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How to Create and Edit a Best Available Overlay

Jessica Abejar
Jessica Abejar
  • Updated

A Best Available Overlay uses a heat map to rank the Reserved Seats on your Seating Plan to give customers the option of automatically adding the best Seats available to their Basket/Cart. This means that customers can add tickets without needing to view or select Seats.

A Best Available Overlay is optional for Instances using Reserved Seating Plan Areas and is not available for Unreserved Seating Plans.

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

 

Why Create a Best Available Overlay?

Best Available Overlays can improve the online booking experience for customers, especially mobile users, by letting them choose to auto select the best available Seats. You can also choose that customers who select the best available option skip viewing the Seating Plan altogether.

You can determine the best available seats on your plan using a heat map. Best Available search is available online and in the Sales Interface.

 

How Best Available Seat Search Works Online

When choosing Seats online, a customer can select Search for Best Available seats. They are then prompted to enter the number of required tickets, select the Price Band or Area they’d like to choose from and click Search. If there are Seats which match the users' search, they are automatically chosen and added to the Basket/Cart.

Once added, the Seats can be shown on the Seating Plan so the customer can see their location. You can also configure the settings so that customers don’t view the Seating Plan.

Here is an example of how a best available selection works in the online purchase path:

 

How Best Available Seat Search Works in the Sales Interface

The Best Available Seat Search also works in the Sales Interface. On the Instance page, Sales Users can select Best Available Seats and are prompted to enter the number of required tickets, select the Price Band or Area they’d like to choose from and click Search. If there are Seats which match the users' search, they are automatically chosen and added to the Basket/Cart.

 

How Heat Ranking Works

Best Available Seats are determined by ranking Seats from -1000 (blue, worst) to +1000 (red, best). For example, +1000 or red Seats will be sold first. Once sold out, the Best Available feature will continue to offer Seats of a lower rank until it reaches the -1000 or blue Seats.

Heat ranking is determined by proximity. You’ll select a group of consecutive and nearby Seats as your best Seats. This will be the central point from which heat is determined. Ranking will be applied across all Seats with the furthest Seats from this radial point as the worst.

  • The ranking can be adjusted by spread (how far the reach of the area affected is) and heat ( -1000 blue, worst to +1000 red, best).
  • You can add multiple radial points to designate multiple areas for best Seats. 
  • You can anchor Seats to a specific heat value, so that it’s unaffected by its location relative to the radial point (for example, restricted view Seats in front of the best Seats).

Heat map colors are only visible when creating or editing a Best Available Overlay.

  • In this example:

    • The front row has been anchored to a lower rank as they are closer to the stage and may have obstructed views
    • The best Seats are the rows immediately after the row and the box Seats
    • The first row of the balcony section are also considered the best Seats
    • Because a rectangle was placed on the balcony, the last row of the orchestra are considered in close proximity so they may be applied an orange or yellow rank. In order to keep the ranking low, a lower spread was applied.

 

Configuring the Best Available functionality

Before creating your Seating Plan Overlay, you’ll need to configure two settings related to the feature for online customers.

These settings are configured in the Settings Interface > Configuration > System Setup > Website.

TIP: To access the Settings Interface, you’ll need the Settings Administrator Role. If you don’t have this Role, ask the Settings Administrator in your organization to add this Role to your User Account.

 

  1. Default seat selection behavior: Decide if customers can choose Seats from either or both the Seating Plan and Best Available search. This applies to all Instances but can be overridden as you set up an Instance.
     
  2. Settings for using Best Available seat selection: Once customers are allocated Seats using the Best Available search, you can choose to show their Seats on the Seating Plan or take the Customer immediately to the Basket/Cart. This applies to all Instances and cannot be overridden.
     

 

Configure default seat selection behavior

To configure the default seat selection behavior:

  1. Scroll to Default seat selection behavior:

    Default seat selection.
  2. Select an option to apply to all Instances:
    • Allow both seat selection and Best Available: On a Desktop device, this will initially display the Seating Plan to the customer but will also provide a link where the best available Seats can be automatically allocated. 

