The Discounts Page

Party Center Software has a very robust discounts system that will allow you to apply discounts to orders or individual items, use fixed amounts or percentages, set redemption limits or expiration dates, and use specific codes for your guests to use online. This article will provide an overview of all of the discounts features in our software. If you would like step by step instructions for how to enable discounts for use on our online booking pages, please use this article instead.

Table Of Contents

• Discounts Page
• Using Discounts in the POS
• Applying Discounts Permissions to User Groups

Discounts Page

• The discounts page can be found under Admin > Discounts. Here is how the page appears after a few discounts have been added:
  
  
  
  
• From the discounts page, you can add new discounts by clicking "Add Discount", delete discounts using "Toggle Delete Mode", view changes to discounts with the "Discounts Log" tab, and make changes to current discounts by clicking on the individual discount's name.
• The table on this page also provides a breakdown of the names, codes, redemption limits, and expiration dates for each discount.
• After clicking on the name of each discount, you have the ability to make changes to each of these fields:
  
  
  
  
• Discount Name: This is the name of the discount. It will appear when selecting the discount in the POS as well as appear to your guests when using a code online.
• Discount Code: This is the code that your guests will enter when using the Online Booking Discounts feature. 
  Note: Discount codes are not case sensitive when input by the customer.
• Type: Discounts can be set to either a fixed amount (dollar value) or a percentage of the order total.
• Amount: This will be either the amount or the percentage for this discount.
• Discount Allowed Per Product: This setting allows this discount to be applied to individual product prices.
• Discount Allowed Per Order: This setting allows this discount to apply to an entire order balance.
• Active: This setting determines if this discount is currently able to be applied.
• Redemption Limit: This field sets a limit on the number of times that this discount can be used.
• Start Date: This field sets the date at which the discount code will be active and valid for use
• Expiration Date: This field sets the expiration date after which this discount can no longer be used.
  Note: Discounts can always exceed the redemption limit and/or expiration date when used from the PCS Portal. Redemption limits and expiration dates will only stop guests from using the code online after the limit is reached.
• At the top of the page there is also a tab for "Discount Permissions". This tab allows you to assign the User Groups that will be able to use this discount. Here is how the Discount Permissions tab displays:
  
  
  
  
• If you have discounts that should only be usable by Administrators for example, you would check the box for that User Groups and then click "Save Permissions".
• The last tab for each discount is the "Discount Log" which allows you to view any and all changes that have been made to this discount. This includes changes to the name and type, limit and expiration date, and the User Groups that can use the discount.

Using Discounts in the POS

Next we will cover how discounts display when being used in the POS. As a reminder, discounts can be applied either to individual products or to the entire order total. The discount buttons will display in the POS as blue buttons in between the "Clear Last Product" and "Additional Products" buttons as shown here:

• To apply an order discount, first click on the "Discount Order" button. A list of discounts that are available for orders will appear:
  
  
  
  
• If there is a redemption limit it will appear underneath the name of the discount.
• Selecting a discount will highlight it green and you have the ability to add a comment before clicking "Save" to apply the discount. 
  
  
  
  
• Order discounts will display underneath the sub-total for the order and will show the amount for the discount.
  
  
  
  
• Clicking on the name of the discount will allow you to change the discount that is currently applied and clicking on the little red "x" on the left will allow you to remove the discount from the order.
• Item discounts can similarly be applied either by clicking on "Discount Last Product" or by clicking on the name of the product first, then clicking on "Discount Product" as shown here:
  
  
  
  
• After clicking on "Discount Product" a list of the available item discounts will appear.
  
  
  
  
• These discounts are applied the same as order discounts by clicking on the name of the discount and then "Save". But these discounts will appear as line items on the order instead of beneath the sub-total.
  
  
• Discounts that are applied to party orders use the same process as POS orders and will display the same way on party orders as they do on POS orders. 

Discount redemption limits and expiration dates in the POS

• When using discounts within the POS, you will now be able to use both the redemption limits and expiration date features.
• After clicking on either "Discount Last Product" or "Discount Order" you will now see both the list of discounts as well as their redemption limits.
  
  
  
  
• If the redemption limit has been reached the POS will now display a warning message to let you know that you are about to exceed the limit.
  
  
  
  
• A similar error message will display if the expiration date for the discount has been passed.
  
  
• Another message will display if the start date for the discount has not yet occurred.
  
  

Note: Discounts can always exceed the redemption limit, expiration date, or start date when used from the PCS Portal. The warning message will let you know that you have exceeded the limits but will not stop the discount from being used. If you have concerns about employees using discounts over limits, please use the discounts permissions to manage their usage. 

Applying Discounts Permissions to User Groups

When using the discounts features, you may need to double check to make sure that both your user permissions and your products are set to allow discounts. There are two user group permissions and one product setting that pertain to discounts:

• User group permissions can be edited under Admin > User Groups. Clicking on the name of a group will show the permissions that are enabled for that group.
• The "Apply Premade Discount" permission allows the user to apply discounts either in the POS or the party orders page. This permission is applied to both of our default User Groups (Operator and Supervisor).
• The "Manage Discount" permission allows the user to access the Discounts page to change discount type, amount, code, etc. This permissions is applied to the Supervisor group by default but is not enabled for the Operator group.
• Each product has an individual setting for allowing discounts. This setting must be enabled to allow item discounts for each product.
  
  
  
  
• As a final reminder, the "Discount Permission" tab can always be used to limit individual discounts to specific user groups. Checking the user groups that are assigned to individual discounts may also resolve discount issues related to permissions.

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