General manager guide, part 2: approvals and keeping control

This is part 2 of 4 of the Xenia general manager guide: 1. Your overview and your role · 2. Approvals and keeping control · 3. Running the day · 4. Menus, rates, stock and your team.

Xenia lets your team do most things without asking you, and stops them at the few things that are how money goes missing: voiding a charge, big discounts, overriding a credit limit and the like. Those wait for you. This part is about doing that well.

Approvals

When someone at the desk asks for something that needs your yes, it appears on your phone and under Approvals. The page has three tabs: Waiting for you, My requests and Everything.

Each request tells you what is being asked (here, Void a charge), the amount, who asked and when, and the reason they gave. It stays open for a short while and then lapses, so a request is not left hanging.

1. Read the reason and the amount. Does it make sense?

2. If you are unsure, go and ask the person, or look at the guest's bill. You can open the booking from the front desk.

3. Type A word for them if you want to say something, for example "checked with the guest" or "not today".

4. Choose Refuse or Approve once.

Approve once lets them do that one thing once. Under Everything you can see what was decided, by whom, and what they said.

A one-time code, when you are standing next to them

If you are beside the desk, you do not need to wait for a request. Open the guest's booking and choose Approval code next to the charge. Xenia says exactly what the code will let your colleague void, and that your name goes on the record. Choose Generate code.

Tell the code to your colleague now. It works once, only for that charge, and stops working after a short time. It is shown only once, so copy it or say it straight away. They type it in the void box on their own screen.

Alerts

Open Alerts for things Xenia noticed in the records, such as large discounts, voids, a guest who left owing, or a price change that lowers rates. Each alert points to the permanent record that caused it.

• Open, Looked at and Everything separate what you have still to read from what you have dealt with. Choose Mark as looked at once you have read one.

• Alerts are marked High priority, Look soon or For information. Start with the high ones.

• What is watched, and how sensitive each rule is, is set by the owner.

The audit trail

Audit trail is a permanent record of sensitive actions: what was done, by whom and when. Nobody can edit or delete it. The box at the top shows that the record is intact: how many events have been sealed into the chain, how many are waiting, and when the last checkpoint was emailed to the owners. Only owners can run the integrity check.

Use Show, Person, From and To, and an amount range, to narrow the list, and Export as CSV to take it to a spreadsheet. Choose an event to open it: it shows when, who, from where, and exactly what changed.

Cashier shifts

Cashier shifts shows every shift: who took it, whether it is open or closed, and how much cash it should hold. The system works out what should be in each drawer, and the difference at closing is kept, with the owner told when it is large. Look at it each morning for a shift that was never closed.

Next: Part 3: running the day.