Table Reservation/Purchase (Auction Tracker)

At most events, a business or individual may wish to purchase an entire table for their guests and themselves. In the best case scenario, the business or individual provides a full guest list with the name and address of everyone sitting at their table. At this point, each person can be entered, made a guest and assigned to the business or individual's table. Each of these guests are assigned the reservation level of "Table Guest", a hard-coded reservation level designed to indicate that this guest's reservation level has been paid for by another constituent, and they owe no money for the reservation.

For example, Mr. Dave Johnson purchases a table. The generic guest records created by Auction-Tracker take the format of "JOHNSON, GUEST #1." During event registration, an individual arrives and identifies themselves as a member of the Johnson party. A volunteer obtains and provides the guest with a bid packet that is assigned to Mr. Johnson's party, provides the guest with a registration card to complete. Once complete, the guest moves on to bid. This guest information is used to update Auction-Tracker, by opening the generic record (JOHNSON, GUEST #1 for example) and replacing the generic name information with the guest's name.

Reserving An Entire Table         

An entire table can be purchased by a business or individual. When purchased, the entire table is reserved for the constituent purchasing. This is called a "Table Block" and is performed with the component  Table Reservation/Purchase. Here is how the table purchase (block) feature works.

Take a table that has ten seats in total. If the guest purchasing the table is single, the Table Block function seats the guest purchasing the table, creates nine additional generic guest records and applies those records to the table (1 + 9 = 10). If the guests purchasing the table are a couple and both are designated as a guest, Auction-Tracker seats the couple and creates eight additional generic guest records. (2 + 8 = 10). Both options fill the entire table and designates it as "blocked".

Add Table Block

To reserve a table for a guest and their invites, perform the following steps:

1. From the Application Toolbar, click the Constituents drop-down menu, then click Guest/Bidder Entry Tasks.
2. Next, click Table Reservation/Purchase.
3. Click Add Table Block, and the Select Constituent window opens. A list of guests who have purchased a reservation appears.
   Looking at the Toolbar above the list of names, there are three active options; Select Constituent For Table Block, Sort/Select, and Linked Constituent View.
4. Locate the guest purchasing a table from the list of names provided, highlight and then click Select Constituent for Table Block or the Select button at the bottom of the window to continue with selection of a table to block.

   If the table is being purchased by a couple, select the “primary link” record. The secondary record or spouse is attached to the table automatically, so long as the spouse has been designated as a guest. (Using the  Linked Constituent View option on the toolbar identifies a linked spouse.)

5. With the Select Table window open, open the drop-down menu. Select an existing table for the drop-down menu (Figure 7.8) or add a new table by selecting Add Option for the drop-down menu.
6. Once a table has been selected, an option to change the table name is provided. To change, click Yes and complete the table name field in the active window. If the table name provided is sufficient, click No. After a selection is made, Auction-Tracker assigns the purchaser(s), builds the generic guest records, and assigns the records to the table.
7. With the table block complete, Auction-Tracker returns to the Select Constituent For Table Block window. Click Close if the process is complete or select another name and repeat the steps above.

To edit or view generic guest records, navigate to  Add/Edit/Delete Names. To view the guests as assigned to a table, navigate to Quick Table Assignment.

Delete Table Block

Should a guest cancel their purchase of a table, the Table Block can be removed as follows:

1. From the Application Toolbar, click the Constituents drop-down menu, then click Guest/Bidder Entry Tasks.
2. Next, click Table Reservation/Purchase.
3. Click Delete Table Block, and the Select A Table For Block Delete window opens
4. Next, select a table to be deleted. Once selected click Continue. Auction-Tracker deletes the generic guest records assigned to this table block and returns the table to open status and made available for use.