Pastel Integration

Sending invoice details TO Pastel

The book a flight system is able to export invoice information in a format that can be imported into the Pastel accounting package.

SETUP : Correct Pastel Codes

This is explained in more detail on the Invoice Items page. There are several types of codes that have to exist on one or both systems for the integration to work.

These are:

• Member / student code

Every member in the Book A Flight system must have their specific Pastel code loaded. When we extract details about an invoice for a pilot the extract used this pastel code to indicate which pilot the invoice belongs to. The pastel code needs to be saved in the field called “Pastel Account Number” on the member record. This field, within Book A Flight, is only visible to administrators or people holding the “FINANCE_ADMIN” security key. Additionally, every member record indicates a “Membership Type”. This is used to indicate which price a given member will pay for a certain aircraft. The idea here is that you could have one price for “student” pilots, a different price for “hire and fly” pilots and a third price for “employees” of your school or club. You can create any number of membership types by using the

• Flight codes

These are set using the “Maintain Aircraft Prices and Account Codes“ section. Every aircraft in the system needs to have a pastel code and a price for each of the membership types created in the above section. So, for example, “students flying ZS-KBK” would have a certain pastel code, and would pay price X per hour, while a “hire and fly flying ZS-KBK” would have a different pastel code and would pay a price of Y per hour. You can thus have different prices for the same aircraft, for different groups of pilots, and each combination of aircraft and group would have a unique pastel code.

• Instruction codes

These are set using the “Maintain Instruction Prices and Account Codes“ section. There also needs to be a unique pastel code (and a price) loaded for each instructor, for each type of instruction that can be given. So, for example Alan Shepard, for Dual instruction has a certain pastel code and price, while Chuck Yeager has a different pastel code and (perhaps different) price for this same type of instruction. Alan Shepard has a different code for Solo instruction.

GENERAL CONFIGURATION ( SYSTEM CONFIGURATION SCREEN )

There are several global parameters that need to be correctly configured for Pastel integration to work. These are found in the “Accoutns” section of the system configuration screen and include:

• EXPORTPASTELTO - This is either an email address (in which case the export file is sent as an email attachment) or the word FILE, in which case the exported file is downloaded immediately to the computer of the person initiating the export. Most clients keep this set to FILE.
• HOME_FIELD_LANDING_CODE - This is the Pastel code to use for landings at the home field.
• HOME_FIELD_LANDING_FEE – This is the Rand value of a landing at the home field.
• YEAR_START_MONTH - This is the month in the year that corresponds with your first financial month. It is used to allocate "Reporting Period" correctly within Pastel.
• EXPORT_FLIGHT_TYPE - YES or NO - This is used to indicate if the flight types should be included in the export. Including the flight types in the export requires that these be set up as commission entries in Pastel. Most clients keep this set to NO.

EXPORT: How to get information out of the booking system

Click on the toolbar item "Flights". This will present you with a list of all flights that have not been exported yet. You need to tick the box next to the entries you are wanting to export, and then press the button at the bottom of the page "Export to Pastel"

The system will generate an export file for the ticked flights and send it to the configured email address, or if the configuration is FILE, will offer you the newly generated interface file for download.

IMPORT: How to get information into Pastel

Download the interface file (of save the file from your email) into a temporary location on your local computer.

On the Pastel menu, select "Process", "Customers" and get to the "Tax Invoice" screen.

On this screen,

• click on the "Batch" button
• select "Import".
• avigate to the file you saved from your email address
• press the "Process" button.

Getting account balances FROM Pastel INTO BookAFlight

SETUP : Pastel

From the Windows "Start" menu, select "Run" and then type "pcc" and click the OK button.

There are several types of codes that have to exist on one or both systems for the integration to work.

These are:

• Member / student code

Every member in the Book A Flight system must have their specific Pastel code loaded. When we extract details about an invoice for a pilot the extract used this pastel code to indicate which pilot the invoice belongs to. The pastel code needs to be saved in the field called “Pastel Account Number” on the member record. This field, within Book A Flight, is only visible to administrators or people holding the “FINANCE_ADMIN” security key. Additionally, every member record indicates a “Membership Type”. This is used to indicate which price a given member will pay for a certain aircraft. The idea here is that you could have one price for “student” pilots, a different price for “hire and fly” pilots and a third price for “employees” of your school or club. You can create any number of membership types by using the