Glossary

Thanks to this glossary, you can quickly familiarize yourself with the main concepts and terminology used in SecuTix. This glossary will ease your understanding of the guides and support of training available on your documentation site.

Term	Description
Access control	Automated entrance (and/or exit) control of an audience. This type of system can only be implemented where the tickets have optical or magnetic markings.
Access rights	Access rights give an individual the right to use some or all of the SecuTix features.
Activity	A series of events of the same type during a season (a live performance, a festival, visits, etc.). The term activity allows an organisation to classify its events by different categories, for example theatre / annual festivals, etc.
Activity profile	A collection of single-entry items that a sales channel may sell for a specific activity.
Actual availability	The difference between the capacity of the room (excluding any invalidated seats) and the number of seats sold.
Administration identification number	Various numbers or codes are allocated to organisations (VAT number, SIRET, APE, etc.) or to different functions (producer licence number, organiser licence number, distributor licence number, etc.).
Advantage	A ticketing component enabling a customer to obtain a discount on prices for the associated items. In addition, it may allow certain products to be purchased outside of the official sales window. An advantage may be one of the following types: A single use code: The advantage comprises a number of codes, each one of which may be used once. If a contact possesses a number of unused codes, he may share all or some of them with friends or business acquaintances. Contact: An advantage for use by a number of different contacts. This advantage is non-transferable. Public: Anyone at all may use the advantage. Indicator: This advantage is used to select subset of contacts who have the indicator shown on the advantage. It is non-transferable. Partner: This advantage is designed for contacts who know the partner code; the code is the same for all contacts concerned. A contact may pass on the code but may no longer use it himself.
Agency	The intermediary between the organisation and the end customer of the seat or service. An agency belongs to an internal B2B2C sales channel.
Alternative reservation	Synonymous with 'Fallback solution'.
Alternative venue	An alternative venue function allows an event organiser to allow an audience to move swiftly from one location to another when the audience is already perhaps ensconced in the first venue.
Anonymous sale	A paid distribution of tickets or services to an unnamed group of attendees.
Armchair	A seat with a back and arm rests. It is a very comfortable seat and an armchair will be found in the best seat category in the house at any show. It may be numbered or unnumbered. The armchair is one of the options in the seat quality parameter.
Association	A legal entity which is made up of a number of different people (audience or potential audience) who have joined it because of their interest in it. Associations are made up principally of communities and workplaces.
Audience	Actual or potential spectators or visitors to a performance, an event, an activity, a season, an organisation or an institution.
Audience category	General category (occasional visitor, guest, etc.) allows the audience to be classified according to its relationship with the event organiser. The available audience categories are: Season-ticket community Member community Occasional community Season-ticket contact Member contact Occasional contact Member group Complimentary guest
Audience display	A display screen where spectators may see where they will be sitting, with real time updates as seats are selected by the operator.
Audience subcategory	Audience classification according to the relationship between the audience and the organisation as well as social status (occasional or frequent attendee, adult, child, pensioner, unemployed, full rate season-ticket holder, reduced rate season-ticket holder, etc.)
Authorised currency	A unit of currency other than that of the organisation, which has been authorised by them as valid for payment of services. The rate of exchange must therefore be regularly updated.
Availability	The number of seats remaining inside the venue across all contingents. Monitoring actual and theoretical availability gives a good indication of how a room is filling up.
Average basket	The average order value of a contact over a specific period.
Badge	A season ticket or membership badge is usually a plastic card that identifies the carrier as a season-ticket holder or member. There is an ID on the badge. SecuTix customers can use the badge to purchase tickets by charging it to this ID.
Bank agreement	An arrangement made with a contact in order to: Pay for purchases or add money to a credit account in several instalments using a direct debit agreement set up on a current account. See 'Payment by direct debit'. Refund a purchase or withdraw money from a credit account via a bank transfer.
Basic service	Optional extras (services) which may be purchased stand-alone with no conditions attached.
Basket	A collection of progressive operations carried out when placing an order.
Beneficiary	Anyone who benefits from a ticketing product or a piece of merchandise sold by the organisation. Unlike a cultural contact, this beneficiary is not a known contact of the organisation and therefore cannot be targeted for promotional activities. The beneficiary concept makes it possible to identify all attendees at a concert or a match.
Best selection	An automatic process which grants a member of the audience the best possible seat. Seat selection depends upon the venue configuration, the type of show and the seat category.
