Types of Groups: Group and Retail

There are two types of groups in GlobalWare: true group and retail.

Group	Description
True Group	True groups are those groups for which you purchase travel arrangements and accommodations before you sell to clients. Providers determine the cost, and you set the price based on the number you think you will sell. You determine your profit, which is the number of packages you sell past the break-even number.
Retail Group	Retail groups refer to two or more persons who buy any package tour, cruise, or other travel arrangement. You know the cost of the package and the selling price, and you earn the profit when you collect the commission or charge service fees. The amount of commission you collect on sales and service fees determines your profit. Usually, agencies will set up retail groups as they might house accounts or house providers, for example, a retail group for each agent, month, or tour provider.

GlobalWare's group functionality was designed primarily for use with true group travel packages. You also can use group functionality for retail travel for its billing and reporting capabilities, which include the following:

• Sending travel statements to clients who pay by check or credit card showing what they have paid and what they owe.
• Generating reports that show how much clients have paid, how much they owe, how much you have paid providers, how much you owe, and how much profit you have made.
• Generating manifest and passenger reports.

Manual or Automatic Payables

For accrual accounting, a non-group, non-ARC sale is an accounts payable subledger item and GlobalWare posts it to accounts payable in the general ledger when you post invoices. In cash-basis accounting, it is an accounts payable subledger item and posts to the general ledger when you process checks and receipts. The payable amount is the sale amount less the commission. Retail group sales are handled the same way; that is, the payables are created automatically.

However, for true groups, the payable amount is not related to the sale price, and you usually incur the payable before you sell to clients. You create the payables manually in a group payable account. When you invoice a non-ARC sale for a group, GlobalWare does not create a payable.

When you set up each group, you indicate if it is retail or group. If it is retail, GlobalWare posts payables automatically. If it is group, you enter payables manually.