How to use the Bulk Instance Update Tool

If you need to change the details and properties of multiple Instances, you can use the Bulk Instance Update Tool. Using the Bulk Instance Update Tool can help save time, instead of updating each Instance manually.

This article will guide you through using the Bulk Instance Update Tool.

Why use the Bulk Instance Update Tool

The Bulk Instance Update Tool lets you make changes to multiple Instances at the same time. The Tool lets you:

• Make the same changes across all selected Instances
  For example, if you select an entire Event to change from draft to Live status, then all of the Instances in that Event will update its status.
   
• Change multiple properties across all selected Instances
  For example, you can change Start Selling Times, Stop Selling Times and update the Ticket Design when running the Bulk Instance Update Tool.

TIP: If you need to make different bulk changes across specific Instances, you’ll need to run the Bulk Instance Update Tool separately. For example, you can’t make six Instances Live and six Archived.

You can use the Bulk Instance Update Tool to update:

• Visibility and On Sale status
• Start selling times
• Stop selling times
• Status
• Start time
• Tax Code
• Cancellation
• Max seats for online purchase
• Ticket Commission Structure
• Ticket Donation
• Ticket Designs, including Print at Home designs
• Digital Pass Template ID
• Price List
• Delivery Methods
• Inclusion in metrics
• Seat selection behavior
• Instance Attributes

If the Event Instances you’re updating use the same Seating Plan, you can also update the Seating Plan Overlays.

WARNING: Before making any changes, be aware that you cannot undo a bulk update once it’s completed. If you need to reverse a change, you can reselect the Instances and apply another update or individually update each Instance.

Using the Bulk Instance Update Tool

TIP: Using the Bulk Instance Update Tool takes place in the Admin Interface. To access the Admin Interface, you’ll need the General Administrator Role. If you don’t have this Role, ask the Settings Administrator in your organization to add this Role to your User Account.

To use the Bulk Instance Update Tool, go to the Admin Interface > Events. Click the Update multiple instances button at the bottom right of the screen:

Here are the steps for using the Bulk Instance Update Tool:

1. Selecting Instances based on Event Criteria
2. Confirming the Instances
3. Selecting Instance Details to Change
4. Previewing and Confirming Changes
5. Running the Update Tool and Verifying Changes and Errors

1. Select Instances

On the first screen of the Bulk Instance Update Tool, choose the Instances that you’d like to update:

The Bulk Instance Update Tool uses Event Criteria to select the Instances.

In order to select Instances:

1. Decide how you’d like to define the Instances by. For example, selecting Instances by Event Name.
    
2. To see all available Metrics, uncheck Only show commonly used criteria.
    
3. Select the corresponding Metric and drag to the Drop criteria here… box. For example, drag the Events Metric to choose Instances by their Name.
    
4. Depending on the Metric, specify the Metric on the screen or on the pop-up screen. For example, select the Event Names using the selection screen.
    
5. Combine with other Metrics if desired. For example, by Event Name and by Venue. For example, selected Instances should have this specific Name and be held in this specific Venue.
    
6. Click Next to confirm the Instances. Click Cancel to stop using the Bulk Instance Update Tool.

For detailed instructions on how to select Instances using Event Criteria, read the article Event Criteria. In this article, you’ll find a list of all of the available Event Instance Metrics as well as how to specify and combine these Metrics to select the Instances.

Take a look at some example criteria:

• By Event

  If you want to update all of the Instances in a single Event, choose the Event Metric from the criteria section and select the Event from the list.

  

• By Status

  To look for any Instance that is in Draft mode, choose the Status Metric and check the Draft box.

  

• By Visibility and On Sale

  You can use the AND rule to combine criteria.

  If you are updating all Instances that are visible on the web but not on sale on the web, choose the Visible on Web Metric and check the box, then combine with the On Sale on Web Metric and keep the box unchecked.

  

• By Event and Time

  You can use the AND and OR rules to combine criteria.

  If you want to update all Instances from a specific Event where the start time was between 14:00 and 15:00 or 20:00 and 21:00, choose the Event Metric AND the Start Time Metric together.

  You’ll need to create the first set of criteria with the Event Metric AND the Start Time of 14:00 to 15:00.
  Then combine with the OR rule to create the second set of criteria with the Event Metric AND the Start Time of 20:00 to 21:00.

  

• By Start Day and Venue

  You can use the AND to combine criteria.

  If you want to update all Instances that take place during the weekend at a specific venue, you can choose the Start Days Metric AND the Venue Metric together:

  

2. Confirm the Instances

After selecting the Event Criteria, confirm the Instances on the next screen:

Here you can click Select All to confirm all Instances on the screen.

You can also choose some of the Instances listed by checking the boxes next to them. Each Instance lists the Event Name, Date and Time.

Once you’ve confirmed your selection, click Next to select Instance details to update. Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to stop any updates.

3. Select Instance Details to Change

After the Instances have been confirmed, select the Instance details you’d like to update.

REMINDER: The details you select will be applied across all selected Instances.

The Update Instances screen has two sections:

• Visibility and On Sale Options
• Other Instance Details

Select and change only the details you’d like to update. Skip or leave blank any details you’d like to remain the same.

