Wireless scanners are a convenient way of checking people into (or out of) a venue and tracking exactly who is on the premises. They are battery operated, portable and can be deployed from one entrance to another, depending on traffic or load. They are easy to operate, however they do require a few steps to get them working the first time. The general setup steps are:

1. Contact ArtsMan Sales Dept to purchase a ticket scanner and licence (iOS device NOT included with purchase of scanner)
2. Buy or get an iPhone or iPod donated that fits the ticket scanner you are going to purchase in step 1
3. Install the ticket scanning software and mate with the network (usually a one time task).
4. Set up the preferences to scan a particular event (once before the show)
5. Scan the tickets as people enter and exit the venue.

 

Similar to the Web Scan method, you need to:

• get the event number from plays and dates, and
• the ticket web site address and
• enter it into the preferences for Linea Pro.

You use the scanner to check patrons in (step 3) or check them out of (step 4) the venue.

	iOS device not included with purchase of scanner/licence. It must be acquired separately
	Ensure you fully charge the devices before a performance so they have a full battery level. There is nothing worse than having the battery run out in the middle of admitting patrons. If necessasry, test the device while it is in the charger cradle and to make sure that it will still scan.
	New Linea Pro scanners may arrive at your location not fully charged and occasionally drain completely during shipping or if they have not been used in a long time. In such instances, the scanner will appear non-responsive and probably won’t power up in a charging station. The solution is to remove it from any accessories (pistol grip) and plug it in directly with the provided mini-USB cable. It should start to charge normally within 1-2 hours at most. If the scanner is still unresponsive after leaving it plugged in for a couple of hours, only then would something more serious be likely.
	Print at home is wonderful and when enabled for a performance, it becomes the default ticket handling method online. Tickets are marked printed and the customer is prompted to download or print their tickets. Print at home may be new behaviour for patrons at your venue. If so, we suggest doing an initial educational eblast to your current online purchasers that might mention things like: Your Venue Name now offers print at home tickets which will be the the default way to get tickets for online purchases -and/or- Patrons who purchased prior to this offering can log into their online account if they wish and print their tickets for upcoming shows and avoid waiting in line at the box office -and/or- patrons can reprint tickets at any time after logging in to the online web sales portal

With a tethered unit, you follow a similar process as outlined below:

1. From the main menu bar, choose Accounting >> Confirm Attendance.

   

   The Patron Attendance list window opens.

   

2. Enter Search Criteria.

   The search criteria is entered in the From and To fields and is based on the field listed in the drop down list.

3. Click the Search button.

   A list of performances opens.

   

4. Double click on a performance to select it. Once selected, the performance will open.

   

5. Enter the patron number, ticket number or click in the ticket number field and scan the ticket.

   If you enter the patron number, all of the tickets the patron purchased will appear in the window. If you enter the ticket number or scanning the ticket, only that ticket will appear.

6. Click the Accept button.

   To speed up the process, press the <RETURN> key to accept the ticket # / Patron #. If you are using a bar code scanner, set the default to include an automatic <RETURN> after each scan. If the tickets have a bar code on them, then either the patron number or the ticket number can be scanned in. It depends on what information has been encoded in the bar code.

   If too many tickets have been selected, and not all should be marked as attended, highlight those to remove and click the Clear Attend button. The tickets are removed from the list.

7. Click the Finished button when all data has been entered .

   This marks all tickets entered in the list as Attended.

While this kind of scanning will still work, we recommend a linea pro bar code scanner

The web scanning interface is really quite easy to set up. You will need:

• A computer
• A USB bar code scanner (CCD is best)
• A bar code on your hard tickets and your web tickets printed at the time of sale, and
• A permanent net connection to the web listener

To start, you need to know the following:

Performance Number	You need to know the performance number of the event that is occurring. You can find this by opening up the Events & Dates window, and clicking on the Performance tab. The first column of the performance list is the performance number. In the example below, you can see the performance number as #323 for the Apr 2, 2011 performance.
Web IP Address	You need to know the listener IP address (internal). You find this by looking at the web listener on the title bar. In the example below, it is https://192.168.3.50:5111 (note - 192.168.3.50 is the IP address and 5111 is the port number to use if you are using the wireless scanners)

Once you have the setup information, then you can begin the process of tracking attendance.

1. On any computer, start the web browser of your choice (Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.)
2. Enter the IP address of the listener (along with the attendance page) in the following manner. This is the IP address you found above, along with the actual attendance page called 'TMattendance.html'.

