Category: Connect

New:

1. A new integration added to Connect → Settings → Integrations.
   Integrations page now allows to access Lava tab, where users can setup new lava credentials.
   Note: The page is still being developed, so more features will be added in subsequent releases.
2. Limiting Purchase Orders to 4 decimal places.
3. Suites – PreOrdering portal is now fully redesigned.
4. Lava Loyalty – new option added to Employee Roles.
   – open Connect → Options → Employee Roles
   – select the correct role
   – open External Value tab
   – there you can access the new option: Lava Loyalty (select Yes/No)
5. GeoTax – a new inclusive tax type added to Connect. It allows users to apply an inclusive tax rate to a defined geo-fence.
   To turn GeoTax on, you need to:
   a) Open Options → Permissions Sets → Payments → “Send Order Location” – choose Yes
   b) Open Options → Vendor Roles → General tab → “GeoTax” – choose Yes
   c) Open Options → Tax Rates → fill in the required fields and make sure that:
   • Tax Type = Active
   • Status = Active
   • GeoTax = Active
   d) Then, a new window will appear under “GeoTax”. There, user should paste GeoJson formatted coordinates (if you need help at this point, contact Appetize support)
   e) hit Import GeoJson format button
   f) the Google map indicating the correct location should show up
   g) After successful setup, when items are added to the cart via Activate, the app calls out and records the devices GPS location and then applies correct taxes
   Note! For more information about Geo Taxes and their calculation, reach out to Appetize support crew
6. Ability to assign Vendors or Suites to an Event Type without need for Inventory
   – user opens Events → Event Types and creates a new Event Type, or chooses an existing Event Type
   – then, user navigates to “Inventory” and assigns some Vendors, or to Suites tab and assigns some Suites to the Event Type
   – Vendors / Suites that are assigned to the Event Type are automatically assigned to Non-Inventory events when selecting the Event Type
   – Vendors assigned to Event Types are excluded when “Exclude EventType Vendors” is set to Yes
7. General compliance and protection enhancements.

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Changed:

1. Adding Tax Groups with GeoTax rates – changes
   – user has a Tax Group that contains GeoTax rate
   – user opens Vendor Role Tax Groups tab
   (The “GeoTax” toggle is switched to No on the Vendor Role page)
   – user tries to assign a tax group that contains GeoTax rate to the Vendor Role
   – the system should block the user from adding the Tax Group and show the following message: “GeoTax not enabled. Tax Group contains GeoTax Rates”.

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Fixed:

1. Calculating Tax Groups added to orders via Activate – fixes.
2. Issues when adding item (with GeoTax enabled) to order via Activate – lack of order coordinates displayed.
3. Inventory → True Up Count → calculation issues.
4. Inventory → Warehouses: deleting items from a Transfer causes the Stock is not returned to the Origin.
5. Connect Roles – improvements.
6. Credit Sales in Tender Summary were doubled.
7. Suites – item packages were not displayed correctly on the PreOrder portal.

New:

1. A new “Combine Checks” setting has been added to Options → Employee Roles.
2. New role in Connect → Options → Connect Roles -> Cash RoomUsers can now access the new Cash Room role called “Custom Tenders”. When enabled, users are allowed to manage Custom Tenders via Cash Room page.
3. Skidata Loyalty Points can now be printed on the receipt after checkout via Activate. To manage the new feature, a new toggle has been added to Vendor Role. You can turn the setting on/off via Connect → Options → Vendor Roles → Printing → “Print User Loyalty Points”. 
   
4. New toggles have been added to Options → Permissions Sets → Finalize Day:
   – “Custom Tender Sales”
   – “Custom Tender Fees”
   – “Custom Tender Tips”
   – “Custom Tender Taxes”
   The feature will work with Activate iOS 7.5 or later versions. When enabled, the permissions will allow to access detailed information about Custom Tender sales.

