Introduction
Memberships are a regular and important part of visitor attractions; they bring many benefits to both the business and customers. The ‘Memberships Module’ in the Merac back office software allows you to first set up the various ‘Membership Types’ that you require. The set-up of ‘Membership Types’ includes information on the duration of each membership, how long that membership type will be valid for, and the prices and fees associated with that membership scheme. When a memberships is purchased a card is issued which can then be scanned or swiped (depend on the card type and till hardware purchased) to allow member cards to be validated and admitted quickly when they return. This process will also record footfall and member visit history.
Please Note:
There are three chargeable modules that are outside of the scope of this manual, that can work in conjunction with the ‘Memberships Module’. For more details and to obtain a quote for any of these modules please contact your Account Manager. The modules are listed below:
- Direct Debits Module
- Online Memberships Module
- GDPR Module
There are three further modules that are provided in the Merac software as standard, that work in conjunction with the ‘Memberships Module’. If you need any training or consultancy on using these other modules, please contact your Account Manager for a quote for this training. The modules are listed below:
- Promotions Module
- Loyalty Module
- Adoptions Module
Although not covered in this manual, as standard there is reporting on memberships and these can be found in the ‘Reports’ main menu option in Merac (as long as your user is in a ‘Security Group’ that has been given access to these by the person in your business responsible for maintaining ‘Users’ and ‘Security Groups’). Please view these reports to see the information contained.
Membership Types
Memberships can be seen and set up by:
1. Clicking the ‘Setup’ icon.
2. Then clicking on the ‘Customer’ icon.
3. Finally, double clicking on ‘Membership Types’.
The ‘Memberships/Privilege Schemes’ window is made up of two main parts:
1. ‘Privilege Schemes’: This lists all the different membership types created.
2. ‘Scheme details’: This shows all details and setup of the membership types.
Adding a New Membership Type
To create a new ‘Membership Type’, click on the ‘New’ button.
By clicking ‘New’ most of the boxes in the ‘Scheme Details’ section are now cleared, this means we can start setting up a new ‘Membership Type’. For our example we will setup a ‘Child Membership'.
The first step is to add a ‘Code’ and ‘Description’.
These can be alpha-numeric and will be used to identify the ‘Membership Type’.
For information purposes you can select the membership 'Group' this membership type belongs to.
For example you might have 'Family' and 'Corporate' membership, so you can add a 'Group' name to each membership type.
You can set up these as required by clicking on the glasses icon to the right of 'Group' dropdown.
To add new ones, click button to add a new Membership 'Group' (or click File >New).
Enter a 'Code' and 'Description' for each group, click 'Apply' then 'Close'.
‘Duration’
The next box in the ‘Scheme Details’ section is ‘Duration’.
This field determines how long the membership lasts for once it’s purchased.
This is defined using the number box and the ‘Duration’ dropdown.
Using a combination of these two we can easily setup any length duration required.
For example, the duration can easily be set to either 1 Year, 6 Months, 12 Weeks, etc.
Scheme Valid From/Until
This controls the date range between which the membership scheme is valid. This is very important as it effects both the cut off for selling the membership and the end date for the members already on the scheme. This is simply defined by selecting the ‘Scheme Valid From:’ and ‘Scheme Valid Until:’ dates using the drop-down calendar selectors where shown below.
In the calendar the year can increased/decreased by clicking on the text for the year, then click the up/down arrows.
If you click on the month text, then a list of the months appears and click the required one.
Finally, select the date by clicking the required date for the month selected.
Alternatively if you click directly in the 'Scheme Valid From' or 'Scheme Valid To' boxes, you can enter the date directly.
Click on the year text and enter the required year in 'YYYY' format (e.g. 2049)
Click on the required month and and enter the required month in 'MM' format (e.g. 01 or January, 12 for December)
Click on the day and enter the required date in 'DD' format (enter 01-31 as required)
Where membership scheme will be available to join until indefinitely, then this date needs to be set far into the future.
In the above example this 'Scheme Valid Until' has been set to 31/12/2049. However, some customers will use this to restrict when specific membership types can be signed up from and to as required by their business.
