Connect an Existing Venue to a Property Management System (PMS)
This page explains what happens to the units, subscribers, and subscriptions a Venue already has when you turn on PMS sync.
A Venue that is already live with units and subscriptions may also have a Property Management System (PMS) added. When doing so, the first sync has to decide, for every unit and subscriber, how to complete the sync.
This page explains those decisions. For the steps to set the connection up, please refer to the Connect a Venue to a Property Management System (PMS) article.
What Should I Check Before I Enable the Sync?
Check the Venue's default Service Plan. Neither RealPage nor Entrata sends a service plan, so every subscription the sync creates is placed on that plan.
If the plan is priced, every resident the PMS reports becomes a billable subscription with no payment method on file. Every one of those payments will fail, and each subscription is then handled as described in Shopping Cart Payment Rules.
When Does the First Sync Run?
Three things must be on together: the PMS Profile for your Network Operator, and the two Venue switches "Enable Unit Sync" and "Enable Subscriber Sync". Both Venue switches are off by default.
On an existing Venue, enable Unit Sync on its own, review how your units were matched, and only then enable Subscriber Sync. No subscription is created until Subscriber Sync is on.
How Does VAULT Decide Whether to Update a Unit or Create a New One?
Unit sync runs first, before any resident is looked at. A Unit is identified by its Venue, unit number, building, and floor, and the PMS syncs to that identity. As long as these match, your existing units stay where they are and start carrying the sync — enabling the integration does not give you a second set of units. The first diagram below shows the full decision.
Each unit the PMS reports is matched either to a Unit a previous sync has already stamped, or to the Unit with the same unit number, building, and floor. A matched Unit is updated in place: its address is refreshed from the PMS, and everything in the right-hand column below is left alone.
You are left with two units for the same apartment only where the identity VAULT stored is not character-for-character what the PMS reports. That comparison is exact: VAULT stores the unit number, building, and floor you type in upper case with spaces and punctuation removed, and substitutes DEFAULT where you leave the building or floor empty, while the PMS values are compared as the PMS sends them. So a unit where you left the floor blank will not match one the PMS reports on floor 1.
What Changes on a Unit the PMS Has Matched?
Address Line 1
VLAN
Address Line 2
Purpose
City
Allow Overlapping Subscriptions
State
All Shopping Cart settings
Postal Code
External Venue Unit ID
Country
SMS Code
Unit number, building, and floor
How Does VAULT Decide What to Do With a Resident?
Subscriber sync runs after unit sync. VAULT finds the unit by its PMS ID, then looks for an active subscription in that unit belonging to that resident. Where the unit is empty it creates the subscription on the Venue's default Service Plan. Where somebody else holds the unit, the resident is placed on a temporary unit if Overlapping Subscriptions are enabled, and refused if they are not. The second diagram below shows the full decision.
VAULT never puts a second subscription into an occupied unit, and never changes the subscription already there.
VAULT looks for the resident's existing subscription only in the unit the PMS points to. Where your units were matched, that is the unit your subscriber is already in, so their subscription is claimed and nothing is duplicated.
What Happens to Units and Subscribers the PMS Does Not Report?
A Unit the PMS does not report is left exactly as it is. VAULT will not delete or deactivate a Unit because the PMS stopped reporting it, unless that unit was created by the PMS.
A subscription no PMS sync has ever stamped is also left alone, so subscribers who predate the integration are not affected. The third diagram below shows the full decision.
What Changes on a Subscriber the PMS Has Matched?
Email address
Never changed
Not changed on the first sync, because it is what Entrata matched on. Can change on a later sync
First name
Never changed
Replaced, where Entrata sends one
Last name
Never changed
Replaced, where Entrata sends one
Telephone number
Never changed
Replaced, but only where the number Entrata sends is usable
Subscription start and end dates
Never changed
Never changed
Service Plan
Never changed
Never changed
The Same Decisions as Diagrams
These diagrams show the decisions above in full.
Deciding whether to update a unit or create a new one
Deciding what to do with a resident the PMS reports
Deciding what to do with a subscription the PMS did not report
Please refer to the Property Management System article in the Knowledge Base for information about creating and managing PMS Profiles.
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