Adding an External API to a charter Dashboard

We are responsible for getting External API partnerships set up correctly from the initial request. The requests will come from either the Tour Operator or the External API Partner. If we receive the request from the External API Partner, the Tour Operator must be CC’d on the email, and we must receive confirmation from the Tour Operator unless there is a contract between the two parties attached.

1. Verify that the affiliate is actually an External API. You can verify using the API Partner Glossary or using the affiliate’s Close lead and searching for the custom field “SP-Affiliate Setup: API Partner”.

   Pro Tip: If you are unsure which affiliate dashboard to use, look at the (Who Does What) Airtable located on the API Partner Glossary page. It will have the correct Dashboard linked.

2. Once you have verified the External API is on the list, open up the tour operator’s Dashboard. Go to Settings > Affiliates on the left-hand side.

   

3. Click on + Add Affiliate and search for the External API on the first drop-down labeled Choose an affiliate. The easiest way to do this is by copying the shortname from the (Who Does What) Airtable.

4. Select the corresponding Total Pricing Sheet & Billing Invoicing Sheet (please note that External APIs will always collect payment, so we will always assign a billing invoice sheet)

   • If pricing/taxing/customer types should be different from the online pricing for this partner, set them up on their own total sheet, and don’t forget the invoice sheet to match.
   • Make sure the correct items/customer types are visible. If needed, it’s okay to ask the client and/or External API partner for the * items/customer types that need to be visible.
   • If there are Customer Types or Items that you don’t think should be used, ie: COMP, BOGO, 50% discount etc – Hide them on the API partners’ price sheet.
   • If this API partner doesn’t read Custom Fields, but the tour operator needs to include a fee in the total price – Hide the Custom Field on that price sheet and add it on to the price of the Customer Type.
5. Assign the Default – API Cancellation Policy. If that doesn’t exist in the dashboard yet – create the cancellation policy by following this example.
6. Select the External API Permission Group and leave Affiliate Taking Payment on the Payment Default.
7. Uncheck the “Require a voucher field”.

Common API Requests

What are the most frequent API related requests you might see as a Channel Specialist?

Direct to Partner

Here is some verbiage you can use when receiving requests to “check the connection” for External API partners:

Regarding [External API Partner], this specific partner connects to FareHarbor’s External API which means connectivity is primarily managed and maintained within their system. I would recommend reaching out to the [External API Partner] support team directly about this update. They will be able to review [your product connection/any necessary updates/your new product] to make sure that is connected in their system.

Channel Support – Problems with Pricing

If price sheets are checked/confirmed and the charter or partner is still seeing incorrect rates, that can continue to come to the Connectivity Team for extra help (EX: Postman proof). The API Partner Glossary gives us some direction on whether a partner can pull pricing, but we don’t always know how they pull pricing:

• May or may not pull price schedules.
• Might require manual adjustments on the product listing or website.
• May add taxes/fees manually.

Why we need new CTs and how to do it?

Channel Support is usually one of the first affiliate teams to receive API requests for External API Partners.

While we don’t want to overwhelm FH dashboards with workarounds, integration updates do take time and money. We want to help clients connect as quickly as possible if basic dashboard adjustments will help. And FH has all the dashboard experts!

The main benefits of CS handling this are:

• Cut down on the back and forth = expedited requests
• Keep affiliate projects consolidated under one agent
• Keep your tickets (you’re doing most of the work)!
• Learning opportunity for future troubleshooting

Creating new CTs:

1. When to add new customer types
   • When the charter uses price schedules, but the External API Partner can’t connect to price schedule (EX: Groupon/Redeam).
   • Needs a group ticket that is not offered on FareHarbor.
   • External API Partners can’t read CF pricing.
2. Creating new customer types
   • Many times creating new customer types for External API Partners follows the same process as adding new customer types for the charter.
   • Channel API Partners are not as flexible which is why we recommend forwarding straight to Connectivity!
   • Create CT + Adjust Price Sheet Settings
     • Create new CT – Do not duplicate existing customer types for API partners
     • Hide the new CT on the base price sheet. Make it visible only on the API partner price sheet. Create a specific price sheet just for that OTA if there isn’t one already.
     • Add API/[OTA Name] to the ‘Note’ field on the CT.
   • Add to Item + Existing Resources
     • Add the customer type to the item using these steps.
     • Price on the item level, not the customer type level.
     • Add the customer type to the existing resources using these steps (start with step 3 and continue through ‘Adding a Requirement Option’).
       • Make sure the ‘Uses’ correspond to the number of people being booked.
   • Add to Existing Availabilities & Adjust Admin Notes – Notify Client or Partner
     • Add the customer type to existing availabilities using these steps.
     • If you are adding seasonal CTs they should only be applied to availabilities that correspond to the price point.
     • If you are adding group CTs for the first time, it is extremely important that the resources are adjusted to pull the proper number of uses for the group.
     • Once complete, make sure to update the dashboard admin notes, noting which item IDs have new CTs.
     • Notify the partner or client that this is ready to connect.

Examples:

1. Group Tickets:
   • Loom Video
   • Dashboard example (live dash)
   • Update Dashboard Admin notes
2. Per Person Tickets:
   • Loom Video
   • Dashboard example (live dash)
   • Update Dashboard Admin notes

Learn More about Resources

Common Examples of Resource Set-Ups

• Play with resources on your demo dashboard (Highly recommended)
• Complete the Lessonly on Resources
• How to set up rentals/inventory
• How to set up customer type openers

If there are no resources on the dashboard, but they are needed for a new CT, the Support and Build Teams can always help.

Remember that your teammates can also give you a second pair of eyes on a dashboard set up!

If you’re unsure how resources are working or what the client is aiming to do, you can just ask the client. Sometimes all we require is a little more info from the charter to understand their needs. Resources should be intuitive 90% of the time. If they aren’t, it’s possible they need to be fixed altogether!

When it’s not clear what their resources are doing, the charter should be able to describe what inventory they need tracked and what they offer.

If it is still unclear, or it seems the resources & dashboard require wide scale updates, we can always loop in with other FareHarbor teams that have the ability to make major updates.

External API Troubleshooting

If you have ensured that everything was set up correctly and there is a problem, please forward the ticket to the Connectivity Team in Zendesk.