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Changed:

1. Inventory page refinement including:
   – Inventory → Items page enhancements
   – Reports → Inventory → Recap Report: now when generating the report, “Include Subcontractors” toggle is set to YES
   – Inventory → Purchase Orders: ability to export multiple POs into PDF files added
2. Events → Inventory Events → Stand Sheets:
   – Vendor Sales Summary now includes correct date ranges

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Fixed:

1. Adding Custom Fees – bug fixes.
2. Inventory: unable to unassign items when adding depletion rates
3. Errors when creating Inventory Purchase Order with “Completed” statuses.
4. Updating Price Levels – fixes.

New:

1. Connect PreOrdering page – Order Details will now be displayed on the Suite Name.

   • access Connect → Suites → PreOrders view as an admin
   
   • select an order and check Order Details 
   
   • order Details will now display the Suite Name 

2. PreOrdering portal – when you click on a food item, you can see all details of a product.

   • access Suites preordering portal 
   
   • after clicking on a food item, you will see its: name, price, description
   
   • you can also see the Goes well with section where additional items are displayed. You can also see their details
   

3. PreOrdering portal – access view of current and past orders.

   • access Suites preordering portal
   
   • right under Profile you can see Previous and Upcoming Orders 
   
   • Previous Orders page shows the orders of the last 12 months, grouped by event
   
   • Upcoming Orders page shows orders for upcoming events. 
   Note! Upcoming Orders cannot be edited, and they need to show up there immediately after placing a new order
   

4. Event Calendar:

   • access Events → Calendar
   
   • click a date to create an event
   
   • there's a new field showing day of the week
   
   • specific days are automatically added by the system once user fills in date start and end date of an event 
   
   • if date range is more than a day, the new field shows multiple days 

5. Inventory:

   Items: 
   
   • navigate to Inventory → Items  → click Create blue button
   
   • new: you can add SKU (stock keeping unit) number to new inventory item
   
   • adding SKU number is optional for the user

   Par Levels: 
   
   Currently, you can set Par Levels using Inventory panel. To do it, you need to:
   
   • access Inventory → Settings → Vendor Page → select a Vendor
   
   • the page will list all the items assigned to the selected Vendor
   
   • you can sort the page by: SKU, Name, Category, Track Qty, Low/Medium/High Columns
   
   • additionally, there's a search bar allowing to quickly look for the item from the list
   
   • filtering by category is available too
   
   • bulk editing of items on the list, or manual edition of each item

   Par Levels: 
   
   • while Vendor has multiple items transferred via par levels, Connect generates one single transfer
   
   • all item transfers auto transferred to a Vendor using "Bring Items to Par" function should generate a single transfer ID and transfer docket

   Par Levels: 
   
   added ability to configure par levels for Vendor so that quantity transferred does not break the transfer unit conversion rate defined for the item.
   
   • now, user can choose whether or not the par amount breaks the conversion rate defined for the transfer unit
   
   • there's a new Use Unit to Par field, where user can choose from the dropdown: Not Set / Purchase Unit / Transfer Unit
   
   • when Not Set: when par level is calculated, the par amount should not break the transfer unit conversion set for the item

6. Purchase Orders:

   Supplier tax: 
   
   • added ability to add supplier tax to a delivered Purchase Order
   
   • tax amount is added to the Purchase Order total
   
   • if you download the Purchase Order, the tax amount will be also displayed in the tax field
   
   Validate a received Purchase Order: 
   
   • an invoice total input field is added on the PO confirm delivery page
   
   • when user selects to complete the order, invoice total input value is validated to purchase order total
   
   • if values do not match, a dialogue message "Purchase Order total does not match to Invoice total. Do you want to continue?" shows up
   
   • user can cancel, or confirm to complete order

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Changed:

1. User Cash Room – Complete button enhancements:

   • access Connect → Events → User Cash Room 
   
   • choose the correct event → Vendor → User 
   
   • click to add bills, coins and credit 
   
   • click Complete → your event data is successfully updated 
   

2. User Cash Room – further enhancements:

   With 10.18.2 release, you're able to define tellers wishing the Cash Room Module to allow reconciliation by teller. 

