We have a certain number of "dummy" payment methods that should only be used in certain scenarios. Such as they should only be used in a certain MOS, or for a certain price type. Right now the only method to restrict payment methods are by user group, and it's just not feasible to force our ticket sellers to have to log out and log back in under a different user group just for 1 sale and then have to do that all over again for their next sale.
Primarily what's happening is we have a voucher system where students can get any student priced ticket with a special voucher. Unfortunately it happens quite frequently that the ticket sellers will ring in a full priced ticket; and since the student does not have to pay anything, they don't check the price and pay out the full amount with the voucher. We only get reimbursed for the price of a student ticket, so if it's not caught till after the show, we are out that money. I know ultimately this comes down to user error, but if there was a way that the payment method wouldn't even be an option unless there were a student ticket in the order, then we could eliminate most user error issues. We have considered using a comp ticket system, but we have to be able to report this revenue to promoters at settlement. And we have another voucher system for faculty/staff where their voucher only covers a certain amount of a faculty staff discounted ticket and they are required to pay the rest, so it wouldn't work in that scenario either.
Has anyone implemented their own solutions, or gotten Tessitura consulting to develop a good customization for them?
We have a very similar program on our campus and were running up against the exact same issue - when trying to reconcile these vouchers after the show closed, I would find tons that were redeemed at the full price, or paid for by a standard payment method rather than the voucher method. We made a few changes that seem to have really decreased errors:
1) Added a message rule that pops up whenever the voucher pricetype is selected, reminding them that they have to choose the voucher payment type.
2) Requiring staff to staple their tessitura receipt to each voucher at the end of their order and reconcile them at the end of their batch just like money (this also helps us find the problem orders later on when we're troubleshooting)
3) When problem orders are found, making the staff members at fault do the fixing. This instills ownership (and just a smidge of shame) over the mistake so they don't do it again.
There are still a handful of mistakes that happen each show, and we have a couple of shortcuts we've developed to help find the problem orders more quickly, but these seemed to have helped at least decrease it.