This topic explains how ACE Rewards^® has been implemented for use with the software. ACE Rewards is a loyalty program offered by ACE Hardware Corporation. Similar to other types of loyalty programs, customers are assigned a unique ID and given a corresponding card, key tag, etc. Membership in the rewards program offers a number of benefits including the following which are now implemented in the application:

1. Rewards Points - Customers earn points based on their purchases and certain other activities (referrals, sign-up, etc.). The application tracks and transmits ACE Rewards data to ACE Hardware Corporation on a daily basis. Earned points are redeemed in the form of coupons.

2. Dynamic Promotions (Coupons) – Special pricing for rewards members based on either a dollar or percentage discount amount. We support seven (7) types of dynamic promotions: 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, and 10 (described in more detail later). Dynamic promotions be based on either a minimum overall purchase requirement, item-specific for the highest priced eligible item (up to a “maximum” dollar amount), or a free gift card based on the purchase of specific items. Additional types will be added in the future. Items can only have one dynamic promotion applied at a time during a sale (including Instant Savings).

3. Instant Savings (Immediate Rebates) – Instant rebates applied at Point of Sale. The dealer is reimbursed for these. Additional ledger mapping exists for these rebates.

Benefits are managed by the use of several new special item types which are linked to promotional and instant savings data received from ACE Hardware Corporation. Items used with the ACE Rewards program are loaded initially by support personnel and are maintained by EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) processing. This additional data is retrieved along with price change (“Hotsheet”) data. Point of Sale data is also sent via EDI to ACE Hardware on a daily (nightly) basis.

Additional benefit types, such as Buy-One, Get One Free (BOGO) and Buy-One, Get-Another (BOGA) will be implemented in the future.

In addition to benefits, implementation in the software allows Point of Sale users to do the following:

• Sign-up customers for ACE Rewards membership at Point of Sale.

• Automatically prompt for the customer's rewards ID at the beginning and/or end of a transaction. A customer’s rewards can also be applied at any time during processing.

• Look up a customer’s membership ID using either their phone number or name (first and/or last). Look-up can be done for local or national members.

• Allows custom changes to certain types of promotions using the Price Changes area. A dealer may extend or limit promotion dates, determine which items are eligible for a promotion (based on pricing, item type, etc.), and enable/disable a promotion.

• Send Point of Sale data to ACE Hardware on a daily basis.

Some connectivity is directly established between the application, services, and database and ACE Hardware Corporation web services. Hotsheet data, which includes some rewards related data, does require that MoveitFreely software be installed on any client (PC, etc.) that will do EDI processing.

The ACE Rewards program is portable (can be used at any participating dealer); however, members are linked with a “home” store and some benefits are intended to be store specific.

Requirements

The ACE Rewards integration will be available to any current or new users who are ACE Hardware dealers. Use of EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is required for retrieval of Hotsheet data and the Point of Sale nightly data submission. There is an initial setup fee for ACE Rewards implementation as well as ongoing maintenance. This is in addition to usual EDI setup fees and normal monthly maintenance for EDI which still apply regardless of whether ACE Rewards is used.

Setup

Assuming that EDI for ACE Hardware is already in place, support staff must enable the ACE Rewards option as well as configure the web services parameters for your company's use. Typically, a company also has to apply for participation in the ACE Rewards program and be approved by ACE Hardware Corporation first. After parameters have been set, the remaining rewards setup is done in the Branch Setup (maintenance) form located on the Maintenance area’s Database menu.

The Branch Setup form offers fixed folders in the lower-half of the form. Choose the EDI tab to view EDI settings for the branch location. Each branch (store) will typically have its own settings for EDI processing.

On the EDI tab, choose “ACE” from the “Settings for” drop down. EDI for use with ACE Hardware Corporation must have previously been enabled in Parameters by support personnel for “ACE” to be listed.

The current settings for the location’s ACE Hardware EDI interface should be listed. Next, choose “ACE Rewards” from the (context) menu marker displayed on the right-hand side of the folder tab area.

A new form, titled “ACE Rewards EDI Settings,” should appear.

ACE Rewards EDI Settings

The “ACE Rewards EDI Settings” form is used to indicate whether or not ACE Rewards has been enabled for use, the type of automated prompting done at Point of Sale, and the item pricing to be affected by/enabled for various types of promotions. There are seven types of promotions, which are listed in the Pricing Defaults list below.

