Nemo Inventory

Nemo Inventory is a seat resource and fare (content) management system that enables online sales of air services (flights) not available through conventional connectors (GDS) via the Websky Distribution Booking System.

Developed in accordance with IATA recommendations, Nemo Inventory helps you fully control and plan resources and seats, providing tools to enable carriers to manage their own seat resources in order to maximize revenue when selling air transportation.

Examples of use

• The sale of block (block charter) seats on scheduled or charter flights, when seats on flights of a certain airline on a certain route and with a certain schedule are purchased by the customer (charterer);
• A contractual fare that exists on paper but is not in the GDS. In this case the seats are taken from the usual public block of seats in the GDS;
• A negotiated fare, the bookings for which are made by the airline company in its own hosting according to a separate procedure;
• Other cases in which it is not possible to organize online sales through the GDS.

Benefits of using Nemo Inventory

Using Nemo Inventory allows you to organize online sales of your exceptional content as easy and effective as sales of flights from classic sources (GDS). Your customers, whether they are travelers buying tickets on your personal website or sub-agents specializing in distributing your travel services, see no difference in buying a flight from Inventory or from a GDS.

Nemo Inventory provides in the general rendition of available air transportation content that was previously unavailable, by expanding the range of special fares offered and the sale of charter transportation (classic charters, block charters on scheduled flights etc).

For travel companies, chartering significant volumes of seats Inventory is an opportunity to effectively sell remaining seats, sell "hot" seat balances, sell empty runs on inbound and outbound flights (so called "empty lanes") at the beginning and end of the charter program.

Inventory can be seen as a tool to expand the range and increase the profitability of sales on your online resource. It is important to note that the content you have created can be used both on your own site and via an API it can be fed to other online resources (third party applications, meta-search engines, etc.). Such features make Inventory an indispensable, highly effective tool for the successful sale of special rates through all possible sales channels.

The Nemo Inventory component is connected by the Websky system administrator. To connect, contact project tracker of Websky technical support service.

Nemo Inventory principle of operation

In the system architecture, Nemo Inventory acts as a content provider similar to classic GDSs. The system interacts with Nemo Inventory in a way similar to a GDS. Nemo Inventory provides all the necessary functionality for sales through the standard Websky functionality, i.e. it supports searching, booking and cancellation methods. At the same time you have a wide range of opportunities for creating and managing your seats and fares.

For easy creation and management of flights Nemo Inventory supports the following types of content:

• flight,
• seat resource,
• flight combination,
• fare,
• taxes.

Configuring the Nemo Inventory component

You can configure the component in the section Working with orders → Nemo Inventory. The section consists of three subsections:

• Content Management
• Flight monitor
• Ticket numbers setup.

Content Management

The Content Management section provides the following options:

• setting up flight itinerary,
• setting up flight schedule,
• seat resource management,
• setting fare information,

The data are set by a table in XLS format file. The Content Management window is a form for importing and exporting the created data in XLS format.

1. Fill in the following files: flight, flight, tariff_ow with data. Templates of files to fill in:
   • File:Flight empty.xls,
   • File:Combination empty.xls,
   • File:Tariff ow empty.xls.
2. Import the data table to enter the information into the system:
   • select the type of file to import,
   • press the Browse button, select the file that corresponds to the type,
   • Click the Upload button.

To change the data in the tables:

1. Export file(s) - click the button with the appropriate type.
2. Edit the content of the file(s).
3. Import the modified files back into the system.

This is necessary to control the version date of the files. Thus, when trying to load into the system a file with an earlier modification date than the one that is already in the system, the warning You cannot overwrite the newer data with the specified obsolete appears and offers you two choices:

• forcibly overwrite the data
• refuse to load.

Attention! All cells in the file must be in text format. No extra spaces are allowed.

"Flight" table

Flight is a content type that contains information about the flight for which the agency sells seats. It includes information about:

• flight type (charter/regular),
• activity attribute,
• flight number, companies,
• marketing and operating airlines,
• schedule,
• and more.

To unload the form to fill in the flight data, click the Flight button.