      On a mobile or tablet device, this will initially display the Best Available option, with a link to the Seat
       
    • Allow seat selection only: This will only display the Seating Plan so the customer can choose their own Seats. This can be overridden with an Instance’s individual settings.
       
    • Allow Best Available only: This option will not show the Seating Plan and only display the Best Available search screen for Instances that have a Best Available Overlay attached. Any Instances without a Best Available Overlay attached will show the Seating Plan.
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Configuration.

Before saving the configuration, you can also configure the settings for using Best Available seat selection.

 

Configure settings for Using Best Available seat selection

To configure settings for using Best Available seat selection:

  1. Scroll to Using Best Available seat selection:

    Options for Seating Plan display.
  2. Select an option to apply to all Instances:
    • Display the selected seats on the Seating Plan: This option will show the selected Seats on the Seating Plan.
    • Display the selected seats on list, skipping the Seating Plan: This option will take the customer directly to the Basket/Cart, where their selected seats will be listed.
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Configuration.

REMINDER: Unlike default seat behavior, this setting cannot be overridden.

 

Viewing Best Available Overlays

Best Available Overlays are specific to each Seating Plan. You can view all the Best Available Overlays for a Seating Plan in the Admin Interface > Seating > Seating Plans.

TIP: 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.

  1. From Seating Plans, click on the name of the Seating Plan:

    All Seating Plans.

  2. Click on the Best Available tab:

    The Best Available Tab of a Seating Plan.

You’ll see a list of all Best Available Overlays sorted by Name, created for this Seating Plan on the green panel on the left side of the screen:

A list of all Best Available Overlays.

 

Creating a new Best Available Overlay

To create a new Best Available Overlay for your Seating Plan:

  1. Navigate to Best Available Overlays
  2. Click +New
  3. Give the Overlay a Name for internal use
  4. Click Ok
  5. Select your new Best Available Overlay

 

Adding Heat Ranking to Seats

Follow the steps to add heat ranking to Seats in your Seating Plan.

 

Multi-Area Seating Plan

While a Best Available Overlay covers all Reserved Areas, you must add the heat ranking in each Area separately.

  1. From the Best Available Overlay, select an Area by clicking the Overview Image or from the dropdown:

    Selecting an Area in a Multi-Area Seating Plan.
  2. Click Edit
  3. Follow the steps to add heat ranking to Reserved Seats
  4. Click Save for the Area
  5. Repeat these steps for each Reserved Area in the Seating Plan

 

Reserved Seating Plan Areas

  1. From the Best Available Overlay, click Edit.

  2. Select a Layout Overlay from the dropdown above the Best Available Overlay list. 

    A Best Available Overlay can be created specifically together with a Layout Overlay. For example, if the first row Seats are removed for production and the new first row are considered the best Seats. 

    However, if you’re using a Best Available Overlay across multiple Instances with different Layout Overlays, we recommend selecting a Layout Overlay with the widest selection of Seats (no or minimal masked Seats). 

    You’ll be able to switch between Layout Overlays after adding the heat ranking to the Seats to view how the Overlay appears on different Layouts.

    A dropdown containing all the Layout Overlays in a Seating Plan.

 

Selecting your Best Seats

First, select a group of Seats as your best Seats, then adjust the heat and spread. Follow these steps:

  1. Select the Rectangle tool from the top left:

    The rectangle tool.

  2. Draw a rectangle over your best Seats. The color of the seats will change to reflect your selection:

    Rectangle over the Best Seats.
  3. Click Save.

 

Adjusting Heat

To adjust the heat ranking of your best Seats:

  1. Select the Arrow tool from the top left:

    The arrow tool.

  2. Change the heat of the best Seats by sliding the Heat ranking slider to the right (higher, red) or the left (lower, blue):

    Heat ranking slider for Best Available Overlay.

    When a higher heat ranking is applied, the Seats in the rectangle will change to that color and the surrounding Seats will change to color ranked lower than the best Seats and higher than the remaining Seats. 

    For example, if red is applied to the Seats, the Seats immediately outside the box may appear orange and then the next Seats appear light blue:

    Applied heat example.
  3. Click Save.