ACE Rewards - EDI Settings

Enabled

Indicates whether ACE Rewards is enabled for the current branch location. ACE Rewards can be activated independently for specific locations and the settings for each location can vary.

Rewards Prompt Timing

The selection made determines how automatic prompts for ACE Rewards are initiated during a Point of Sale, Sales transaction. Choices include: both, beginning, end, and never.

• Both – The Point of Sale user (cashier) will be prompted for ACE Rewards when beginning a transaction and when processing (finalizing) the sale.

• Beginning – The Point of Sale user (cashier) will only be prompted for ACE Rewards when beginning a new transaction.

• End – The Point of Sale user (cashier) will only be prompted for ACE Rewards after choosing Process (F12) to complete the transaction.

• Never – No automatic prompting is done; however, dialog can be displayed by pressing CTRL-R.

At any time during a Sale, the Point of Sale user (cashier) can self-initiate the ACE Rewards prompt by pressing CTRL-R on the keyboard (hold the “control” key down and press the letter key “R”).

Pricing Defaults

To adjust the pricing you want to allow or exclude from promotions, choose the promotion type using the drop down. We currently support these types of promotions:

Type 2

This type of promotion allows the customer to buy "n" or more of a particular item for "$p" each.
For example, “Buy 10 sodas or more items for $1 each.” Promotions won't be applied if the customer does not buy the threshold number of the items.

Type 3

This type of promotion allows the customer to buy "x" and get "y" for free or for a discounted price.
For example, “Buy four chairs and get a table for 1/2 off.” Promotions won't be applied if the customer does not buy the items specified.

Type 4

This type of promotion allows the customer to use a coupon to buy 1 "x" for $p.
For example, “Use your coupon to get $5 off a pair of leather gloves.” Promotions won't be applied if the customer does not have a coupon or does not buy the items specified.

Type 6

This type of promotion is for either a set dollar or percentage amount that may be applied to a single item up to a maximum retail amount. It is applied to the highest priced eligible item in the transaction. For example, “save 10% on the highest priced eligible item up to $100.” Select the pricing types that your company supports for type 6 dynamic promotions. Promotions won't be applied if the customer price reason doesn't match a selected type. Preferences are the defaults for new promotions.

Type 7

This type of promotion is for either a set dollar or percentage amount that may be applied to the total for all eligible items in the transaction as long as the minimum purchase requirement has been met. For example, “save 10% on your next purchase of $50 or more.” Select the pricing types that your company supports for type 7 dynamic promotions. Promotions won't be applied if the customer price reason doesn't match a selected type. Preferences are the defaults for new promotions.

Type 9

This type of promotion allows the customer to receive Instant Savings.
For example, “Save $2 on a gallon of Ben Wah Multi-Surface Stain, limit two per customer.” Promotions won't be applied if the customer does not buy the items specified or attempts to apply the discount to more than two of the item.

Type 10

This type of promotion adds a free gift card for eligible sales. Two (2) additional fields are required for type 10 promotions: "Type 10 Giftcard SKU" and "Type 10 Offset SKU."

1. The gift card SKU should be set to ACE item #9316423 which should be assigned to the item type of "ACE Gift Card" and should be non-taxable (N in the "taxable" setting on the Common, Codes tab of Item Maintenance).

2. The "offset" SKU must be a "Credit SKU" type item that is marked as taxable "Yes" (Y on the Common, Codes tab of Item Maintenance).

After selection, use the check box list to select which types of pricing the promotions should be applied to. For example, this could be used to exclude “employee” pricing or “sale” prices from being eligible for ACE Rewards promotions (coupons). A check mark indicates that ACE Rewards promotions are allowed for the pricing type or level.

• Sale Items - If checked, allows promotional coupons to be applied to items when pricing reflects a sale price.

• Net Items - If checked, allows promotional coupons to be applied to items with a discount code of “N” (net).

• Price Level (0-6) - Checks determine which item pricing levels allow promotional coupons. A company is not required to use all 7 levels.

• Break Price - If checked, allows promotional coupons to be applied to items when pricing is the result of a volume discount.

• Special Order - If checked, allows promotional coupons to be applied to special order items (renumbered or resale types).

