custom cards schemes...custom cards schemes chromis administration user manual page 3 using the...

Custom Cards Schemes

Chromis Administration User Manual

What is a custom card scheme?

Chromis provides support for what is referred to as custom card scheme; by this we mean card options that are not

credit cards. These schemes may be used for options such as a loyalty offering.

At the time of writing there a 2 schemes available

• Loyalty

• Electronic Gift Cards

The following sections will cover each of these schemes and how they are used. Before these are explained we will

take some time to explain the basic guidelines around these.

The following formats are used to read the cards or input the card number.

• Magnetic stripe on the card

• Barcode printed on the card

• Manual entry by the operator (not yet available in all sections of Chromis)

Magnetic Stripe on the card

When a card is read by a MSR (Magnetic stripe reader), the hardware will add a leading and trailing sentinel to the

output, these are not part of the data, but used to indicate the data segment read from the track. The default

sentinels are ; and ?, there are some MSR which will allow you change these, if these are different you can configure

Chromis to expect different sentinels.

Barcode printed on the card

If a barcode scanner is used to read the card number, Chromis expects this to be prefixed with a letter. This informs

the software to expect details from a card and not a product barcode. Chromis allow you to set the character to be

used. These barcodes should be in Code128 format, they should not be EAN13, UPCA or UPCE.

Manual entry by operator

There are areas in Chromis that the card number may be entered manually, using the onscreen keypad or a

keyboard.

Card Numbering

To allow Chromis to work with multiple card types, there software needs to know about these. This is achieved in

Chromis using card blocks.

A card block is a range of cards that have a set prefix as part of the card number. It is this prefix that is used by the

software when a card is checked. It is recommended that this prefix is a least 4 digits long.

Examples

• Loyalty

o Any card starting with 1998 is treated as a loyalty card

• Gift Card

o Any card starting with 1995 is treated as a gift card.



These prefixes are a configurable option in Chromis, but type of card can only have 1 prefix.

Configuring Chromis

Open Chromis and go to ‘Configuration – Card Setup’

We will cover the Loyalty and gift card setup later, for now we will set up the MSR and Barcode Prefix.

To check the sentinels of your card reader, open ‘Notepad’ and scan a card in there.

You should be able to see the sentinels used by the reader you will be using. If these are different from the

configuration in Chromis, change these under ‘MSR settings’.

Next enter the Character that will be used to prefix the barcode, Chromis is not case sensitive on this, so it does not

affect the operation if you use Upper or Lower case letters. It is important to note that this prefix is not card of the

card number, only to indicate that the barcode is from a card.

Once these are set save any changes.



Using the Loyalty System

Loyalty types

Chromis supports 2 types of Loyalty solutions. However, only 1 of these can be selected for use.

• Earn & Burn

o You allocate the number of points an item will earn the card holder. (Earn)

o You allocate the number of points that are needed to get the items. (Burn)

• Earn x points for spend

o You set up the number of points earned for the amount spent (ie each full GBP)

o You set the number of points that are required for a money off voucher

o You set the amount of money off when points obtained.

The loyalty cards are configured to read the magnetic stripe of a card or a barcode. Customer cards are not loyalty

cards and cannot be used as such.

As part of a new install, a new default product is created in the database, this is the voucher product that will be

used by ‘Earn x’ if implemented

How to configure Loyalty.

Open the ‘Configuration – Card Setup’ panel in Chromis. The top section is dedicated to the loyalty configuration.



Enable the loyalty system, to allow you to make changes.

Set the card block prefix to be used by the loyalty system.

Earn X Points

If you select to use Earn x option, in the loyalty panel configure the settings

Now set up the point values to be used

In the above example the customer will get 15 points for every pound they spend. Once they have 5000 points the

will be entitled to a £5.00 voucher. Gift card sales are excluded from earning loyalty points.

Earn & Burn

If you select the ‘Earn & Burn’ system, you will have to configure the products to work with the system.

The system still uses points based loyalty, so you will be required to allocate these in the product settings.

Example. We want to give a free coffee for every 10 purchased.

Open the products editor panel, the select or edit the product you wish to configure.



Select the ‘Stock’ tab.

Set the points in the ‘Loyalty Setting’. The points earned can be used to buy any item that has a burn value proving

the user has sufficient points.

In the above screen the customer will get 10 points for each Latte purchased, and need 100 points to buy one.

Once you have an active card the loyalty system cannot be changed from within Chromis. Any changes to the

alternative system will result in all cards being made inactive and any points lost.

You can however switch it off, which retains all points earned by the members.



Using the Loyalty System

Once configured you can now start to use it.

Earn & Burn

At any point on the sales screens the customers, the loyalty card can be swiped or scanned.

When the card is used for the first time it must be activated.

Once entered the card details are displayed

Earn & Burn display, this shows all the products that the customer can buy subject to having the correct number of

points.

The card number is displayed on the sales panel.

If you attempt to add another loyalty card to the transaction, you get a warning message



If the customer has enough points to redeem any points the buy buttons are activated on the panel

When you select buy, it is added to the ticketlines, with a sales value of 0.00.

Any points Earned or Burned is shown on the receipt.



Earn x

To allow loyalty members spend using their card, the cashier user needs to have the correct permissions in Chromis

to use accept loyalty payments. Ensure that the cashiers role has these permission in the Roles setup.

At any point on the sales screens the customers, the loyalty card can be swiped or scanned.

When the card is used for the first time it must be activated.

Once entered the card details are displayed

At the payment screen selected Loyalty



The panel will display any voucher that can be redeemed. To redeem a voucher select ‘Redeem Voucher’. Then click

‘+’ and the amount will be taken from the amount owed.

New points added to the card, excludes the value of any points redeemed.



Configuring the Gift Card System

As with the loyalty system, to use gift cards Chromis needs to be configured, unlike loyalty there is only 1 settings.

Open the ‘Configuration – Card Setup’ panel in Chromis.

‘Enable the gift cards’ then assign the prefix for the card block.

Using gift cards

Gift cards or electronic gift cards initially have no cash value, these cards are activated when sold. As part of the

initial database creation 2 new products are created, a gift card and gift card topup. These products have 0% tax

associated with them, all tax is determined when the card is used to purchase a product.

Activating and Preloading the card

In Chromis sales panel, swipe or scan the card.

Enter the amount that you wish to load on the card as part of the sale.



The sale is now added to the ticket.

When the sale is completed all details are shown on the receipt.

The card can now be used to purchase items with.

The system also allows card to be topped up if required, when or before it runs out. In effect this would allow the

card to also be used as saving card if required.



Topping up a Gift Card

In the sales screen scan or swipe the card.

You will now notice that the form has changed slightly. You can see the current balance on the card and have the

ability to add more funds, for example another £50.00

The top up is then added to the ticket.

Again all the details are shown on the receipt



Using the Card in a transaction

We now have a card in Chromis, so let’s look at how we use it as part of paying for transaction.

Having entered all of the products on the ticket, we are now ready to accept payment.

Providing you have enabled the payment method in the permissions, there is now a new tab on the payment screen.

Select the gift card tab.



Enter the card number, either by swiping, scanning or manually. If you manually enter the card number, complete

the entry by clicking ‘Card Balance’

If an invalid card number is entered you will get a warning dialog.

Otherwise

Enter the amount you wish to pay with the card, or click ‘OK’ to pay the entire balance with it.

Multiple gift cards can also be used in single transaction if required.

custom cards schemes...custom cards schemes chromis administration user manual page 3 using the...

Documents