Release Notes 67

Q3:  September 2022

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Please see below the items included in release 67. Please read the release notes carefully and if you have any questions, please contact support in your region.

  1. Artifax (Venue Management System) Integration

Artifax is a cloud-based event/venue management system that many venues use worldwide to book their space, manage their billings with promoters, and more. To connect with Artifax, please contact Artifax support or go directly to https://artifax.com/ to book a demonstration with Artifax. Artifax has been clear that they would personally like to speak to each TicketSearch client directly due to the bespoke nature of their product.  

Artifax can now be integrated with TicketSearch. The Venue Management System’s integration can be found under Organisation Settings > General Settings. To send event data from TicketSearch to Artifax, an operator must click the “go live” button on the Event Build at Step 5: Event Summary.

There will also be a scheduled batch job that will auto-sync the event data from TicketSearch to Artifax once Artifax has been integrated successfully.

Artifax will send event data including the event name and session date and time. Artifax will also send the event sales data including the session’s total sold count, reserved count, net value, and gross value. These data can be accessed via the Artifax portal.

This setting can be managed at the event level as well by turning “Do you want to adjust at event level?” to YES from Org Settings. Once this question is turned to YES the below question populate under the event build at Step 1: General Information > Options and Add-Ons.

Activating Artifax: ***Please Note that by selecting ‘YES’ and activating the Artifax service, a one-off charge of $495 plus any applicable taxes will apply. ***

Accessing Artifax API Key: Integration between Artifax and TicketSearch is based on the event and its associated performances being first built in TicketSearch and then automatically created in Artifax.  This process requires some configuration in Artifax to manage the permissions of the connection with TicketSearch and the settings for bookings that TicketSearch will create.  Please liaise with Artifax Support for assistance with configuring your system for integration.

Artifax and TicketSearch Connection: When activating the connection between Artifax and TicketSearch, any events built and LIVE within TicketSearch will then create an arrangement in Artifax. The fields copied across to an Artifax arrangement include event name (line 1), session date and time, ticket types, ticket type revenue, net revenue (ticket price – inside fees) and gross revenue (ticket price + inside fees). Due to Artifax requiring only ticket type information, no other fee types will be included in any revenues. For a full reconciliation of any event, we would recommend always using your TicketSearch financial reports for full financial breakdowns. Whenever an event is taken off sale or deactivated, the arrangement will show as cancelled in Artifax. For further information regarding Artifax, please contact Artifax support.

2. Auto Release Holds

Holds can now be set to auto-release at a specific time and date. This is an exciting enhancement that allows you to completely automate the process on a session by session (date/time) process. For example, you could auto release your promoters seats that haven’t been used by the promoter 1 hour before the session start time reducing the administration time required to remember and manage these processes.

To find this new function, go to Events > Build & Manage Events > Create New Reserved Seating Event OR Edit Existing Reserved Seating Event > Go to Step 3 > under column name Holds/Capacity, click Edit Holds button against the session.

You will see a new column “Hold Release Date” where you can set the number of days, hours, and or minutes that you would like the hold(s) to auto-release before the session/performance date and time. A minimum of 30 minutes can be set before a session/performance. This is due to automated batch jobs that run to process many different requests through the system.

Once these holds auto-release, the last released date and time will be displayed against each hold type removing the time that was set earlier against that hold.

For example, if The Wiggle’s session/performance is on 31st December 2022, 10:00 PM and there are holds including Staff and VIP then these can be set to auto-release at different times. In the image below, the Staff hold will be released 1 hour before the session/performance time (31st December 2022, 09:00 PM) and the VIP hold will be released 2 hours before the session/performance time (31st December 2022, 08:00 PM).

Note: Once holds have been released then this action cannot be undone automatically. The user/operator must add the holds manually if required.

3. Scheduled Reports Enhancements – Specific Days

We’ve added a new feature under Reports > Schedule Report section called “Specific Days”. This function allows an operator to select specific days of the week and times on which they would like a report to be delivered.  This is ideal for promoters who don’t necessarily want to receive a scheduled report every day. You could send the report every Monday, Wednesday and Friday- it’s your choice.

4. Scheduled Reports Enhancements – New Enhanced Ways to Edit Scheduled Reports

We’ve improved how you edit scheduled reports, (found under Reports > View Scheduled Reports > Existing Scheduled Report). Clicking on the Edit button now opens a popup window with the entire report’s parameters as if viewing the original report generation window. You can now view the original parameters of the report and or update and save new parameters to the report. The next run of that report will provide data as per the updated parameters. 

5. Reports Margin Enhancement

We’ve updated all reports to reduce the margin space and reduced column widths to try and fit reports into 1-2 pages where possible.One of our upcoming projects is to allow clients to build their own reports which will cater for most of your needs in developing reports to the exact specification you prefer.