• Material Lists - If checked, allows promotional coupons to be applied to material lists (aka. Bill of Materials or BOM).

• Contract Price – If checked, allows promotional pricing to be applied to items when the price was determined by contract pricing.

Update Existing Promotions

Checking this check box will update the pricing defaults for any existing promotions when Process (F12) is also selected from the Branch Setup form.

Processing

Important! To save any changes to ACE Rewards settings, you must choose "Accept" on the "ACE Rewards EDI Setup" dialog and also choose Process (F12) from the "Branch Setup" form.

Automation Settings

It will also be necessary to use the "Automation" settings to enable the automatic "POS Data Send." This should be done as soon as you are ready to start submitting rewards data to ACE. Until this is done, your company won't receive credit for Instant Savings and customer's rewards information won't be updated. ACE Hardware Corporation typically quarantines the first few files you submit until they have been reviewed. We suggest a time of 10 PM for data transmission. Certain time periods are blocked out by ACE.

Using ACE Rewards at Point of Sale

A Point of Sale user (cashier) may be prompted to scan or enter a customer’s ACE Rewards ID number at the beginning or end of a transaction or they can press CTRL-R to initiate the ACE Rewards dialog at any time. How and if prompting happens depends on the prompt timing method selected in the ACE Rewards EDI Setup form provided in Branch Setup (Maintenance, Database, Branches).

ACE Rewards Pop Up at Point of Sale

ACE Rewards cards include a barcode along with the customer’s rewards number. The barcode actually includes a total of 12-digits; however, the card only shows 11. The last digit isn’t typically shown in listings and the first digit is always 4 (not printed on the card). The software stores 11 digits and calculates the check digit for validation.

The form offers either three (3) or four (4) buttons depending on whether a rewards ID has already been associated with a transaction. The following buttons are always displayed: OK, Lookup, and Cancel. After a rewards ID has been associated, re-showing the form (CTRL-R) displays an additional “Update” button that allows updates to the member’s information. Cancel would be used in the event that the customer doesn’t have an ACE Rewards membership (and does not want to sign-up at the time) or if their rewards ID has been associated with their receivables (in-house) account. OK is used to accept the scanned or manually entered ACE Rewards ID number either (a) for an existing reward’s member or (b) when scanning a card for a new membership. Lookup is used to find a member’s ID if they don’t have their card, etc. (more about this on the following page(s)).

A few different things can happen when scanning or entering an ACE Rewards membership number:

• The number is validated as an ACE Rewards card

• The number is validated but the application requires some information to be updated.

• The number is not validated and prompts the cashier to sign the member up.

If the user “Lookup” allows the sales clerk (cashier) to find a customer’s ACE Rewards number by using either their name or phone number. If the customer is an ACE Rewards member, but not for the local store, a “national” look-up is also provided.

ACE Rewards National Lookup Prompt

The upper panel, labeled “In Store Lookup,” only provides matches on the members associated with the current store. A cashier can use the customer’s phone number, first name, or last name to produce a list of matches in the drop down.

National Lookup uses the ACE Rewards web service to retrieve a customer’s information based on either the customer’s phone number or their first/last name and zip code. Partial matches for the name fields are accepted. First name is not required but will be used if supplied. If an exact match is found, the form will close and the member’s rewards ID will be displayed below the account label (see below).

A customer’s reward ID is listed below the account ID label on the Point of Sale, Sales form once scanned or when associated with their “house” account.

Rewards ID in Point of Sale

It is possible to clear the rewards and remove any promotions by right-clicking on the Rewards ID number and choosing "clear." Doing so will also remove any applied promotions automatically.

How Rewards are applied at Point of Sale

There are several ways that rewards can be applied to products during a sale.* Some rewards are applied to specific items (such as Instant Savings), all eligible items, or one or more items meeting some type of criteria. Rewards are generally handled by the association of any of three (3) special types of items with a transaction. These rewards items are listed along with the items being sold in the grid area and also on the invoice or cash ticket.

The three (3) new item types are listed below:

• 1.ACE Reward

• 2.ACE Instant Savings (Instant Rebate)

• 3.ACE Reward Credit SKU

Items are added to your inventory automatically during initial setup and are maintained going forward by Hotsheet EDI updates. The “item type” is set automatically and should not be changed. Additional types may be added in the future.

