Configuring Articles

Prerequisites for Managing Articles

One transaction code can sometimes serve as an umbrella for multiple items or articles, which can be posted using that transaction code.  For example, a single "minibar food" transaction code might cover potato chips, crackers, peanuts, pretzels, and so on.

By using articles, you can specify an individual article number for each of the food items and specify a default price, just as you can for transaction codes. Instead of posting a lump sum to the minibar food transaction code, you have an option to post each individual article, its quantity and price. In the example above, rather than posting 7.75 to minibar food, you can post 5.00 for two bags of peanuts and 2.75 for potato chips. Two separate charges to the minibar food transaction code appear on the guest's bill (one for 5.00 and one for 2.75).

Articles can also be configured to display in Charge It, which provides you with a point-of-sale interface on desktops, tablets and mobile phones for posting charges to a cart and processing the settlement. Display colors can be used to differentiate and group articles appearing in Charge-It; for example, food items displayed in green and beverage items displayed in blue.

For more information on Charge-It, see Charging Purchases Using Post It.

To create new Articles:

1. Select the Administration menu, select Financial, select Transaction Management and then select Articles.
2. On the Articles screen, click New.
   1. Select or confirm the Property.
   2. Enter a numeric Code for an article. Codes must be at least 2 characters in length. Codes must be unique. The code cannot be changed once the article configuration has been saved.
   3. Select a Transaction Code. From the list choose the transaction code to which the article belongs.
   4. Enter a Description for the article.
   5. Enter a Default Price. When a posting is made using this article, the amount specified in this field automatically appears in the Posting screen Amount column. It is also the price displayed in Charge-It.
   6. Select the Available in Charge It check box to display this article Charge-It. The Display Color and UPC fields become editable when you select this option.
   7. Select the Display Color from the list of colors.
   8. Enter an UPC. Universal Product Code is a barcode symbology This value must be unique for each article and is typically 12 digits. Within Charge-It the barcode on items can be scanned in order to post the article to the cart. Manually enter a numeric value or scan item with barcode scanner to populate the field.
   9. Select a Sequence. If no sequence number is assigned to an article, it is displayed in alphabetical order by Description following those article codes that have a sequence number.
3. Click the vertical ellipses to select Show or Hide Inactive.
4. To edit or delete an Article:
   1. On the Articles screen, select or confirm the Property.
   2. Select the Transaction Codes and Article Code.
   3. Select the desired code and click Search.
   4. To edit an article, select a row and click on the vertical ellipses and select Edit.
   5. On the Articles screen, Property, Code, and Transaction Code fields are not editable.
   6. Modify or change the Description and Default Price.
   7. Select or unselect the Available Charge It check box.
   8. Select the Inactive check box to make the article code inactive. Articles cannot be deleted once a charge has been posted against them; however, making the article inactive removes it from further use.
   9. To delete, select a row and click on the vertical ellipses and select Delete.
   10. Click Save.

• Prerequisites for Managing Articles