Billing contact	This is the person to whom the bill will be sent. The billing contact is the person responsible for paying for the products ordered (or one of them in the case of multiple buyers).
Block	Areas are divided into blocks. This is optional and generally only used at large capacity venues (for example stadiums)
Box office	A sales channel at a geographical location where would-be spectators can physically go and purchase tickets.
Bundled product	A term which refers to both season tickets and packages.
Calendar	A complete schedule by date and time of every performance of every event in a given period.
Cancellation	A decision taken by a member of the audience or the organisation to cancel all or part of an order. The term 'cancellation' should not be confused with 'refund'. In terms of ticketing, cancellation is only authorised for reservations and options. Once a ticket has been paid for and it has to be cancelled, a refund must be made.
Cancellation invoice	Synonymous with 'Invoice reversal' but no longer used in SecuTix
Capacity	The maximum number of simultaneous admissions for a logical configuration and sales configuration.
Card	A season ticket or membership card is usually a plastic card which identifies the carrier as a season-ticket holder or a member. The card may contain an ID chip (RFID card). The card will have an ID (either stored on the chip or printed on the card). SecuTix customers can use the card to purchase tickets by charging it to this ID.
Cash	Coins or banknotes in a particular currency. Coins may be counted in tubes and banknotes in bundles.
Cash desk	All of the financial operations which occur during the sale of tickets or services. All transactions which take place at each individual cash desk are written to the statement produced when a cash desk closes. Cash desk status can be any of the following: Open: in use Closed: temporarily out of action as the cash desk operator has taken a break. Closed by operator: the cash desk contents have been reconciled by the operator. This cash desk may no longer be used to process sales transactions. However, amendments to transactions may be made by the accounts department. Closed by accounts. No amendments may be made to this cash desk. Any error detected after the cash desk has been closed by accounts will mean cancelling the payment and creating a new one, both transactions being carried out on a different cash desk.
Cash desk transfer	This is when an operator adds or removes money to and from the cash desk but it is not considered to be a settlement.
Cash desk variance	This can occur at any time when there is a difference between the amount of money taken and the totals recorded at the cash desk.
Cashing up	An authorised member of staff will remove all monies/payments before the final closure of the cash desk.
Ceiling	A term relating to costs which means either the maximum cost of a ticket (charges) or when placing an order (overheads).
Charges	An amount that pays for the specific service costs of a sales channel when processing an order for a ticketing item (reservation costs, management costs, agency costs, cancellation costs, etc.). These costs are calculated per ticket and related to the type of operation carried out (sale, cancellation, etc.). These costs may be a fixed amount, or a percentage of the ticket price, in which case the amount may have a floor and/or ceiling.
Charges table	The charges that an organisation determines for an individual event.
Closure	Final and irrevocable closure of all commercial and financial operations relating to the activity which is closing (performance, event, activity, season).
Cohort	Part of a large visitor group which has been allocated its own guide. If the group is too large to be properly managed by one guide, it may be split into different cohorts for the tour.
Community	A group of people who may or may not know each other and who have clubbed together to take advantage of preferential ticket rates. In SecuTix, communities are a type of structure.
Competition	A competition is a sporting event made up of a series of matches, with two teams playing against each other at a predefined venue and at a given date and time.
Complimentary ticket	A ticket provided free of charge (often called a 'comp'). These are mainly seats reserved by law for authorised and official representatives (doctor, fire service) and guest seats.
Composed product	Synonymous with 'Bundled product'
Conditional service	Optional extras (services) offered to customers if they purchase another product or are a member of a specific audience category. Conditional services are managed within the SecuTix system by offering conditional, cross-sell opportunities.
Configuration	Synonymous with 'set up'
Contact address	The primary or secondary address of a contact.
Contact criterion	A criterion (socio-economic class, professional status, education level, etc.) which is part of a package of data that an institution or an organisation would be ideally want to hold about every contact. Organisations can use data like this for statistical or commercial purposes.
Contact indicator	SecuTix compiles contact information automatically. The indicator usually contains information about the spending habits of a contact and may be used to target contacts in promotional activities.
Contact quality	The characteristics of a contact (type of guest, loyalty, etc.), defined or assessed for a particular season. These characteristics make it easier to define the relationship between a contact and an organisation each season.
Contact role	The function of a contact in the context of their personal or professional life. Each individual and each structure can have a contact role. The possible role types are: Partner Supplier Relay Guide Audience Support Producer Exhibitor
Contingent	The pre-booking of selected zones or seats at a venue for a particular show with the intention of saving them for certain audience categories or sales channels. A contingent may be completely undefined, or linked to a specific audience type (season-ticket holders, guests, communities/groups, seats allocated by law to official representatives, the press, authorised representatives and the disabled). Each quota may also be applicable for all sales channels or they may be limited to one or several.