‘Promotion:’
The ‘Promotion’ dropdown allows you to associate a single ‘Members’ type promotion to a ‘Membership Type’. Click on the ‘Promotion’ dropdown and select a promotion if required. This promotion must have been set up as a 'Members type promotion, otherwise it will not show in the dropdown list. Please note setting up ‘Promotions’ is outside the scope of this document and are covered in a separate guide.
When a member card is swiped, scanned (depending on the equipment you have purchased from Merac), or the member is found (using the ‘Find Member’ button) before the transaction is completed, the chosen ‘Promotion’ will fire automatically.
All items in the basket that are eligible for discount, will have the discount automatically applied.
Allow D/D:
The 'Allow DD' settings are outside the scope of this manual, as 'Direct Debits' is a chargeable module in Merac that needs to be purchased. Please contact your Account Manager for details on this functionality. A direct debits user guide can be supplied to customers who have purchased this module.
Restrict Entries To:
This limits the number of times a membership can be used.
This could be number of entries per day or year. If no restriction is required, the boxes can be left blank.
Scheme Min Age and Max age
This is for setting age limits on memberships. Most attractions have different prices for different age groups (e.g. children and concessions). Using the ‘Scheme Min Age’ and ‘Scheme Max Age’ boxes, the required age range can be assigned to a membership. If no age limit is required, enter -1 in the ‘Scheme Min Age’ and ‘Scheme Max Age’ boxes. Please note this can simply be achieved by deleting any data in these fields, as this will reset these to the default values (i.e. -1 in both fields)
We will continue with our ‘Child Membership’ example and enter ‘0’ as the ‘Scheme Min Age’ and ‘18’ as the ‘Scheme Max Age’. Please not if you setting age criteria as a requirement on on any membership type, then the 'Date of Birth' should be set as a mandatory requirement for the relevant membership types.
If over max age, suggest this scheme
When adding a new member via the wizard, you select the ‘Membership Type’. If the age entered is over the ‘Max’ age for the selected type, then the system can suggest another type of membership. For example, if you selected a ‘Child Membership’ but then entered the member’s age as 19, the software would suggest the ‘Adult membership’. To set the suggested membership type to suggest, simply select the 'Code' of the relevant membership type.
At this point click ‘Apply’ to save the ‘Membership Type’ data entered to this point.
Membership Setup - PLU Requirements
The next section of the ‘Membership/Privilege Schemes’ window is for linking the relevant PLU’s for the prices, fees or renewal discount that can be applied to a ‘Membership Type’. Only the ones key to setting up the Merac memberships to work in-house (not online) will be detailed. As mentioned previously although we do have a Direct Debits module, the set of of direct debit memberships is not covered in this guide. The below are the key PLUs.
The relevant fees / prices / discount that apply to a membership type need to be selected.
The key ones that we need to focus on are explained below:
Entry Fee:
This is the PLU for the price that members are charged each time they enter (this can be a £0.00 priced PLU). This is the PLU that would also be set up with the relevant ‘Footfall’, so that when the member is validated on entry, the footfall is recorded.
Membership Price:
This is the PLU for the price to buy the actual membership (e.g. the price of the annual membership / pass).
Typically this would not be set up with any 'Footfall' as scanning / swiping the member card on re-entry will add footfall.
Joining Fee:
If required assign this PLU if there is a “one-off” joining fee.
This will be charged on top of the ‘Membership Price’ (this may be used e.g. to cover any administration costs etc).
Renewal Discount:
If required, you can assign a PLU here with a price corresponding to the amount discount that will be given on renewal
(e.g. set up ‘Renewal Discount PLU with a value of £5.00).
No Discount after X renewals
If the PLU for Renewal Discount is in place, then you also need to check these settings.
If the renewal discount applies indefinitely then these settings can be left alone.
Alternatively, If the renewal discount must only be applied for a specific number of renewals then these settings are used.
Fist click the box 'No Discount after X renewals' so it is ticked, then in the field to the right enter the relevant number.
We will continue with our example of setting up a Child annual membership. Normally we would have setup our PLU’s first via the ‘New PLU/Stock Wizard’. The next section covers how to add the relevant PLU’s, in case this has not been done already. If the required PLU's have already been created then just go straight to Section 6.
If you need to create PLUs at this point please remember to click 'Apply' to save the changes made in the above screen.
Then click 'Close' and follow the instructions in the sections below.
