Gift Certificate Sales & Redemption

Version 4 V4 Tutorial
34

Is there a way to add existing gift certificate numbers that previously exist in my business that were not generated by samba?

And just to confirm…the work period report remains incorrect regarding the sale of gift cards showing up in Sales Total? Or did I miss something?

36

Work Period report does not work very well for custom implementations. This is why Custom Reports was developed. In fact in the near future I am thinking you will see the default reports that are built in will change and become dynamic no longer hard coded. They will still exist but will be fully customizable just like Custom reports are now. @emre has hinted at this several times.

In fact I would be willing to bet custom reports will probably become standard feature eventually with the old reports as default pre-built custom reports that you can edit to your liking or make completely new ones.

I recommend you look at Custom Reports module from Samba Market and if you want a starting place for tutorial look here:

http://sambapos.com/wiki/doku.php?id=custom_reporting

1 Like
37

ok…the existing reports do enough for me but it would be great if the Sales Numbers didn’t reflect gift card purchases

Any way for me to add pre existing gift card numbers to this process? I’ve added some test numbers but the gift card search wont list them. even with gc20 as the prefix.

thanks

38

While the GC is showing as part of Sales in the WorkPeriod report, it is not actually part of the Sales Account. As to why the Report shows it as a Sale, I don’t know. The Report is wrong, but you cannot alter it (at least not yet). The only alternative (at this time) is to design your own Report instead.

You should be able to add them manually, but it isn’t particularly easy to do so. The reason the search mechanism isn’t finding them is because it filters for a GCStatus State of Purchased. Setting this Entity State is the tricky part.

  • Create an Account for GC20xxxxxxxx
  • Create a Gift Certificate Entity for GC20xxxxxxxx
  • Set the Entity to use the Account (must have identical name)
  • Set the Entity custom data field for GCBalance to the value of the GC (which is the last numbers of the GC name)
  • Create a Transaction Document containing a GC Credit Transaction which transfers funds from (source) GC20xxxxxxxx to (target) GC Funds for the value of the GC.
  • Now the tricky part: set the GC Entity State called GCStatus to Purchased. How do we do that? I would use SQL.
INSERT INTO [EntityStateValues] (
 [EntityId]
,[EntityStates]
) values (
 (select [Id] from [Entities] where [Name]='GC201501270806685200') -- substitute your GCxxx name here
,'[{"D":"\/Date(1422367600895-0600)\/","S":"Purchased","SN":"GCStatus"}]'
)

We could design a way to do all of this via Automation, but the practicality of doing so would be a factor of the quantity of GCs you need to create.

Account:

Entity:

2bbe9ade62abf2c1.png751×234 11.8 KB

Transaction:

e4aff85c8565f995.png1073×231 15 KB

39

There are hundreds of gift cards outstanding. The return rate is unknown…at the moment the numbers and balances are on paper.

I’m not sure that it would be worth the effort. It may be a better idea to change the gift card to a ‘new’ samba account as the customers present their old card. Can I create a card without tendering a payment?

40

Not with the implementation described in this Tutorial, since the Account and Entity Creation is done upon Settlement. However, if you understand the flow of how this works, it could be done with some alterations.

This is what currently happens:

  • GC is added to Ticket, and receives Order State of Ordered.
  • Ticket is Settled. This invokes the Event called Before Ticket Closing.
  • The Rule called GC Update States captures this event and changes the Order State to Printed. This invokes the Event called Order State Updated.
  • The Rule called GC Purchased & Printed captures this event and does the work of creating the Entity and Account, creating the Credit Transaction to the Account, and setting the Entity State to Purchased.

So what can we do to change this? Here is one idea…

EDIT: This addition is so simple, that I am going to add it to my system. One reason for being able to do this (for me) is when I donate a GC to a charity, and I don’t want tender any cash for it or show it as a Sale.

  • Create an Automation Command called GC manual create, map it to Order Line, and set the Enabled States and Visible States to Ordered.
  • For security purposes, it may be wise to also either map the Automation Command to Administrator User Role and/or set the Confirmation to Admin PIN.
  • Create a Rule to capture the Automation Command and fire the Action GC Update Order State to switch the State from Ordered to Printed.

Automation Command:

5cc5845db51acc37.png1051×702 35 KB

Rule:

afae946de4582a2f.png961×501 23.7 KB

Operation:

  • Enter the value of the GC into the Numpad area, then select the GC Product.
  • Highlight/select the GC Order line in the Ticket.
  • Click GC Create … all the magic happens here automatically.
  • Highlight/select the GC Order line in the Ticket again.
  • Click Cancel.
  • Click Close.

FLOW:

e41c4caa8ab0719c.png1073×543 56.6 KB

GC Entity Search:

753b81d0bb80d4f0.png937×281 18.7 KB

Accounts:
The Cash Sale for 50.00 was for another product for illustrative purposes. Notice there is no Sale nor Cash visible for the GC Creation of 700.

6dbf83e02e1a7aa0.png954×355 39.1 KB

Work Period Report:
Again, notice the GC Create is not reported here…

547d7c10032dabdc.png892×567 29.2 KB

1 Like
41

great solution!
This will work well.

Thanks guys

I wish I was able to return the effort you’ve provided me.

42

Ive followed everything spot on (I’m sure) But it won’t print a gift certificate when I’ve made one.

I go to finish the transaction, and when its cashed off nothing prints.

Any ideas?

Cheers

Matt

43

Also to add, there is no mapping for a lot of the rules in this tutorial. Does that mean there shouldn’t be any mapping? and it should all be greyed out?

Thanks

44

You always add mapping to rules or they will not work. Many tutorials are written as this is an understood fact.

45

Ok thats good cos I did that. Wonder why they aint printing then!?

I could send someone my database to have a look if they could? Everything seems to be in place but nothing is printing…

46

It has been my experience that 99% of the people that have this issue all say the same thing

The reality is they missed a detail and the small details can be feature breaking.

47

Ill go through it all again, again…

Cheers

Matt

48

Ive gone through it, found a couple of errors. However, Im still encountering nothing…

Here is the order I’m doing things (incase I’m doing it all wrong)

I enter how much I want to create as a gift certificate in the number pad. I then hit the “Gift Certificate” open item that had been created.

I then go to settle the amount bought.

Till drawer opens. no receipt is printed.

Just to add, I don’t print receipts for every transaction, so is there a problem here?

Also, I go into accounts and nothing has been created to show the gift certificate has been made.

Matt

49

Your order is fine.

Shouldn’t make any difference.

If you are certain of this, then that is where the problem lies. The GC cannot be printed if it doesn’t exist.

Post a screenshot of the Rule called GC Purchased & Printed.

50

1fd9a8ce415609c7.jpg1280×800 276 KB
90651acf64d989df.png1280×800 396 KB

51

also ill add, when I choose gift certificate to purchase, when I hit settle it all cashes off automatically… so it doesn’t go to the cashier screen.

Thankyou for looking for me.

Matt

52

BTW you can link pictures directly to forum. No need to host on third party website and link Url. Use the button to right of the </> button.

53

edited, thanksfor that :slight_smile:

54

Ok, that isn’t correct behavior either. We need to look backward.

Please post a screenshot of RU GC Update Order States

And perhaps a shot of your Settle Rule and Payment Processed Rule for GC.