6. Scheduled Report Inactive Function

When a scheduled report has been sent and completed, after a 24-hour period, our batch job process will run and make the report inactive so that it will not display in your scheduled report list.

7. Merged Cells Removal – Doorlist/Questionnaire Report

We have removed merged cells when exporting the Doorlist/Questionnaire report.

8. File Type Selection – Exported Reports

You can now choose the file type you would like your scheduled reports to be delivered as. Select from a dropdown list of an Excel, CSV, or PDF file.

9. Desktop Scanning Update (My Stat Window)

To enhance the performance of the Desktop Scanning Activity, we’ve added a separate tab for your scanning stats. My Stats, under Sales > Desktop Scanning, is your new go-to location for all scanning stat/results

10. Download Seat Map

You can now download your seat maps under the Venue Build. To access this function, go to Events > Manage Venues/Manage Holds > edit layout > click on Preview Seat Map button > click download map. Check the “Display Seat Labels” box to show the seat numbers before downloading, if you wish to include seat label details in the downloaded file.

You can also download the seat map while editing the venue build on Step 5: Hold Template. If you would like your Holds to be displayed on the downloaded file, please click the pencil icon under the Action column next to the hold template name, then click download map. This action will download the file including the Holds on the map legend. Check the “Display Seat Labels” box to show the seat numbers before downloading, if you wish to include seat label details in the downloaded file.

11. Show Seat Number – Reserved Seating B2B Sales Flow

We have introduced the “show seat number” checkbox for reserved seating events in the backend sales flow. This will show seat numbers on your maps during the backend sales and also allow for seating numbers to be printed when using the download seatmap function from the backend sales flow.

12. Pricing Level Legend Auto Collapse (Online Sales – Reserved Seating)

This function allows you to collapse your price levels (VIP, Section A, B etc) and is useful for those clients with many price scales. This setting can be activated at the organisation or event level as you may have some events with one price scale and others with 10 or more. You can access this feature by going to Settings > Event/Product Settings > Seat Map section. Both questions can work independently and by default, both questions will be set to NO, meaning the price level information will be visible (expanded) in online sales

Toggling the answers to YES will change the default setting, allowing for a defaulted collapsed price level legend per the entire org or on an event-by-event basis. You can manage this on the event level by going to Step 1: General Information > Options and Add-Ons then changing the question “Would you like to collapse the price level legend in online sales for this event” to YES.

Below, are examples of a collapse and expanded price level legend. To toggle between the expanded and collapsed view of the pricing legend the patron would have to click on the “Filter Price” button.

Collapsed

Expanded

13. My Own Settings for External Users

External users can now manage their own profiles with the “My Own Settings” option. Password resets, name changes, etc., are all default options for external users via the “My Own Settings” feature. This will cut down calls to the back office requesting these types of updates/edits. This is ideal with the many promoters you may be dealing with.

14. Refund/Exchange Restriction

We have introduced Refunds/Exchanges restriction under Settings > Event/Product Settings > Financial Transactions. This function will help organisations restrict refunds/exchanges of event tickets after reconciliation has been completed.

By default, this field will be blank, however, the operator can activate restrictions when refunds/exchanges of tickets to that event or session cease.

For example, if the session time is 31 December 2022, 10:00 AM, and the restriction setting is set as 2 hours after the event performance date then refunds/exchanges will be restricted on 31 December 2022, 12:00 PM

Once activated on the Org Level, each event will have the corresponding question under Step 1: General Information > Option and Add-Ons as shown below. By default, this question will be set to NO but can be activated by selecting YES.

An operator will receive the below pop-up message if they attempt a refund/exchange on an event with Refund/Exchange Restriction turned on.

In cases of multi-event orders, the operator can exchange/refund the eligible events only by checking the boxes for those events/sessions only from the order lookup screen. 

15. Non-Seamless Payment Gateway Changes

From time to time a customer may run into a payment-related issue while completing their online order, to accommodate the customer’s initiative we’ve made the following changes

Redirect Message: The below message has been Introduced, for customers that are being redirected from their respective payment portal to TicketSearch

Payment Gateway Toast Message: Any error message coming from the payment gateway will be displayed as a “toast message” on the Finalise Order page.

Extra Time Added to Shopping Cart: If you run into issues finalising your payment, TicketSearch will now add an extra 5 minutes to your current shopping to ensure it does not expire. This only happens if your shopping cart had less than 3 minutes remaining prior to you experiencing a payment-related issue.

Payment-Related Issues Resolved: We’ve worked diligently to resolve all partial payment-related issues such as partial payments to an online reservation and using vouchers while making a payment with a non-seamless payment gateway.