*We should point out that no ACE Rewards functionality exists with regard to non-sale transactions such as customer orders, quotes, direct ship orders, etc.

Item Entry and Data Grid

Some ACE Rewards, such as instant savings, are only applied after an ACE Rewards membership has been associated with the Sales transaction; others, may or may not require a membership depending upon the type of promotion.

Instant Savings (rebates) items automatically associate with their assigned item similar to how an “add-on” SKU would function. Upon entry, Instant Savings (IS) items are listed in the grid in the row immediately below their associated (trigger) SKU.

 

When you add an item to the data grid for a customer that has ACE Rewards, Instant Savings items are automatically added to the data grid. If the clerk enters an item and a quantity and selects the Enter key, the cursor automatically drops to either:

(1) the Item column for a new (empty) row below the IS item or,

(2) to the quantity column for the existing item (row) immediately below the IS item’s row.

ACE Rewards Add-On and Item Entry

All other types of rewards and promotions are coupon-based. Coupons can be scanned or entered (using the digits below the barcode). To manually type the number in, enter the digits below the barcode in the item text-area and then choose “barcode” from the alternate menu (usually a right-click). As an alternative, you can press Ctrl-B prior to typing the digits and then press either Tab or Enter on your keyboard.

You may notice that the “description” column’s grid cell for an ACE Rewards type item displays with a yellow background that is different from the standard background coloring of the data grid. Clicking on the description cell of an ACE Rewards item selects any rows (items) to which the promotion or instant savings is being applied. Instant Savings and type 6 Dynamic Promotions are applied to single items and more than one type 6 promotion can be applied during a sale (each one must be applied to a different item). Type 6 dynamic promotions are applied in the order they are scanned to the highest priced eligible item. Type 7 Dynamic Promotions can be associated with multiple items. Only one (1) type 7 promotion can be associated with a sale. If a user scans more than one type 7 promotion, the first one will be applied and any remaining will be removed once the Process (F12) form is selected.

In addition, ACE Rewards item descriptions (as shown in the data grid) are manipulated based on a number of factors. The same set of ACE Rewards items are re-used by different promotions, rewards, and instant savings, so the item’s description is set to reflect the specific promotion or instant savings that triggered the item. If a promotion or instant savings no longer applies, the description is also used to indicate this (see below).

Dealers have the ability to manipulate certain aspects of dynamic promotions (extend dates, set which types of item pricing is included, etc.) via the Price Changes transaction found in the Inventory area.

 

Making Changes (Editing Items in the Data Grid)

Based upon the type of rewards (dynamic promotions, reward credits, and instant savings), certain changes are prohibited.

Instant Savings (IS) items cannot be removed themselves. They are only removed if the linked or “trigger” item is removed. Rewards Credit SKUs (HH) and Dynamic Promotions (DP) can be removed from the grid. Items are removed by selecting the row and either choosing Delete from the alternate menu (usually a right-click) or pressing the Delete button on your keyboard.

In addition, changes to the unit price, quantity, and units of measure for all ACE Rewards item types is restricted. It is possible to make changes to other items (those that aren’t ACE Reward types); however, doing so can affect the promotions and instant savings previously associated with the transaction. For example, changing the price on an item linked to a dynamic promotion can cause the promotion to no longer be eligible (or the promotion may become associated with another eligible item instead, etc.). Deleting any item linked with Instant Savings will also remove the corresponding Instant Savings SKU from the data grid.

Sorting & Item Order

ACE Hardware Corporation requires that rewards linked with specific items be listed below those items on the resulting document (invoice, cash ticket, etc.). For this reason, items and the rewards SKUs are sorted automatically based on their type of linkage to either an individual item or multiple items. Here are a few points about how this sorting is implemented:

• Sorting is done when choosing Process (F12) or when the user chooses to manually sort the data grid during a sale.

• Instant Savings are always associated with specific items and will be listed below the associated item SKU both in the grid and on documents. Instant savings automatically associate with their “parent” item (as an “add-on” SKU), so they naturally would appear below the item they are linked with. If the Point of Sale user (cashier) changes this natural order themselves, the ordering will be reset, forcing instant savings to appear next to their associated item at time of processing.

