Many Companies provide a method of allowing a customer to pay for another person's items in advance as a gift. The Portal handles this situation in the form of gift vouchers. The customer pays an amount that they wish to give and is issued with a voucher. The voucher acts as a special tender type in a future sale where it is redeemed by a second customer for items that they want. In this tutorial we will discuss the maintenance and reporting of the sale of gift vouchers.

 

This tutorial discusses the functionality of the screens that can be accessed from the Vouchers Menu. The Vouchers Menu can be opened by selecting Menus, Customer, Services and Vouchers from the Navigation Menu. This menu has two main sections, Maintenance and Reports, as well as the standard Menus and Logout links. The Maintenance section of the Vouchers Menu allows you to setup voucher types, create new vouchers and edit existing vouchers while the Reports section provides reporting facilities on the vouchers in use in the Portal.

 

 

It is important to realise that the vouchers described in this tutorial are not the same thing as Loyalty Vouchers. The vouchers created by the Loyalty system are specifically created to cash in the reward points earned by members, whereas the vouchers in the Customer Services Menu are purchased by a customer and redeemed by another. Loyalty Vouchers are discussed in another tutorial.

 

Part One: Voucher Maintenance

 

In the first section of this tutorial we will discuss the Maintenance section of the Vouchers Menu. Click on the Maintenance link to open this section, which deals with the management of vouchers in the Portal.

 

 

Select the Setup link in the Maintenance section of the Vouchers Menu to open the Voucher Type Report screen. Vouchers are grouped by their type to enable/disable functionality for the voucher. For example, vouchers of one type might allow part-redemptions while vouchers of another type might not. The report screen that opens lists each type of voucher currently available with an overview of the available functionality of each type.

 

 

Select the Description of a voucher type to edit its details or select the Create New Voucher Type link to create a new one. Enter the Voucher Type code and Description for the type. Select True in the drop-downs to enable functionality such as Allow Recharge (to enable the customer to add value to the voucher by paying more money after the voucher is created), Allow Part Redeem (to allow the customer to spend part of the value of the voucher at a time) or Allow Sale (to allow the vouchers to be purchased - false means that the voucher type is disabled from being purchased any more, but that it can still be redeemed until Allow Redeem is set to false). The Sales Department and Redeem Department drop-down lists allow you to select departments for the sale and redemption of vouchers of this type (default departments are set in the Company Options screen). A Sales Fee can be applied to the voucher type if required. Press the Save button to save the voucher type or the Reset button to revert the changes to the previous save. A New button appears when editing a voucher type, allowing you to create new types from the Voucher Type Maintenance screen, and a Delete button allows you to remove the selected type from the Portal.

 

 

The New Voucher link in the Maintenance section of the Vouchers Menu opens the Voucher Maintenance screen. In this screen you can create a new voucher in the Portal for a customer. Select the Voucher Type for the voucher from the drop-down list. Enter a Voucher number or code to identify it. If desired, enter the name of the Customer as well as their Address and Phone number. The original Value of the voucher can be entered, and any amount Used by the purchaser can also be entered. Select an appropriate Status from the drop-down list provided. When the voucher is issued or redeemed, the Issue Date and Redemption Date fields are updated accordingly. Press the Save button to save the voucher details to the Portal or the Reset button to revert the changes to the last saved details.

 

 

When the details have been saved, two new buttons are added to the Voucher Maintenance screen to allow you to create a New voucher or Delete the selected one. The History button allows you to view the transaction history of the selected voucher in a report screen. The Voucher History Report lists the voucher's Serial Number, Type, Status, Transaction Time, Value, Redeem Amount, Value Remaining, Site, Terminal, Operator and Journal Number. You can select the voucher's serial number to open a popup menu, allowing you to open the Voucher Maintenance screen to edit the details of the voucher.

 

 

The Find Voucher link in the Maintenance section of the Vouchers Menu can be used to edit the details of a voucher. It opens the Voucher Search screen, allowing you to search for the voucher to edit. Enter part or all of the voucher's serial number in the Voucher field and select the Type of voucher to search for. Press the Search button to search for the voucher. All vouchers of the selected type containing the entered code are listed with details of the voucher's Serial Number, Type, Customer Name, Phone Number, Status, Issue Date, Redeem Date, Value, Used, Amount Available and Liability. Select a serial number to open the Voucher Maintenance screen with the details of the selected voucher loaded to allow you to edit the details of the voucher.

 

 

Part Two: Voucher Reports

 

The Portal provides two reports to allow you to monitor the status of vouchers in the Portal. In this section of the tutorial we will discuss the reports available in the Reports section of the Vouchers Menu. Click on the Reports link in the Vouchers Menu to open the Reports section.

 

 

The Voucher Summary Report is opened by the Summary link in the Reports section of the Vouchers Menu. This report is used to display total liability of vouchers in the Portal grouped by status and type. For each status of each type of voucher, the information displayed in the report includes the Description, Type, Status, Total Value, Total Used, Total Remaining and Total Liability.

 

 

Click on a Description of a voucher type to open a popup menu with the following options:

 

 

 

Select the serial number of a voucher to open a popup menu with the following options:

 

 

The Global link in the Reports section of the Vouchers Menu opens the Non-settled Global Vouchers Summary Report. This report details the liability of vouchers sold at the specified Site. The Type drop-down can be used to select the voucher type and the Sub Type drop-down can be used to filter the report according to Normal vouchers, Returned vouchers or All vouchers. For each voucher in the report, the Description, Type, Amount Sold, Amount Redeemed and Outstanding Liability are displayed.

 

In this tutorial we have discussed the creation and sale of vouchers in the Portal and looked at the setup of voucher types. We have also looked at the reporting facilities available to aid in the maintenance and tracking of vouchers in the Portal.