Overview

In its simplest form a voucher is a token or printed card which can be used as cash or credit against a future purchase. Vouchers can be bought by customers and redeemed for goods and services across CRM.COM modules. The products on which the vouchers can be redeemed can be subject to restrictions. There are 3 different types of vouchers which can be used according to your line of business and business requirements.

• Printed Payment Vouchers: Vouchers printed in advance by the company, they can be bought by customers either from the company or from a retailer. Using printed vouchers is an alternative method of payment. Printed vouchers might be bound to specific products, have a specific price and a valid duration. 
• Electronic Payment Vouchers: Vouchers issued only upon customer demand either for his/her own use or to give it as a gift. An Electronic Voucher's value might vary depending on its supported products and the period for which the customer wants to buy the voucher for. Electronic Vouchers can also be used as an alternative method of payment.
• Refund Vouchers: Refund Vouchers are issued for specific customers as a refund method, i.e. they are issued to return money by the company to the customer. 

Setting Up Vouchers 

Before you start using Vouchers set up the system to reflect your own business needs.

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Voucher Rules

Voucher rules are associated to printed and electronic payment vouchers. Through the rules screen you can set up the Financial Transaction types which will be generated by the system according to an event taking place with a voucher. For example, you can set what type of financial transaction will be generated when printed vouchers which were sold to partners are returned, or what kind of financial transaction will be generated when purchasing an electronic voucher. Voucher processes that will be restricted on specific states can also be specified here. 

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Voucher Restricted States: Used to define additional restrictions on voucher processes. Each voucher process can by default accept a specific set of life cycle states, which can be limited further more through this section. The life cycle states which are by default restricted cannot be overridden, which means that the default restrictions can never be relaxed. This functionality is only available for specific voucher processes, which includes:

• Modification Process
• Purging Process
• Cancellation Process
• Export Process

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Voucher Types

Voucher types are used to define parameters for generating vouchers. When creating a voucher type, first select a classification of 'Printed', 'Electronic' or 'Refund', to view the information required per classification. Common to all classifications is the Secret Number Length of the secret number of the voucher which will be used upon redemption of the voucher, as well as the Supported Products which includes the products that the voucher can be redeemed for.

Setting the Category to Normal indicates an ordinary voucher definition whereas Identifies Customer implies a gift card definition. 

Gift Cards

'Identifies Customer' Vouchers is a special voucher category related to both electronic and printed vouchers but without the need of a secret number. This type of voucher can be purchased and/or used by any customer and the following entities are  automatically created: 

• Contact with random information.
• Account with random information (with customer identification medium set to the voucher number).
  
• Single Use Wallet which is topped up with the amount and product allotments. Such wallets do not allow credit transactions; only debit transactions are allowed. 

Printed Payment Voucher

Provide the Voucher Value Settings to define whetherthe amount redeemed by the voucher will be 'fixed' for all vouchers of this type, in which case you must provide a value, or 'variable' where the value will be defined on generating vouchers of the type. You can provide additional Extra Added Value which is used to provide additional value to the voucher that will be used, usually provided for free as part of an offer (if the value option is set to 'Fixed').

Provide the Supported Products that can consume the value provided by vouchers of this type. Each voucher supported product is related to either a product or a product type. 

Electronic Payment Voucher

If you are creating a type for electronic vouchers you must provide a Validity Duration, as well as a Usage method - whether they will be used for 'personal' use or as a present ('shareable'). As in printed vouchers you can either provide the Voucher Value Settings - a fixed value or define the value at the voucher level, as well as specifying the Supported Products.

Refund Voucher

If you are creating a type for refund vouchers then you must provide a Validity Duration as well as the Refund Method which will be used when refund vouchers are used. Voucher Value Settings and Supported Products can also be defined.

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Using Vouchers

Each voucher provides information associated to its validity depending on its classification, a monetary value as well as the products it can be redeemed for. Through the Voucher page you can retrieve the Voucher Secret Number through Actions > Retrieve Secret Number.

Depending on the classification of the voucher, vouchers go through a number of stages, each identified through its life cycle state before they can be used. Various processes progress vouchers through their life cycle. Through Actions > History action you can view information on all the stages the voucher has been through.

