"Day-of-Play" Technical Info

The following specifications and environmental requirements apply 
to the Touchable Day of Play System. Select module to view.
Touch-Tee Specs    Touch-POS Specs   Hardware Req

• The TouchTee system is a touch-screen Tee-Time Reservation and Electronic Tee-Sheet  system, running stand-alone on Win2k professional or as a network mixing Win9x and Win2k platforms.
• It can be configured to work in conjunction with the Touch-POS system or without it.    When working with Touch-POS, it enforces the Day of Play Functions in which Green-Fees cannot be sold at the point of sale, unless a justifying reservation or walk-on entry has been provided to the Tee-Times system.  This greatly enhances the club management's ability to justify course usage and to guarantee that fair compensation has been collected by the club, for every round played.

• It uses the item lists and data files maintained by the Administrative Tee-Times System.
  

click on image to enlarge

• Central to the screen, a scrolling Tee-Sheet displays all  reservations for the selected day.  Surrounding the tee-sheet on all sides, rows of buttons allow the user to scroll through the available tee-sheets and modify them as needed.  To the extreme right, the day-at-a-glance column  displays a summary of the entire day's course usage as a grid of colored squares.
• The day-at-a-glance column is also useful for scrolling the tee-sheet.  On crowded days, the few available open tee-times appear as bright green squares.  Tapping the desired square jumps the tee-sheet to the appropriate time.
• At the top of the screen, a button labeled View leads to a powerful screen which contains seven day-at-a-glance columns, one for each day of the coming week.   These can be scrolled forward and backwards to display more distant dates.  Like the day-at-a-glance column  on the main window, these are color coded to show course availability and can be touched to jump back to the tee-sheet for the appropriate date and time.  In this "week-at-a-glance" mode, all of the columns report on the currently selected course.  For clubs which have more than one course, tapping the view button again, changes view  so that all courses are displayed for as many days as screen space allows.
• Back on the main screen, the process of adding a new reservation is simple and highly streamlined.  Selecting an available tee-time and tapping the Add button,  brings up a screen where the number of golfers and the name of the "Captain" can be entered using either the computer's physical keyboard, or via a keyboard which is drawn on the touch-screen.  If the caller is already on file, their name can be selected from a scrolling list.  Optionally, the caller's credit card information can be recorded.  After that, one more button click, confirms the information and  completes the reservation.
• If the day of play features are active, the Check-Out  button allows the user to record the fact that selected golfer(s) have arrived at the course.  The Ring-Out button summons the TouchPOS system and sends it the appropriate green fee items and rates information.  Once the Point of Sale prints a receipt, TouchTee returns and updates the tee-sheet to show that the golfer has paid.  Finally, as the golfer begins their game, the Teed-Off  button can be pressed to record the event.   As a result of these actions, TouchTee screens around the club can see the current state of play.  
• Alternatively, if the golfer does not show up to play, the No-Show button makes note of the fact in the reservation history.  This in turn can be picked up by the Pet Lottery portion of the Tee-Times Administrative System so that future reservation requests will be penalized.  It can also be picked up an reported (along with any collected credit card information) so that financial penalties can be pursued.
• When golfers occasionally call to confirm or delete their reservations (but don't remember the details of that reservation), the Find button can be used to locate all reservations for a partial or complete  golfer name.  It can even search multiple days in case the golfer's memory is really bad.
• At many clubs, the rules governing the price of a reservation can get very complex.  Reciprocal agreements with local hotels, membership discounts and seasonal/time of day factors can all play a role in determining how much should be charged.  TouchTee incorporates a powerful Rates engine which assists the user in this complex task.  When the course, date and time of play are all known, the Rates engine provides a scrolling list of only those prices which are valid for the known information.  From there, the user can select an appropriate rate using the descriptions which are attached to each price. 
• Another powerful feature of the TouchTee system is its ability to handle multiple reservation requests, from a single caller, in an extremely streamlined way.   Pressing the Block button informs the system that a block of tee-times is about to be reserved.  From that point, each tee-time selected, adds to the block.  It is possible to scroll around the current tee sheet, switch courses and even switch days during this process.  All selected tee-times, regardless of time, day or course will be collected into a single block.  When the selection process is complete, a second press of the Block button begins calls up the Block Reservation Window, where the list of selected tee-time can be reviewed and modified.  Once the list is approved, a single visit to the Add Reservation window, collects the golfers name and (optionally) credit card information.  When this is approved, all selected tee-times become reserved in the golfers name.  After that, they remained linked as a block, such that selecting any one of the blocked tee-times and pressing the Block button, will bring up the Block Reservation Window with the complete list.  From there, modifications and deletions can be handle for individual reservations or for the block as a whole.
• Once configured, TouchTee's greatest feature is its ease of use, which practically eliminates the need for employee training while making its wide range of capabilities obvious to even new users.

