Hello Kind People:
Please accept this request for feedback in the area of package sales with a mandatory contribution.
We need to sell Ring Cycle tickets that will comprise a ticket price and a mandatory donation portion and we need help from the Network on how best to use Tessitura to meet our business need.
Here's the context:
Our Ring Cycle packages will have a mandatory contribution attached to them.
We are looking to somehow ‘embed’ the mandatory contribution amount somewhere on the ticketing side of Tessitura. We would like this to be used both by our ticket sellers, so they can get a visual cue of the amount they are to charge as a mandatory contribution, and possibly a cue for the web contribution. (Note: We may use the web config file for this. Again, we are asking if there is a best practice out there)
We considered using a layered price map with a ‘contribution’ category. However, because that method does not allow us to acknowledge individual contributions, it does not seem suitable. We understand that using a layered price map with a contribution category puts money into a G/L bucket, but that the money cannot be individually acknowledged, and that won't work for us.
Because of that, we are looking to put information somewhere related to tickets in Tessitura.
Now, here’s the rub: The ring is in a future season, so we are not able to enter these contributions directly into a fund on the box office side; they all need to be designated. The Box Office can’t do that, so this money is going on account. Still with me here?
Some ideas we are considering are:
--(for the web portion) Using TR_SECTION ‘Additional Text2’, which allows for additional information we do not currently pull. If the mandatory contribution amount were entered here, it could be accessed from the data base and show up in an online sale.
--(also for the web portion) Perhaps within a price map that is editable, using the minimum amount as the holding place for the mandatory contribution amount. Same method as above is
--For the box office sales reps: The other is in the Facility setup, within the Zone Map where there is a short description which actually shows up on the order screen. It is only a ‘description’ and doesn’t affect the price of the order, but might well give ticket sellers a visual cue.
If anyone has successful experience with this, please give a holler. Likewise, if anyone has a good ‘Don’t do what we did’ warning, please let me know.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Kindly,
Mark Sackett
Box Office Manager / Treasurer
San Francisco Opera
Hi Mark,
I feel your pain. We had the Ring Cycle here a couple of years ago and went through the same process of trying to figure out how to accurately record the mandatory donation. I wouldn't necessarily recommend the way we ended up dealing with this if you can find a way to make it more automatic.
We ended up putting the donation amount as a separate price map so that it was included in the total ticket price and the operator and web wouldn't have to reference anything. Then, and this was the fun part, each day we ran a report on what was sold and manually switched the price type to one without the donation attached and moved the donation money appropriately. This wasn't too bad for the time that it was on sale only through the web and mail order.
Once it was on sale at the windows we made the decision to wait to move any money until after the shows had taken place and we could return and rebuy the appropriate price type and move the donation. (This was due to the fact that we couldn't have a manager present to move money on every sale before the tickets were printed and with access control we couldn't make the change after the tickets were printed.)
I wish you the best with your production and your ticlet sales.