Background
As an agency owner or administrator, you can import historical bookings from another system into Tern. This allows you to:
See and reconcile those bookings in Tern. They will not be tied to a specific trip or activity, but you'll see them in your commission dashboard, and be able to reconcile supplier payments / pay your agents for them, just like any other booking.
Maintain historical reporting. The bookings you import will power Tern reports just like any other booking - so you can see historical sales numbers, received commission, and expected commission that includes all of your historical data.
Maintain visibility for your agents. Bookings owned by agents with Tern accounts in your agency will automatically show up in their commission dashboard and in reporting. For agents not in Tern, you'll see their name associated with imported bookings on your commission and reporting dashboards, but they won't have access to these bookings.
A few important tips before we jump in
Everything you're about to import matches fields we already use in commission tracking and reporting today. If you aren't familiar with how either of these features work, we highly recommend starting there!
This feature is specifically meant for importing historical data, not an ongoing import of bookings. Tern also uses a third party tool to help structure your data, and there is a cost associated with that. For that reason, we've capped the total import limit to 3 per agency. If you run into any issues with this please contact our support team, and we can address!
Keep an eye out for duplicates! If your agents have already been booking things in Tern, we recommend you export those current bookings to de-dupe any you plan to import. Otherwise those numbers will be counted twice.
A good way to do this is to look for matching confirmation numbers.
We highly recommend reviewing the documentation below to help import your data correctly. Importing data from other systems is tricky - everyone names things differently, and you may not always have data available for required fields in Tern. We've structured the guide below to help make sure you import things correctly, no matter what system you've used in the past!
If you have agents you plan to invite to Tern, now is a great time to do so. Bookings will only be visible to agent accounts if they've already accepted your invite and created their account when you import. As mentioned above - you'll still be able to see non Tern agents tied to those bookings in your reporting views.
Getting ready for import
Check out your 'Team' under agency settings, to ensure things look good. If there are any agents you haven't invited to Tern yet, or you've invited but they haven't accepted yet, we recommend taking care of that first.
Make sure the data you plan to import is accessible.
As mentioned above, if you have potential duplicate bookings already in Tern we recommend exporting your existing bookings to de-dupe things. Completely remove those duplicate bookings from your import file, since they are already accounted for in Tern.
Read the article below to determine exactly what data you'd like to import, and how to do so most accurately. Make sure your import file has all the data you'd like to import into Tern.
What data to include in your import file
Download a template
Simple version without multiple supplier payouts per booking - Booking Templates - Simple_ Template.csv
Support for multiple supplier payouts per booking - Booking Templates - Multiple Payments_ Template.csv
Look at an example of a filled out template
Example of a simple version without multiple supplier payouts per booking - Booking Templates - Simple_ Example (1).csv
Example of multiple supplier payouts per booking - Booking Templates - Multiple Payments_ Example.csv
Tips on specific fields
When asked for a date that you don't have, we recommend reading our tips below on figuring out a good proxy date instead of using "today's date". That can really help with more accurate reporting.
You can always leave the currency column blank - we'll default to the currency from your account default.
If you haven't received any commission yet, just leave that field blank instead of putting in $0. You can also indicate you aren't expecting commission for something as a separate column (see below).
If you want your bookings to be marked as "received" (not overdue) and the agency payouts to be marked as "paid" (not ready or on hold), make sure to fill in the commission received fields and the payout date field! Learn more on how below.
Save the file you used to import data for later. You can upload it again to correct bookings "en masse", as long as they match to the same import ID you used.
Field descriptions & specific tips
Tern only requires 5 total fields to import your bookings (marked with a * below)
However in order to see accurate reports, look up bookings later, and track commission status / reconcile, we recommend importing additional data if you can. The guide below talks about each field we support for import, how it is used in Tern, and tips if you don't have that data readily available.
*Import ID: this just has to be a unique set of characters per booking. We use this if you need to re-import your bookings to mass overwrite data.
Some systems already export a booking ID, so you can just use that.
If not, a common strategy is to use the booking confirmation number. Note: if you have a lot of duplicate numbers across bookings, that won't work very well.
I personally like using today's date, and then a spreadsheet formula to +1 on each row. So as an example - booking 1 would be ID: 1061, booking 2 would be ID: 1062, and so on. That way if you do this again in the future you won't accidentally overwrite 1, 2, 3, 4.
Booking Name: this can be anything you want, but is a handy way to look up the booking later.
Some advisors use the trip name here, if they don't have a booking name.
Supplier Name: the hotel/tour operator/etc. you booked through. We know how critical reporting on suppliers is from a sales/commission standpoint, so make sure you include this if you'd like to do that!
Client name: agencies typically use the lead traveler for the trip. We don't show this in reporting on on client profiles in Tern, but it can be handy to reference / look up the booking later.
Agent name: this won't matter if your agent already has a Tern account, because we'll just use their Tern first name / last name. But for non Tern agents if you don't add their name, reports will show their email address instead.
*Agent Email: this will determine which agent the booking is tied to for commission and reporting.
Make sure the email you uses matches their Tern account email, if they have one.
If you don't have this data available or don't need things broken down by agent, you can just use your own email for every booking.