 

Adjusting Spread

To adjust the spread of the heat ranking of the surrounding Seats.

  1. Select the Arrow tool from the top left:

    The arrow tool.

  2. Change the heat ranking of the surrounding Seats by using the Range slider. Slide to the left for a smaller range and narrower spread, and slide to the right for a larger range and wider spread:

    Range slider in the Best Available Overlay.

    For example, if you slide to the left for a smaller range and narrow spread, the Seats in the rectangle may appear red while the Seats immediately outside appear blue:

    Smaller range heat map.

    If you slide to the right for a larger range and wider spread, the Seats in the rectangle may appear red while the Seats immediately outside appear orange and subsequent Seats decrease in rank:

    Larger range heat map.
  3. Click Save.

If you’d like specific Seats to be unaffected by the spread, you can anchor the Seats to a specific heat rank.

 

Anchoring Seats

You can lock the heat ranking of Seats to a specific value using the anchor tool:

  1. Select the Anchor tool from the top left:

    The Anchor tool.

  2. Click on a Seat. A pop-up will appear where you can enter a specific heat value from 1 (lowest) to 1000 (highest):

    Heat anchor pop-up.
  3. Click OK and you’ll return to the Best Available Overlay.
  4. Repeat for other Seats.
  5. Click Save.

 

Add Rectangles

To select another group of best Seats, follow the instructions in Selecting your Best Seats to create multiple rectangles on the Seating Plan.

You can also place one rectangle inside another to give a more accurate representation of where the best seats are in a row:

Rectangle within a rectangle.

 

Move, Resize, or Delete Rectangle

You can move, resize or delete a rectangle using the Arrow tool:

The arrow tool.
  • To move the rectangle to select a new set of best Seats, click and hold the edge of the rectangle to move it
  • To resize the rectangle to add or exclude best Seats, click and hold the gray squares on the corner of the rectangle to resize it
  • To delete a rectangle, click on the rectangle to highlight it and then click the Delete key from your keyboard

 

Editing an Existing Best Available Overlay

You can edit your existing Best Available Overlays from the Seating Plan or from a single Instance. Heat ranking will update on Seats. This will not affect any currently sold Seats as Best Available overlay only affects unsold Seats.

If you edit from the Seating Plan, the changes will apply to all new Instances. You can choose to apply the changes to any or all live or draft Instances using the Overlay. 

You can also edit the Best Available Overlay for a single Instance. Follow the steps in Editing Instances to update the Best Available Overlay.

To edit existing Best Available Overlays from the Seating Plan, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to Best Available Overlays.
  2. Click on the Best Available Overlay you’d like to update.
  3. Follow the steps to add heat ranking.
  4. Click Save.

  5. If you’ve edited a Best Available Overlay that is used in live or draft Instances, a pop-up will appear:

    The Modified Overlay screen.

    Select:

    1. None: Updates heat ranking in the Overlay for future use but won’t affect any of the Instances currently using it. Those Instances will retain the properties of the original Overlay. The Overlay name will change to include a version number and the last edit date. You may also see the text (old version).
       
    2. All future live Instances: Updates heat ranking in the Overlay for all live Instances currently using it and for future use. This will not update draft Instances currently using it. Those draft Instances will retain the properties of the original Overlay. The Overlay name will change to include a version number and the last edit date. You may also see the text (old version).
       
    3. All future live and draft Instances: Updates heat ranking in the Overlay for all live and draft Instances currently using it, and for future use.
       
    4. Those selected below: Choose which specific live Instances to update heat ranking in the Overlay. All Instances left unselected will retain the properties of the original Overlay. The Overlay name will change to include a version number and the last edit date. You may also see the text (old version).
    An Instance with an old version of a Best Available Overlay.
  6. Click OK
     
  7. If you are updating any live or draft Instances, an Update Instance Results Report will run. Download the Report to your computer and open the file to view any errors. 

    The Report will list the Event Name, the Instance Start Date and Update Status. An example Update Status is “Updated successfully.”