Printed Payment Vouchers 

Printed Vouchers are created in lots from which they inherit their type, value and validity dates (required information). Once the lot details are defined, the vouchers can be generated.

Printed vouchers can have one of the following life cycle states: 

• Draft: The voucher has been created and is pending acceptance for activation.
• Accepted for activation: The voucher has been created and accepted for activation.
• Not accepted for activation: The voucher has been created but has not been accepted for activation.
• Activated: The voucher has been created and activated.
• Used: The voucher has been created, activated and used to pay an amount of money against a financial account.
• Cancelled: The voucher has been cancelled by a user or a process.
• Purged: The voucher was permanently removed (similar to deleted) and cannot be reverted or reused.

Generating Printed Payment Vouchers

Multiple vouchers are created in a single flow through lots. Printed Payment Vouchers are created based on a voucher type which defines their basic characteristics, i.e. characteristics that will be common across all vouchers within the Lot. Each Voucher will be assigned a unique serial number and secret number. The secret number will be kept in CRM.COM in an encrypted form at all times. All Vouchers are generated in 'Draft' life cycle state and also related to the company's Internal System accounts to indicate that they belong to the company.

Navigate to Finance > Vouchers > Manage Voucher Lots > New to create a new lot by specifying the voucher type, the number of vouchers to be generated and the validity dares. Click on Actions > Generate to generate the vouchers.

Accepting Printed Payment Vouchers

Right after the vouchers are generated you can accept the vouchers to verify whether the Lot was generated as expected. Vouchers can be accepted as long as they are in 'Draft' life cycle state. The process can either be performed on a Lot or for specific Vouchers. In both cases, the selected Vouchers will be updated into the 'Accepted for Activation' state which indicates that the Vouchers are eligible to be moved to the next life cycle state.

Navigate to either the lot page (to accept all vouchers of the lot) or the voucher page (to accept single voucher) and select Action > Accept.

Rejecting Printed Payment Vouchers

Vouchers created with errors can be rejected and not activated right after they are generated  Whereas the voucher type and validity dates can be modified, the value of a voucher cannot, so rejecting a voucher is the only course of action if the value is wrong. It's possible to simultaneously reject all vouchers included in a lot or reject individual vouchers. Vouchers will be updated into the 'Not Accepted for Activation' state which indicates that these vouchers cannot proceed in term of life cycle state, i.e. they should never be sold to customers.

Navigate to either the lot page (to accept all vouchers of the lot) or the voucher page (to accept single voucher) and select Action > Reject.

Activating Printed Payment Vouchers

Once accepted vouchers are verified, they must be activated and therefore can be sold to either customers or partners once printed. It is possible to simultaneously activate all vouchers included in a lot, or a number of vouchers within a specific range, or vouchers of a specific type given that they have an 'Accepted for activation' state. Activation can either be applied to  all the vouchers within a Lot, all of the vouchers of a specific voucher type or to a specific set of vouchers (defined by a vouchers serial number range). 

Navigate to Vouchers and select Actions > Vouchers Maintenance Utility from the summary page. Select New > Activation and in the Conditions provide the lot, voucher type or voucher range of vouchers you wish to activate.

Cancelling Printed Payment Vouchers

Vouchers in a 'Draft', 'Accepted for Activation', 'Not Accepted for Activation' or 'Activated' state cannot be 'Cancelled'. Possible reasons for canceling vouchers include their loss or theft or a decision by the business not to distribute the specific voucher type to customers.

Once the process is completed successfully, the voucher's life cycle state is updated to 'Cancelled'. Cancellation can also be applied after selling vouchers to partners and upon request from a Partner either based on the Invoice which was issued when the vouchers were sold to the Partner, or by defining the Partner.

Navigate to Vouchers and select Actions > Vouchers Maintenance Utility from the summary page. Select New > Cancellation and in the Conditions provide the lot, voucher type, voucher range, partner account or invoice number of the vouchers you wish to cancel.