Booking Start Date: the start date for the specific booking. We provide filters for booking start & end dates in your reporting and commission dashboards, so it can be useful for that purpose.
Booking End Date: the end date for the specific booking.
Confirmation Number: the main confirmation number associated with the booking.
*Accreditation Type: IATA, True, CLIA, or IATAN.
*Accreditation Number: the number associated with your accreditation.
Total Cost: the total cost of the booking. This is used for sales reporting.
Total Cost Currency: the currency of the total booking cost (eg USD, CAD).
You only need to add this per booking if it isn't in the same currency as your account default.
*Booking date: the date the booking was marked "booked". We use booking date to attribute sales data to the correct date/month/year.
Some agencies will use Booking Start Date or Travel Start Date as a proxy. It's not perfect, but will be more directionally correct than 'today's date'.
Booking Canceled?: you can leave this blank for most of your bookings. If you do want to note a booking was cancelled, just add "TRUE" to the column.
Expected Commission Amount: used for the expected commission report.
Expected Commission Currency: the currency of the expected commission.
Again, just leave it blank if it matches your account default.
Expected Agent Split: the expected agent split for the booking. Used to calculate your projected earnings vs that of the agent. You'll need this formatted as a percentage.
Expected Commission Date: the expected commission date for the booking. Used for expected commission reporting, and to show whether a booking is 'upcoming' or 'overdue'.
Some agencies will use Booking Start/End Date or Travel Start/End Date as a proxy. It's not perfect, but will be more directionally correct than 'today's date'.
Expecting Additional Payments?: you can use this if you've already received a payment, but you are expecting more for that same booking. This will give the booking a 'partially received' status.
For applicable bookings, just add TRUE to the column.
Not Commissionable?: you can use this if you want to import a booking for tracking / sales reporting, but you aren't expecting any commission.
For applicable bookings, just add TRUE to the column.
Commission 1 - Received Amount: if you've received a payment from a supplier, add the amount you received. Used for received commission reporting, and to calculate whether a booking is 'received'.
Commission 1 - Received Currency: the currency for commission received
Again, just leave it blank if it matches your account default.
Commission 1 - Received Date: the date the commission was received. Used for received commission reporting.
Some agencies will use Expected Commission Date, Booking Start/End Date or Travel Start/End Date as a proxy. It's not perfect, but will be more directionally correct than 'today's date'.
Commission 1 - Agent Split: the actual percentage split the agent received for the commission. Used to calculate your earnings vs your agent. You'll need this formatted as a percentage.
Note: if you only have the total amount the agent received (not the percentage split), you'll need to divide the agent split by the total amount received to get the percentage.
Commission 1 - Eligible for Payout Date: used to determine whether the booking is 'ready' for payout or not. If the payout date is in the future, the agency payout will be shown as "on hold".
Agencies who don't have this tracked/exportable will just use the commission received date.
Commission 1 - Payout Date: if you add a payout date, the agency payout will be marked as "paid" (instead of ready or on hold).
Agencies who don't have this tracked/exportable will just use the commission received date, or the eligible for payout date.
Commissions 2 & 3 - Received all the same data fields
Only add if there are multiple supplier payments for this same booking
Importing your data
Once your file is ready, go to your Commission dashboard, and select Bookings
You'll find the 'Import historical bookings' option in the drop-down next to the export button.
Choose whether you'd like to upload your file or manually enter your data
Follow the instructions in the upload walkthrough
This assumes you are uploading a file.
1. First, confirm the header row for your data
2. Next, carefully review the column matches
On the left you'll see the name of your columns. On the right you'll see what we'll match it to in Tern. In cases where there isn't an exact match, you may see a suggested match.
If there are any required fields not matched, those will be flagged at the bottom. You can choose to add that column to your file ahead of importing and retry the import, or you can just add the column by clicking on the {field name+} button, and fill it in during the import process.
3. Bulk fix data
If you've entered something slightly wrong in columns with structured fields - like put "IAT" instead of "IATA", those things will be flagged for bulk correction.
4. Fix any errors ahead of upload
Finally, review your data and correct any errors.
Tip: clicking on 'show rows with errors' or the error markers above each column will filter down to only the cells that need correction. And you can type directly into the spreadsheet to correct any mistakes.
5. Export your spreadsheet, and finish!
This isn't required, but if you've made corrections during the import process it can be useful to export your final version before finishing, to save it for your records.
Once you're done, click the "Finish" button at the bottom right of your screen.
Review & edit your imported data
Review the data you've imported
Check out a few of the bookings you've added by clicking into them, and compare the data you imported with what you're seeing in Tern
Check out your reporting dashboard (keeping in mind the date filters on the right), and make sure the total number of bookings, sales amounts, and commission amounts all look right
Edit booking data
If you notice a larger issue with the data you've import, don't worry! Just make the correction in the import file, and follow the same steps above to re-import (keeping the import ID the same). This will overwrite your data en masse.
If you notice a smaller issue on a specific booking, just open the booking and click 'edit booking' in the bottom left. You'll be taken to a page where you can edit most of the fields you imported.
How imported bookings look to agents
If your agent has a Tern account, imported bookings will appear normally in their commission dashboard and reports.