• Type 6 Dynamic Promotions are also associated with a single item meeting some type of criteria. Dynamic promotions typically include some type of coupon and aren’t automatically associated with specific products. Sorting order is set so that the dynamic promotion item is listed below the associated item during processing, but this is not done on initial entry. It’s also important to point out that the “associated” item can change as the cashier enters or makes changes to the items in the data grid. Dynamic promotions are applied based on set rules, so adding or removing items, changing pricing, etc. all can affect which item they are applied to.

• Type 7 Dynamic Promotions can be associated with more than one item; however, only one Type 7 promotion can be used per transaction (sale). These are always listed at the end of the document or data grid after sorting. The first type 7 promotion scanned will be the one applied.

• Credit SKUs are not associated with specific items. These are also listed at the end of the document or grid when sorted.

Note: There are many different document styles for available for invoices. Sorting for ACE Rewards will be implemented for cash tickets minimally. Other styles, in particular those intended for store-use only, may or may not include ACE Reward SKUs and/or may include but not sort them. Some styles perform their own sorting, such as by branch, location, or yard code, for example. The sorting of these documents will take precedence.

New Member Sign-Up

If the cashier scans or enter a rewards card number that is not currently assigned to a membership, the cashier will be prompted for the customer’s phone number. A phone number must be supplied to continue with on-line sign-up. As an alternative to this process, customers can instead mail the paper form or apply on-line (requires setting up an on-line account).

Entry of the phone number results in a search of the national database. If no matches are found, a message is provided offering 3 options: (1) Sign Up for ACE Rewards, (2) Re-enter the Phone Number (this is also provided as an option during sign up), or Cancel.

If the cashier chooses button 1, they are then directed to the “ACE Rewards New Member Sign-up” form. Mandatory fields are indicated by an asterisk (*).

Phone Number

The customer’s phone number, as entered on the prior form, will appear here. It can be moved to the “mobile number” if desired.

Mobile Number

This text-area is used to indicate the customer’s mobile (cell) number if applicable.

First Name (Required)

The customer’s first name. This is required and will produce a task list error message if not completed.

Last Name (Required)

The customer’s last name. This is required and will produce a task list error message if not completed.

Address (Required)

The customer’s street or post office box address. This is required and will produce a task list error message if not completed.

Apt/Unit #

This text-area is provided for any additional address information. This is not required.

City (Required)

The city/town/village name for the customer’s address. This is required and will produce a task list error message if not completed.

State (Required)

The state code associated with the customer’s address. The cashier (user) can type in the code or select from the drop down listing. This is required and will produce a task list error message if not completed.

Zip Code (Required)

The zip (postal) code associated with the customer’s address. This is required and will produce a task list error message if not completed.

Email Address (Optional)

The customer’s Email address. This is optional and used for ACE Rewards Email messages if supplied. The Email address is only validated if something is entered (typed) in the text area. Validation is only done on the format of the address and does not indicate whether the address is linked with a valid Email account.

Birth Month (Optional)

The customer’s month of birth. If supplied (optional), enter the first 3-characters of the month name or select a month abbreviation from the drop down listing.

Gender (Optional)

Enter or select the customer’s gender. This is optional.

Home Owner (Optional)

Choose whether the customer is a homeowner or not. Valid choices are Y (yes) or N (no). This is optional.

Once form entry is complete, choose “OK” (button). In the event that invalid or missing required information has been entered, a task list will be shown listing the form errors (fields with errors are also indicated).

If there are no errors or warnings, the application attempts to enroll the customer as an ACE Rewards member using the ACE Rewards web service. This process returns either a status of success or some type of error. When successful, the message “ACE Rewards New Member Sign-up Successful” appears at the bottom of the application window (over the listing of function keys). Newly activated memberships may not be updated for between 24 and 48 hours after sign-up. This is a restriction enforced by ACE Hardware Corporation, not the application.

If an error occurs, a message dialog box displays to show that an error or exception occurred. This could be an error accessing the web service or it could be generated by the software (although those typically would be reported differently). You can try more than once; however, if the error continues, the customer may have to complete a paper application. This may be the case if the web service is unavailable for some reason (Internet issues, etc.).

Needs Update

In some cases, a member’s information may be flagged by ACE Hardware Corporation as requiring updating. This may be triggered by returned mail, Email, or for other reasons. If this happens, a form similar to the “New Member Sign-up” is displayed titled “ACE Rewards Member Updates” followed by a dash and the member’s ID. The information fields requiring update are highlighted with a yellow background color.

