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How to Set Up Instances

Rachael Norris
Rachael Norris
  • Updated

An Event in Spektrix can be thought of as a ‘run’, ‘show’ or ‘production’ containing multiple performances while an Instance represents a single performance or occurrence as part of a run of multiple performances. 

This article will guide you through how to set up one or multiple Instances within your Event. Each Instance has a Date and Start time. You'll select a Seating Plan and combine overlays for each Instance. You'll select Ticket Delivery Methods and can add Ticket Commissions or fees and Ticket Donations.

You will need to set up your Event before you can set up any Instances.

Before reading this article, make sure you’re familiar with:

 

Before setting up an Instance

You will need to set up your Event before you can set up any Instances. 

You'll also need to make sure you have the following elements already set up.

WARNING: If you do not have these elements in advance, you will not be able to create Instances for your Event. The following checklist contains everything you need before setting up an Event. Bear in mind that you might have these set up on your system already. You don’t need to set these up new for every Event as it is possible to reuse them across multiple Events.

  • A Seating Plan
    If you have an appropriate Seating Plan on your system you can use this against multiple Events. You can request a new Seating Plan from us using the Seating Plan request form. Alternatively, you can follow the article to build your own unreserved Seating Plan.

    WARNING: Once you've created an Instance, you cannot change its Seating Plan but you can use Seating Plan Overlays to make changes.

  • Ticket Types
    Ticket Types allow you to define different sorts of tickets for your Event and will be used when creating a Price List which specifies their cost. There’s more about this in the article Creating and Editing Ticket Types. 

     

  • Price List
    A Price List is used to specify the cost of each of your Ticket Types in each Price Band for a particular Event. If you need to create a new Price List, follow the steps in the article How to Create a Price List or to make changes, How to Edit a Price List.

     

  • Price Band Overlay
    Your Price Band Overlay will assign your Price Bands to individual Seats. If you need to create a new Price Band Overlay, follow the steps in How to Create a Price Band Overlay.

     

  • Lock Types
    Locks are used on both reserved and unreserved Seating Plans to hold groups of seats back from general sale. If it’s your first time creating Locks, start with Introduction to Locks before following the steps in How to Set Up Lock Types.

     

  • Lock Overlay
    You will need a Lock Overlay to apply your Lock Types to the Seating Plan you’ll be using for this Event. If you don’t already have one, follow the steps in How to Create Lock Overlays to set this up.

     

  • Layout Overlay
    With your Layout Overlay you can choose to mask some of the seats from your Seating Plan. If you don’t already have one, follow the steps in How to Create a Layout Overlay to set this up.

     

  • A Ticket Design
    Your Ticket Design will be used to print physical and print at home tickets. If you need to create a new Ticket Design, follow the steps in the Ticket Design Tool article. If you’re using print at home tickets, as well as a Ticket Design, you will also need to follow the steps in How to Set Up Print at Home Tickets / E-Tickets.

     

  • Ticket Commissions 
    If you wish to apply a charge to individual tickets, and you’ve not already set this up before, follow the steps in the Ticket Commissions article. 

     

  • A Ticket Donation Structure
    Ticket Donations Structures provide the option to add Donations at the point of ticket purchase. If you want this Donation to contribute to a specific Fund then make sure this is also set up in advance. Ticket Donation Structures can be added to Events and Instances or changed at any time.

 

How to create an Instance

To create an Instance, go to Admin > Events, then Select the Event you would like to edit and go to the Instances tab.

You'll have the chance to create recurring Instances using the same details. These Instances can be across multiple dates and/or times.

To add a new Instance select Add. There are three tabs in which you need to add information to the Instance: Details, Ticket Donations and Seating Plan.

 

1. Instance Details

The first tab is the Event Instance Details tab. Here you fill in the details relevant to the specific Event Instance.

How to set up an Instance.png

  1. Event Name: This will automatically be populated with the Event name under which you created the Instance.

     

  2. Time: Enter the time the Instance starts. If creating multiple recurring Instances, check Time Recurrence instead.

     

  3. Recurring Times: Check the box to create recurring Instances at multiple times in the same day. For example, Instances every hour. After checking the box, choose from the following:

    • Regular intervals: Enter a start and end time for the recurring Instances. Enter intervals by number of minutes. For example, Instances every 60 minutes starting at 9:00 and ending at 20:00. Enter the time in a 24:00 format.

       

    • Specific times: Enter specific times in a 24:00 format and separated by commas. For example, 9:00, 11:00, 12:00, 12:30.

     

  4. Date: Enter the date on which the Instance takes place. If creating multiple recurring Instances, check Recurring instead.

     

  5. Recurring: Check the box to create recurring Instances on multiple days in a selected range. Enter a start and end date. Select the days which the Instance will recur on.

     

  6. Price List: Select a Price List, this will determine the price of tickets.

     

  7. Tax Code: Select the correct Tax Code for accounting purposes.

    • Users in the UK and Ireland should choose the applicable VAT rate:

       

      For more information on VAT, read VAT in Spektrix.