Purging Printed Payment Vouchers

Purging permanently deletes 'Expired', 'Cancelled' or 'Not Accepted' vouchers and sets their life cycle state to 'Purged'. Purged vouchers cannot be used in any action or report. This process can be applied to multiple vouchers by specifying either a voucher type or a lot. It's possible to select vouchers of a specific state to purge, or vouchers that have already expired.

Navigate to Vouchers and select Actions > Vouchers Maintenance Utility from the summary page. Select New > Purging and in the Conditions provide the lot, voucher type of the vouchers you wish to purge.

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Modifying Printed Payment Vouchers

Vouchers can be modified and their values corrected (e.g., voucher type and validity dates) instead of being cancelled or rejected.  The process modifies the voucher value, extra added value, validity, products and allowed business units, in order to correct the values that were set by an erroneously configured Voucher Type. This can be applied on multiple vouchers in life cycle state 'Draft', 'Accepted for Activation' and 'Activated'.

Exporting Printed Payment Vouchers

Activated vouchers are ready for printing and distribution to customers and can be exported in a CSV, XML, or Excel file format. A unique number is generated for each run, thus providing a clear view of the vouchers that were encrypted and the user who performed this action. 

To export vouchers navigate to Foundation > Utilities > Exports > Vouchers and create a new export by providing the lot you wish to export.

Importing Printed Payment Vouchers

‘Printed’ vouchers which were generated by 3rd party systems can be imported to CRM.COM through an Excel or CSV file instead of being generated as described above. Vouchers are created in either 'Activated' or 'Accepted for Activation' states.

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Selling Printed Payment Vouchers to customers

Printed Payment Vouchers can also be bought by customers directly from the company. Customers buy Printed Payment Vouchers from the company at retail price, i.e. the value defined on the voucher. On selling such a voucher to a customer an Invoice is posted against the customer's account. In order to sell a printed voucher to a customer navigate to Finance > Financial Transactions > New > Invoice > select the customer account > specify 'Printed Voucher' for the 'Product', select the voucher type and complete the mandatory details. 

Paying with a printed payment voucher

Printed Payment Vouchers are bought by customers in order to use them as a way of payment. Only non-expired vouchers in an 'Activated' state can be used for payments, and only as long as they have never been used for another payment before. Using a voucher results in creating a posted Payment against the account of the customer. The payment has the same amount as the voucher's value (not the extra added value). The voucher is updated into a 'Used' life cycle state to prevent it from using it again, and it is also related to the Account of the customer who used it. On using printed payment vouchers, the customer or user must specify the voucher's secret number (decrypted).

Voucher payments can be effected from the voucher's data entry page or from the Communication Centre > select the customer account > click on the Actions menu option > Finance > Use Voucher.

Electronic Payment Vouchers

The main difference between Electronic vouchers and Printed vouchers is that they do not need to go through the process described above till they are available to be sold to customers. Electronic vouchers can be sold to customers either through your company or through partners directly to customers. Additionally, you have the option to sell electronic vouchers to customers which will be given as gifts to others.

Electronic vouchers can have one of the following life cycle states: 

• Activated: The voucher has been created and activated.
• Used: The voucher has been created, activated and used to pay an amount of money against a financial account.
• Cancelled: The voucher has been cancelled by a user or a process.
• Purged: The voucher has been permanently removed (similar to deleted) and cannot be reverted or reused.

Selling electronic payment vouchers by the business

Electronic Payment Vouchers are readily available to be sold by the company to its customers and upon customer's request.

On selling an Electronic Payment Voucher, a single voucher is automatically generated based on the customer's preferences such as the voucher type and the required value. The Electronic Payment Voucher is created in an 'Activated' state (ready to be used) and it also holds information on the customer who bought it. The customer buys the Electronic payment voucher either for personal use or to give it to another customer in the form of a gift. In both cases, the customer who makes the purchase will be invoiced for this sale (in retail price) and the process will issue a Payment with the same amount.

You can purchase an e-voucher through the Communications Centre > locate the customer account > Actions > Finance > Purchase eVoucher action.

Selling electronic payment vouchers through a partner

Customers also have the option to buy electronic payment vouchers from your partners upon request.