In addition, a member may ask to update their information. Manual updates can be done using this same form. Use the “Update” button from the “ACE Rewards” (CTRL-R) dialog after scanning, entering, or looking up the member’s ID. Newly activated memberships may not be updated for between 24 and 48 hours after sign-up. This is a restriction enforced by ACE Hardware Corporation, not the application.

“N/A” (not applicable) check boxes are listed next to the Mobile Number, Email, and birth month fields. They may be used if the customer either does not have a mobile phone or Email or is unwilling to provide the information.

After verifying the information with the customer, choose “OK” to submit the information or choose “Cancel” to not perform the update. Even if the cashier (user) chooses “Cancel,” the rewards membership will still be associated with the sale.

"House" Accounts and ACE Rewards

If your company maintains self-managed receivables or cash-only accounts for your customers, it’s possible to associate the customer’s ACE Rewards membership with their account in the software. To do so, you must use one of the four (4) miscellaneous customer keys. The key name must include both the words “ACE” and “Rewards.” Case, spaces, and positioning are not important. Key names are modified from the Point of Sale, Names tab of the Parameters form (Main Menu > Maintenance > Database > Parameters).

Look for the four numbered (4) text areas under the heading "Acct/Job – User Key Names" and enter the desired label (“ACE Rewards,” for example) in the first (top most) available (unused) label (if any). Choose Process (F12) to save your changes.

Acct/Job - User Key Names (ACE Rewards Entry Highlighted)

Next, to assign a membership to an existing “house” account, modify the account using the Account Maintenance form. This is available from the Database menu in both the Point of Sale and Receivables areas. After entering or selecting the customer’s account, enter the 10-digit ACE Rewards member ID in the appropriate User Defined Keys field on the folder tab labeled “Codes.”

Account Maintenance > Codes Tab with ACE Rewards Key Highlighted

Remember to choose Process (F12) to save your changes.

After the ACE Rewards has been associated with the account, the number will be displayed during a sale below the customer's account number (ID) and automatically set after account selection. ACE Rewards may be cleared on a transaction by choosing "Clear" from the context menu selected while the mouse cursor is placed over the rewards ID (usually a right-click).

 

Price Updates for ACE Rewards Promotions

When ACE Rewards has been enabled for your company and the current branch, the Price Updates transaction found under the Inventory area offers an option labeled “ACE Rewards.” This allows the dealer to make changes to any dynamic promotions and instant savings offered by ACE Hardware Corporation which have been received along with the Hotsheet EDI data.

ACE Rewards - Price Updates

After selecting the “ACE Rewards” radio button, a drop down control labeled “Promotion Dates” will be displayed on the right-hand side of the upper form area. Use this to select the particular promotion period to view or edit. All promotions are listed by default.

There are three (3) alternate selection methods available for choosing a promotion: promo ID, item number, and active only. To use any alternate selection with a particular search value, type the value (item number, for example) in the text-area prior to selecting the alternate method from the menu (usually a right-click).

Right-Click the Promotion Dates to Display Options

Promo ID

This option finds a promotion matching the promotional ID entered in the text area. Only exact matches are accepted.

Item Number

This option finds promotions matching including a specific item SKU entered in the text area. Only exact matches are accepted.

Active Only

This option only populates the selection list with promotions that currently have a status of “active.” This status can be manually set.

Once a promotion has been selected, the data grid will populate with the specific promotions for that period. Each promotion has an ID, description, and two check box columns indicating whether the promotion is to be automatically applied and whether the promotion is currently active.

Auto Apply

The “Auto Apply” setting is set to true (checked) by default. As with other types of price update and sale pricing, promotions must be applied to be activated. The auto apply setting indicates that the dynamic promotion will be applied automatically on the “start” date of the promotion unless the setting is modified prior to that date. An hourly process checks all ACE Promotions and marks those where “auto apply” is true (checked) and the current date falls within the range of the promotion’s starting and ending dates.

Active

The “active” check box indicates whether the promotion is currently enabled or not. This will be set automatically if the promotion has been set to “auto apply” (checked) and based on the dates of the promotion. You can disable any promotion by clearing the “active” check box and also by either modifying the dates to not include the current date or clearing the “auto apply” check box (and then re-saving the promotion). The “active” status can be reset if the “auto apply” option is selected.

