TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
When selling a PLU or when booking a specific ‘Bookable Resource’, data capture can be used to record additional information that may be required. This could be information such as the nationality of anyone buying an admission ticket at the till, or the age of a child for a ‘Visit Santa’ booking made online.
Adding Data Capture to a PLU
Selecting the PLU that Requires Data Capture
The first step is to find the PLU you wish to add ‘Data Capture’ to:
1. click the ‘Setup’ icon. 2. click the ‘Pricing’ icon. 3 double click the ‘Price Lookup Index’ icon.
Find the required PLU using the ‘Prices Index’ in the usual way by entering the search criteria and click 'Search'.
Double-click on the required PLU in the 'Search Results' section (bottom half) of the screen.
This will open the ‘PLU Maintenance’ window.
Click the ‘Add/View Data Capture’ button.
The Data Capture Window
Data Type:
Per PLU you can set a maximum of 5 data capture questions.
There are seven “data types” that you can use.
These are outlined within the ‘Data Type’ dropdown menu.
The 7 data capture 'Types' are detailed below.
Text:
Prompting for a custom text response.
(For example: on birthday bookings you may wish to capture the birthday child’s name)
Numeric:
Prompts for a numeric input.
(For example: to capture ages)
Yes/No:
Prompts for a yes or no response.
(For example: on an online day ticket booking you may ask “Do you want a free guidebook”)
Photo:
Prompts to capture a photo at point of sale.
Option List:
Prompts the customer to select an option on the list.
(For example: how did you hear about us? Option: 1.Internet 2., TV advert, etc.)
Postcode:
Prompts to capture a postcode.
(used mainly for marketing purposes)
Email Address:
Prompts to capture an email address.
Capture Prompt Frequency Rules:
These tick box fields control the data capture behaviour at point of sale.
Prompt once per transaction:
The data capture will trigger once per transaction only.
(regardless of the quantity of this specific PLU are in the basket).
Prompt once per unique PLU:
The data capture will trigger for each unique (non-duplicate) PLU in the basket.
Prompt for each Sales Line:
The data capture will fire the number of times this specific PLU is in the basket.
Inactive:
This option can inactivate the specific data capture question. This question then will then not show in the top half of the above screen, unless the tick box marked ‘Show Inactive?’ is ticked (by clicking the box).
Response mandatory:
A response must be given to this specific data request to be able to complete transaction.
Internet only:
All data capture defaults to working at on the till only, this tick box limits the capture to only trigger for online sales of the specified PLU.
Please Note:
If you want a data capture prompt to appear on both the till and for online sales you would need to create two data capture questions, one with ‘Internet Only’ box ticked.
Adding Data Capture to a PLU
For this example, using the ‘Santa Grotto PLU’ we’re going to capture:
Name of the child: (Data Type: Text)
Age of the child: (Data Type: Numeric)
Child’s gender: (Data Type: Option List)
Do you want a photo: (Data Type: Yes or No)
If so, the contact email address where the photo will be sent to: (Data Type: Email)
The following sections of the manual show how these would be set up to work on the till.
The manual shows in detail what each capture method looks like on the till screen.
In the Section 2.4 ‘Online Booking Capture’ there is an image of how data the capture questions appear online.
Text Capture:
Click ‘New’.
Input the prompt text, e.g. what is the child’s name?
Using the ‘Data Type’ dropdown, select ‘Text’
Select ‘Prompt once per unique PLU’.
Click ‘Apply’
When you sell the item on the till, this is what shows on screen:
Numeric Capture
Click ‘New’.
Using the Data Type dropdown, select ‘Numeric’
Click ‘Apply’
Input the prompt text, e.g. how old is the child?
Select ‘Prompt once per unique PLU’.
Click ‘Apply’
When you sell the item on the till, this is what shows on screen for this data capture:
Option List Capture
Click ‘New’.
Using the ‘Data Type’ dropdown, select ‘Option List’
Click ‘Apply’.
Input the prompt text, e.g. Gender?
Select ‘Prompt once per unique PLU’.
Input your first option in ‘Add new option’ field (refer to the next page **).
Now click the ‘>>’ button.
Repeat from the above point (** see page 9) until all options show in the option list as required.
(only two options have been added purely for demonstration purposes).
Click ‘Apply’.
When you sell the item on the till, this is what shows on screen for this data capture:
Yes or No Capture
Click ‘New’.
Using the ‘Data Type’ dropdown, select ‘Yes/No’.
Click ‘Apply’.
Input prompt text, e.g. Souvenir Photo?
Select ‘Prompt once per unique PLU’.
Select ‘Response Mandatory’ tick box.
Click ‘Apply’.
When you sell the item on the till, this is what shows on screen for this data capture:
Email Capture
Click ‘New’.
Using the ‘Data Type’ dropdown, select ‘Email’.
Click ‘Apply’.
Input the prompt text, e.g. Email address?
Select ‘Prompt once per unique PLU’.
Click ‘Apply’.
When you sell the item on the till, this is what shows on screen for this data capture:
Please note data captured in the booking would land in the 'Diary' screen in Merac.
Viewing this data is detailed in Section 3 below.
Online Booking Capture
Please not online data capture is only available to customers who have purchased the relevant ecommerce modules.
This is just an example of what the five data captures 'Types' demonstrated in this guide appear like online in a booking.
When the ‘Bookable Resource’ is added to the basket the questions pop up as shown below.
Any data captured in the booking would land in the 'Diary' screen in Merac and viewing this data is detailed below.
Viewing Captured Data
Data captured when making a booking appears within the ‘Bookings’ screen for a specific booking.
The easiest way to get view a booking is by 1. clicking 'Diary' then 2. click 'Find Bk'.
Enter the booking reference in the 'Booking Ref:' field and click 'Search' is the best way to find the booking.
If yuo do not have this use other search criteria and click 'Search'.
Double click any booking that is found (in the bottom half of the screen) to open the booking record.
In the ‘Bookings’ screen, double-click any resource which had captured data.
Please note you can see at a glance whether the specific booking has any data capture.
Any booking with data capture will have a green bar as shown above, which says:
“Double click items below to review responses to data capture questions”
The data will be displayed as shown below.
If you wish to remove a captured data record, click on it so it becomes highlighted.
Press the ‘Delete’ button on your computer keyboard.
A message pops up saying, “Delete Selected Record?”. Click the ‘Yes’ button.
If you wish to amend the captured data, simply double-click on any line in the above screen.
A new window will then pop-up as shown below, in which you can amend / overtype the data.
Enter / amend / overtype the data as required and click ‘Ok’.
Repeat the process to amend / overtype / delete any other captured data records.
Ensure you click the ‘Save Booking’ button to save the changes made.