Create the Base Package Item

Event types are built around a Base Package Item, which lets you allocate your inventory properly for each event sale.

1. Create a Package type inventory item with a Description matching the event type name.
2. Select the appropriate Category and Sub-Category.
   
   
3. Open the Detail tab.
4. Enter a Retail Price, which will be the price of your event when booked for the base amount of attendees.
   • The price for additional attendees is set elsewhere.
     
     
5. Open the Package Items tab.
   
   • On this tab you will add retail items that are included with the event package. For example, the Gold Party Package might come with 3 pizzas, 10 sodas, 10 goody bags, 9 $5 game cards for the guests, and 1 $15 game card for the guest of honor.
6. Click Add Package Item.
   • A row appears in the field above.
7. Select from the list, search for, or type the name of the first item in the Item field.
8. Enter how many of this item are included per package into the Qty field.
9. If you have a Modifier attached to the item, select Multi if you want to be prompted to make a selection for every instance of this item.
   • For example, if you have 3 pizzas with topping modifiers, if you leave Multi deselected, you will only be prompted once to select toppings and all the other pizzas will have the same ones. If it is selected, you can customize each pizza.
10. Repeat this process to add all items included in the package.
11. Allocate the revenue from the items however you want.
    • You can allocate sales either by Percentage or Flat Amount by selecting one of these from the Allocation Method field. This field determines whether the field next to the item reads Percent or Flat Amount and whether you will enter a percentage of the revenue or a dollar amount into the allocation fields.

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     If you want all of the revenue to report to the package item, you would enter 100% or the price of the total package into the Master Allocation field. Otherwise, you would enter some other amount (this amount could be 0) into the Master Allocation field and divide the rest of the revenue among the other items in the package. The Amounts and Master Item Allocation fields must all add up to 100% or the total price of the package. The items will also be taxed according to your allocations at the tax rate associated with each item.
     
     As an example, if the Gold Party from above costs $300, you could allocate $30 for all the pizzas, $10 for soda, $20 for goody bags, $15 for the $15 came card, $45 for the $5 game cards, and the remaining $180 to the package itself.
     
     
2. When you are done configuring the rest of the package item how you want, click OK.
3. Click Copy to duplicate the package.
   • This copy will be used to create an Increment Item for pricing when attendees exceed the base amount of attendees, which you configure later.
     
     

Create the Increment Item

An Increment Item is for attendee quantities that exceed your Base Attendee number. For example, if the Gold Party Package had a Base Attendee number of 10, and a customer booked more than 10 people, this item would determine the price added and additional inventory required depending on how many extra attendees there are. The number of extra attendees it takes after that point to raise the price and add this item again is also customizable.

1. Click Edit to change the package item you copied above.
2. Open the General tab.
3. Change the Description to something like "Gold Party Increment Item."
4. Unless you want it to report differently, leave the selected Category and Sub-Category.
5. Open the Detail tab.
6. Change the Retail Price to the amount it will cost to add extra attendees.
   • This is usually based on 1 additional person. Possibly not if the Inc Attendees (the number of extra attendees) required for a price change, is larger than 1.
7. Open the Package Items tab.
8. Adjust the item Qty fields to reflect how many of them will be added if there are extra attendees.
   • For example, if the Gold Party Package adds the Increment Item item for every 1 attendee over the base amount, it might include 1 soda, 1 goody bag, 1 $5 game card, and 1 slice of pizza instead of full pizzas. The $15 game card might be removed completely because only the birthday child gets a $15 card and it was included in the base package. To remove any item, click the red X next to it.
9. Allocate the price however you want.
   
   
10. Click OK to save.

Create the Event Type

The Event Type is what you will eventually use as a template to book events in the future.

1. From Groups, click Setup.
   
   
   

   You can also access Event Types from Manager Console.

2. Double-click Event Types.

   
   

   
   

3. Click Add to create a new type.

4. Adjust each tab, which are described below, as necessary.

   It is not required that you adjust every tab in the Event Type Maintenance window.

General Tab

In this tab you will configure the majority of required settings.

1. Enter a name to identify the event type, such as Gold Party, into the Description field.
2. If you want gratuity to be added automatically to every event of this type, enter a value into the Auto Gratuity field.
3. Select whether the Default Deposit Type will be a Flat Amount or a Percentage of the total price.
4. Enter the deposit amount into the Default Deposit field.
5. If there is a maximum number of attendees allowed to be booked select the Max Attendees box.
6. Enter the highest number of people allowed to book.
   • This is different from Base Attendees, which doesn't limit how many people can book, but rather how many can book before a price change occurs.
7. If the event is available online, enter in what order on the list it should appear into the Display Order (optional) field.
8. Select whether the event type is Enabled, is For Birthdays (has a guest of honor), is For Groups (can be booked in the Groups console), is Web Enabled, whether to Always Show Calendar (always shown as part of a reservation), or whether it has Scheduled Activities (has secondary activities to be scheduled during booking).
   