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Fixed:

1. PreOrdering – deleting items bug fixes.
2. PreOrdering – issues with incorrect Payment Amount display.

   • you have a created upcoming event (e.g. concert event type) 
   
   • place an order with a few items and close it to invoice
   
   • access Connect → Suites → PreOrders
   
   • select the Preorder → view Order Details
   
   • Grand Total amount is now shown correctly in Payment Amount

3. PreOrdering – respecting event start time and timezone.

   • access Connect → Events → Calendar
   
   • create an upcoming event and select start time & end time 
   
   • continue and save your changes 
   
   • after saving, the event start time will remain the same as you've set

4. Logging out of Connect without users’ actions – fixes.
5. Connect → Advanced Analytics: fixed an issue with enabling Custom Reports.

Changed:

1. Sending active discounts or vouchers to Activate – performance improvements.
2. Inventory – Depletion Rates.
   Currently, when you open Inventory → Items → Depletion Rates tab, you will notice that a new column has been added.
   A new Depletion cost column indicates recalculated cost of an item multiplied by the defined depletion rate.

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Fixed:

1. Changing Price Levels results in removing Tax Group assignment – quick bug fix.
2. Completing User Cash Room (Events → User Cash Room) – issues when updating the event data.
3. Occasional problems when trying to add a new event on the Events calendar menu.

 

New:

1. Inventory enhancements such as:
   – actual count out will now auto-populate on the back end utilising an expected count, which will account for transfers, comps, wastes and POS sales
   – Inventory Transfers will display dates in the correct timezone
   – added ability to uniquely identify SKU number within inventory module in order to keep data integrity and consistency
   – ability to select multiple locations when marking a purchase order as delivered
   – we’ve added inventory sub categories for future granular reporting
   – inventory search filter has been updated
   – ability to choose how blank counts are treated on the stand sheets. Blank counts can now be treated as follows:

   • Auto populate blank counts utilizing the expected count, calculated by POS sales and inventory adjustments (transfers, wastes, comps)
   • Auto populate blank counts with zeros 
   • Do not allow blank counts

2. Cash Room enhancements:
– ability to run cash room by denomination breakdown report for easier reconciliation in a denomination-based cash operation
– ability to enter custom tenders into cash room report

3. Advanced Ordering (Suites) Pre-Order interface:
– allows customers to order in a quicker way
– added upsell functionality
– order changes simplified

Fixed:

1. Inventory → Purchase Order performance improvements.
2. Restaurant Mode enhancements.
3. Ability to unsubscribe from reports.
4. Improved User Interface to eliminate unused objects.
5. Codes import will now advise the user of an error relating to use of punctuation in the file name.

New:

