Revenue reconciliation

In simple terms, revenue reconciliation is the balance of sales generated to fares validated over any given period. There are various ways in which travel is sold to passengers, various ways in which passengers validate their ticket products for travel, and then various ways in which these activities are communicated to the fares system operator. These have been described in the preceding sub-sections.

In a scale of complexity, the traditional fare collection systems generate more manual recording, and then require a series of individual inputs that each requires reconciliation. Any variances identified then need to be investigated until reconciliation is established. These processes are time consuming, and prone to human error or fraud, but most can be computerized after the initial data entry.

Modern electronic fare collection systems, however, lend themselves to automated revenue reconciliation, which is managed through a clearing house that is provided either by the fare collection agency or the system integrator on its behalf. The financial clearing system has to be robust and accurate, and trusted by all affected parties. This function, and its software capability, is central to the successful implementation of an electronic fare collection system.

In either case, the revenue reconciliation process should enable an array of analytical reports to be generated in many time and place, and product and class, series so that an overview of activity levels can be established. These analytical tools require computerized systems, and cannot be replicated cost-effectively in manual revenue management systems.