Ticket Order Entry

tix/SYS includes a sophisticated ticket order-entry screen that allows for rapid show and seat selection, printing of tickets and vouchers, and sales of merchandise. Handling charges can be automatically calculated based on either a flat rate - per ticket or per order - or a percentage of the order total. Customer name, address, phone numbers and other information can be captured and it will automatically determine the will-call 'drop' location and date if required. The order-entry programs function on rule-based order processing enabling you to 'tell' the system the rules by which your event sells tickets and merchandise or fills pre-defined ticket packages.

"Header" tickets can be printed as part of each order that lists all ticket codes and merchandise item codes in addition to the customer's name, telephone number, order total, method of payment, order number and other information. Each headers has two parts: one that can be used as a customer receipt and the other that serves as verification of order pickup. The clerk and the customer can also use the stub to verify that the order is complete and correct, and it can be signed in place of a charge slip. It is also commonly used to attach to the front of will-call envelopes for easy identification.

Orders can be recalled by order number, credit card number, customer name, or even by what the customer name sounds like, ensuring that even miss-spelled orders will be found. Note that you can elect not to enter customer name and contact information on the order, but this will restrict your ability to recall orders and perform a demographic analysis of your customers. You can configure tix/SYS to require operators to enter demographic data based on the order's origin or its method of payment. For example, you can tell tix/SYS that you want to capture complete information for phone orders and only name and phone number for walk-up sales. Many events elect to capture complete customer addresses in order to mail ticket packages directly to customers or to compile a general mailing list. tix/SYS can even print the mailing labels. In addition, tix/SYS can print 'order confirmation' letters that can be faxed or emailed directly from tix/SYS, or printed for mailing.

The order screen will warn the operator when the number of tickets available for an event drops below a set percentage and will not allow tickets to be sold or printed for sold-out shows unless an authorized individual chooses to override this safety feature. All details of such overrides are logged in an audit file and require that the user enter a reason for the override.

tix/SYS can suggest alternatives if a customer chooses a sold-out performance. It will display other show times for that event as well as any other events showing around the time of the sold-out show.

Credit card processing is tightly integrated into the system; however, should you choose to manually process credit card transactions, the system can keep track of credit card data and will always validate card numbers to ensure correct data entry. The optional tix/SYS Credit Card Authorization Server is an inexpensive and efficient alternative to manual terminals (see Credit Card Server).