Creation of the PLUs to Set-Up a Membership Type
PLU’s for memberships can be setup in the ‘New PLU/Stock Wizard’.
This can be found by doing the following:
1. Click on the ‘Setup’ icon. 2. Click ‘Pricing’. 3. Double click on ‘New PLU/Stock Wizard’.
This will now load the ‘New stock/PLU Wizard’ and provide a choice of the PLU’s to create.
The next section covers the set-up of the different PLU’s that may be required to set up a ‘Membership Type’ in the Merac.
Creating the Entry Fee PLU
The first PLU we need to create is for our membership ‘Entry Fee’. This is how much we charge members each time they come. It is also the PLU that adds ‘Footfall’ to our daily entry figures. This needs to be set up as an ‘Admission Ticket’ PLU.
On the ‘New stock/PLU Wizard’ window, click on the dot next to ‘Admission Ticket’.
Then click on the ‘Next’ button, and then ‘Price’ window is now displayed.
In the ‘Price’ window, first enter the ‘Short Description’ as required.
This is the description shown on the till receipts and shown on the till’s rear customer display, if your till has these.
The number of characters that will fit on your receipt paper width will be determined by the font size on your receipt.
Next enter the ‘Long Description’ as required.
This is the description that is used on the reports in the Merac back office software, so this can be longer.
Pricing Type:
‘Pricing Type’ has one of four options, which are explained below:
Allow: The user can change the price (please note the ‘Security Group’ a user is in can allow/disallow this too )
Do not allow: The price cannot be changed by the user.
Force price entry: The user must enter a price.
Embedded price: The price of the item is within the barcode (rarely used).
Admission prices are normally fixed price, especially in the case of memberships.
So, in this example, click on the dot next to ‘Do not allow’.
Sales Analysis Code:
Select the required ‘Analysis Code’ that the sale of this PLU will belong to for reporting purposes. In our example, we will use the ‘Analysis Code’ of ‘Memberships’. This can be selected from the dropdown but it is recommended to click the 'Analysis Codes' button then drill down to (by clicking the + icons) then clicking on the required 'Analysis Code' so it is highlighted. Then click the 'Use Code' button on this screen. This way allows you to see and select the correct part of the hierarchical 'Analysis Code' structure the PLU needs to be allocated to, which may not be evident using the dropdown.
The next section of is based around setting the price.
Entry for members at most attractions is free, so we will set to ‘Sell Price (Inc Vat):’ to £0.00
However member entry could be at a reduced price, so set this price to suite your business needs.
Select the required ‘VAT code:’ for this PLU (in this case as our example is £0 member entry the 'Exempt' rate was selected).
For companies that have (i) an integration between Merac and a 3rd party finance system (ii) or use Merac to generate a report on sales by Nominal Codes, then the 'Nominal Codes' dropdowns can be used to select the 1st and 2nd 'Nominal Code' on a PLU. Please note setting up nominal codes for either reporting purposes or for a 3rd party integration is outside the scope of this manual. Please contact your Account Manager for more information if this is a requirement..
The final section on this window controls the dates the PLU price is valid from/to (Price valid from: and Price valid to:)
By default, the start date is set to today and the end in ten years time.
If a PLU price will remain the same then you can set this to a date much further into the future (e.g. 31/12/2099 as below).
Please note if the PLU price changes at any time the PLU can be edited to put in a a new price and it's start and end dates.
We’ve now filled in all the necessary data in this screen, so click on ‘Next’.
The next window is the PLU type window. This is for the setting up of food items and admission tickets. Because we selected Admission ticket when first creating the PLU there is a tick in the 'This is an admission item' box.
Because this is a free membership entry PLU, we are only interested in the Footfall related boxes.
Our ‘Child Membership’ will admit one, so we will set the ‘Footfall’ to 1.
Typically member entry may not require any other settings to be applied in this screen.
(as no tickets are printed and member entry is not normally capacity managed by a 'Session')
Now that we are finished with this window, we click on the ‘Next’ button.
This will take us to the final window for setting up our 'Child Membership Entry' PLU.
The final data we need to fill in is to create a Code/Barcode for this PLU.
The code can be anything we want but ideally should follow a structure of you own that everyone adheres to.
For our example we will use CHMEMENTRY and then click the ‘Add’ button.