   
9. From the Base Package Item field, select, search for (ellipses icon), or type the name of the Base Package Item you created above.
   • This determines the default event price and what items are included.
10. In the Base Attendees field that appears, enter the maximum number of people your event can have before there is a price increase.
11. From the Increment Item field, select, search for, or type the name of the Increment Item you created above.
    • This determines the items and price for events where the number of attendees exceeds the Base Attendees number.
12. In the Inc Attendees field that appears, enter the number of people it will take after Base Attendees is exceeded to trigger another price change.
    • For example, if the Gold Party has a Base Attendees number of 10, and if you set Inc Attendees to 2, a person booking the party for 6 people would get the standard package price. If a person books the party for 11 people, the price will also include an Increment Item because events always add an Increment Item to events as soon as they exceed the Base Attendees. The Inc Attendees number only takes effect after this. If Inc Attendees is still set to 2, and someone books a party for 12 people, only one Increment Item will be added to the price because the number of extra guests hasn't exceeded the Inc Attendees value. If they book 13 people instead, two Increment Items will be added to the price. Every two attendees thereafter will add another Increment Item.
13. If you will have a separate price for adult attendees, select Use Separate Adult Pricing.
    • This disables Include Adults in Attendees, which charges both adults and children for the event at the standard price when selected. If this isn't selected, adults aren't included in the attendee count.
    • You can customize the pricing the same way you did the standard Increment Item pricing. Remember to select a different Adult Inc Item, so extra adults will be charged differently than extra children.
      
      
14. Open the Details tab.

Details Tab

This tab deals with Headcounts and web descriptions.

1. Adjust the Headcount settings.
   • You can choose whether Children Only or both Children and Adults add a Headcount as attendees. You can also select None to record no Headcount.
   • If you have Headcount Classes you can set which one to use for groups and/or which to use for birthdays.
     
     
2. Optionally, enter a Long Description and Short Description, which will appear online.
3. If you want to add items that will be included depending on the number of attendees, open the Scaling Items tab.

Scaling Items

Scaling Items are items that will automatically be added to the event when the number of attendees reaches a certain point.

1. Click Add Item.
2. Select, search for, or type the name of the item.
3. If you want adults to be included in the attendee count relating to scaling items, select Include Adult.
4. Optionally, enter in what order these occur.
5. Click Add Level.
   • A Level is the attendee threshold after which this item or items will be added to the package.
6. Enter the minimum number of attendees after which this item or items will be added into the Levels field.
7. Enter how many of this item will be added at this level into the Quantity field.
   • For example, if you decided the Gold Party should not include a single slice of pizza in the Increment Item, you could instead set a number of attendees after which another whole pizza is added if it is more practical than a single slice. If you set the Level to 15, and the Quantity to 2, two full pizzas would be added to the event if 15 or more people attended.
8. Add as many levels as you want to have.
   • Subsequent levels will take the place of the levels before it. If you had a Level set to 15 that added 2 pizzas, and a Level set to 25 that added 3 pizzas, the event would only come with 3 extra pizzas if there were more than 25 guests.
     
     
9. Open the Areas tab.

Areas Tab

Here, you will designate where an event takes place and how long guests will stay in each area.

1. To limit the areas into which a party can be booked, select Restricted.
   • All areas will be available if you leave Unrestricted selected.
     
     
2. Select whether you want adult attendees to take from capacity with the Include Adults in Capacity check box.
3. Click the house icon to add a new Primary Area.
   • This specifies the initial and main area into which an event is booked.
4. Select an Area and, optionally, a Sub-Area.
5. Select an Item that is available in that area or sub-area if you want the event to report the attendees as having used that item.
6. Click OK.
7. Click the house icon you just added in the field below the toolbar.
   • From this point, if the event takes place in more than one location, you can either add a Secondary Area to which the party moves or a Choice Set of Secondary Areas from which to select when booking.
8. To add a Choice Set, click the folder icon.
   
   
9. Select whether you want these options to be Hidden on Web.
10. Enter a Description for the set.
11. If you want people to be able to bypass making a selection, click Allow None.
12. If you want to use a graphical calendar for reserving these areas, select one or more from the Graphical Calendars field.
13. Click OK.
14. If you did not create a choice set and want to add a single Secondary Area, verify the house icon is selected in the field below the toolbar, or, if you did create a choice set, click the folder icon in the field below the toolbar.
    
