By using the six customizable flex fields provided in ARC’s Memo Manager, travel agencies can better manage their debit memo processing, reconciliation and reporting.

Memo Manager gives travel agencies access to six open flex fields, which can be used to store any agency-defined information about a memo — in an environment that is not visible to the airline. These versatile fields allow you to assign values or provide notes to any memo, giving you the power to track, sort and create custom reports based on those values.

Here are some common ways you can utilize flex fields to enhance your debit memo processing:

• Record agent name. Enhance communication within your agency by recording the name or initials of the agent (or GDS contact) identified as responsible for resolving the debit memo. Additionally, agencies can document the name or initials of the ticketing agent responsible for generating the debit memo for increased transparency.
• Add an agency-defined reason code. An airline can assign a standard reason to a memo, but the issue may be complex — or your agency’s opinion of the memo reason could differ. In these cases, agencies can utilize a flex field to indicate the agency-defined debit memo reason code.
• Categorize corporate accounts. By adding the corporate account and/or business unit name associated with the ticket, your agency can identify memo trends for corporate clients.
• Mark disputed memos. Make a note of which memos have been disputed so your agency can track how many disputed memos have been won or lost.
• Make notes on open memos. Add notes about ongoing research or the status of an open memo, or communicate whether the memo was an agency issue, an agent issue, a GDS issue or a client issue. Agencies can also indicate whether a memo has been assigned to the GDS.
• Reference billing codes. Document the accounting or billing code assigned to the debit memo to enhance internal reporting.
• Mark paid memos. Indicate memos that have been paid or issued a waiver but have not yet been closed by the airline.

Below is an example of commonly used values an agency might assign to the six flex fields:

Once these flex fields are populated, your agency can export Memo Manager data into a spreadsheet and filter by any of these values, giving you the ability to track, sort and create custom reports. This data can be used to increase efficiencies, improve training for ticketing agents, or develop better management controls to ultimately reduce your agency’s debit memos.

To learn more about how your agency can use flex fields to better manage debit memos, contact ARC’s Customer Care Center at ccchelp@arccorp.com, or call 855-816-8003.

If your agency subscribes to Memo Analyzer, these flex field values will automatically populate within that tool, offering you quick access to all your notes as you dive deeper into debit memo trends. Memo Analyzer is best suited for agencies that process 25 or more debit memos per month. To learn more about Memo Analyzer, or to request a demo for your agency, click here.