Redeeming Groupons

Hi all,

I know that there have been a number of posts about Groupons. But I have some specific questions about set up that I didn't see addressed anywhere else.

In a nutshell, we did one Groupon offer earlier this month and it was a nightmare. So we are discussing what would need to be different in order for us to try again.

In a perfect world, this is what we want to do if we attempt this offer again:

- Customer purchases Groupon and receives their unique voucher code.
- Customer can then go onto our website and type in their voucher code into our Promo Code box for the available performance.
- After typing in their code, the customer can then select a maximum of two complimentary tickets in a specific seating section.
- After redemption, their Groupon voucher code would become null and can not be used to redeem for additional tickets.

Just in theory, I've run into a SEVERAL problems/questions with this and I'm looking for advice.

- In the system table TR_WEB_SOURCE_NO does each line have to have a unique source number? What would be the ramifications of having multiple (say 250 or so) rows all with the same Source No but different promo codes?
- If each row does need to have a unique source number, is there any possible way to mass create 250 or so sources instead of doing them all manually? On a similar note, is there a way that I can mass add just as many offers to the performance/MOS or is that manual as well?
- I'm very new to SQL. But if I was given an excel with the list of unique voucher numbers (and tested it a whole heck of a lot in test) is it possible to insert these using SQL Server Management Studio into the TR_WEB_SOURCE_NO system table?
- I know that I can use offers to restrict it to two tickets per order. Is there a way to inactivate the code once it's been used? Maybe someway to make the row in TR_WEB_SOURCE_NO inactivate or something?
- Is there a way to store the promo code onto the constituent record somewhere once it's been redeemed? Maybe as an attribute which is searchable (and was discussed in another groupon thread)? This way if they come in person the Box Office CSR can search to see if the number has been used. Can the CSR then do something to inactive a number if it wasn't previously used?
- Would all of this extra work be completely wasted if people came in person to redeem their voucher? We had a lot of people redeem night of show last time which I think would throw a lot of this work down the drain.

I really do appreciate any feedback you may have regarding this. We aren't sure if we can make this happen due to minimal DBA and/or web developer resources. But if we can pull it off somehow we would like to try!

Thanks in advance for any responses!