learn more about the booking agent feature, check out the Booking Agents.
  • In the "Invoicing" settings box, you will be able to tell Arctic how you want to handle all of your financial data. You will be able to modify the invoice template, select payment methods, and create accounts, payment plans (Step 4), cancellation policies (Step 5) and tax rates (Step 3) and manage items (Step 7). You will also be able to tell Arctic if you want to be able to keep track of Manual Transactions like bank deposits so it will be easier to reconcile your bank statements with Arctic's End of Day Balance Reports. All of these settings will help Arctic track your financial data in a way that will increase its compatibility with your current accounting practices making it easier to reconcile your bank statements and accounting software with the information collected in Arctic. To learn more about invoices and accounts, see Invoices, Invoice Transactions, and the Accounts. 
  • The "Credit Card Processing" settings box will allow you to enable or disable batch transactions for credit card processing, create and manage payment gateways and set default gateways for each business group if you have more than one gateway. 
  • The "E-Check Processing" settings box is where you will set up your E-check Payment Gateway. You can tell Arctic whether you want to batch E-check transactions, manage multiple E-check gateways and set up the default gateways for your various business groups if you have more than one E-check gateway provider. 
  • The "Trips" settings box allows you to enable sub-trips, choose some format options for your trip calendar, and enable pricing-level specific fees, trip tasks as well as trip costs and margins. You also have the ability to tell Arctic how many days after a particular date that a trip can be created or an existing trip modified. Both of these settings are helpful for any necessary post trip editing. See Step 10 and Step 11 for more information on how to create trip types and trips in your installation. 
  • The "Trip Forms" setting box allows you to create trip forms for your trips. Trip Forms are forms that you would like your staff to complete regarding your trips. These can be forms that need to be done either before or after the trip. To learn more see Trip Forms.
  • The "Activities" setting box allows you to enable activity holds (see Activity Holds), set whether or not to allow editing cancelled activities and whether or not you want the system to take you directly to the invoice after making either a rental or reservation. By default the system will take you to either a "View Reservation" or a "View Rental" page where you can review the details of the reservation or rental before proceeding to the invoice. 
  • In the "Reservations" settings box, you can set your preferences for past reservation editing and creation. To learn more about reservations, see Reservations and Group Mode Reservations.
  • In the "Rentals" settings box, you can assign rental specific payment plans and cancellation policies as well as set the number of days after a particular date that you can create rentals or modify an existing rental once the reservation is over. Both the create and modify settings are helpful for any post rental editing that you may need to do. You can also add time increments, enable rental item sets and if you have the Summit edition specify an evaluation form to be used by your rentals. See Rentals for a more in-depth look at creating rental items and renting them.  
  • The "Packages" setting box you will be able to set up package definitions to offer discounts to guests who book multiple activities with you helping you to maximize sales. To learn more about the package feature check out Packages in the documentation. 
  • The next settings box is for the "Retail" settings. This box is where you will be able to set up taxes specifically applicable to your Retail Store; set up your receipt layout and enter information for your shipping information for purchase orders. To learn more see Arctic Retail. 
  • The "Check-in Tool" settings allow you to control aspects of the check in feature such as how many hours worth of activities it should show and what information you would like it to show. To learn more see Check-in Feature.
  • The "Reports" settings box allows you to control aspects of how any of the Formatted List Reports you create will be formatted. You can control font size, borders, layout, etc. 
  • The "Guest-Facing Sites" settings box is where you will add and manage the appearance and function of your Guest-Facing Sites. See Guest-Facing Site for more information.   
  • The "Online Gift Certificates" settings box is where you will create and manage the online gift certificates you would like to offer for sale through your guest-facing site. To learn more check out Creating Online Gift Certificates. 
  • In the "Online Inquiries" settings box, you can create custom online inquiry forms to collect specific information or more in-depth information from your guests about a specific trip or rental offering they are interested in or set up just a general contact form. See Online Inquiries for more details. 
  • In the "Online Reservations" settings box you can manage small online reservation settings like the "hold time" for pending reservations; the maximum number of guests who can make a reservation online; as well as whether or not to display full trips, how to display the duration for the trip, and when to show trip pricing. You will also be able to create specific trip, business group or key word landing pages for your guest-facing site that will help your guests find the trips they want quickly and efficiently.
  • In the "Online Rentals" setting box you can manage small online settings like the "hold time" for pending rentals; the maximum quantity of rentals that can be rented at one time; the maximum number of days in advance a rental can be created; set your rental season and allow guests to make inquiries for already booked rentals. You will also be able to create landing pages for your guest-facing site for your rentals. Using this you can group your lodging rentals and your equipment rentals together to make a more streamlined and less confusing experience for your guest. This setting is only displayed if you have the "Rentals" module enabled on your installation.
  • The "E-Commerce" settings box is where you will be able to enable/disable your online retail shop. Note: You must have the retail module to be able to offer retail merchandise for purchase online. This is also where you will specify which business group you want the system to use for the inventory made available for purchase online, how to handle unavailable items, set up categories, shipping methods and classifications as well as tax rules. To learn more about all of these setting, check out E-Commerce.
  • The "Photo Retail & Kiosks" settings box allows you to set up a photo kiosk logo if desired as well as specify what photo purchase items you want to offer, i.e. photo sets, single photos and whether these items will be delivered digitally or with a tangible disk or printed photo. Note: To sell photos through Arctic, you must have the Retail module. 
  • In the "Store" settings box, you will find settings for how you want to handle your online transactions. You can choose to run Credit Card Holds instead of processing payment for transactions made online. You can also choose to enable continuous browsing for your guests to be able to continue "shopping" after they make their first trip or rental selections. This setting will allow your guest to purchase multiple activities on the same transaction. The last setting in this box is the "Require Payment" setting. This is where you will tell Arctic if and when you want to process a payment from your online customers. 
  • In the "Online Waivers" settings box, you will be able to set up multiple waiver forms that can be used for your various trips and rental items. You will also set up the "paper instructions" that will be included when a guest chooses to get a paper copy of the online waiver rather than completing the waiver online. Check out Online Waivers to learn more. 
  • The "Social Site" settings box allows you to specify whether or not you wish to require guests to complete an evaluation before being able to access the pictures posted to the social site. You can also specify whether or not you wish to send activity notices for when photos, videos, or comments are posted to the social site. See Social / Photo Site for more information on this feature. 
  • The "Evaluations" settings box will be where you can create Evaluation forms for the various services you offer. You can create customized evaluation forms for each trip type you offer.  See Evaluations to learn more about the evaluations feature.
  • The "API Access" settings box is where you can create API Clients and/or Webhook Consumers. This is an advanced setting and requires working with a web developer to make the connections you would like to make. For more information about Arctic's API, contact support. 

This page was: Helpful | Not Helpful
← Welcome Step 2: Users →