Once you’ve set up all of your scanning devices, in order to use them to scan tickets upon entry to your venue you’ll need to connect them to Spektrix and start using the Scanning Interface. This article explains how to connect to Spektrix, and how to use and understand the Scanning Interface. If you haven’t already completed the setup of your scanners, please see our Setting Up Ticket Scanners article before reading any further.
Here’s what’s covered in this article:
- Connecting to Spektrix
- Using the Scanning Interface
- Scanning tickets
- Using Customer Groups to highlight useful customer information
Connecting to Spektrix
Once your devices are ready to use, the first thing to do is set each scanner up to connect to Spektrix. Here’s what you’ll need to do that:
- One or more ticket scanners
- Your Spektrix clientname
- The URL for the Scanning Interface
- Your normal Spektrix username and password
Your Spektrix clientname
In order to access your own Spektrix system, you’ll need your clientname. You can find this in the URL in the address bar when you’re running Spektrix - look for the section between system.spektrix.com/ and /client.
For instance, the screenshot above shows what this would look like for an organisation called Example Theatre - the clientname in this case would be exampletheatre (make sure you enter this without any spaces).
You can find more information about what the clientname is and how to find your own in this article.
Setting up the Scanning Interface
Once you know your clientname and have at least one scanner to hand, turn your scanner(s) on and open a web browser - either on the scanner itself (for a Zebra) or on the phone (for a Saveo). We would recommend using Google Chrome.
NOTE: if you’re using a Saveo scanner, make sure you switch the scanner to Charging Mode
Enter the web address listed below, making sure to enter your clientname in place of exampletheatre.
- https://system.spektrix.com/exampletheatre/client/scanning-app
Following that URL will take you to a Login screen on your device:
You just need to use your normal Spektrix username and password to access the Scanning Interface. Please note, however, that you will need to have the Scanning User role on your user profile to access this interface. See our article on Adding and Editing Users for more information on user roles.
Adding a shortcut
As a useful tip you can add a shortcut to the Scanning Interface onto the home screen of the scanner/phone, so that users can go straight to the Login page. It’s possible to do this in most Android web browsers - we’ve included the instructions for how to do it using Chrome. If you use a different browser you should still be able to do this, just using a slightly different method.
- Open the Chrome app on the phone and go to the Spektrix Scanning Interface web address
- Tap on the three dots next to the address
- Tap on Add to Home Screen from the menu
- That will add an icon to your home screen so you can get straight to the Scanning Interface
Using the Scanning Interface
The Spektrix Scanning interface is made up of two screens - the Scan screen and the Settings screen.
When you first log into the Scanning Interface you’ll see the Settings screen. Before you can start scanning you need to enable one or more Instances for scanning.
From here you can choose which Instance(s) you want to enable for scanning on that scanner. The default selection is Today, but you can click on the left and right arrows to move to a different date. You could for example switch back to Yesterday if you have an event which needs to start scanning late at night and continue past midnight - once you reach midnight, go back to the Settings screen, choose Yesterday and re-select the Instance so that you can continue scanning.
To select an Instance, just tap on the toggle switch next to the date - this will turn green to demonstrate that the Instance has now been enabled for scanning. Alternatively tap the All toggle switch to enable all of the Instances on the date you’re looking at.
If there are multiple Instances available on the date you’re looking at, you’ll be able to clearly tell which are enabled and which are disabled - enabled Instances will show up in bold and with a green toggle, while disabled Instances will show up all in grey.
Once you have enabled one or more Instances, tap the green tick to move to the Scan screen.
Scanning Tickets
Once you have enabled all of the relevant Instances and are on the Scan screen you are ready to start scanning tickets.
Using a Zebra
Point the scanner at the barcode and press the scan button on either side of the device. The scanner will project a rectangular white LED light, the barcode should be placed within this in order to be scanned clearly. The white LED light will turn off when the barcode has been successfully scanned.
Using a Saveo
First, make sure that your scanner is placed in the Operation Mode (with the switch pointing towards 0). Point the scanner at the barcode and press the trigger - the scanner will project two red laser lines forming a cross. When pulling the trigger you should ensure that you place this cross in the middle of the ticket barcode.
Any time you scan a ticket the Scan screen will change to reflect whether the scan was successful or not. In addition, for Saveo scanners, you can set it up to generate a different sound depending on the success or otherwise of the scan - see the section below on Sounds for more details of how to do this.
Success
When a ticket is successfully scanned the page will turn green and you will see details of both the customer and their seat.
The main section at the top displays the area and seat number, with the Instance details below and then the customer’s name.
At the bottom you will see the scan history for the ticket, with the date and time that it was scanned as well as the username of whoever is logged in to the Scanning Interface.
Very occasionally, a ticket may scan successfully but some of the details do not show in the Scanning Interface. This is explained with a message about what has happened. Examples of these can be found below:
Warning
If the ticket has been scanned before, or is for a valid but disabled Instance, the screen will turn orange and display a Warning notice with information about what the problem is.
The Instance details are still displayed so that you can confirm whether the ticket is for the right Instance, and the customer details are also still displayed.
The scanning history here shows every time that the ticket has been scanned, so you can check when it was first and subsequently scanned.
Error
If the ticket has been returned or has a barcode that isn’t recognised, or if the scanner experienced a failure connecting to the server, the screen will turn red and an Error message will be displayed.
Manual scanning
If a barcode is ever unclear, damaged or otherwise not scanning, you can manually enter the barcode numbers (if they’re visible) by tapping on the keyboard icon at the bottom right of the Scan page.
Using Customer Groups to highlight useful information
If you would like to make any additional information available on a customer by customer basis in the Scanning Interface you can use Customer Groups to do this.
To add a new Customer Group go to the Admin Interface and then Customers > Customer Groups.
From here you just select the Add button to create a new Customer Group, and you’ll then see the New Customer Group popup. Fill in these details and choose your customer criteria based on who you want this to apply to.
Make sure you give your Customer Group a clear and succinct name, as this is what will display in the Scanning Interface.
To make your Customer Group show up in the Scanning Interface, make sure you tick the Visible in scanners option.
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For further reading about access control and ticket scanners, try these articles:
- Access Control and Ticket Scanners - An Introduction
- Setting Up Ticket Scanners
- Troubleshooting Your Ticket Scanners
If you have any further questions about the Spektrix Scanning Interface, or about the hardware required to use this, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Spektrix Support team who will be happy to help.