1. Creating promotions for items – ability to set promotion as reocurring on certain days. 
   In the new “Discounts” page, it is possible to add promotions that will be reocurring based on the selected time period.
   To be able to create a promotion (e.g. “Happy Hours” that will be repeated for some items every day between 10-11:00 on specific days of the week), you need to:
   – open Connect → Discounts page
   – select “Create new Discount”
   – fill in the basic information such as: Name, Display name, Discount Details
   – select Activation Date/Time and Expiration Date/Time, depending on your preferences
   – notice the new flag: “Does this promotion repeat weekly?”
   – if you select “YES”, you can enable/disable each of the 7 days of the week for the promotion to repeat on: for example: Monday/Wednesday/Sunday
   – below “Repeat on” choice, you can select specific time for the promotion to occur, i.e. between 10:00 and 11:00
   – you will only need to define the time range once (and not for each of the days the user has enabled)
   – by default, the “Does this promotion repeat weekly” flag will be disabled, and the promotion will just follow the standard date/time range like normal
   – of course, once your promotion is ready, you need to make sure that it is enabled for correct Vendor, and that your item(s) are assigned to that promotion. To preview assigned items, open Discounts → select your Discount → reach “Assigned Items” tab, and Add / Delete items
2. New Employee Role toggles for “Signature Amount”. 
   We’ve added additional “Signature Amount” thresholds for standard tenders (except for Cash). This is especially useful for split transactions, so that signatures will not be required when they aren’t needed.
   If you choose to set different Signature Amount thresholds for various tenders, you will be prompted for a signature (when paying in Activate) not based on the whole tender amount.
   To add new thresholds, you need to:
   – open Connect → Options → Employee Roles
   – select the Employee Role that you want to update
   – navigate to “Payments” tab
   – access the “Signature Amount” next to the payment you want to update (i.e. Credit / Loaded Ticket or Gift Card / RFID)
   – save your changes
3. New “Open Price” settings.
   – navigate to Connect → Items → select an item → Prices tab
   – set the “Open Price” toggle to YES
   – notice there’s a new “Require Data Entry” (Yes/No) toggle. If you choose “Yes”, then when purchasing this items with Activate, you will see a pop-up that has a SKU/Barcode field, and a “Notes” window. The SKU/Barcode field is not a required field, but focus is on this field when the pop-up first appears and the scanner needs to be enabled while in this field
   – these two connect options do not have to be enabled together, so you could have “Open Price” enabled, but “Require Data Entry” is disabled. Equally you could have “Open Price” disabled, but “Require Data Entry” enabled. And we need to still display the correct pop-ups based on these configurations.
   – after the item is added to the cart, a cashier needs the ability to modify the “Notes” entered within the “Notes” field of the Item Details screen.
   – additionally, there’s an Employee Role setting under Options → Employee Roles → Checkout → “Auto-Print Item Notes”
   – when you enable the above Employee Role setting, after the transaction is tendered, “Item Data Entry” receipt will be printed after the customer’s receipt prints
4. Cashroom reports and Stand Sheets improvements.
   Bank amount entered should not be reported in Cashroom reports and Stand Sheets until Vendor is finalized for selected event in Cash Management.
5. Events → Stand Sheets – new export options.
   When you navigate to Events’ Stand Sheets, you should be able to export all Stand Sheets.
   – click on the settings (burger) icon next to “Export Options”
   – there are two new options to print Stand Sheets that are with blank counts
   – select “Export All Blank as PDF” or “Export All Blank as ZIP”
6. Sending unique terminal ID to Connect.
   – devices equipped with Activate iOS (v.7.4) will now be sending the unique terminal ID to Connect
   – a regular Connect user will not be able to check this ID, as it will only be passing through defined payment gateways to identify the devices where the payment was made
7. Custom Fees – adding automatic fee to the check.
   – navigate to Options → Custom Fees
   – select or create a new Custom Fee
   – there’re 3 new options added:
   Apply Fee Automatically: if enabled, a custom fee to be automatically applied to a check when opened
   Set a guest count threshold to trigger the fee: if enabled, a certain guest count threshold (e.g. equal to or greater than 6) triggers a custom fee automatically on a check
   Require manager pin to remove fee from check: if enabled, a manager approval is required prior to removing fee from the check.
   example usage: 
   I’ve got my Custom Fee = 20% active. Then, I use it when opening a new check. If guest count is equal to or greater than 6, a 20% fee is applied automatically to the check. This fee should update as items are added to the order.
8. “Proxy Server” flag added to Employee Role.
   – a new flag is added to Connect → Options → Employee Role → General Tab → “Ps Proxy Server”
   – when enabled, any employee that belongs to this Employee Role will have the ability to open/edit/close checks for other employees
   example usage: 
   The new option allows to access all vendor checks and to order and pay for them on a Server’s behalf who is i.e on break

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Changed:

