Access Control

Navigate to: Menu > Ticketing Integration > Access Control

Overview

Access control is how your front of house team checks tickets at the door. Every ticket issued by Backstage Manager carries a QR code, which your ushers scan with the Backstage Manager Scanning App or a scanner plugged into a computer. Scanning is linked directly to your ticketing, so each scan is checked against the performance, the seat and the entrance, and every scan feeds straight into your live dashboard and reports.

This article covers setting up tickets and performances for scanning, scanning on the night, what the scan messages mean, live scanning data, and working with QR codes from other ticketing systems.

Set up your tickets for scanning

Add the QR code to your ticket designs

To use access control, your ticket designs must include the QR code. Add it to each of these templates:

●      Confirmation email design

●      E-ticket template

●      Ticket design, for tickets printed at the box office

Set the scanning window for each performance

By default, tickets can be scanned from 60 minutes before a performance until 60 minutes after it starts. This suits most theatres, with doors typically opening 30 to 45 minutes before curtain up.

●      Go to Calendar & Scheduling > Events and select the event

●      Change the Scan Start and Scan End settings to suit your doors time, up to 600,000 minutes, for example opening scanning earlier for a pre-show talk or a long performance

Set scan limits

You can set the maximum number of times each ticket can be scanned, in total or per day, for example once per performance, or twice if you allow re-entry at the interval.

●      Go to Calendar & Scheduling > Events, select the event and click Edit Times

●      Set the max scans setting for each ticket

Assign entrances

You can send ticket holders from each part of the house to the right door, for example Stalls ticket holders to the Stalls entrance and Circle and Balcony ticket holders to the upper foyer.

●      Unreserved or standing sections: Edit Event > Edit Times > Entrance menu, then set the entrance for each section

●      Reserved seating: Edit Event > Edit Times > seat map, select the seats, click the Entrance button and set the entrance

●      Give each entrance its own colour, then click Entrance > View Entrance Map to check the full picture at a glance

Print entrance barcodes

●      Go to Calendar & Scheduling > Events, select the event, then Times and Pricing > Print Entrance Barcode

●      Print a barcode for each entrance and give them to your front of house team

Always use entrance barcodes. They link each scanning device to a door and stop unofficial users from using the scanning app. If a device has problems during doors, the usher can rescan the entrance barcode and carry on.

Choose how you scan

Mobile scanning

●      Go to Ticketing Integration > Access Control and click Get App

●      Under Mobile Scanning App, click Download on the App Store and install the app on your devices

●      Open the app and scan the entrance barcode to link the device to that door

●      Scan tickets. The app only accepts tickets for that entrance

●      To move a device to a different door, scan that entrance’s barcode

Tethered scanning

Useful at the box office or a single main entrance.

●      Plug your scanner into your computer

●      Click Tethered Device Scanning to open the scanning screen

●      Hold the ticket’s QR code over the scanner. The ticket details appear on screen

●      Whether the scan succeeds or fails, scan the next ticket in the same way

Scan in and scan out

Exit scans let audience members leave and come back in, for example stepping outside at the interval.

●      The first time a ticket is scanned, it is scanned in

●      The first exit scan on a ticket that has been scanned in marks it as scanned out

●      Any further exit scan on a ticket that is already scanned out shows an error and a red screen

●      To switch modes, scan the Scan Out QR code to change to scan out mode, or the Scan In QR code to change back. You’ll find these under Get App

Exit scans keep re-entry quick, since a single scan lets someone back in, and give you an accurate count of who is in the building at any time, which helps with fire safety and front of house reports.

