Inventory Pool Configuration

Tips for ensuring that your inventory pools have been configured without any unintended consequences.

Overview

Inventory Pools are the RTP functionality that can limit how many people can purchase a specific product for a single date or date range. If not configured correctly, they can have a significant impact on a resort's operations due to selling more lessons than expected, or having sales end up on unintended days.

Configuration & Recommendations

• Effective & Expiration Dates: RTP will allow for the user to enter in an individual date or a date range.

  • Note: If a date range is used, updating the maximum and warning levels at a later time will present challenges. eg an inventory pool entry is for Jan. 1-31, and a SS manager/supervisor would like to lower the ceiling for one day. The user will then need to perform a 'split days' so that they can adjust the ceiling for just that one day and not all days in the date range, which can be a confusing step when attempted while busy. Additionally, the 'split days' task works differently when trying to split the first or last day from a date range vs any other day in the date range.

  • Recommendation: adding each day individually, which provides greater usability down the line.

• Warning Level: Isn't as immediately functional as the Maximum Level, but is beneficial when utilized correctly.

  • a) When selling an inventoried product, on the calendar view the inventory numbers are shown in orange once the Warning Level has been exceeded, serving as a warning to users that the inventory pool is almost full.

  • b) The Inventory Summary Day of Week report is color-coordinated to show inventory pool/days that are below, at, or above the warning level. This report is a great tool for a Ski School to quickly see how booked volumes compare for various inventory pools & dates.

  • Recommendation: set warning levels to 75-80% of the Maximum Level.

• Maximum Level: the total number of participants that can purchase any product header that utilizes that inventory pool on the selected date(s).

  • Recommendation: set to the maximum number of participants that should be allowed to book the associated products.

• Hard Ceiling: a checkbox which determines whether the system enforces the Maximum Level.

  • Recommendation: always check this box, as leaving it unchecked removes the ability to configure values such as Allow Override and Disable Auto Assign Rollover.

• Allow Override: a checkbox which determines if users with the correct security level can continue to sell after the Maximum Level has been reached.

  • Although users often find it counter-intuitive to check the box for allowing override, not checking the box prevents the ability to configure Disable Auto Assign Rollover.

  • Recommendation: always check this box.

• Override Security Level: the minimum security level for users (as determined in RTP Security > System Function Sets > One|Resort) to override the Maximum Level of the inventory pool.

  • For users with security below this value: cannot sell a product with a full inventory pool.

  • For users with security at or above this value: can continue to sell products with a full inventory pool. There is no warning that they have exceed the Maximum Level, and instead the inventory pool will have more participants than intended.

  • Recommendation: set to 99 (or any value above the highest security level) so that no user can accidentally oversell an inventory pool.

• Disable Auto Assign Rollover: Auto Assign Rollover is functionality that will have RTP automatically change the product date to the next date with availability if the initial day is full and will do so without warning users. This is generally not desired behavior, as it would result in participants appearing in the inventory pool for the wrong day(s).

  • Recommendation: always check this box.

Summary

If a resort wants to prevent RTP from utilizing the Auto Assign Rollover behavior for any given inventory pool, it is imperative that the Hard Ceiling, Allow Override, & Disable Auto Assign Rollover checkboxes are always selected.

Additionally, flaik recommends setting the Override Security level above the security level of all users if the goal is to not have inventory pool ceilings exceeded.