1. Quick Chip workflow – changes.
   – Quick Chip is a feature that enables to accept a CC payment as soon as the cart in Activate is filled with some items
   – user adds an item to cart and the payment device lights up
   To enable Quick Chip, make sure that:
   – the “Quick Chip” button in Options → Employee Roles → Payment Tab is enabled
   – the EMV payment type is also enabled for the correct Employee Role
   – when “Quick Chip” is disabled, the cart will behave normally
2. Assigning inventory items by Vendors – improvements.
   Currently, when you assign inventory items by Vendors → Assigning Items, you will notice some details added. This would help to differentiate similar items.
   New details displayed are:
   – base unit
   – transfer unit
   – purchase unit
   – conversion from transfer to purchase unit
3. Options → Price Levels
   – all the changes you’ve made on Price Levels page will appear without need to clear cache 

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   Fixed:

1. Issues with Tax Per Item visibility.
2. Connect → Orders view – problems with not visible cash returns.
3. Inventory Stand Sheets improvements.

New:

1. Inventory enhancements including:
   Transfers:
   – ability to automate a created transfer back to another Vendor or Warehouse after closed event
   True Up Count view:
   – the view will now have such information as: costs and conversion rates
   – additionally it is possible to access customisable Venue grouping to create Count Groups within the True Up page
2. Events page improvements:
   Stand Sheets:
   – enhancements in sorting (additional filters added)
   – new indicators: chargeable / non-chargeable added
3. Cash Room → Cash Management updates:
   – Cash can currently be added by denomination
4. Adjust tip for check orders. 

   How can I use Adjust Tip feature?
   You open a check order and add a tip when finalizing transaction with a Credit Card.
   Later, you notice that you’ve added the wrong tip and want to change its amount.
   With Adjust Tip feature, you can adjust the tip amount on a check
   
   What I need to know first?
   – Adjust Tip works only on Check Orders
   – The feature is available for payments finalized with Credit Card, in online mode onlyWhat Connect configuration steps are required first?
   1. To enable Adjust Tip for your Activate account you need to:
   – open Connect → navigate to Options → open Employee Roles
   – open Fee/Tip/Tax tab
   – switch the “Adjust Tip Allowed” to Yes

   2. Under Fee/Tip/Tax tab on Employee Role, there’s a Delay Time for Adding Tip button:
   – there, you can adjust the time of capture delay (e.g. 2 minutes)
   – when e.g. 2 minutes delay time is set, it means that after adding first tip, user has 2 minutes to adjust the amount of the initial tip
   – the Delay Time must be set to minimum 1 minute

   Note!  When the Delay Time for Adding Tip is set to e.g. 2 minutes, you will be able to track the tip added to order on Connect once the predefined delay time has elapsed. 

   3. There’s also one flag added to Permissions Sets
   – navigate to Connect → Options → Permissions Sets → Menu
   – set the Require Pin for adjust Tip flag to YES
   – as a result, when trying to adjust tip via Activate, user will be prompted to enter Manager PIN

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Fixed:

1. Connect → Reports → End of Show → Detailed Category Sales Report.
   Previously, when trying to generate the report choosing “Include Comps” to YES, the report showed incorrect gross sales totals.
2. Connect → Accounts page.
   Issues with incorrect accounts loading.
3. Problems with wristbands synchronization to Connect (occurring with Braintree Integration).
4. Connect Roles not respecting editing items setting.
5. PreOrdering general enhancements.

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Changed:

1. Items page enhancements.
   Category Groups: 
   – navigate to Items page → select an item to edit
   – when an item is opened → click the “Category Groups” view
   – click the “Add Category Group” button
   – notice, that there is a new “Unassign” button added to the modal window
   Assigned Vendors:
   – click the “Add Vendor” button
   – notice, that there is a new “Unassign” button next to each Vendor that removes the assignment from item
   Modifiers: 
   – click the “Add Modifier” button
   – Add Modifier model opens
   – notice, that there is a new “Unassign” button next to each modifier

New:

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1. Setting inventory Tax Rate as exclusive.
   – navigate to Connect → Inventory → Options → Categories
   – click the blue “Create” button
   – when creating a new category, you will notice that there’s a new toggle called “Is Exclusive Tax Rate” that you can set to Yes

Fixed:

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1. Issues when trying to edit Wizard item. The problem occurred when you tried to:
   – open Connect → Items
   – clicked on a Wizard item type
   – clicking the mass edit button
   – trying to save the edited fields
   – issue fixed: Wizard item would occasionally not save

Changed:

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1. Gateway Reason Codes used to monitor payment transactions that have come back from the gateway can now be looked up in logs and diagnostics on Activate.