       

    • Users in the US and Canada should choose the local sales tax:

      For more information on Tax, read Tax in Spektrix.

      REMINDER: Choosing a Tax Code will not automatically apply tax to your Tickets or other items. To apply tax, you will need to calculate the cost of the item or ticket plus tax and set this as the price in Spektrix. Setting a Tax Code will allow you to report on tax rates.

       

  8. Ticket Commission: The Ticket Commission added to tickets purchased for this Instance.

    REMINDER: Before saving, double check you have selected the correct Price List, Ticket Commission and Seating Plan. You will not be able to make changes to these elements after you have created your Instance.

     

  9. Ticket Design: Select the Ticket Design template that will define how the physical tickets will look when printed.

     

  10. Print at Home Ticket Design: Select the Print at Home template that will determine how the ticket appears when generated within the PDF.

     

  11. Print at Home PDF Template: Select the A4 PDF Template that will contain your Ticket Design and any other information you want to add.

     

  12. Send Print at Home Email:Leave this box checked unless you want to suppress the Print at Home Email to customers who choose this delivery method. You should only uncheck this if you work with a partner product for ticket fulfilment or want to delay the delivery of e-tickets. Unchecking this box will also mean that the ticket barcode is not visible in Web mode of the API meaning that tickets also won't be available if you have built a custom My account page using the API.

     

  13. Status: Select the status of your Instance, this can be Live, Draft or Archived.

    • Live: The event instance is ready to use. Just because an Event Instance is live does not mean it is on sale.
    • Draft: The Event Instance is still in development.
    • Archived: No longer in use but retained for reporting purposes. In this mode the Instance will ignore any visibility and on sale settings, and will only ever appear in Marketing and Admin interfaces when you specifically search for archived Instances. With some requests, these instances are available on the API, but not on sale. This may impact your web integrations or any integrations with Agents. Mark as not visible on web to ensure Archived instances do not appear in the API.

     

  14. Digital Template ID: Add the Digital Pass Template ID to attach a Digital Pass template to this Instance. This will let you deliver tickets to customer's Apple and Google wallets.

     

  15. Max Seats for online purchase: The default will be 10 but you can choose to enter any custom number. This will limit the maximum number of seats a customer can purchase online in a single transaction. 

     

  16. COBO / Will Call Allowed: This box will be checked by default and allows COBO/Will Call to be chosen as a delivery method for this Instance. This can be overridden by suppressing COBO / Will Call as a Delivery Method.

     

  17. Post Allowed: Checking this box will allow postal delivery for tickets bought for this Instance.

     

  18.  Print at Home Allowed: checking this box will allow Print at Home to be chosen as the delivery method for tickets bought for this Instance.

    REMINDER: Delivery methods are also set for each of your Ticket Types - check out the article Creating and Editing Ticket Types for more information.

  19.  Additional custom delivery methods: Other custom delivery methods that you have set up will appear here.

     

  20. Web Instance Id: Depending on your integration, this is where you can enter a unique identifier for the Instance to be displayed on your website. If your Instance is set to recur then this option is not visible.

     

  21. Include in Metrics: Leave this box checked to have this Instance automatically included in Metrics. Read the article Excluding an Event from Metrics for more information.

     

  22. Start Selling time: Allows you to select when the Instance will go on sale for different sales channels. Jump to the next section for a more detailed explanation of on sale times.

     

  23. Any custom Instance Attributes you have will display at the bottom of this list.

TIP: You have the option to add as many Instance Attributes as you’d like to your Instances. Instance Attributes are additional information you want to include. For example, Instance Attributes that you might create could be for Access Performances, confirmation text or to add the original date and time if you are Rescheduling Instances. You can set up any Instance Attributes you wish to use and add them after you have set up your Instances.

While all this information is included in the Event Basic Details tab, only the Name of the Event is required to build one.

 

Start Selling Time

You can use the Start Selling Time to set when Instances become visible or on/off sale through each User Role.

Additionally, your Instance Status must be set to Live for it to be able to be visible or go on sale.

You can apply different times and dates based on User Role and Sales Channel: Sales (Sales Interface), Web (iframes, Subsites, API), Agents and Opportunities (Opportunities Interface).

  1. Checking the Visible box next to each User Role means the Event and the Instance can be viewed. However, tickets cannot be bought until the On Sale box is checked.

     

  2. Checking the On sale box next to each Interface means that tickets to the Instance can be purchased. The Start Selling Date & Time will indicate exactly when Tickets will go on sale. This can be overridden in the Sales Interface if Instances are both Live and Visible.

WARNING: Once an Instance is marked as visible or on sale on Web then it is available via the public API. With the Public API, information set to be visible online can be accessed by anyone doing an API call.  To learn more about Spektrix API modes, take a look at our Integrate Portal API Documentation.  

TIP: At least one Event Instance needs to be made visible for the Event to be visible. For an Instance to go one sale, you'll need to check both the Visible and On Sale boxes.

If you use Spektrix Subsite, you'll need to check both boxes in order to make your Event visible. If you'd like to display your Instance on your Subsite before general on sale, we recommend setting a Start Selling Date.