A partner is allowed to sell a company's Electronic Payment Vouchers as long as his Credit Limit is not exceeded. On selling an Electronic Payment Voucher from a partner, a single voucher is generated based on the customer's preferences such as the voucher type and the required value. The Electronic Payment Voucher is created in an 'Activated' state (ready to be used), and information of the retailer who sold the voucher to the customer as well as the customer who bought the voucher are recorded. 

The partner is invoiced for the sale at wholesale price when selling Electronic Payment Vouchers to customers. No financial transactions are generated against the customer's account.

You can purchase an e-voucher from a partner through the Communications Centre > locate the customer account > Actions > Finance > Purchase eVoucher through retailer action.

Cancelling electronic payment vouchers

Electronic Payment Vouchers can be cancelled due to fraud, loss or simply because the customer wants to return the voucher. E-vouchers can be cancelled through Actions > Cancel available through the e-voucher page, as long as the voucher has not expired and is still in 'Activated' state. A cancellation reason must also be specified to justify the cancellation. On cancelling because of a return, then financial transactions generated through the voucher's sale are also cancelled.

Using electronic payment vouchers

Electronic Vouchers are used by customers as an alternative method of payment.

As long as their voucher has not yet expired and is still activated, then the voucher can be used just like any other type of payment. The account owner who uses the voucher should either be the customer who actually bought it if the voucher is a Personal one, or the account owner who was given the voucher by the customer who bought it if the voucher is shareable.

On using the voucher, a payment financial transaction is created against the account that will actually use the voucher. The electronic voucher is set to 'Used' state, to prevent from being used again.

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Refund Vouchers

It is possible to refund a customer by providing them with a refund voucher which can be redeemed later on.

A refund voucher can have one of the following life cycle states: 

• Activated: The voucher has been created and activated.
• Used: The voucher has been created, activated and used to pay an amount of money against a financial account.
• Cancelled: The voucher has been cancelled by a user or a process.
• Purged: The voucher has been permanently removed (similar to deleted) and cannot be reverted or reused.

Issuing and using a refund Voucher 

To issue and provide customers with refund vouchers it is required that the refund (financial transaction) created uses the refund method specified for the Voucher Type. If this is the case, the system will create a refund voucher and assign it to the customer's account, so that they can use it accordingly.

You can create and provide your customer with a printed refund voucher or a refund token that the customer will be able to use in the future. Once a customer uses their refund voucher the voucher changes to a 'Used' state so as to not be reused again in the future.

Additional Processes and Automations for Vouchers

Gift vouchers

Customers have the option of buying gift vouchers and passing them on to their friends/family as a present. To create gift vouchers, create 'Electronic Payment Voucher' type vouchers with usage method set to 'Shareable'. When these types of vouchers are being bought through the Communication Centre Purchase e-voucher action, the account of the customer the voucher will be given to must also be provided.

You can create customer-defined voucher values or specific voucher values. If the customer can buy vouchers of a value determined by them, then you should set a variable value on the voucher type. However, if you would like gift vouchers to be of specific value then set a fixed value on the voucher type.

Retrieving Voucher Secret Number

This process is used to retrieve the secret number of a voucher (of any classification) in decrypted form. Retrieval can be performed only by authorised users to prevent fraud. You can retrieve secret numbers either from the voucher data entry page or through the Communication Centre.

To prevent fraud, the user who performs the vouchers secret number retrieval is logged into the voucher's history. 

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Providing free amount in vouchers

When using printed or electronic payment vouchers it is possible to provide offers, where customers will be paying an X amount to buy the voucher however the voucher value will be greater than the one they have paid for. This is possible by providing an Extra Added Value to the voucher. Extra added value is defined when creating a Voucher type (through Configuration) or is possible to define it upon the creation a lot of a voucher type which does not come with a fixed price.

Communicating Vouchers

Communications can be sent to customers through event based communications. Communication tags for vouchers can be used regardless of the communication reason and voucher classification. You can use tags related to Vouchers (text that is automatically replaced by values specific to selected records) when creating communications. Tags are available for selection by typing '#'. 
Refer to the Communications manual for a complete list of Voucher tags.

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