Consignment is a licensed module in Advantage that facilitates consigning items to vendors. For example, if you would like to have vouchers available for purchase outside of your business, you may want to use Consignment to do so while retaining legal ownership of the item. You may get a number of vouchers printed, which a separate business (called a vendor) can sell to customers at a price they choose. Each time a customer redeems a voucher, an amount you specify gets charged to the vendor's A/R account, so you can bill them on the redeemed vouchers for which they took a payment.

Enable the Consignment Module

1. From Manager Console, click Maintenance.

2. Double-click System Settings.

3. Double-click Modules.

4. Select the Consignment checkbox.
   

5. Click OK.
   
   

   • Once the module is enabled, if you return to Maintenance, you will see a new icon in the shape of a dollar sign labeled Consignment.
     
     
     
     

6. Double-click the icon for Consignment.

On the next screen, you have three options to customize your Consignment Maintenance: Vouchers, Vendors, and Defaults.

Configure Consignment Maintenance

Vouchers

The Voucherswindow lets you specify voucher parameters. There are four tabs within this area with settings for the vouchers, but you are responsible for getting the physical vouchers printed. Click Add to create a new voucher.

Info Tab

1. Name the voucher in the Voucher Name field.
2. Configure the settings described below as needed.
   • Select eitherUse Starting Dateand/orUse Ending Dateto reveal a pull-down list of dates to customize when a voucher is usable.
   • Minimum Quantity specifies the minimum number of a voucher item that must be purchased for the voucher to be valid.
   • Maximum Quantity specifies the maximum number of a voucher item one can purchase.
   • The Ask for Guest Name and Ask for Voucher Number radio buttons let you specify if you would like to add a guest name or voucher number when a voucher is redeemed. These are mostly for reporting purposes and don't change the function of the voucher.
   • The Status radio button refers to whether the voucher is In Use or Not In Use. If the voucher is available, In Use should be selected.

Items Tab

This tab allows you to add items that the voucher will be good for.

1. Click Add New Item to select an item that can be redeemed with the voucher.
   
   • You can add as many items as you want.
2. Enter the Vendor Price, which is the amount of money the vendor will owe you for each voucher sold.
3. Select whether to Show this voucher at the POS for redemption.

Notes Tab

This tab is for reference only.

• Clicking Add a New Note populates Created On/By, andModified On/By and lets you editVoucher Notes.

Activity Tab

Activity shows all activity associated with this voucher.

• The view can be set to 60, 90, 120 days, or All. This is a good way to keep track of voucher use easily.

Vendors

The Vendors window in Consignment Setup lets you add or edit vendors to whom you give the vouchers. The vendors will sell these and you will bill them for the ones that are redeemed. The tabs for this are described below.

Info Tab

Configure the following fields as necessary.

• Type of Association:
  • Leaving the default, Not Associated button selected activates the company information fields below. Select this if you don't have an existing customer you want to add as a consignment vendor, and enter the vendor information.Company Name, Address, City, State, and Postal Code are required fields.
  • Linked to Customers, changes this field to asearchable field with a button to search for and select an existing Customer.
• Credit Terms are defined in the same place you define credit terms for inventory vendors, and is used mainly in contracting with a vendor. This is not a required field.
• Credit Limit puts a limit on how much credit a vendor can have. You want to make sure they have enough credit to handle the number of vouchers they might sell, so all the redeemed vouchers can be charged to their account.

Notes Tab

This tab is for reference only.

• Clicking Add a New Note populates Created On/By, andModified On/By and lets you editVoucher Notes.

Activity

This tab shows all activity associated with this vendor.

• The view can be set to 60, 90, 120 days, or All.

Defaults

The Defaults window in Consignment Maintenance gives you access to control the default settings for Consignment, so you don't have to alter the settings every time. Configure the fields as necessary.

• Select whether to Use Employee Email Address as the From: email address on invoices.
  
• Default From Email Address is a field to enter the email address an invoice will automatically fill in the From: field upon generation, if the employee email address isn't being used.
• Default Email Subject is a field to enter the automatic subject of invoice emails.
• Print Receipt For Customer Signature and Print Item Prices on Receipt add these items to the invoice if selected.

POS Functions

To use Consignment in the POS, an action button must be enabled, which will charge the vendor A/R account whenever a voucher is redeemed.

Set up the Action Button

1. From the POS, click Setup.
2. Click Start POS Screen Design.
3. Select the Division you want to add the button to (usually All Divisions).
4. Click one of the action buttons on the right.
   
   
   
5. Customize the look of the button as necessary.
6. Under the Button Type pull-down list, select Consignment.
   
   
   
   
   • You can change the name of the button from the Button Text field if you want it to read something other than Consignment.
7. Confirm the Enable box is selected to make the button active.
8. Click Save to create the button.
9. Exit the POS Screen Design.

After this button is set up, customers can redeem their vouchers.

Redeem a Voucher

1. When a customer presents a voucher to redeem, add the item the voucher is good for to the transaction as normal.
2. Click the Consignment action button you created above.
   • You will be prompted to select the Vendor and Voucher being used and you have the option of entering the Guest Name for the customer and the Voucher Number if applicable.
     
3. Click the name of the voucher.
   • After selecting the voucher, you will be prompted to enter the Guest Name and/or Voucher Number if you have the settings to prompt for these enabled in Vouchers as described above, and you have not already entered the information. Once you have entered this, you can complete the transaction.
4. Complete the transaction.
   • Any items covered by the voucher will be charged to the vendor's A/R account, and the customer is responsible for the rest of the cost.

Possible Errors

If you are ringing up a voucher item with a minimum required number of items and the minimum number is not met, you will get an error message stating you do not have enough items. If you attempt to add the other required items and press the Consignment button again, you will get an error stating, "Only One Consignment Voucher Per Transaction."

The reason for this error is that the Consignment action button has already been applied. Rather than pressing Consignment again, you can end the order and the transaction will charge to A/R correctly.

Collecting Payments for Redeemed Vouchers

1. To take a payment on a Consignment voucher, open the A/R Payments menu.
   • From the POS, click More Buttons and select A/R Payments.
     
     
     
   • Alternatively, go back to Manager Consoleand click Cash Control, then double-click A/R Payments.
     
     
     
2. At the top of the Select A/R Account window, select Consignment as the A/R Account Type.
   
   
   
3. Click the Search button to find all your Consignment vendor accounts, or enter information into any of the search fields.
4. Click Select next to the account you want to access.
5. At the bottom of the account window, click to Generate a new invoice.
   
6. Select which purchases you would like to take a payment on.
7. Click Create Invoice.
   • You can print or email this to the vendor.

8. Once the invoice is generated, click Take Payment to take a payment from your vendor.

   You can view A/R reports for information about consignment charges.