So now that we've been in the system for a little over a year and have really gotten our patrons used to the new ticket buying process, we've noticed some things have become a lot easier...but there are still a few things we struggle with. If anyone has any advice on how to fix the below things (preferably in v16 as we'll be Live there in 6 weeks).
First, how do we stop people from buying duplicate tickets in TNEW? I know there is an Idea on the Ideas Board to create some sort of "Order History" area for patrons to see what they've already purchased, but until that becomes a thing, does anyone have a workaround?
Second, I know Entitlements will work to limit our member tickets to only our members with member records on file (thank you to everyone who answered that post!). However, will that also limit the number of tickets they can purchase based on level? An example: our Educator Membership Level only allows 1 ticket to be purchased, however at our First Friday event one of our Educator Level members bought 5 member tickets (way more than her level allows). How do we stop members from going over their limit?
Any and all advice would be helpful!
Both Entitlements and Benefits have the ability to limit how many tickets may be redeemed. Are you looking to limit the number available per show? I'm not sure what all the "Frequency" options are Benefits, and with Entitlements our limit is basically a total for the duration of the membership, but it looks like it can be set to Performance and Daily as well.
Would the N-Scan Membership Entry functionality on Production Seasons not work for you?
In v15 Entitlements you can set a limit by day, by performance, by Production Season or the duration of the membership. Was an Entitlement keyword attached to the event in question? If so, double check the number of tickets allowed in your Entitlement System Tables for that membership level and price type. Feel free to email me if you'd like to discuss further for v15 (neda@mfah.org).
The problem with using NScan on their membership cards is most of the events in question are not free to them, they are a separate ticketed event. They get a discount, but not free. So scanning their membership card into the event wouldn't help.
I guess you could call it "per show" Although it applies to pretty much everything we do. Basically I need the system to say "This Household Membership gets 2 tickets per event and can be used for any event they choose." Meaning instead of 2 tickets for the whole year, it would be 2 MAD party tickets, 2 First Friday tickets, 2 Lecture tickets, etc.
I will look into this. We are leaving v15 to merge to 16 in exactly 1 month, so I may need to look and see if the same concept applies for 16 as well.
Where do I find the Entitlements system table?
I believe that's what "Per Show" will get you.
Awesome! I'll check it out.
Here are the tables, the main one for noting the actual benefits is LTR_Entitlement. The whole Entitlement benefit delivery is a general customization.
Here's a sample setup for limits we put in place for numbers of member tickets for lectures by individual performance; we have different limits for events, daily admission, etc.
Note that v16 benefits are Pricing Rule based and these tables, I assume, will no longer be in play.
I just looked under our System Tables, and it looks like we don't have "LTR_Entitlement" or any of the entitlement tables. The only things we have for LTR are all TNEW related.
Did you guys have that customized or was it out of the box.
It's custom but not specific to us. It was an additional functionality Tessitura has that you could add for a fee, like an extension. For v16 it'll be included as part of Pricing Rules.
Are you logged in as a System Administrator? Perhaps you don't have security access to those tables?
Ah, that makes sense. I will wait until v16 then (my org doesn't want to spend extra money for custom builds if they can avoid it).
Yes. I am in as Admin.
Oh, how are you currently presenting those price types to your members then?
Every price type we have goes to everyone (member or general public). So when someone registers for an event in TNEW, it will give all ticket type options for that event. So if a general public patron really wanted to be a jerk, he could buy a discounted Member ticket and unless we're really paying attention (which is rare) that Gem Pub person can get let in n a member ticket and the front desk would be none the wiser.
You could use Pricing Rules to only present the member tickets to those with Memberships, if you have a separate constituency created for them. You could also attach another rule that suppresses the member tickets from someone who's purchased beyond a certain number of tickets. It's a broader brush than Entitlements but it might work for you if you have to have something asap. If it's not urgent though, I'd wait until v16 so as not to confuse your members with too many process changes.