You can now see that the Code has been created so click the ‘Finish’ button.
You are now told that all the information you’ve filled in has saved and the PLU has been created.
Now click OK to close the window.
We are not returned to the New Stock/PLU Wizard window.
This is very useful as we now need to create our PLU for the cost of the membership, which is covered in the below section.
Creating the Membership Fee PLU
Membership PLUs basically are for any costs associated with memberships (cost of the membership, joining fees, etc).
For the Child Membership we are setting up we must create the PLU for the cost of the membership.
Click on the dot next to Membership item and then click on Next.
The step are the same as setting up the 'Child Membership Entry' PLU.
The key difference is as that this is the fee for signing up as a child membership there will be a price (e.g. £40)
Also select the relevant VAT rate as required.
Enter the start and end dates for the PLU price.
If it is not known when this membership price will change, then enter a date way into the future in the 'Price Valid to:'
If you know the price will go up on e.g. 01/012026, enter the last date the membership will be at this price e.g. 31/12/2025.
Please note that in the wizard you can only set up the the first from/to price.
Once the PLU has been set up it can then be edited to added to add all the future price changes required.
If you do not offer gift aid on memberships, then simply click ‘Next’ in the below screen.
However, if you can claim gift aid on membership fees then the typical mechanism for membership is where the membership price is the same with and without gift aid. In this scenario you need to click in the 'This is an admission item' box, so it becomes ticked. Then you simply need to click on the 'Gift Aid' box shown, so it becomes ticked.
Likewise if you want to record footfall on selling the membership, then click in the 'This is an admission item' box, so it ticked. Typically 'Footfall' is not recorded when selling a membership but if required enter the 'Footfall' in the relevant field.
Click ‘Next’ once all the data is entered.
Finally, the ‘Codes/Finish’ screen must be completed.
Fill it in as we did when creating our child membership admission PLU.
Enter the required code in the ‘Code/Barcode’ field and click on ‘Add’
You will now seethe PLU showing (highlighted yellow) in the lower part of the screen.
Next click ‘Finish’
This has now created our membership fee PLU.
You will now see the following message, click ‘OK’.
We have now created all the required PLUs for this specific.
Next we need to finish off setting up our ‘Child Membership’ Membership Type.
Creating a Membership Type
Now that we have all the PLUs required, we must add them to the Membership type. Navigate back to the Membership created earlier (Setup > Customer > Membership Types) If you don’t see your new membership type straight away scroll down as it may be at the bottom of the list (as per our example below).
The position of the membership type in this list is also the order it will appear on the till.
By clicking on the arrow buttons shown, we can move membership types up or down the list.
Now we can start linking all our PLUs to the membership type so that all the right prices are charged.
The first PLU to setup is the ‘Entry Fee’, we do this by clicking on the arrow next to the box.
You are now presented with the PLU search window. You may have come across this window in other screens in the Merac software and it works in the same way. We need to find the 'Child Membership Entry' PLU we setup earlier. Please note the ‘Category’ is already set to ‘Admission’ automatically as this is the PLU category that the PLU must be set up using.
Enter the required 'Selection Criteria' (in this case we entered the start of the relevant PLU code made earlier).
However you could have searched by the other fields available in the search criteria (e.g. 'Description or 'Analysis Code')
Please note if you want to find e.g. all PLU's containing a specific word or code you can use the % wild card.
For example, to search for all PLU descriptions containing child, enter %child in the 'Description' field.
N.B. if you type child only in the description field the search will find only PLU descriptions starting in the word ch.
Click 'Search' and the results will be displayed in the above screen.
Click on the relevant PLU so it is highlighted. In the above search one item was found so it is highlighted automatically.
Then click on ‘Use Selected PLU’. Please note if you double clicked the PLU it would load the ‘PLU Maintenance’ window.
You can now see that the ‘Entry Fee’ box has been updated with the price (£0.00) of the free member admission fee.
Repeat the same steps as detailed above to assign the required ‘Membership Price’ PLU.
The price of the membership fee (in this case £40) should appear where shown.
If you accidentally select the wrong PLU, click on the ‘X’ to the left of the box to clear the PLU, then re-assign the correct PLU as explained previously.