Visibility and On Sale Options

The first section includes all of the visibility and on sale options. The number of Instances to change is indicated at the top of the section:

In order to make changes, check the box next to the detail and make the following changes:

1. Interface: You can change visibility and on sale options for Sales (Sales Interface), Web (online purchase path) and/or Fundraising (Opportunities Interface). Check the boxes next to the appropriate interface.
    
2. Visible: You can change visibility so that the Event and the Instances appear in the interfaces. Select from the dropdown Yes to make visible or No to not make visible.
    
3. On sale: You can change on sale options so that the Instances can sell Tickets in the interfaces. Select from the dropdown Yes to put on sale or No to not be available for sale.
    
4. Start Selling: Update the on sale date and time. Click the calendar icon to select a date.
    
5. Sell Until: Update the stop selling time. 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."

Other Instance Details

The next section includes a wider range of properties to change:

Choose one or more of these properties by selecting the checkbox next to it. Then select a value from the dropdown menu. Any detail or property you don’t select won’t be updated.

If all the Instances have the same base Seating Plan, Seating Plan Overlays will appear:

REMINDER: You can update multiple details at the same time.

• Property	Instructions
  Status	Select a status: Draft Live Archived
  Start Time	Enter the time in a 24-hour format, for example 08:00 for 8AM or 19:30 for 7:30PM.
  Tax Code	Select the tax code. For more information on VAT, read VAT in Spektrix (UK and Ireland). For more information on Tax, read Tax in Spektrix (US and Canada).
  Cancelled	Select Yes to cancel the Instances or No.
  Max seats for online purchase	Enter a number for the maximum number of seats a Customer can purchase online.
  Ticket commission structure	Select a Ticket Commission Structure.
  Ticket donation	Select if you’d like to attach a Ticket Donation structure or None. If you choose a structure, you must also select a Fund.
  Ticket design	Select a Ticket Design.
  Print at home PDF template	Select a Print at Home PDF template.
  Print at home ticket design	Select a Print at Home Ticket Design.
  Digital Pass Template ID	Enter a Digital Pass Template ID.
  Send Print at Home email	Select Yes to allow Print at Home emails to be sent, select No to suppress Print at Home emails and instead delay e-ticket delivery.
  Price list	Select a Price List. Make sure that the Price Bands in the Price List are available in the Price Band Layout of the Instances.
  Cobo/Will Call allowed	Select Yes to allow Cobo/Will Call pickup or No.
  Post allowed	Select Yes to allow postal delivery or No.
  Print at home allowed	Select Yes to allow Print at Home delivery or No.
  Special delivery allowed	Select Yes to allow Special Delivery or No.
  Recorded allowed	Select Yes to allow Recorded Delivery or No.
  Include in metrics	Select Yes to include the Instances in Metrics or No to exclude the Instances from Metrics.
  Seat selection behavior	Select seat selection behavior: System Default Only allow Pick Your Own Allow Either Only allow Best Available
  Layout overlay	Select a Layout Overlay.
  Price band overlay	Select a Price Band Overlay.
  Info overlay	Select an Info Overlay.
  Lock overlay	Select a Lock Overlay.   Set for Reserved Areas: Change lock type for seats already locked? Clear lock on seats currently locked? Set for Unreserved Areas: Clear lock on seats currently locked?
  Best available overlay	Select a Best Available Overlay.
  Instance Attributes	Select values for Instance Attributes according to its Attribute Type.

Once you’ve selected the details you’d like to change, click Next to preview and confirm the changes. Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to stop any updates.

4. Preview and Confirm Changes

Preview and confirm the changes on the final screen. This screen will list any changes to properties and any changes to visibility and on sale options. It will also list all the Instances that will be updated:

Once you’ve confirmed the changes, click Next to run the Bulk Instance Update Tool. Click Back to return to the previous screen. Click Cancel to stop any updates.

5. Run the Bulk Instance Update Tool and Verify Changes and Errors

Spektrix will now run the Update Tool and apply the changes. This process may take a few minutes depending on how many Instances are being updated.

When the Update Tool is running you’ll see a little yellow box in the top-right corner of the screen with the words BulkInstanceUpdate.xls running …:

When the update is complete, you’ll see one of two messages:

• BulkInstanceUpdate.xls - Success: If the update was successful, you’ll see this message:
  

  

• BulkInstanceUpdate.xls: If the update was not successful, you’ll see a clickable link to an Excel file. This file is a log of errors that occurred when running the Bulk Instance Update Tool:

  

  Click on the link to download and save the file to your PC. When you open the Excel file, you’ll see any error messages:

  

  You’ll see the Event Name, Date and Status, which is the error message.

  WARNING: If a bulk Instance update fails, no Instances have been updated. Correct the error and run the Bulk Instance Update Tool again.

Key Takeaways

• The Bulk Instance Update Tool lets you make changes to multiple selected Instances at the same time.
   
• The Tool lets you make changes to multiple properties across all selected Instances.
   
• You can use the Bulk Instance Update Tool to update Instance details including Visibility and On Sale options, Status, Pricing, Ticket Design, Seating Plans and Attributes.
   
• Seating Plan changes can only be made if the Instances have the same Seating Plan.
   
• Select the Instances you’d like to change using Event Criteria.