RMS uses the word Grouping for two different things: Groupings you create and select yourself, and an automatic Food & Beverage classification the system applies to General Ledger Account Code Groupings on certain reports.

Overview

A Grouping bundles related items together so they can be consolidated on reports and filtered in RMS. Groupings are created in the Grouping Lookup Table and assigned to items such as Categories, Rate Types, Sundries and General Ledger Account Codes.

Two separate behaviours use the word Grouping, and they work in opposite directions:

• Manual Groupings - you create the Grouping, name it whatever you want, assign it to items, and then choose where it is used. Nothing happens unless you select the Grouping somewhere.
• Automatic Food & Beverage Grouping - the system reads the text of your GL Acc Code Grouping headings and classifies revenue as Food & Beverage on specific reports. You do not select this anywhere and you cannot turn it off.

Both behaviours read from the same Grouping Lookup Table, which is why they are easy to confuse. Creating a GL Acc Code Grouping called "Food & Beverage" does two things at once: it gives you a manual Grouping you can select on reports, and it silently opts those GL Acc Codes into the automatic Food & Beverage revenue classification.

On almost every report, Food & Beverage is the only classification that works this way. There is no equivalent automatic behaviour for Activities, Spa, Parking, Laundry or any other revenue category, and there is no way to add one without a change to the report itself. The two DTCM reports are the exception and are covered below.

Key differences

Manual Groupings

Manual Groupings are created in the Grouping Lookup Table at Setup > Lookup Tables > Grouping. Each Grouping has a Grouping Type (for example GL Acc Code, Category, Rate Type) and a Grouping Heading that you enter yourself.

Once created, the Grouping is assigned to individual items in their own setup screen. A GL Acc Code Grouping is assigned at Setup > Accounting > GL Acc Codes.

Manual Groupings do nothing on their own. They take effect only where the Grouping is selected or displayed, for example:

• Report filters and consolidation - report on a collective of items instead of listing each one, such as consolidating Areas on the Housekeepers Report or Categories on the Occupancy Report.
• Report Groupings - preselect Rate Type Groupings and GL Acc Code Groupings at Setup > Accounting > Accounting Options > Reporting for use on the Flash Report, Bill Settlement Report and sections of the Night Audit Report.
• Owner Statement Groupings - subtotal expenses on an Owner Statement under your own headings.
• Custom Tax Invoices and exports - Tax Groupings and Tax Exemption Groupings drive regional taxation reports and custom invoice layouts.

For the full list of Grouping types and what each one is used for, see Groupings in RMS.

Automatic Food & Beverage Grouping

Certain reports break revenue into Accommodation, Food & Beverage and Other. To decide which revenue is Food & Beverage, those reports read the text of each GL Acc Code Grouping heading and look for Food and Beverage keywords. Any GL Acc Code whose Grouping heading contains one of those keywords is reported as Food & Beverage revenue.

Three points make this different from a manual Grouping:

1. You do not select it. There is no screen where Food & Beverage reporting is switched on or off.
2. The Grouping heading text is the trigger. Renaming a Grouping changes how revenue is reported.
3. It applies to a fixed set of reports only. Other reports that use GL Acc Code Groupings display them individually without rolling them into a Food & Beverage total.

For the full keyword list, the reports affected and the interaction with Accommodation Revenue, see Automatic Food & Beverage Grouping on Reports.

Worked example

A property creates two GL Acc Code Groupings and assigns GL Acc Codes to each.

Both Groupings behave the same way wherever the user selects them. They behave differently on the reports that split revenue into Accommodation, Food & Beverage and Other, purely because of the wording of the heading.

Which behaviour applies to me

Accommodation Revenue is neither

Accommodation Revenue is often described as a third Grouping. It is not a Grouping at all. It is a setting on the General Ledger Account Code itself, found at Setup > Accounting > GL Acc Codes, that marks the code as accommodation revenue for reporting.

The two mechanisms are unrelated, but they feed the same three-way revenue split on reports, which is why they are often grouped together in conversation. Accommodation Revenue is checked first and takes priority over a Food & Beverage Grouping on the same GL Acc Code.

Related Articles

• Groupings in RMS
• GL Acc Code Grouping
• GL Acc Code Hierarchy
• Set up General Ledger Account Codes