Database Systems

Database Systems

The organization for which I work for uses Maestro 4.8 running on MS SQL server. Maestro’s SQL database gathers and constructs guest, hotel operations, and billing data into a format that is secure and consolidates data entry to reduce time and redundant inputting of such data. Little of this process is apparent to the clerks at the front terminals where the data entry occurs through the Opera front desk system. The audit shift has a bit more knowledge of the sever side as the backup tapes are made and must be swapped out each night before 3am. This allows audit to see more of the back end side of the operation of the organization and realize how keeping backups of this database is important to the business and the integrity of the database itself. Other than keeping track of current guest and the financial records related to the hotels daily operation, the most intriguing aspect is to pull up that data from a day ago or a year ago on the fly. Before this elaborate database contained on one server, instead of having backup tapes with quarterly backups of folios and financial statistics. When they install the new database server and boasted that from time of first use to date all guest history will be available I was skeptical. Three years have passed and I’m still amazed at how everything is available on one unit.

Many other applications are connected to this database our movie provider Lodgenet has their system interfaced with the database through the server. This application starts movies or games for guest then forwards the billing information through the database to Opera so clerks can analyze the bill. Auditors must be able to restart the interface that Lodgenet has to the database or the billing and Lodgenet itself doesn’t operate correctly. The telephone system interfaces with the database and while not an application in the normal sense some software does come into play. The call interface links through the database to Opera mainly for room telephone billing services but there are two pseudo accounts for admin calls and lost interfaces that are house accounts and separate from rooms. This call account interface seems to have the most discrepancies with the database compared to the other applications mostly cause by hardware issues. Holidex Holiday Inn’s pride and joy reservation system for world wide connectivity also must interface with the