Operations:

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1. We’ve fixed an issue with missing information about taxes appearing in some APIs for certain Venues.

New:

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1. Adjust Tip feature.

   How can I use Adjust Tip feature?

   You open a check order with Activate and add a tip when finalizing transaction with a Credit Card.
   Later, you notice that you’ve added the wrong tip and want to change its amount.
   With Adjust Tip feature, you can adjust the tip amount on a check.

   
   What’s new on Connect for Adjust Tip?

   1. To enable Adjust Tip for your Activate account you need to:
   – open Connect → navigate to Options → open Employee Roles
   – open Fee/Tip/Tax tab
   – switch the “Adjust Tip Allowed” to Yes

   2. Under Fee/Tip/Tax tab on Employee Role, there’s a Delay Time for Adding Tip button:
   – there, you can adjust the time of capture delay (e.g. 2 minutes)
   – when e.g. 2 minutes delay time is set, it means that after adding first tip, user has 2 minutes to adjust the amount of the initial tip
   – the Delay Time must be set to minimum 1 minute

   Note!  When the Delay Time for Adding Tip is set to e.g. 2 minutes, you will be able to track the tip added to order on Connect once the predefined delay time has elapsed.

   3. There’s also one flag added to Permissions Sets
   – navigate to Connect → Options → Permissions Sets → Menu
   – set the Require Pin for adjust Tip flag to YES
   – as a result, when trying to adjust tip via Activate, user will be prompted to enter Manager PIN

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Changed:

1. Inventory enhancements that allow to:
   – add depletion rates to modifiers via Inventory page
   – Purchase Order totals are now visible prior to their completion date/time
   – when opening Events → Event Types, it is possible to add bank templates to event types
2. Suites (also called “Advanced Ordering”) changes including:
   – possibility to add Item Notes to the Kitchen Production Report
   – ability to email order to Suites users
   – ability to add a custom “Legalese” and Venue address under Suites → Settings page
   – ability to view Preorder Notes in the Event Order Report
   – “Captains Notes” are now removed from the Suite Order Confirmation email attachment

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Fixed:

1. General Restaurant Module bugfixes.
2. Price Levels.
   – previously, when selecting a Price Level for an Event it was not possible to deactivate the chosen level
3. Par Levels – general improvements of the feature.
4. Suites (Advanced Ordering) – fixed the faulty behavior causing an active Custom Fee being assigned to an inactive Vendor.
   

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   Operations:
   1. API calls enhancements including:
   – changes in ‘last_modified’ API to reflect Venue’s timezone 

 

 

 

New:

1. Inventory – changes in naming.
   Currently, when you enter Inventory → Items → click the Create button, you’ll notice that:

   • the field which was previously known as "Counting" is now called "Stand Sheet"
   
   • the field know as "Show Price" is now called "Chargeable" 

2. Inventory – ability to group similar events using tags.

   • navigate to Events → Calendar → click to create a new Event → make sure that "Include Inventory Event" toggle is set to YES 
   
   • in order to make it easier to find the desired events, we've introduced the below changes when adding a new Event: ability to create a tag and assign to events (multiple tags can be assigned) 

3. New Cash Room report.
   Navigate to Reports → End of Show → Cash Room → Cash Room Cash Summary and download the report
   Notice that the report now reflects a breakdown of drops, banks and adds.
4. Advanced Ordering enhancements including:
   – ability to run Kitchen Production Report that will consolidate all items sold for an event

 

Fixed:

1. Suite Menus – bugfixes.
2. Purchase Orders totals reflecting $0.