All hotels now use computers extensively and staff must learn to work on the installed PMS. If your hotel has PMS installed, this document will assist you to work faster and more accurately.

1. IDS Fortune Next 6i Property Management
System; Keyboard Shortcuts & Tips:
User Name: FOL ; Password:
IHM@12345
Following are some suggested shortcuts and tips to speed up your
workflow while working in IDS PMS.
Hot keys: Like all professional software IDS allows the user to
select the most frequently done tasks and assigning the
function keys from F1 to F12 to each one of them. The window
to assign ‘Hot keys’ is visible whenever we log-in to the IDS, and
can be changed at will, at any time by the user. Hot keys are
great time savers.
Enter key: press “Enter” after entering data in every field/box
to save data; and move forward logically.Not doing so may
result in loss of data, and confusion in navigation. Avoid using
random mouse clicks and clicking too much. Use keyboard and
Windows shortcuts.
: When you see a particularbuttonmenu covered by a
dotted box like this, pressing ‘Enter’ will automaticallyselect
that option.For example,
F1- Function key. Whenever you see the ‘?’ symbol in front of
any Field, press F1 to get a number of optionsto choose from.
Save

2. It saves typing time. For example, in the name field/box, you
may get optionslike (Mr./Ms./Miss/Mrs.)
Alt + X- To exit from a window.
Alt + C- To cancel
Alt + B- To go back one window.
In fact, every button will have a letter that is underlined.
Pressing Alt+ ‘letter underlined’ will execute the command
assigned to that button. It minimizes mouse clicks and
tediousness. For example;
Alt + a for Add,
Alt + m for Modify,
Alt + d for Delete,
Alt + s for Save etc.
Q- Quick scan option is to choose menu items quickly. Let us
say you wish to do room booking. Type ‘b’ on the computer
keyboard and a quick scan window containingallcommands
beginningwith ‘B’ will be displayedon yourscreen to select and
execute from. For check-out, type ‘c’…
F1- In ‘Title’ (before name) Field, to get a number of
pre-defined optionsi.e. Mr.Mrs.Ms. Etc.

3. Add: To add new data in a task window, search for a button
labeledas ‘Add’. Many windowswill not be activated till you
click on the “Add/ Modify/ Delete/ Browse” button.
Modify: To modify existing data that was saved earlier in a task
window.
Delete: To delete existing data that was entered and saved
earlier in a task window.
Browse: to search data that was saved earlier in a task window.
Save: To save data entered in a task window. If you wish to
save data in a particulartab/ window but you can’t find the
“Save” button displayedon the screen, use Alt + S command to
save data and Alt + X to exit from a window.
Escape: If you are confused, or not able to navigate within a
window, pressing “Escape” sometimes may help you exit from
that task.
Alt + F4: to finallyclose the main window of IDS, use the key
combination.
: use the arrow keys to scroll in all four directions,
within a drop-down menu and within a window.
Enter key: in date field, pressing ‘Enter’ inserts the current
software (PMS) date.

4. +3: In departure date field, just type the number of days the
guest will check-out after, and then press ‘Enter” and it
automaticallyinserts the date correctly.
Look-ups Menu: To search a particularguest and any details
related to himher.
F5: To refresh. Alternatively, right click the mouse and choose
refresh from the displayed context menu window.
Tab button: to move forward to the next FieldWindowopen
tabs.
Shift + Tab: To move backward to the previousfieldwindow
Ctrl. + Alt. + Delete: To activate ‘Task Manager’ when computer
hangs. Use Task Manager Command to ‘End’ the current
running (but hung) instance of IDS. Log in again to be able to
work again.You should also know why your computer hangs
actually.Clicking impatientlymany times on a button and not
allowingthe processor enough time to perform a task is the
main reason why computer hangs. Busy server is another
reason.
End Button: in settlement window, pressing the ‘End’ button of
the computer keyboard will automaticallyinsert the exact total
amount in the right column. No need to type manuallyor make
tediouscorrections.

5. Room Rack Console: Thisis a multi-task window to execute
most important tasks connected to the specific room (assign
room, block, release, check-in, check-out etc.) numbers on
specific dates. Use ‘right click’ frequently to select multiple
optionsin a selected tab (room number+ date cell in the
console interface)
Filter Box: Most windowswhere there are too many
items/optionsto search from, use the filter box on top (just like
Google internalsearch box) to type in the guest name or room
number, date etc to narrow down the field of displayed
options. Will save the time and avoidstraining the eyes due to
excess of browsing through the long list of data.
Prepared by: Praveen Jha
Senior Lecturer, Institute of Hotel Management, Hajipur(Patna)
Bihar.
Uploadedon September 18, 2020.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUKg3s16nogyIl-nwlYr1wQ