This is the baseline set-up that is required for most memberships to enable members to allow a membership(s) to be sold, and then these members could enter for free with the correct footfall recorded. Click on ‘Apply’ to save the details. There are several other boxes and sections within the ‘Membership/Privilege Schemes’ window that are not mandatory but might be useful to us. These are explained below.
1. Inactive:
These tick boxes control if the membership is active or not. If a membership is made inactive it cannot be sold, and its members can no longer use their cards.
2. Show Inactive:
Clicking on this box causes all Inactive membership types to be shown in the list. These memberships types could now be viewed in this screen and edited again.
3. Allow Selling On Internet:
This option is only applicable for customers who have purchased the Merac Online Memberships e-commerce pages. For customers who have purchased these pages, then this option needs to be ticked for all memberships types offered online. Online membership set up is outside the scope of this manual covered in a separate guide. If you want to enquire about having Merac Online Memberships e-commerce pages please contact your Account Manager..
4. Count Total Footfall Per Transaction
This option is to make the system count customer visits either per group (one visit per transaction regardless of number of people), or per each transaction line that involved customer entry as required.
5. Card Design
This option only applies to customers who have purchased and had installed member card printers by Merac. For those customers they would select the relevant member card design here. A member card design would be set up and tested and assigned here by Merac as part of the installation process. If you want to enquire about having member card printers, please contact your Account Manager.
6. Welcome Letter:
This is where we can select ‘Welcome Letter’ Microsoft Word document template. Click on the box with the … button to select the required template (using ‘Windows Explorer’). To set these up you will need training on creating mail merge template documents, this is covered in a separate user guide. If a ‘Welcome Letter’ has been selected then on signing up a member using the 'New Member Wizard' you will be asked whether you want to print this letter during the sign up process.
7. Mandatory Items:
This option can be used, if there is certain information we must collect when setting up a new Member. The ‘Mandatory Items’ tick boxes can be used to define the mandatory information requirements.
Creating a New Member
Creating new members is normally done via the ‘New Member Wizard’.
This can be found in the Merac software by 1. clicking the ‘Members’ button, then 2. clicking the ‘Wizard’ button.
The ‘New Member Wizard’ can also be found on the till. If this button doesn’t exist on your current till screen, one can be created where required. If you are unsure how to do this, ask a colleague who has been trained on how to do this, alternatively please refer to the ‘Configuring Till Buttons’ Manual. Please not this button could have been put anywhere by your colleagues and could have been re-named to whatever they like, so please check whether it already exists.
For reference the button to trigger the "New member Wizard" needs to be configured as a 'Command' button.
The command 'New Member Wizard' then needs to be selected and the button named accordingly.
If you click the correctly configured button, it will launch the ‘New Member Wizard’ screen shown below.
We will now setup a new member, selecting the ‘Child Membership’ type we setup earlier.
The first screen is simple to use and captures some basic, essential data for the membership.
Swipe Card
This is the number on the membership card you are giving to the customer.
If you have pre-printed, barcoded member cards, simply scan the barcode on this card.
The card number will then be filled in for you automatically.
If you do not have a scanner on the till, then enter the card number you are issuing.
Please note for customers that have member card printers then the car number is automatically created.
For those customers the swipe card box will show the text 'Auto' and they start at the post code entry.
Post Code
The Post Code of the member
House Name/No
First line of the members address
Surname
Surname of the new member
Once all the required data has been entered, click ‘Next’.
The second page of the membership wizard will now appear.
You will notice that some of the details are already filled in automatically.
Please note any fields marked with * are a mandatory field in these screens. The fields are explained below:
Swipe card: This is copied across from the previous screen (or will show 'Auto' if set to be automatic).
Title: This can be selected from the dropdown, or click in the field and enter a new title.
First name: Enter the first name of the new member.
Surname: This is copied across from the previous screen.
Memb Type: Using the dropdown, select the membership type required.
Start date: This is the date the membership begins (defaults to start today).
Expires: The expiry date is automatically calculated (based on the duration set in that membership type)
Gender: Click in the circle next to the gender required.
Date of birth: If we are not worried about exact ages, click the 'Over 18' tick box.
