For this module to work properly without custom styling, the following must all be true:

    *      Gift Certificate cards must use the Touch Menus Electronic Gift Certificate format.
    *      The customer database cannot be used for orders for any other purpose on Gift Certificate orders.
    *      The workstation must have a keyboard input mag stripe reader.
    *      The customer must have Touchnet version 6.11 or newer.

  Operation

To register new cards
Method A – In Customer Manager, add each card number as a new account.  There are no mandatory fields other than the card/account number itself.

Method B – If the cards come with an AddCus.Dat file, place the file in the Data subdirectory, run Customer Manager, and use the Add Records From Batch option in the File pulldown menu to setup the accounts.

To make a payment to a card
Go into Manager Functions, and press Gift Certificate Payment.  Swipe the card when prompted, or touch the screen and select manual entry.  Confirm the account is correct, then enter the payment.  A receipt will print to the local printer.  An entry will also be made to the journal showing this as a non-sales media.

To redeem a card
Orders are rung up normally until the Tender page is reached.  The operator then enters an amount and presses the Gift Certificate button.  Optionally, the button can be pressed with no amount entered and the amount due will be assumed.  Swipe the card when prompted, or touch the screen and select manual entry.  A screen then appears with customer information.  After pressing a button to accept this information the screen either returns to the Tender page, or goes on to close the check if there is no amount due after applying the gift certificate.  In either case, a receipt prints that can be signed by the customer authorizing the application of the gift certificate balance to this payment.

Correcting a balance
Method A – The gift certificate module is essentially a credit/debit system.  If too much is credited, debit the excess and vice versa.  In other words, if too much was redeemed, enter a payment; and if too much was paid onto the card, redeem some on a dummy check.

Method B – The current gift certificate balance for all cards is kept in the Customer Database.  Run Customer Manager, locate the account, and manually change the Balance field to the correct value.  Note that this will not post to the journal but will show in the account history accessible through Customer Manager.  If the customer is using A_R, do not use this method, as it will not post to the A_R module.
Setup

  1. Unzip the module into the application directory.
  2. In Global Options, press F5 to go into Secret Global Options and make sure that Allow Negative Variables is checked.
  3. Style a button on the Tender control page, put the Chain to GCHSECHG command on it, and label it “Gift Certificate”.  If this button is on other than the Tender control page, edit the GCCancel and GCProcss chains, replacing the command Control = TENDER with the appropriate command.
  4. Style a button on the Manager Functions control page, put the Chain to GCPAYMNT command on it, and label it “Gift Certificate Payment”.  If this button is on other than the Tender control page, edit the GCPayit chain and the GCAcct, GCPaymnt, and GCPayChc pages, replacing the command Control = MANAGER with the appropriate command.
  5. Create a PLU 1952 called “Gift Cert Payment”.  It should not have a price or be set as a modifier.  If 1952 is not available, edit the GCPayit chain, changing the Order Item command as necessary.
  6. Create a media 9 called “GC Payment” and check the Non-Sales Media box,  If media 9 is not available, edit the GCPayit chain, changing the Media Method command as necessary.
  7. KBMSR is used to read the Gift Certificate card.  If this application does not have a KBMSR shell, copy in KBMSR.SHL from another application.  Also make sure the KBMSR executable is available in the Tools directory.
  8. The GCProcss chain closes the check directly rather than calling a Tender chain.  Any check closing functions required by this application, other than printing a receipt and closing the check, need to be added to this chain.
  9. Print templates, GCCheck, and GCPaymnt, use Epson codes, no logo, and Constants 1 through 4 as the header.  If this is not correct, edit as needed.
  10. If the customer is not using the A_R module, edit the GCPayit and GCProcss chains, removing the Shell GCPOSTxx command.

Card Format

To work properly with this module, the mag stripe card must use the following format on track 2.  Track 1 is optional and may be left blank.

    Track 1: ** Food Card V1.0 **

    Track 2: ssssaaaaaaaaapppp

        *          ssss = Store number.  Not used by this module.
        *          aaaaaaaaa = Account number.  This is the Customer Database account number.
        *          pppp = Pin number.  Not used by this module.

Technical

The information encoded on the card only identifies which account is to be used.  The current balance is not kept on the card, but in the Customer Database.  For this reason, it is critical that the customer have a file backup program running on their system.  The module does not actually use the store or the pin number, however those numbers must be on the card even if they are all zeros.  This is because the application extracts the account number by first locating the last digit in the entire string, backing up twelve digits, then grabbing nine digits starting at that point.
Revisions

1/25/01 6.00 rw