Contingent release	A function within the system which allows the contingent of a seat, a group of seats or an area to be changed.
Control point	1. The point where pass-outs and free tickets issued just before the show are given out by the Office (synonymous with 'Standby desk'). 2. The point through which the audience must pass in order to get into a venue where an event is taking place Where control is manual, the inspector checks the validity of the ticket and keeps the counterfoil. Where control is computerised, the ticket vending machine or scanner reads the barcode on the ticket to check that it is valid.
Counterfoil	Part of the ticket which is retained by the ticket controller as customers enter the venue, if ticket control is manually supervised.
Credit	A credit balance belonging to a contact. A credit may be used to purchase items.
Credit	An accounting method which allows an organisation to supply tickets to a customer before they are fully paid for.
Credit note	This type of invoice accompanies a refund or invoice reversal.
Cultural contact	Anyone who benefits from a ticket or a piece of merchandise sold by the organisation. This contact is established by the buyer at the actual time of purchase. For example: the buyer purchases a ticket himself and for another member of his family who is also a known contact of the organisation. This second person is now a cultural contact.
Cultural history	A complete list of activities (numbered and unnumbered seats, season tickets, memberships, packages, services) of an audience member, whether an individual or a structure.
Dated pass	A ticket which permits multiple visits to a venue from a start date specified at the time of purchase.
Deferred payment	Payment that may be made in the future.
Deposit	Part payment of the cost of a ticket reservation. This part payment will confirm the reservation but does not constitute a sale.
Different types of settlement methods	A settlement method may be one of the following types: Deposit: confirming a reservation by placing a deposit early on Cancellation of bank card payment: Refunding money by cancelling an earlier card payment. Cancelling a cheque: Refunding money by cancelling an earlier cheque payment. Gift vouchers: Using a gift voucher purchased earlier. SecuTix can manage the purchase and use of gift vouchers. ESR: This type of settlement is only available in Switzerland. A contact pays for an order using an ESR payment slip printed on a SecuTix document. SecuTix processes the ESR settlement when the bank or the post office confirms payment. Bank card: Settlement by credit/debit card Bank card with manual validation: a member of the institution will validate the settlement. After validation, the order is finalised. Cheque Suspense account: This type of payment allows tickets to be produced before a 'real' settlement is received. Gift voucher: Using a gift voucher purchased earlier. This type of settlement is not managed in SecuTix. Discount voucher: Using a promotional code to obtain a fixed reduction on price (not a percentage). Using this kind of promotional code creates a settlement type of 'Discount voucher''. This means that the value of the order is not reduced. Direct debit: The order is paid for first of all through a suspense account. Direct debit is a staged, automated bank payment which allows the suspense account to be refunded. External: Although the order is considered as being paid in SecuTix, it is actually processed outside of the SecuTix system. Cash: payment in cash Reward points: SecuTix can manage a rewards program which accumulates points and convert them into a monetary value. This may then be used to make purchases. This type of payment is 'Reward points'. Direct debit Staged payments using the payment by direct debit option. Each payment is linked to specific tickets and only tickets which have been paid for may be printed. Account balance (credit account) Bank transfer A payment by bank transfer from a contact to the organisation or vice versa. A payment from the organisation to the contact requires a bank agreement to be set up.
Direct payment	Payment made immediately when ordering the product.
Dispatch	A sales channel which uses a courier service to deliver items. This channel is less and less popular.
Distributor	A third-party company which sells tickets for events or visits organised by an institution which uses the SecuTix system.
Donation	A gift offered to an institution. The donor may choose a preset donation value or choose any value he likes.
Duplicate	An exact copy of a ticket issued earlier (apart from the tax number which must be different) which also displays the word 'DUPLICATE' on both the ticket and the counterfoil. An exact copy of an invoice which shows the word 'DUPLICATE'.
Electronic funds transfer system	See 'Payment services providers'
Entrance	The physical entrance to allow a spectator to gain access to a venue. The entrance is marked on the ticket and is used to show spectators how to reach their seats. An entrance, as defined here, is not the same thing as a control point.
Equipment	The components of a workstation. This may consist of a PC and screen as well as peripheral devices to complete the sale, control and production of tickets and receipt of payment.