Format to fill in the parameters of the file for entering flight information
Title	Description	Allowable values	Examples
id	Unique number of the flight record which is assigned by the system. By default it is not filled in during uploading of the file; it is filled in during unloading. Editing the rule with the specified id leads to changing the already created rule, if the field is empty - the new rule will be created.	Empty or system number	30 48
active	Parameter which defines participation or nonparticipation of the given flight in formation of variants output	1 - active 0 - inactive -1 - deletion of the flight empty - inactive	1 0 -1
marketing company	Name or code of the marketing airline providing the flight service	Text string	UT UN
freighter	Name of the travel company that offers seats on this flight	Text string	UT UN S7
span id="airline">airline</span	IATA code of the airline operating the flight	A code	SU UN
span id="departure">departure	IATA code of the airport of departure, aggregating airports are allowed	code	MOW VKO
span id="arrival">arrival	IATA code of arrival airport, aggregating airports are allowed	Code	MOW VKO
span id="landing">landing	IATA airport code for technical landing point, aggregating points are allowed	Code	MOW VKO
flight number	unique flight number	Numbers, Latin letters are acceptable	203 11
departure terminal	Departure airport terminal code or number	Latin letters or numbers	А С
arrival terminal	Arrival airport terminal code or number	Latin letters or numbers	А С
departure time</span	Flight departure time in time zone of departure airport	HH:MM	23:04 11:15
arrival time</span	Arrival time of flight in time zone of arrival airport	HH:MM	22:05 09:15
next day	Attribute of arrival on the previous or next day for airports with a significant difference in time zones. Set in the number of days difference.	+value -value	+2 ( arrival after 24 hours) -1 (arrival on the previous day)
span id="days of the week">days of the week	Days of the week on which the flight is performed. Odd week days are set by figures from 1 to 7, even days - from 8 to 14.	Numbers from 1 to 14, separated by comma.	2,4,6,9,11,13 (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday on even and odd weeks) 8,9,10,11,12,13,14 (all days on even weeks)
flight season start	Start date of the flight period	DD.MM.YYYY	01.01.2014 02.08.2015
flight season end	End date of the flight period	DD.MM.YYYY	01.01.2015 02.08.2016
type of flight	Type of aircraft performing the flight. To receive the information about the aircraft from the directory, you must specify the three-digit code of the aircraft.	Text string	139 747
economy	Number of seats available on the flight in basic Economy class for each booking subclass. Included as a combination of the subclass letter and the number of seats.	subclass liters + number of seats (without separator)	Y9,T13,N9 L17,M20
business	Number of seats available on the flight in basic Business class for each booking subclass. Included as a combination of the subclass letter and number of seats.	subclass + number of seats (without separator)	J9,C12,D9 C12,D10
first	Number of seats available on the flight in base class "First" for each booking subclass. Included as a combination of the subclass letter and the number of seats.	Subclass literal + number of seats (without separator). Combinations are separated by comma.	F15,P2 A10

Some information about the flight is discussed in more detail:

• Freighter is the owner (agent/tour operator) of the block of seats to be sold on a given flight. The charterer is a mandatory parameter when specifying the flight type charter.
• Marketing airline provides the flight,
• Operating airline performs it.

Example. The MOW-LED flight is provided by the SU airline, but is operated by the FV airline.
The owner of seats and fares for a given flight is determined as follows: for charters it is the freighter, for scheduled flights it is the marketing airline.

• Flight Schedule is defined as a list of days within a two-week period that is set for a particular season, the two-week period starts at the beginning of the first flight season.

Several flight seasons can be defined in the schedule, each of which can have its own schedule. Flight seasons can not overlap, i.e. if the flight is from May 1st to December 20th for one day, and from September 1st to November 1st for another, then there must be 3 seasons - from May 1st to August 31st, from September 1st to December 1st, from September 1st to December 1st, and from November 2nd to December 20th.

• 'Flight classes and number of seats. The classes of a flight are set up in the form of letters grouped according to basic classes (Business, First, Economy); for each letter the total number of seats initially available for sale in the given class is set.

• Breakpoints (technical landings). More than 1 stop may be specified on a flight. A landing is considered a stopover and not a connection if there is no flight number change. Even if the aircraft lands, passengers are unloaded, loaded onto another plane and sent on their way, without a flight number change it still remains a technical landing, which is displayed as a technical landing on one single flight segment.