 

Copying a Best Available Overlay

To copy a Best Available Overlay:

  1. Navigate to Best Available Overlays

  2. Next to the Best Available Overlay’s name, click the down arrow:

    Choose to copy, delete or rename the Best Available Overlay.
  3. Select Copy

A copy named Name - Copy will be created. Click on the new Best Available Overlay to add heat ranking.

 

Deleting a Best Available Overlay

To delete a Best Available Overlay:

WARNING: Deleting a Best Available Overlay is permanent and cannot be undone.

  1. Navigate to Best Available Overlays

  2. Next to the Best Available Overlay’s name, click the down arrow:

    Choose to copy, delete or rename the Best Available Overlay.
  3. Select Delete
  4. From the pop-up, click Confirm 

If any Instances use the Best Available Overlay, they will retain the properties of the original Overlay. The Overlay name will change to include (deleted):

An Instance with a deleted version of a Best Available Overlay.

 

Renaming a Best Available Overlay

 To rename a Best Available Overlay:

  1. Navigate to Best Available Overlays

  2. Next to the Best Available Overlay’s name, click the down arrow:

    Choose to copy, delete or rename the Best Available Overlay.
  3. Select Rename
  4. Enter a new Name
  5. Click OK

Instances using the Best Available Overlay will use the new Best Available Overlay Name.

 

Searching for Best Available seats

The Best Availability feature is available for:

 

Searching for the Best Available seats online

How the Best Available looks and functions online will depend on the settings you’ve configured. 

In this example, we’ll take a look at Instances with the behavior set to Allow both seat selection and Best Available. This setting allows a customer to toggle between the Seating Plan and the Best Available feature when selecting Seats.

How the Best Available feature appears online depends on the device used:

  • Desktop Browser

    If your customer is on a desktop browser, once they’ve selected their Instance, they’ll be taken to the Seating Plan:

    The Best Available feature online.

    To use the Best Available search:

    1. Click Search for the Best Available seats. They’ll be taken to a screen to input search details:
      Enter Best Available search details.
    2. Enter the number of tickets requested in Quantity.
    3. Check the boxes of the Price Levels to search or check All Price Levels. The default Price will be listed.
    4. Click Continue.
    5. If Seats are available and depending on the settings you’ve configured:
      • The customer will be taken back to the Seating Plan where they can view their Seats. Click Continue to select the Ticket Type checkout.
      • The customer will be taken to the EditTickets iframe where they can change the Ticket Type. Click Continue to checkout.

  • Mobile Browser

    If your customer is on a mobile browser, once they’ve selected their Instance, they’ll be taken to the Best Available search:

    Enter Best Available search details.

    To use the Best Available search:

    1. Enter the number of tickets requested in Quantity.
    2. Check the boxes of the Price Levels to search or check All Price Levels. The default Price will be listed.
    3. Click Continue.
    4. If Seats are available and depending on the settings you’ve configured:
      • The customer will be taken back to the Seating Plan where they can view their Seats. Click Continue to select the Ticket Type checkout.
      • The customer will be taken to the EditTickets iframe where they can change the Ticket Type. Click Continue to checkout.

Depending on the settings you’ve configured, a customer can return to the Seating Plan at any time to select their Seats.

REMINDER: If no Seats match their search, customers will see the following message: We were unable to find any seats meeting your requirements. Please change your options and try again.

 

Searching for the best available seats in the Sales Interface

You can use the Best Available feature in the Sales Interface.

TIP: To access the Sales Interface, you’ll need the Sales User or Sales 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 Best Available feature, an Instance must have a Best Available Overlay.

  1. Click on the Instance.

  2. Below the Seating Plan, click Best Available Seats:

    The Best Available Seats button in the Sales Interface.
  3. Select a Sales Channel, if not already selected.

  4. From the Best Available Seats pop-up, enter the Quantity of requested Tickets and check the boxes for preferred Price Bands. The default Price will be listed:

    The Best Available Seats pop-up.
  5. Click Add to Basket/Cart.
  6. If Seats are available, they’ll be added to the Basket/Cart and you’ll see them selected on the Seating Plan.