If date of birth is required or has been set to mandatory, it is quickest to:
Click on the year and type in the year in YYYY format (e.g. enter 2020)
Then click in the month and enter the month in MM format (e.g. 01 for January or 12 for December)
Finally, click in the day and enter the day in DD format (e.g. 01 to 31)
Prime contact: If we are entering multiple members, we can select one to be the “Prime Contact”.
N.B. the first person added will default to be the prime contact, so typically add the contact person first.
Photograph: If required we can capture a photograph of the member.
Click 'Preview' to start the camera and 'Capture' to take the picture.
Please note you must have purchased and had web cameras installed by Merac on the tills to support this.
If you require web cameras, please contact your Account Manager
Once you’ve filled in all the boxes, click on the ‘Next’ button.
You will notice that a new line appears with the member details at the bottom of the screen.
Card, Title and First name boxes are cleared, ready to be filled in again.
This is so multiple members of the same family can be added in a single transaction.
We are only entering one membership in this example, so click the ‘Next’ button.
‘Account Billing Address’ is the next page of the wizard, and again some data is already populated for you.
Please check the data that is pre-populated, all the fields are explained below:
Account Name: Populated for you with the member surname
Email: Enter if required
Address: You can enter the additional address data by clicking directly in the 'Address' field and type in the data.
Alternatively, click the 'Address' button to bring up a form and enter the data in there and click 'Ok'.
If you have purchased post code look up in here you enter the postcode and click 'Search'.
Then select the address from the list of results returned for this address. and select the integration
Town: Enter as required
County: Enter as required
Postcode: Enter as required
Telephone: Enter as required
Source: Select as required (N.B. the list of options are user definable in Setup > System > Lookup Items)
Addressee: Enter as required. Generally used for customers using mail merges to Microsoft (MS) Word only.
Dear: "Dear" name. Enter as required (generally used for customers using mail merges to MS Word only)
Account flags: Tick multiple if required. These can be used to filter data in Merac.
Generally used for extracting data to Excel for creating mail merges into MS Word from Merac.
(N.B. the list of options are user definable in Setup > System > Lookup Items)
This is a Gift or Member at a different Address:
This is ticked where the memberships are being purchased for someone else.
If ticked then another screen will appear next to enter the details for the person who is receiving the gift.
Click 'Next' once all the data has been entered in the above screen
The GDPR options screen will now be displayed. Ask the customer the necessary questions to get their GDPR preferences.
To opt out of contact click 'Do not make any contact'.
Alternatively select one or more options in each of the 3 sections of this form (under the blue section headings)
To select all the options in a section, then click the relevant 'Select All' box for that section (located on the right hand side)
Please note some customers may have decided not to take on the GDPR module.
If so the previous screen will simply have an 'Ok to Mail' and 'Ok to Email' tick box.
The ‘GDPR Module’ is outside the scope of this manual, and this is a chargeable module.
If you are interested in purchasing, or receiving training on the ‘GDPR Module’, please contact your Account Manager.
Once the GDPR options have been selected, click 'Next'.
The ‘Payment Details’ Window
The top section of the screen gives a list of new members and summary of details.
The bottom section shows the finance side, with any deductions and the total money to pay.
Note: ‘Less refund Amt’ (‘Find TXN’ button) is to enable you to deduct admission tickets already purchased from the cost of a membership. By clicking on the ‘Find TXN’ button you can find a specific transaction and select the admission ticket(s) that you want to deduct from the value from the membership price. Alternatively you can just check their receipt by eye and type in the value to deduct from the price of the membership in the 'Less Refund Amt' field.
If you offer gift aid and the customer is eligible to gift aid the membership, then tick the 'Gift Aid?' box.
Please note this will require the PLU to have been set up correctly to allow gift aid for this to work.
If retrospectively doing member sign ups at the till, you can use the calendar drop down to change the gift aid claim date.
If a 'Welcome Letter' was assigned to the membership type then the 'Print Welcome Letter?' option will default to ticked.
If left ticked on finishing the transaction, you will prompted as to which printer to print the letter on.
If you do not want to print a 'Welcome Letter' then click the tick icon and it will toggle off (it turns to an X symbol)
Check the summary given and all the details are correct in the above screen, then click the ‘Finish’ button.
Now go ahead and pay for this like any other till transaction (e.g. press Sub Total, then Cash, etc).
N.B. other items can be added to the transaction before you finish the transaction (if required).