Next set the dates and times for when the Instance goes on and off sale for each User Role.

  1. Start Selling: This is the date and time that tickets will go on sale. Use the calendar to select a date or input in D/MM/YYYY format for UK and Ireland organisations or MM/D/YYYY format for US and Canada organisations. If you leave this blank, tickets will be on sale immediately.

     

  2. Sell until (minutes from start): This is the time that the Instance will go off sale relative to the Instance start time. This will default to the default stop selling time set in your System Configuration. The format for a custom time should be in a text format of number of days, hours and/or minutes followed by before or after. For example, "3 days 12 hours before" or "30 minutes after."

 

TIP:  Use the Start Selling date and time to set your general sale. This will calculate the Priority Booking period as a number of days before the Start Selling time and date set here.

Once you are happy with the information you have entered, click Next. 

 

2. Customer Service Emails

If you want to set up a Customer Service Email schedule, complete the details on this page. Otherwise, continue on to the next section.

  1. Schedule Options: choose whether or not to create a schedule. To create a schedule, select the Create scheduled send for Customer Service Email radio button. If you select Do not create Customer Service Email schedule send then no Customer Service Emails will be scheduled.
     
  2. Send Before Event Instance: choose the number of days and hours before the Instance start time you’d like the Customer Service Email to be delivered.
     
  3. Campaign ID: enter the campaign ID of your Triggered campaign in Dotdigital.
     
  4. Free Text: enter any free text that you’d like to display in the email. This text will replace the @FREETEXT@ merge field in your email.
     
  5. Send to: choose Print at Home for e-ticket delivery or All for an event notification.
     
  6. Enable print at home after sending: Choose yes to automatically unsuppress Print at Home / e-tickets (system emails) after the schedule has been delivered. By default this option will be set to Do not change. If you choose Do not change this will not affect whether Print at Home tickets are suppressed or not. 
     
  7. Print at Home ticket design: If you are automatically unsuppressing Print at Home ticket delivery you can choose an alternative Ticket Design. By default this option will be set to Do not change. If you choose Do not change the ticket design set at Instance level will be delivered if unsuppressed. 
     
  8. Print at Home PDF template: If you are automatically unsuppressing Print at Home ticket delivery you can choose an alternative Print at Home PDF template. By default this option will be set to Do not change. If you choose Do not change the Print at Home PDF template set at Instance level will be delivered if unsuppressed.

  Click Next to confirm the schedule and continue setting up the Instance.

 

3. Ticket Donations

On the next screen you’ll be prompted to choose a Donation Structure and a Fund.

This defaults to no donation, but if you would like to add one, select the Donation Structure option and choose from the drop down menu or follow the steps in the Ticket Donation Structures article to create a new one.

Select the Fund that your Ticket Donation will contribute to. Read the article about Donations and Funds if you would like to set up a new one.

If you’re not ready to add your Donation Structure or Fund right now, you can come back to your Instances and update this later.

Click Next to move on to the next page. 

 

4. Seating Plan

On the next page you’ll need to select your Seating Plan and corresponding Seating Plan Overlays.

From the drop down, select your Seating Plan.

WARNING: Once you've created an Instance, you cannot change its Seating Plan but you can change any Overlay on a Seating Plan at any time.

Next, select your Layout Overlay, Price Band Overlay and Lock Overlay. You won’t be able to continue without applying compatible Overlays to your Seating Plan.

Optionally, at this stage you may also choose to add an Info Overlay and a Best Available Overlay. You can also come back to your Instances and add an Info and a Best Available Overlay later.

Once you have applied your Seating Plan Overlays, click Add to create your Instance.

You can also click Back to return to the previous tabs. Although some changes can be made afterwards, we recommend that you review all the information inputted before creating your Instance.

REMINDER: Always test your Events and Instances to make sure they behave and display as you expect.

 

Event Instance ID

After you save your Instance, an Event Instance ID will be automatically generated.

You can view the Event Instance ID by viewing the Basic Details of your Instance after it has been created.

Event Instance ID

 

Editing Instances

Follow the steps below to make changes to your Instance after you have created it.

You can update all of the information related to your Instance apart from the Seating Plan. 

To edit an Instance:

  1. In the Admin Interface, go to Events and choose the Event you want to make changes to.
  2. On the Instances tab, select the Instance you would like to edit.
  3. Select the tab where you would like to make changes and click Edit.
  4. Make any required changes and click Save.

In addition to making changes directly to your Instances, you can also update the following in their respective setup pages. With some features, you may be asked to confirm making changes and having them apply to all, some, or none of the existing Instances:

If you need to cancel or reschedule an Instance, you can find step-by-step instructions in the following articles:

TIP: On the Instances tab, you also have the option of updating the status of multiple Instances at the same time by clicking the Change the status of all Instances button. Another way of updating multiple Instances is by using the Bulk Instance Updater Tool.

 

Further Reading

You can find more articles on Setting Up and Editing Events in the Set up Events, Offers, Subscriptions and Merchandise section of the Support Centre.