Batch and Theatre Manager list do not match as a result of dropped Authorizations

Clients who use PC Charge may experience a mismatch between the PC Charge batch and the Theatre Manager list total on the first End of Day attempted after a prolonged absence from the office or any period of time where an End of Day has not been completed for a number of days.

Most Merchant Processors will only hold a credit card authorization for "x" days. If the batch is not settled within "x" days, authorizations will start to "drop off" from the batch, beginning with the "oldest" charges. As each authorized payment crosses the "more than x days" threshold, the authorization will drop off (stale authorization and unable to be settled in the current open batch) and there will be that much less money in the PC Charge batch. The value of "x days" varies from one processor to another and are typically set to 3 days, 5 days, 7 days, or 10 days, and some are greater. Our understanding is that most of the online processors (Paymentech Orbital, Authorize.net) do not drop stale dated authorizations at all - they will instead automatically refresh the authorization when the settlement is attempted. That automatic refresh is not possible with PC Charge.

The default value for settlement frequency in Theatre Manager is 3 days (the lowest common threshold). This value is set in:

1. Setup > System Tables > Merchant Accounts.
2. Select the active Merchant Account and open to the Settlement Tab.
3. There is a line for "Settle Batch Frequency" and AMS sets the value to 3 days by default as a safety measure - to try to get the box office to complete an End-of-Day before authorizations drop from the batch.

This means that at 3 days, Theatre Manager will warn users upon login that End of Day has not been run and the batch has not been settled for 3 days. Theatre Manager will not allow further credit card authorization beyond the Batch Settlement Frequency value for the client's security until after an End of Day has been successfully completed (not forced). Regardless of the default settlement frequency, Web Sales will always continue to run and accept payments for authorizations.

The Settle Batch Frequency should be set to either match (or be lower than) your merchant's default batch settlement frequency. Avoid having it set to a longer duration for this will bypass Theatre Manager's warning and possibly have this same situation repeated in the future.

In the event that a batch is not settled within the requisite number of days (determined by your merchant provider) and authorizations have begun to drop off from the PC Charge batch, there will be a mismatch between the PC Charge batch and the Theatre Manager list total. The Theatre Manager list retains all charges that have been made - and is correct. The batch total will be less than the list total by an amount that equals the total amount of authorizations that have dropped. In order to correct the mismatch:

1. Follow the steps outlined here for correcting an Indeterminate Batch. This will match up the current PC Charge batch to the latest information from your bank for what's in the active batch.
2. When in the Deposit window, go to the Summary By Patron Tab to see a list of all of the patrons and charges. We recommend you sort by the TroutID column to put them in order from oldest (lowest TroutID) to newest (highest TroutID). The TroutID number comes directly from PC Charge and is the easiest way to compare charges in Theatre Manager to charges in PC Charge.
3. Compare that list to a current Credit Card Detail report from PC Charge that will show you which charges are still in the batch. In PC Charge, click the Reports button in the main toolbar and select a Credit Card Detail Report from the drop-down of report options. Enter a date range that covers the time period from the most recent End of Day to the present time and click OK to run the report. The results should include the charges which are still in the current batch (the total on the report should match the current batch total) and will not include those which have dropped.
4. Re-authorize directly in PC Charge the charges that you found in Theatre Manager's Summary By Patron that are no longer in PC Charge (they will typically be the oldest/lowest TroutID numbers). That will bring the PC Charge batch into balance with Theatre Manager's list total. You can get full credit card information by logging into Theatre Manager as a Master User and looking up the card on each Patron's Credit Card Tab.
5. After all charges have been run again, restart the End of Day Wizard. Theatre Manager's deposit should now match PC Charge's batch. When they do, continue on with the deposit process as normal.