Scanning on the night

How to scan a ticket

●      Point the device’s camera at the QR code. It will focus after a moment

●      Hold the device about 30 centimetres from the ticket

●      Make sure the QR code is centred and fits inside the target on screen

●      It will scan straight away once it is centred, whether on a printed ticket or a phone screen

Scan result messages

●      Successful scan (green): The ticket is valid. Admit the ticket holder

●      Wrong Scan Time (red): The ticket is for a different performance, or it has been scanned before the scanning window opened, for example a matinee ticket presented at the evening show

●      Scan Limit Reached (red): The ticket has already been scanned the maximum number of times, for example a ticket that has already been used

●      Invalid QR Code, with the message Scan a valid code: The ticket or barcode was not issued by Backstage Manager, for example a ticket from another ticketing system that hasn’t been imported

●      No Valid Items for Contact (red): The QR code is for a contact or season card. The card is valid, but it doesn’t include a performance taking place now

●      Blank white screen: The scanning app has lost its internet connection

Agree your failed scan policy

Decide before each performance what ushers should do when a scan fails, and brief your whole front of house team. Options include:

●      Refuse entry

●      Send the ticket holder to the box office to investigate, for example to check a booking or reprint a ticket

●      Let each usher read the error message and decide case by case

●      Allow entry and review failed scans after the performance to look for patterns

Prepare for the performance

●      Wi-Fi: Make sure mobile routers have backup power, are secure and are kept somewhere safe. Test the connection at every entrance before doors

●      Devices: Store all scanners in a multi-unit charging dock in a secure place, and fully charge and test them 24 hours before the performance

●      Sign out and in: Ushers sign scanners out before doors and back in after the performance, then return them to the charging dock

●      Queues: Plan how queues will be managed in your foyer and at each door, especially for busy performances such as panto or opening nights, so audiences get in quickly and safely

Live scanning data

A performance appears in the Live Scanning Dashboard automatically once it reaches its Scan Start time, listed under Active Scanning Events Today.

●      Go to Ticketing Integration > Access Control > Live Scanning Dashboard

●      The top table shows the last minute of activity for each entrance: sold, scanned, rejected, remaining, percentage scanned, time of last scan and flow this minute, so you can see how the house is filling up and spot queues building

●      The charts show total scans today, and accepted and rejected scans per minute

●      The Active Scanning Events Today table shows every performance with an open scanning window

●      The rejected scans table shows every rejected scan, the scanner that rejected it, the reason and the time, so your duty manager can deal with problems as they happen

Season tickets, packages and contact cards are included automatically, as long as the performance taking place is part of the package.

Live scanning also appears on the dashboard in Reports & Insights > Dashboards when Access Control is ticked. See the Dashboards article.

Scanning reports

After the performance, you can see who scanned in, who didn’t and why any scans failed.

●      Go to Reports & Insights > Reports and open the Orders Report

●      Filter by Booking Time for the performance, or by Transaction Date

●      Click Column Visibility and show Scanned, Rejected, Time of Last Scan, Entrance and Area. You may need to hide some other columns to make room

Use this to measure attendance and no-shows, for example for free, schools or community performances. You can also build an audience of people who did or didn’t attend using the Scanned filter in Contacts & Relationships > Audiences, for example to send a follow up to no-shows.

QR codes from other ticketing systems

Import external QR codes

If some tickets for a performance are issued by another ticketing system, for example a visiting company’s own ticketing or a third party agent, you can import their QR codes so your front of house team can scan them.

●      Go to Admin > Settings > Data Import

●      Download the import template

●      Add the barcodes to the template

●      Upload the completed file

Things to know about imported QR codes:

●      They are not linked to a performance, customer or order. The import only registers the barcodes so they can be scanned

●      They can only be scanned using the scanning web address for your account, with the barcode added to the end, in the format …/system/scan.php?b=BARCODE. For example, if the barcode is 8US772SJ, the address ends in scan.php?b=8US772SJ

●      They don’t appear in any reports

Export barcodes for another system

You can export your QR codes to print with an external printer, or to load into another barcode or turnstile system.

●      Go to Reports & Insights > Reports and open the Orders Report

●      Generate the report for the performances you need

●      Click CSV or Excel to save the file

●      Send the file to the relevant third party

When printing exported barcodes, add the barcode number to the end of your scanning web address, in the format …/system/scan.php?b=QRCODE, to turn it into a scannable QR code.

Tips

●      Test every scanning device at every entrance before doors, especially the first performance of a run

●      Keep printed entrance barcodes at each door in case a device needs to be relinked

●      Brief your front of house team on the failed scan policy and what each red screen means

●      Have your duty manager keep the Live Scanning Dashboard open during doors to spot queues and problems

●      Check the rejected scans table after each performance for patterns, for example tickets presented for the wrong performance