We’ve also fixed issues relating to Pricing Level Discounts, One-Off Promo Code Discounts, and Deals & Discounts.

More Information Being Passed to Stripe: We are now passing the event name, the organisation’s name, and the customer/guest email ID with Meta tags to the Stripe Payment Gateway.

Payoo Payment Gateway Validation for Exchanges/Refunds: We’ve added validation for Payoo for refunds or exchanges into TicketSearch. Users will be able to validate on TicketSearch’s checkout page rather than having to go to the Payoo payment portal.

16. Scanning report update

We’ve updated the scanning date range filter to now include scanning which can be processed against External Barcodes (found under Setting > External Barcodes). The External Barcode function can be leveraged by organisations that sell tickets from different platforms but would like to keep all their scanning activity within TicketSearch. External Barcodes can be imported into TicketSearch via CSV files, and once successfully imported, can be validated as successful passes against an event or session/performance, by the TicketSearch Scanning Application.

17. Sales Channel by Ticket Type Report update for holds

Exclude Kill/Hide” Checkbox: We’ve added the “Exclude Kill/Hide” checkbox to the Holds and Sales Channel Ticket Type Reports. Selecting this checkbox removes killed seats from the total capacity, hence matching your standard sales numbers.

For example, if the total capacity is 100 (including 20 killed seats) then by default, the reports show the same 100, however, checking the box “Exclude Kill/Hide” will show the capacity as 80 (the total capacity considering 20 kill holds).

18. Text Change to Membership Module

A text change has been made under the Customer Record > Membership tab. The phrase ‘Renewal Email’ has been renamed to ‘Confirmation of Renewal’ to avoid any confusion which may occur between the ‘Renewal Reminder Email’ and ‘Renewal Email’.

19. Merchandise/Products Sales Listing Page Fix

We have optimized the “show more” button on the Sales Listing Page for Merchandise to show an append of products greater than 50 counts.

20. Ticket Holder Bypass (No Ticket Holder Info Available)

You can now confirm your order without having to enter Ticket Holder Info if/when there is no ticket holder information available.

21. Radio Buttons Design Update

A small design update was made to better accommodate the maximum number of radio buttons displayed horizontally. This caters to a reduced page length and improved customer experience.

22. Subscription Module Update – Mismatch Quantity and Extra Validation Step to Complete Order:

The Subscriptions and Packages module was updated, fixing the mismatched quantity issue. We also added another layer of validation to the checkout button, this helps to prevent operators from accidentally completing transactions that require additional changes.

23. Subscription’s Special Note: 

This field has been changed to a Rich Text box from a Single Line input field. This feature is found in the Subscription Build on Step 1: General Information > Emails and Messages >Do you want to add a special note?

These special notes will be displayed in the confirmation email by using the {Special Note} tag by going into Tools & Templates > Email/Letter/SMS Templates > Other emails > Confirmation Email > Message Text tab.

24. Obsolete Membership Name Removal from Backend Sales

We have removed obsolete membership names while doing a sale from the backend customer profile, to avoid any confusion which may occur.

Customer Profile

Standard Sales

25. Payment Gateway Error Code Update (Error 230)

We have made a small code change to the CyberSource payment gateway changing how we handle a soft decline from the payment gateway. If ever there is a soft decline of the customer’s credit card (Error Code 230), TicketSearch will no longer generate orders until the error is corrected or a different card is successfully processed.

26.Customer Add/Edit Function Optimised

We have optimised the customer add/edit function throughout the system, including online and backend interfaces. With this optimization, the add/edit function is faster than in previous versions of TicketSearch. This is particularly important with clients with large customer data.

27. Internal Voucher Restriction

We have applied internal restrictions on vouchers, not allowing for them to be used on the same reservation transaction they belong to.

For example, if reservation confirmation number 1000 contains voucher number 123, the patron may have the voucher email during the reservation, however, while paying the same reservation 1000, the system will no longer allow for voucher number 123 to be redeemed as tender for such. Additionally, voucher 123 will not show up under “Available Vouchers” on the backend checkout page for that patron, as shown below.

28. Orders with Blank Patron/Customer (Online Purchase Issue)

We’ve corrected the issues of online orders being generated with no patron/customer information assigned to them. This was a rare anomaly and we’re happy to say it has been resolved.

29. Resend Tickets and Time Change Reminder Emails

We’ve optimised the batch job for resending tickets and communicating time change reminders. This was achieved by reducing the scope of transactions taken on by the job, thus ensuring all emails are sent correctly and meet the set time expectations.

30. Tag Assignment Notification Email Issue Resolved

We have fixed the issue where the tag assignment notification email was sending multiple copies of the same email to users. To leverage this awesome feature, go to Marketing > Tags.