    
15. In both cases, click the blue plus icon to add a new Secondary Area.
16. Select the Area, Sub-Area, and Item as necessary.
17. If you want guests to move here after an hour in the Primary Area, enter 60 in the Start Offset field, or any other amount of time you want the event to stay in the Primary Area.
    
    
18. Click OK.
19. Add as many Secondary Area or Choice Set options as you want by first clicking the corresponding icon in the field below the toolbar.
    
    
20. With the Choice Set or Area to which you want to add another Secondary Area selected, click the blue plus icon to bring up the Event Type Area window again.
    
    • For every new Secondary Area the event moves to, you would select the previous area or Choice Set before clicking the blue plus sign to add an area. The result is a series of areas that branch from one to the next, each with a Start Offset Time that is long enough to cover the amount of time spent in the previous area. Keep in mind, when you are creating a choice set, you must click the Choice Set icon again after each choice you create to avoid adding a Secondary Area to the area choice you just created. If you want the party to move again after that choice is made, you would add a Secondary Area or Choice Set to each individual Choice Set option and so on.
    • In the below example, the Gold Party begins in the Trampoline area, where guests will spend an hour. At the time of booking, they would have selected one of four party rooms in which they would spend the next half hour before moving to the Bowling Alley for the remainder of the party.
      
      
21. When you are finished configuring your areas, open the Extras tab if you want customers to be able to add more items to the package.

Extras Tab

Extras are additional items customers can add to their event when booking and present an up-sell opportunity. Customers can select any combination of these, and determine how many they want to buy. They will appear online like the image below.

Extras will be priced according to what is in the Retail Price field in Inventory Item Maintenance.You will set up Extras from the Extras window in Groups Setup. The items you add here show up in the field on the Extras tab in Event Type Maintenance where you can select whether they are Enabled (available) for this event. Optionally, you can set in what order the items display online by specifying where on the list it should fall in the Order field.

If you want to track when staff has completed certain tasks related to the event, open the Milestones tab.

Milestones Tab

Milestones are tasks that have to be completed before or after each event by staff. They serve as a way to track whether or not a task has been done and are optional.

1. From the Milestones tab, click Add Milestone.
   
   
2. Enter a value into the Offset Days field.
   • This reflects when, in relationship to the day of the event, the milestone should be completed. Negative Offset Day values refer to the number of days before the event to complete it. Positive Offset Day values refer to the number of days after the event.
3. Select a Milestone Type.
   • There are 3 Milestone Types from which to choose, Deposit Due (Percent), Deposit Due (Amount), and General. Both deposit types refer to an amount of the deposit due at this time. General refers to any other type, such as making a follow-up call with the customer.
4. Enter a Description to indicate what action should take place.
5. If you selected a Deposit Due Milestone Type, enter a value into AdditionalData that reflects what dollar amount or percentage of the deposit is due.
   
   
6. If you want to add images to display for the event online, open the Pictures tab.

Pictures/Thumbnail Tab

Both the Picture and Thumbnail tab have the same interface, but the Picture tab defines the main event picture online, and Thumbnail defines the picture when the event is listed as part of a group of events online.

• Click Get Image... on either tab.
• From the Get Picture window, select Take Picture to use your web cam to get the image, or click Load File... to select one from your computer.
  
  
• Rotate the image to the left or right if necessary.
• If you alter the image and want to save a copy, or if you just want to save another copy of the original image, click Save File....
• Click OK.
• To select defaults for the reports and emails related to this event, open the Reports & Emails tab.

Reports & Emails Tab

For the most part, you will only want to change the default Email Templates and leave the Reports as they are. Emails refers to Actions in the Edit Event window where you can click a series of buttons to to send different email types to the customer.

1. Select which emails you want to change.
2. For each item you selected in the Emails section, select an Email Template, which will be the default template selected when you send an email to the customer.
   • You can change which template to send at the time you send it. This only determines the Email Template automatically selected.
     
     
3. To add a disclaimer to the event, open the Disclaimer tab.

Disclaimer Tab

On this tab you can enter disclaimer text for your reservation agreement. It will show up on the invoice attached to reservation/confirmation emails. The toolbar has standard word processor tools, and supports images and links. You can also edit the source code by clicking the HTML icon in the far right of the toolbar, which toggles whether you are editing the code or using the standard toolbar.

Click OK to save the event type.