Vacation – Job Setup

The majority of the time you spend with Data Scout is executing job searches and creating reports. However, you must first create jobs. After creating jobs, they can be saved, edited, and re-used.

The Jobs tab houses your library of jobs in a table. The table gives you insight into the number of inputs the job has when the job was created when the job was last executed and the quality of the last run. The Jobs tab also has filters you can use to narrow your jobs by keywords, job type, or dates of when the job was created, last run, finished, or updated.

Creating a Job

How to Create a New Job:

1. Select the Jobs tab.
2. Click New Search in the top left corner of the page.
3. Enter the name of your job.
   • Be descriptive with job names. This helps when contacting QL2 Support. Do not use special characters.
4. Choose your vertical.
5. Click Configure.
6. If you would like to add inputs to the job now, add them in the form that pops up. If not, you can click the X in the corner and add the inputs later.
   • For help on adding inputs to a job, click here.
7. Click Submit.

 
Once the job is created, you can access the information on your job. There are three sections on the Job Details page: Inputs, Schedule, and Results. Inputs are where you will build your job.

There are two methods for building jobs:

1. Wizard – Add single entries via a form directly in the platform.
2. Upload – Use CSV-formatted spreadsheets to upload several input line items at once.

 

Wizard

Wizard is a convenient way to add inputs to a job. The platform contains a form that formats your inputs automatically. Using the Wizard to add inputs to a job is useful when you have a few edits. Each input is added individually, therefore, large jobs should be built using the Upload Method.

NOTE: Wizard is currently only available for Travel clients.

How to Add Inputs to the Job Using Wizard:

1. In the Data action menu, click Add.
   • The Add form contains fields to assist you with populating a search. As with searching a site online, you are required to enter some information such as origin and destination, departure and return dates, and the number of people. There are optional inputs to target further the search results like specific carriers, star rating, and the number of rooms.
2. Use the picker next to the Site Code field to select the site. If your organization searches many sites, use the scroll bar in the picker to view the full name of the site rather than just the site code.
3. Enter the airport code, destination, departure date, and return date.
4. Enter any optional fields.

 

Upload Method

Uploading a spreadsheet allows you to add a number of inputs to a job at one time. As well, after creating spreadsheets, they can be saved and reused or edited. For more information on editing a spreadsheet, click here.

The first step is to perform the tasks for building a spreadsheet. Each cell of the spreadsheet must contain a specific type of data to successfully perform a job.

How to Add Inputs to the Job with the Upload Method:

1. Open a spreadsheet application.
2. Using the Spreadsheet Input Format table as a reference, enter the parameters for the keywords, product numbers, or paths you wish to add to the job into the spreadsheet you opened.
3. Save the spreadsheet as a CSV file.
4. Return to the Jobs tab of Data Scout to incorporate the spreadsheet into the job.
5. In the Inputs section of the page, click Upload.
6. Click Browse to locate the CSV spreadsheet you saved.
7. Click Upload.

 

Search Properties

You may modify select properties for a job. These properties include the search name, the length of time a search is allowed to execute, the number of times to attempt reruns, and the result file upload URL.

TIP: Change the properties to a search before executing it. If it is executed, the changes will not take effect until the next execution.

How to Modify Search Properties:

1. In the Jobs tab, click on the name of the job you would like to modify the search properties for.
2. Click on the More drop-down menu in the top right of the page.
3. Select Search Properties.
   • For more information, view the Search Properties table.
4. Edit the desired properties.
5. Click Update.

 
NOTE: The default search properties are set up at the time your QL2 account is created according to the type of searching your organization chooses.
 

Search Property	Default Value	Field Contents
Search Name	Name	Type a new name to change the search name.
Stop Search At	Never	Never – Allows the search to run until finished. Abort at – Designate a particular time to stop the search. Abort after – Stop the search after a certain amount of time.* There are two choices for aborting a search – after the scheduled run start time or after the actual start time. Often, a search does not start on time if another search is executing. If a search is set to abort three hours into execution and is not able to begin due to another search, the search will execute only for the amount of time from the scheduled start. For example, a search is scheduled to begin at 8:00 but does not begin until 11:00 due to another search execution. If the search is set to execute for three hours from the scheduled start time, it never executes. If the search is set to execute for three hours after the actual start time, it begins at 11:00 and aborts at 14:00
Continue to the last page to fetch a final price	Yes	Select “Yes” if you want the system to click through to the final page to get the final price. Searching to the last page takes more time and this is not available on all website scripts.
Send email alerts to	None	Enter email addresses separated by commas.
Primary site code, for post-processing	None	Enter the site code to compare other site codes when mapping across sites. For more information about mapping, contact your QL2 Account Manager.
Quick Shop	0	Enter a “1” to extract data from the listing page only.
Return all flights with the first hotel	No	Select “Yes” to return all flights with the first hotel. If “No”, the lowest priced flight returns

 
Spreadsheet Input Format

Column	Field	Description
A	Site ID	Two letters identifiers of the site from which to extract rates.
B	Origin	Three-letter airport code.
C	Destination	Destination as it appears on the target website.
D	Departure	On the day of departure to the vacation destination.
E	Return	The day of return to origin.
F	Adults	A number of adults (Default is 2).
G	Children	A number of children (Default is 0).
H	Rooms	Number of rooms (applies to hot wire and Expedia only) (Default is 1).
I	Hotel Address (optional)	The most significant word in hotel address.
J	Reference (optional)	Up to 12 characters of user-specified reference information.
K	Search Type	Choose 2 to 3 letters from: “C” – Car “H” – Hotel “F” – Flight
L	Carrier (optional)	Carrier 2-letter code.
M	Flight Number (optional)	Used in conjunction with the outbound airline.
N	Rental Car Agency (optional)	Rental car agency 2-letter code.
O	Car Type (optional)	Type of car.
P	Depart Time (optional)	0 – 23 – Midnight through 11 pm 24 – Morning 25 – Afternoon 26 – Evening
Q	Return Time (optional)	0 – 23 – Midnight through 11 pm 24 – Morning 25 – Afternoon 26 – Evening
R	Property Name (optional)	Limit results to a specific hotel.
S	Length of Stay (optional)	Length of stay
T	Stars (optional)	Star rating.
U	Max Properties (optional)	A maximum number of properties.
V	Max Properties applies to each Star Rating (optional)	0 – False 1 – True
W	Board Basis (optional)	0 – Any 1 – Breakfast 2 – Half 3 – Full 4 – All-Inclusive 5 – Room Only
X	Sort by Price (optional)	0 – False 1 – True
Y	Room Type (optional)	Enter the room type.
Z	Property ID (optional)	Enter the Property ID.
AA	POS (optional)	Two-letter country code and three-letter currency code, space delimited.
AB	Rates Per Hotel (optional)	Enter the Rates per hotel.
AC	DOW filter depart (optional)	Limit query to flights which depart on the given days of the week. Syntax: MO,TU,WE,TH,FR,SA,SU
AD	DOW filter return (optional)	Limit query to flights which return on the given days of the week. Syntax: MO,TU,WE,TH,FR,SA,SU
AE	Custom (optional)	Custom field
AF	Geo (optional)	An optional identifier for a two-character country code