• Flight Changes allows you to finely manage flight information for certain dates that may or may not be part of the schedule. This allows you, for example, to close sales for a given flight on a certain day, change the departure/arrival time, change the flight number, reschedule the flight, or even add new departure days that are not included in the main flight schedule. What makes a flight unique is the combination of the flight number and the seat owner code on it.

Table Combinations

Flight Combination - provides the ability to set various combinations of flights.

The Combinations button, unloading the corresponding form, provides the possibility to set various combinations of flights.
The detailed file format is described here: File format for combination entries.

Attention! Fares are bound and applied exclusively to flight combinations, so even OW flights from a single flight must be specified as combinations from a single flight.

Also the Combinations file can specify multiple flights for the same trip in different configurations, whether it is a one-way or round trip flight, as well as specify different departure dates. Between consecutive pairs of flights, you can specify restrictions on the allowed travel duration as a list of the number of days between the departure dates of the first and second flight in the pair. The travel duration is calculated as a direct subtraction of the departure dates of the first and second flights in the pair (12.02 - 10.02 = 2 days travel duration). If not specified, no restrictions apply for this flight pair.

Maximum 4 flights can be specified in the combination. Information about each flight in the combination includes the following data:

• flight number,
• airline code,
• class letter,
• flight start date,
• date the flights ended,
• days between flights.

Restrictions on the allowed travel duration can be set between consecutive pairs of flights in the form of a list of the number of days between the departure dates of the first and second flights in the pair. The travel duration is calculated as a direct subtraction of the departure dates of the first and second flights in the pair (12.02 - 10.02 = 2 days travel duration). If not specified, no restrictions apply for this flight pair.

Also in the combination you can specify a list of fares that apply to this combination and the type of flight destination within this combination, these fields are only informative at the moment and do not affect the logic of binding tables to each other.

Fare Table

The Fare table describes the rules of price formation for a certain set of flights in the Combinations file. To add and edit fare information in the form file provided, click on the Fare button ( for details, see 'File format for entering fare information).

Flight monitor

In this section you can get information on flight statistics. The upper part of the flight monitor window shows the names of marketing companies and the number of flights provided by this company, contained in the flight statistics for the selected period. Depending on the selected time interval:

• Day
• Three days
• One week
• Two weeks
• Month

The Flight Monitor window looks like a table with flight information for the selected time range. It is available to switch for the next and previous month, week, etc via buttons.

Each cell of the table displays the flight route, its marketing company and flight number. By clicking on a cell, additional information about the particular flight is displayed: the number of seats available, booking class and number of tickets sold. There is also a possibility to change the flight information for certain days. Changes can be made by clicking on the "Change Schedule" link.

Changing the schedule

Flight changes allow you to finely manage flight information for specific dates that may or may not be part of the schedule. This allows you, for example, to close sales for a given flight on a certain day, change the departure/arrival time, flight number, reschedule the flight, or even add new departure days that are not included in the main flight schedule.

The following set of data can be set to change in the flight:

• Flight activity
• Departure/arrival airport
• Departure/arrival terminal
• Departure/arrival time
• Flight number
• Arrival on the next day
• Type of aircraft
• Landing

Use of content in flight sales

The order and logic of using different types of content when searching, booking and ticketing.

Search

In order to book and ticket a flight, it must first be found. Within Inventory, the procedure for processing a search request consists of the following steps:

1. Construct a route for each of the requested segments. At the moment, the maximum route length for a requested segment is limited to 1 segment. If a route could not be built for one of the requested segments, the search is aborted and Inventory returns an error: Unable to build a route for the requested segment with the corresponding segment specified.
2. Search for suitable flights for the constructed routes, taking into account their schedules, connection times, filters by airline and the availability of seats in the required classes and constructing full flights from them. If no suitable flights could be found for one of the requested segments, the search is terminated and Inventory returns the error: Could not find a schedule satisfying the specified criteria for the segment with the indication of the corresponding segment.
   If no complete flight could be constructed from the flights found, then the search is aborted and Inventory returns the error: Unable to construct a complete flight meeting the specified criteria.
   If none of the flights constructed have the required number of seats, then the search is aborted and Inventori returns the error: No required number of seats available on the flights meeting the specified criteria.
3. Applying Flight Combinations to Built Flights.' At this point, flights of more than 4 segments are discarded within this procedure. A suitable flight combination is searched for each of the constructed flights.
   If no flight combination can be found for a flight that fully matches it, then a separate matching combination is searched for each segment in the flight.
   If no suitable flight combinations can be found for any of the flights, the search is aborted and Inventori returns an error No valid flight combinations that meet the given criteria.
4. Evaluation of the obtained flights. For each of the flights, a set of fares is generated" which provide the lowest price for the given flight. The following sequence of actions is performed:
   1. the system considers each combination that has been applied to the flight.
   2. the system retrieves all fares for the seat owner on the first flight of the examined combination.

For each fare, the following set of checks is performed:

1. the fare is checked for applicability to the current flight combination (by its ID)
2. the fare is checked if the first flight of the combination can be sold at the given fare - in this case it is checked

• the current date is in one of the fare's selling seasons (SalesDates) and the season does not end in one hour
• the date of departure of the first flight in the combination is in one of the fare service seasons (ServiceDates).

1. the fare is checked for restrictions for minimum time before departure and maximum number of days before departure

1. access to the fare, if it is private, and restrictions on preferred fare types from search request are checked
2. for the fare entered to the passenger type other than ADT, the fare is checked for the applicability to any of the requested passenger types.
   If the fare passed all the checks, then it is considered applicable to the given combination of flights. If no suitable fares could be found, examination of the given flight is terminated and it will not appear in the search results.
3. The one with the lowest total effective fare (taking into account the combination price and the types of passengers requested) is selected from all eligible fares.

If there are no suitable prices for any of the flights, the search is terminated and Inventory returns the error: "Failed to find the prices that match the criteria set.
Flights for which prices were found are displayed in the search output.

Booking

When booking a flight,

1. the system checks:
   • availability of the flights to be booked,
   • availability of the required number of seats on them.
2. The system evaluates the booked flight in the same way as in the search.
3. Based on all received data, a PNR object is created in the Inventory system.
   If the price could not be obtained due to any reason, the seats taken are returned to the pool of available seats for booking and the booking is cancelled with a corresponding error.

The booking can be

• refreshed (to get its current status and price),
• canceled,
• ticketed.

Ticketing

The ticketing is carried out in two steps:

1. The ticketing triggered after the receipt of payment from the client. The electronic documents (ED) are generated for the provision of the ticketing service by the airline. The booking gets the status "pending ticketing".
2. Addition of airline tickets - currently, Inventory does not support automatic transfer of the created bookings to GDS or inventory systems for automatic issuing of airline tickets, so an authorized agent representative manually transfers the bookings to the appropriate systems and issues airline tickets in them once a certain period of time. Then he\she enters the issued tickets to the necessary PNR in the Inventory. After the tickets are entered for all passengers, the booking in Inventory takes the status ticketed.
   The EDs generated at the previous stage are deactivated with the status used.

The booking can be activated for a certain period of time after it has been ticketed (but before the tickets have been inserted by the airline). In this case the ED for airline tickets issuance is deactivated with the status "cancelled". The deletion of airline tickets is not supported at the moment.

Ticket numbers setup

This section displays the orders waiting for ticket numbers to be inserted. The section can be accessed by the manager and the agency expert.

When an order is issued, the ticketing will not be completed until the ticket numbers are entered in the Ticket numbers assignment section (See Sending a Ticket Order for the ticketing). To perform the order ticketing, you need to transfer the bookings created in the inventory to the GDS or airline (where the block of seats is stored) and issue the statement. Then the received numbers of the ticket are entered in the section "Ticket numbers assignment". After the numbers are assigned, you need to return to the order and start the statement.

The section is a sequence of forms with the date of departure (several booked flights on the same date of departure are located on one form). Clicking on one of the tabs opens a form with a list of departure directions. If you click on a particular direction, a field for entering the ticket number is displayed.

If one ticket number has been issued, the number for the round trip direction is entered only in the first window. If there are two numbers, you need to enter the second ticket number in the second window.