If you want to track attendance at a remote venue using this method, you can use the web listener and the path name will resemble https://tickets.yourvenue.com/TheatreManager/1/TMattendance.html

Once the browser page is started, you should see something like the following page. On it, you must fill in:

• The performance number from above (in this example -- 323)
• Your user initials (in this example -- RDE), and
• Your password (Password are case sensitive. For most sites, you will enter it in all upper case).

Put the performance number into both the upper area and the lower area. The upper area checks people into the venue who have not entered the venue. The lower area tracks people leaving the venue so that they may re-enter later.

Entering the Venue

Once the web page is on the screen

1. Place the cursor in the Ticket Number cell.
2. Aim the scanner at the bar code on the ticket
3. Pull the scanner's trigger
4. Click the "Check Patron In" button on the web page (see NOTE below)
5. Scan tickets until all patrons are in the venue.

When you click the "Check Patron In" button, a message is sent to the web listener and it responds with a message. For possible messages, see below.

If your scanner is programmed to automatically enter a "carriage return" after the click (see the scanner's User Manual to program), then you do not need to click the "Check Patron In" button. Alternatively, after scanning, you can click the ENTER key on your keyboard.

The next steps are repeated as required.

Action	Possible messages
Ticket Not Used Yet	For a ticket that is valid for admission, the message will display "OK to Enter." In this case, the ticket number is '8569' and the user is informed to allow access.
Ticket Already Used	If the ticket has already been marked as used then you will see a message similar to the one below.
Not Sold	If you try to scan a ticket Theatre Manager thinks has not been sold, you will get a message similar to that below. This may happen if the ticket was sold and then exchanged but the original ticket was never destroyed (as part of the box office procedures).
Wrong Performance	If the ticket that is entered is sold, but it is for the wrong performance, then you will receive a message like the one below.

Leaving the Venue

Sometimes people need to leave the venue. If you have scanned them in, then they cannot enter again because the ticket was already used. The only way to allow them to leave, and then return is to check them out of the venue. That will mark their ticket as un-used. They can then enter again at any access point that supports ticket scanning (or manual entry of tickets).

You are not required to use this approach for re-entry. You can ignore this process and use the traditional 'hand stamp' method (or similar protocol).

Action	Possible messages
Patron is Leaving the Venue	In the lower area, scan the bar code (or type the ticket number) to indicate that the patron is leaving the venue. The input screen will look like the following. if the patron was properly scanned into the venue, you will get a message like the following in the standard message area.
Ticket Not Used	If the ticket was used and the patron has been scanned out of the venue -or- if the patron was never in the venue in the first place, you will get a message similar to the one below. This is useful to let you know when "Elvis has left the building."
Not Sold	If you attempt to scan a ticket that Theatre Manager thinks is currently not sold, then you will get a message to that effect (similar to the "Check In" message)
Wrong Performance	If the ticket that is entered is sold, yet it is for the wrong performance, then you will receive a message to that effect (similar to the "Check In" message).

There are a number of ways to determine how many tickets were used (scanned). Some are reports and others show quick stats for a performance.

Note: It doesn't matter how the tickets were scanned (wireless, typed in manually, or tethered scanner), each of these methods will give the same result. In reports, the criteria you want to use is Ticket Scan Flag-Patron Came to the Event is equal to No (they didn't get scanned) Yes (they were scanned)

Things you can do..

1. The Ticket Scanning Monitor can be used in real time on the night of the event to see the flow of people into the venue. It can be useful for house management to know when to close the doors, or to hold them open should there be a weather related event occurring. This has the number of tickets scanned in (and out), the performance If multiple are happening that day) and the percentage of people in the house.
2. The manual ticket scanning window will show the number of tickets told to the performance, the scanned count and the unused count on the window. It is a quick way of seeing one performance at a glance.
3. On the play window in the attendance tab, there is a tab that indicates the ticket use (scanned/not scanned) status. This has 3 values:
   • Future Event - indicates that the performance is for the future so we cannot tell if it was used or not.
   • Attended - indicates the people who have been scanned into the venue.
   • Not Used - refers to any ticket that was sold, but not scanned into the venue
   If you highlight all the tickets in the attendance list, the window will tell you 'xx tickets selected: Attended: yy Not Used: zz' where xx is the number of tickets sold, yy is the count of those attended and zz is the count not used/not scanned.
4. Using any Ticket Inventory Report, you can search for only tickets that were scanned (used) or those that were not scanned (not used). This can be used in conjunction with other criteria to do things like find:
   • the number of subscribers who did not attend
   • which board members came
   • the number of people given a comp that did not show up
   • etc

The criteria to use in reports is Ticket Scan Flag-Patron Came to the Event is equal to No (they didn't get scanned) Yes (they were scanned)