NOTES

Note #1
On network installations involving more than one TouchTee terminal, Microsoft Terminal Server is strongly recommended.   For a more complete details, see the Installation Recommendation page.

Note #2
Microsoft Terminal Server claims to support clients with processors as small as the original Pentium.
CGS has not yet tried it on less than the hardware recommended above.

Note #3
Although each TouchTee terminal should be equipped with a 15" or larger Touch Screen Monitor, the software can be operated with a mouse instead.

Touch-POS Specifications

• The TouchPOS system is a touch-screen Point of Sale system, running standalone on Win2k professional, or as a network, mixing Win9x or Win2k platforms.
• It can be configured for either Pro-Shop or Food&Bev operations and includes many features specific to each environments needs.  For the Pro-Shop, it enforces the Touch-Tee Day of Play Functions in which Green-Fees cannot be sold at the point of sale, unless a justifying reservation or walk-on entry has been provided to the Tee-Times system.  For Food&Bev establishments, TouchPOS provides component-tracking, prep-tables and full support of the  CGS A/R System's minimum spending requirements feature.
• It uses the item lists and data files maintained by the Administrative Inventory Control System.

click image to enlarge

• It's screen is divided into three major sections.
  The left section is a realistic view of the receipt which is constantly updated throughout the sales process.
  The center section provides a scrolling catalog of all defined "Item Pages".
  The remainder of the screen presents the currently selected "Item Page".  An item page is a collection of buttons, each of which can add an item to the open receipt or jump to another Item Page.  Through this mechanism (and using the integrated page editor,) you can quickly define any number of buttons, organized across any number of pages.
• Since individual items can appear on the buttons of multiple pages, item-type and vendor specific pages can be created.  These become a real time saver under many sales conditions.
• Surrounding and dividing the screen's three sections, fixed function buttons provide access to the receipt handling aspects of the system  (Creating a new receipt, Voiding a previously entered item and/or an entire receipt, Closing a receipt and handling payment details, etc.)
• The TouchPOS interfaces with the CGS Credit Card System to provide high-speed authorizations.  At the end of each shift, TouchPOS submits all appropriate  sales to the credit card system for data-capture and collection.
• The TouchPOS also interfaces with the CGS Micros Simulator which functions as a hotel interface, allowing customers to charge their purchases to their rooms in real-time.
• Finally,  TouchPOS interfaces with the CGS A/R System allowing club members to charge their purchases to their member accounts.  This interface also allows members to pay their account balances at the point of sale station, (which is very convenient when the accounting office is closed).
• The TouchPOS supports a variety of peripherals including up to four cash drawers per workstation,  bar-code readers (UPC or Code39), magnetic swipe readers (for both credit and membership cards) and any windows compatible receipt printer.
• It offers user-definable security ranging from "completely open" to "paranoid", with two-tier server/administrator privilege support.
• Once configured, TouchPOS's greatest feature is its ease of use, which practically eliminates the need for employee training while making its wide range of capabilities obvious to even new users.
• It can handle an unlimited number of item pages and you can place as many buttons on each page as desired. (20 buttons is a practical limit, note each button must be large enough to touch with your finger)

HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

NOTES

Note #1
On network installations involving more than one TouchPOS terminal, Microsoft Terminal Server is strongly recommended.   For a more complete details, see the Installation Recommendation page.

Note #2
Microsoft Terminal Server claims to support clients with processors as small as the original Pentium.
CGS has not yet tried it on less than the hardware recommended above.

Note #3
Although each TouchPOS terminal should be equipped with a 15" or larger Touch Screen Monitor, the software can be operated with a mouse instead.