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Cruises – Job Setup

Updated

Data Scout is a secure website designed to put you in control of finding and extracting data available on the web. Data Scout for Cruises is the framework for collecting the wealth of content available to your consumers. You enter the information you wish to retrieve and the Data Scout platform returns the data for your analysis and dissemination.

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 is where you will build your job.

There are two methods for building jobs:

  1. Wizard – Add single entries via a form directly on 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 some 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 Inputs section of the Job Details page, click the Add Inputs to the job.
  2. Open the picker icon next to the Sites field and select one site to search.
  3. Enter the destination as it appears on the target site.
  4. Enter the beginning date.
  5. Enter the end date.
  6. Adjust the default Adults fields if necessary.
  7. Enter the number of children, cruise line, ship, and reference number if desired.

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 or 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 Job 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
Cruises Collection Name Name Type a new name to change the search name.
Stop Cruises Collection 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
Send email alerts to None Enter email addresses separated by commas.
Return pricing by cabin type, no details No Select “No“, “Yes“, or “User Account Setting“. If “Yes“, pricing will be returned by cabin type.

Spreadsheet Input Format

Column Name Description
A Site Short identifier of the site from which to extract data (between two and five letters).
B Destination Destination location, enter exactly as it appears on the target site.
C Month/Year The month and year of the cruise (e.g., “10-2006”, or “Oct-2006” or “0Y OCT” for an absolute month OR any value in the range of 0-48 for a relative month.
D Adults (optional) The number of adults (Default is 2).
E Children (optional) The number of children (Default is 0).
F Cruise Line (optional) The name of the Cruise Line, enter exactly as it appears on the target site.
G Ship (optional) The name of the ship is exactly as it appears on the target site. If you use this field, you must also use the Cruise Line field.
H Reference (optional) The free field that does not get submitted to the target site, but passes through to your output file.
I Geo (optional) An optional identifier for two characters Country Code.