31.Reservation Reminder Email Template Updated

A small correction was made to the Reservation Reminder email template (found in Tools & Templates > Email/Letter/SMS Templates > Reservation Email tab), where we changed the below statements from: 

To:

32. Join Waitlist No Longer Hidden (Back-End, Grid View)

We’ve resolved the “Join Waitlist” button design issue, where the “Join Waitlist” button was hidden behind the “Sold Out” button, whenever utilising the grid view in back-office sales

33. Membership Reminders Deactivation Fix

We’ve made active the “delete/bin” icon in the last column under Customer Record > Membership Tab. Clicking on the bin will deactivate all upcoming reminders for that specific membership, ensuring that members do not receive any scheduled reminders.

Once an operator clicks on the bin icon, the delete button and or renew button (if any) will be removed from the last column. The Email Options and Letter Options columns will display a “*Renewal Deactivated” message as shown below.

34. Reservation Release Date Display Issue (Finalise Order Screen)

We have resolved the Reservation Release Date display issue that was evident under the “Edit Reservation” popup window at the Finalise Order screen.

35. Promotor Opt-In Report Update (Inactive Opt-In Error Fix)

The Promoter Opt-In Report has been updated to ensure that it only reports on inactive opt-ins when an operator/user explicitly selects to show/report those inactive opt-ins from the dropdown list.

36. Abandoned Shopping Cart

We have optimised the coding behind the Abandoned Shopping Cart feature for increased efficiencies.

37. Reservation Reminder and Cancel Emails

The Reservation Reminder and Cancel Reservation features have also been optimised. We are reducing the scope of transactions being picked up by each batch job, hence improving the performance of each batch and by extension the entire process.

38. Report Margin Fix

The Reservation Reminder and Cancel Reservation features have also been optimised. We are reducing the scope of transactions being picked up by each batch job, hence improving the performance of each batch and by extension the entire process.

39. Reservation Reminder and Cancel Emails

The Reservation Reminder and Cancel Reservation features have also been optimised. We are reducing the scope of transactions being picked up by each batch job, hence improving the performance of each batch and by extension the entire process.

UPCOMING/FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS **Coming Soon**

There are many new features being currently worked on.

Some of our exciting projects are:

  1. Translation for international markets
  2. Terminal point EFTPOS integration (including Pay pass),
  3. Displaying live seat data movements for sales online and backend rather than validation on click of add to cart.
  4. Ability to add a description against an event date/Time (i.e Junior School, Morning Tour, etc.).
  5. Ability to add custom thresholds – i.e. Almost sold out appearing at 90%, Selling fast text appearing at 70%
  6. Memberships- a number of upgrades including the ability to not charge fees for specific membership programs.
  7. Ability to restrict merchandise by tags and promo codes- will give you the ability to offer discounted pricing to members, VIP and more
  8. Subscription ticket type on-sale and off-sale times
  9. Special characters added to Event line 1 and 2 (i.e French characters).
  10. Allowing holds to be purchased online by promoters reducing admin time
  11. Ability to allow more than 75 performances to be added against events
  12. Ability to generate PDF invoices                 
  13. SMS marketing enhancements
  14. Ability to add memberships and subscriptions as cross sells
  15. Change the internet sales flow for backend operators to allow exchanges and other functions currently restricted due to the offsale period
  16. Ability to change all ticket to etickets when a shows date and time is change regardless of delivery method
  17. Enhancements to per session upsell capacity
  18. Securepay storing of credit cards and recurring payments
  19. Fraudguard protection for Securepay credit card processing (setting rules for rejections of cards)
  20. Several of report changes.

Mobile Scanning App Enhancements- to be released 28th September 2022

The scanning app is going through several changes including:

  1. Flashlight for Low Visibility/Lighting: A flashlight is being added for the mobile scanning app. Users can activate the flashlight function by clicking on the flashlight icon in the top right-hand corner of the app. This will allow for increased scanning efficiencies in low-lighting situations.

2. Not Checked-In List: This feature allows you to see the list of patrons that haven’t been scanned/checked in yet, along with a count of all tickets remaining to be scanned/checked in. This feature will live under the Manual Check-in section of the mobile app. The section will be split to include a new tab labeled “NOT CHECKED IN”, that gives a list of attendees that are yet to be scanned/checked in.

Check –In All – Select All Button: This will allow the operator to scan in multiple tickets by selecting the Check-In All button, or they can select individual checkboxes to check in specific tickets.

Restriction of Events/Activities by Doors, Price Level, and Ticket Types- In the next version, based on your organization settings, you’ll be able to select whether on login by an operator, do a door/gate, price level, and/or ticket type need to be selected and is it mandatory. For example, if usher A is stationed at Door A, by selecting Door A restriction, a patron who tries to enter Door A will be rejected from entering.