I'm trying to expire hold codes at a specific time so I can automate when tickets get released for sale and am having trouble. When I apply the hold map I set an end date (I check the performances and they're held properly), then I set the expiration of a specific hold code for a future date but it the holds expire hold right away! Anyone have advice? What am I doing wrong?
Hello Abbe,
As long as you already have hold expiration dates in the seats you want to schedule to expire, you have to SCHEDULE the Hold Code Expiration Utility in the Ticket Processing folder. It located in the part of Tessitura where you run a report. You schedule the utility to run when you actually want the seats to become available.
A. ***In order to SCHEDULE the utility to expire holds in the future, you must a select CREATE SCHEDULE instead of only clicking Run Report.*** Otherwise, the Hold Code Expiration utility IMMEDIATELY expires holds.
B. The Hold Code Expiration Utility will not work if there is not an End Date/Time set for the holds on the performance(s) with an expiration date on or before the date you set in the utility. Note that setting an end date/time on a hold code map does not actually mean that the hold will expire at that date/time.
C. Be careful with the Hold Code Expiration Utility.
Season (Required) = an entire Season.
Events = an entire Production Season (leave as (None) unless this is what you want).
Performance = only one specific performance.
Performance Start/End date range = Events and Performance must be (None) and will expire ALL of the selected hold code seats over an ENTIRE Season within the date range.
Be careful what hold code you want to expire. Did you catch that it will expire that same hold across all performances within the same season (or production season)? You have to be aware of what hold codes are being used on other performances within the same season/production season (depending on which settings you use in the utility). We use a hold code that only system admins have rights to when we want to schedule tickets to become available. You may want to create a new hold code that is only used for the specific purpose of scheduling holds to expire.
The Tessitura help system does explain all of these hurdles, but you have to read it very carefully.
I’d suggest that you do an experiment on a single seat and see if you can schedule the hold to expire correctly. Once you have a proof of concept, you can then schedule it. When we first did this, we had to redo our Hold Code map with a different hold code, apply it to the performances with an expiration date set, and then SCHEDULE the utility to run.
Once you have done it, it is not that big of a deal. You just got to know the rules.
Looks like you can use the utility to expire holds without end dates by selecting “Expire All.” In the troubleshooting holds section of help, “Expire All was not selected when expiration without the use of expiration dates was intended.”
Hold Code End Dates
When hold codes are applied, an end date can be assigned. The end date is used to manage the removal of hold codes. Expiration functions can be run to remove any hold codes with a specific end date.
Note: End dates do not cause hold codes to be automatically removed.
End Dates
An end date can be added to the hold codes applied for use in reporting and filtering when expiring hold codes. The end date does not cause hold codes to automatically expire, but the expiration of hold codes can be automated by scheduling the Expire Hold Codes utility.