Gift card settlements

With more than one location, a gift card can be loaded at one location and spent at another. Settling works out what your locations owe each other for that: which business profile took the money in, which one handed the value out, and how much has to move between them. Leat doesn't move any money itself: the results tell you what to transfer.

Turn settling on

Settling is set per gift card program.

1. Go to Store → Giftcards, select the program and open Settings.
2. Under Settling, click Edit settling.
3. Choose Settle transactions and pick a Frequency: Monthly, Quarterly or Annually.
4. Click Save changes.

Settlements then appears in the program's sidebar. It isn't there while settling is off.

How it works

While settling is on, every time a card is spent, the amount is matched against the loads on that card, oldest first. Each match is a settlement: it records where the money was loaded, where it was spent, and how much.

Settlements are collected in reports, 1 per period of the frequency you chose. During the night after a period ends, its report closes: the settlements are added up into results, and the report for the next period starts. There's 1 result per pair of business profiles, saying how much the From business profile owes the To business profile for that period.

Money that's loaded and spent at the same location doesn't need settling. It still shows on the Settlements tab, but it never becomes a result.

The same goes for balance that expires, and for money spent without a business profile. Both still use up the load they came from, so later spends are matched against the right loads. They show on the Settlements tab with an empty Decremented at, because no location has to be paid for them.

Reading a report

Go to Store → Giftcards → Settlements. The Reports page lists every report with its period (From and Until) and its totals. Open a report to see 3 tabs:

• Information: the report's name and period. To rename the report, click Edit details, change the Name and click Save changes. The period can't be changed.
• Settlements: every single settlement, with its Amount, Incremented at (where it was loaded), Decremented at (where it was spent) and Reference date.
• Results: what one location owes another, with From business profile, To business profile, Amount and Status.

The report's history is under Options → Activities.

A report covers one period only. To see a later period, go back to the Reports page and open that period's report.

Marking results as settled

Every result starts as Open. Once the locations have settled up, open the result on the Results tab, set its Status to Completed and click Submit.

Each status change shows under Options → Activities as Report updated, with the team member who made it.

Exporting

The Settlements and Results tabs each have their own Export, which follows the usual export steps. You'll find the file under Data → Exports.

Changing the frequency

A new frequency starts with the next report. The report that's running keeps its own period, and the reports after it follow the new frequency, starting the day after it ends. You don't have to regenerate anything.

If the new frequency is longer, the first report after the change runs to the end of the current period of the new frequency. Switch from monthly to quarterly during August, for example, and the August report closes as usual, a report for September follows, and from October the reports are quarterly.

Regenerating reports

Regenerate on the Reports page builds all of the program's reports again from its settlements, using the current frequency. Use it when you want past periods in a new frequency too, or when a report doesn't look right. Confirm with Yes, I'm sure.

What you've done on the reports stays:

• A report for the same period keeps its name and its activities.
• A result you marked Completed stays Completed as long as its amount comes out the same. If the amount changed, it goes back to Open, so you can check it again.

Reports for periods that no longer exist, for example after a frequency change, are removed.

When the reports stop

The newest report is months old. Reports are only made and closed while settling is on. If the program was set to Don't settle transactions, nothing was settled from that moment on. The report for that period stays open, and no reports follow it. Turning settling back on starts settling new spends again. Spends from the time it was off aren't settled, and Regenerate doesn't add them, because it only rebuilds reports from settlements that already exist. Contact us if you need that period settled.

Settling is on, but the last report's period ended days ago and it's still open. Reports normally close during the night after their period ends. If one hasn't, contact us and mention the program and the report.

A report has no results. Either nothing was spent at a different location from where it was loaded in that period, or the report's period hasn't ended yet. Results are only worked out when a report closes.