Establishment	A synonym for 'organisation'.
E-ticket	A synonym for 'paperless ticket'
Event	A show which may be of a cultural or sporting nature, staged by an organisation and designated as a product (a 'single entry' item) as indicated in the ticketing catalogue. An event is an activity that will take place in a specific season for an organisation and will consist of one or several performances.
Exchange	This function is used when all or part of an order needs to be changed and may require extra payment or a refund.
Exchange rate	The value of a foreign currency authorised by the institution and the currency of the institution itself so that change may be given and an accurate cash balance maintained.
Exhibitor contact	A contact (for example an exhibitor at an exhibition) who can generate single-use codes for use specifically by his clients or prospects.
External order	An order received from an external sales channel.
External sale	A sale conducted through an external sales channel (such as Fnac or Ticket net). Sales of this kind are carried out by an automated link or by sending out quotas.
Fallback solution	This function allows the audience to choose an alternative reservation date in the event that the preferred date is not available. This function is primarily used in season ticket and postal reservations.
File	1. Full details about an audience member (an individual or a structure) whose name is known to the organisation. 2. The process steps for an order resumed subsequently so as to complete the sale.
File contacts	The purchase contact of a file, also called a file contact, is the person who placed the first order (by date) in the file. The business facilitator contact of a file represents the sales agent who introduces the purchase contact to the cultural or sporting institution. The owner contact of the file is the person who created it (using the sales portal shared amongst a small number of institutions using SecuTix).
Final cash desk closure	The time when the cash desk operator finally closes his workstation for the day. When this happens, he produces the cash desk statement, confirms the contents of the till corresponds to the statement and takes all the payments to the manager in exchange for an acknowledgement slip.
Financial history	A complete list of payments between an individual or structure contact and the organisation.
Floor	Term relating to costs which means either the minimum cost of a ticket (charges) or when placing an order (overheads).
Fold up chair	A seat with a collapsible back which is usually placed next to an armchair at the end of a row. This kind of folding chair is not very comfortable and is usually found in a lower seat category.
Function	Any operation in the SecuTix system that may be used by the operator provided they have the appropriate rights. The functions are grouped under different system modules.
Goods product	Synonymous with 'Merchandise product'; this term is being phased out in SecuTix.
Grace period	The amount of time that the organisation allows the audience to enter a performance after curtain up.
Group	A group of people who have clubbed together in order to take advantage of preferential ticket rates.
Group criterion	A criterion attributed to a visitor group. For example: their level of knowledge
Group ticket	A group ticket gives several people admission at the same time.
Guest	A member of the audience who does not pay for his entry ticket or only pays the applicable tax.
Guide	These are the guides who provide visitors with a commentary.
Guide	See Guide contact
Hospitality	Those services on sale with seats at a match (for example a meal, a glass of champagne)
Hospitality bundle	A selection of hospitality options purchased at the same time with each option linked to a single match.
Individual	An independent spectator, visitor or member of a structure whose surname and first name as a minimum are known to the organisation.
Institution	A legal entity that is contractually entitled to use the SecuTix ticketing system. An institution runs the ticketing system for one or several organisations. An institution could be for example a private theatre, a festival organiser, a large museum, a leisure park, or a town hall responsible for running the ticketing operation of all the city's cultural and sporting attractions.
Internal sale	Sales carried out through an internal sales channel.
Invalidation	A function within the system which allows a venue seat to be marked 'invalid' because of a problem with it. In that case, the seat may not be sold or offered to a member of the audience. An invalid seat is not included in the venue's capacity.
Invoice	An accounting document which shows the quantity, nature and amounts charged for different services. The totals are split to show the price after tax, before tax and the VAT component.
Invoice reversal	This document cancels an invoice, usually because the original invoice contained an error or was addressed to the wrong person. Once an invoice has been issued, it may not be modified. For that reason, any amendments to an invoice must be made using an invoice reversal followed by issuing a replacement. Invoice reversal is not the same as cancellation of sale (refund).
Logical area	A physical area in which it is possible to ascertain the seat categories and quotas.
Logical configuration	A logical representation of a venue, associated with a physical configuration. The logical configuration defines the different seat categories as well as any contingents. A new logical configuration is created based, for example, on performance type, stage configuration, scenography or stage machinery, etc.
Logical seat	The 'logical' location of a venue, which is usually numbered and where a spectator may sit to watch an event. The seat may be frozen and includes an optimum selection tag which makes automatic seating possible. A logical seat has a logical seat category.
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