Then complete the transaction in the normal way by clicking 'Subtotal' and selecting the required payment method.
The member has been added in Merac.
If you have purchased and have set up member card printing, you will receive prompts to print on finishing the transaction.
Likewise if you have set up and ticked the 'Welcome Letter' option, you will receive prompts to print the letter at this point.
Please note, if you ticked the 'Gift Aid' option in the last screen of the 'Membership Wizard', then gift aid mode will be on.
This can be seen by the (red) 'Gift Aid' icon shown on the bottom left of the till screen.
With Gift Aid mode 'on' then on pressing any method of payment, then an additional screen will appear as below.
This is the gift aid entry form and you would need to ensure the details of the person paying for the membership are entered here, and that they are eligible for gift aid. Please check / amend the details. Click 'Ok' once the details are correct.
You would then finish the transaction as usual to payment method selected and the member has been added.
Alternatively, if at this point the customer opts out of gift aid or is ineligible , then click 'Cancel'.
Then on the till you would need to turn 'Gift Aid' off by pressing the relevant button (like the one below)
Please note as you design the tills screens, this could have been put anywhere on your till and could a different name/colour
For reference below are the brief details of the button setup required for the button that turns gift aid on/off manually.
A colleague that knows how to add buttons to till screens shoudl be able to set this up for you, if not already present.
Make the button name, colours, size and location to be as required on each till screen layout it is needed on.
Make sure you send updates to all tills to ensure they have this button (via Edit > Recreate Till Data)
Finding a member on the Till
If a member has forgotten their ID card, they can be found manually.
This can be done by adding a ‘Find Member’ button to the till (Button Action > Command > Find member).
Please first ask your colleagues if they know where this button is, as it could have been put anywhere on your till screens.
Likewise it could have been called anything but for our example it is the default name 'Find member'.
As you can from our till screen below this button could also be put in multiple places as required.
Click the ‘Find Member’ button and we are taken to a search screen.
Enter a name in the format Surname,Forename in the Name field (e.g. Smith,John)and click ‘Search’.
To be quicker you could enter just Smith or Smith,J but this will potentially return a lot of results.
In the above screen you will see multiple records for John Smith were returned (the red lines are expired members)
You would need to check the member address to ascertain whether the membership has expired.
In this scenario it is the the white line (non expired member) with card number MEM54321 (that was created previously)
Click on the specific member record you want to admit (it becomes highlighted blue) and click the 'OK' button.
You will now see the members details on the till, in exactly the same way as if the operator had scanned their membership card. Please note if a member photo had been captured, this would also show in the bottom left of this screen. The 'Visits' figure will update after the transaction for this first member entry is completed. Please note the 'Visits' figure is per calendar year, so every calendar year this value resets will start from zero again.
To process member entry you need to just click 'Subtotal', then select 'Cash'.
However the member may want to buy additional items, which can show in the member transaction history.
To do this find the member as above, sell the other items so they also show in the basket, then finish the transaction.
This applies whether here a member card has been swiped, scanned, or found by the above method.
Updating a Member's Details
For a variety of reason member details might need to be changed (due to marriage, change of address, etc). Member details can be found and updated in the ‘Members’ screen.
In this screen all the boxes highlighted (individually or a combination of them) can be used to search for a member record.
Searching for the member’s name in ‘Name/Number’ field is often the best way to search for a member, if they do not know their card number. If you wanted to search for any record containing the name ‘Smith’, type in ‘%Smith’ in the ‘Name/Number’ field and click ‘Search’. However, as above it is better to narrow down the search to limit results, so typing Smith,John in the 'Name/Number' field shoudl find the data quickly. Sometimes adding in a 'Member Type' in the search is useful, this can be done using the dropdown. If a member does not show please note by default the search excludes expired members, to include them click the 'Include Expired Members' box. As this may be why you cannot find a specific member.
The search results are listed below the search criteria.
To load the required record, double click on it.
Any of the details displayed can be updated.
Simply amend the required details and then click the ‘OK’ button. The member data has now changed.
Note: the ‘OK’ button will remain greyed out until a change is made to the member.
Footnote:
If you do not have some of the functionality show in the screenshots in this user guide, then your software version may need to be upgraded to add the missing functionality. Please contact your Account Manager who can discuss this.