Items also have a flag (setting) that is used to indicate whether the item is currently associated with a promotion. Processing (saving) changes to an ACE Rewards promotion from the Price Updates transaction updates this flag as does the hourly “promotions” process.

For additional information about a specific promotion, you can click on the description of the promotion. This also allows you to make changes to certain aspects of the promotion.

Promotion Details

The following aspects of a promotion can be changed using this form:

• Starting Date
  The date that the promotion begins. Can be used to limit or extend a promotion.

• Ending Date
  The date that the promotion ends. Can be used to limit or extend a promotion.

• Active Status
  Indicates whether a promotion is currently active. When “auto apply” is set (checked), this can be automatically set (to either active or inactive) based on the dates of the promotion.

• Auto Apply Status
  Indicates whether a promotion should be automatically be set to either “active” (enabled) or “inactive” (disabled) based on the dates of the promotion.

• Eligible Items (as based on type of Pricing)
  The defaults pricing selections for promotional pricing is set based on your selections in the ACE Rewards EDI Settings form available from the EDI folder in the Branch Setup maintenance form (Main Menu, Maintenance, Database, Branches). For more information about each type see the Pricing Defaults topic in this document.

Active and Auto-Apply

There are four (4) possible combinations for these fields:

Active (Yes) and Auto Apply (No)

The promotion will remain active until the status is modified (manually changed). Because the “auto apply” is not enabled, the status won’t ever be updates automatically even after the promotion has ended.

Active (Yes) and Auto Apply (Yes)

The promotion is currently active and will remain active until the dates of the promotion no longer include the current date.

Active (No) and Auto Apply (Yes)

The promotion’s “active” status will be automatically updated based on the dates of the promotion on an hourly basis. The promotion may temporarily show as “active” until the next hourly update (unless the dates are still valid).

Active (No) and Auto Apply (No)

The promotion is disabled and won’t be triggered by Point of Sale activity.

Other Informational Fields

Promo Type

Indicates the type of promotion. Valid Types include the following:

ACERewardsDP6 (Dynamic Promotions Type 6)

ACERewardsDP7 (Dynamic Promotions Type 7)

Description

Describes the promotion. Often, the receipt message and/or credit SKU descriptions would match or be very similar to this description when they are indicated.

Trigger SKU

The item that triggers the promotion to be applied during a Sale. In the case of Instant Savings, this would be a regular ACE Item SKU that the instant rebate/savings is triggered by. For dynamic promotions, it’s the promotional type item.

Discount Type

Indicates whether the promotion is either a set dollar amount or calculated based on a percentage. This doesn’t apply to Instant Savings.

Discount Amount

Either the dollar amount or the discount percentage to be applied. This doesn’t apply to Instant Savings.

Price Limit Type

This indicates how and if the price limit dollar amount is to be applied. There are currently two (2) types: “UpToXAmount” and “GEAmount.” This doesn’t apply to Instant Savings.

• UpToXAmount – Promotion is applied up to a specified amount.

• GEAmount – Greater than (>) or Equal to (=) the amount specified.

Price Limit

This is the dollar amount used with the limit type described above. This is either a “minimum” amount or “maximum” for determining eligibility. This doesn’t apply to Instant Savings.

Credit SKU

If a credit SKU is involved with the promotion, it will be listed here along with the credit SKUs description (below).

Receipt Message

The Receipt Message is intended for printing on cash ticket and invoice documents along with certain promotions. Not all promotions will have a receipt message. When applicable, this is often similar to the promotion description and the credit SKU item description associated with the promotion.

Processing

To save changes to a promotion, click the OK button on the “Promotion Details” form and then choose Process (F12) from the Price Updates transaction.

Vendor EDI Changes

Along with ACE Rewards implementation, some additional features have been added to the Vendor EDI transaction on the Purchasing menu in the software.

Vendor EDI Communications Options for ACE Hardware

The “Extras” radio button offers two (2) additional option that relate to ACE Rewards processing: POS Data Send and ACE Rewards Item Setup. ACE Rewards Item Setup is only necessary once and is described in another section of this document (Initial Item Load). ACE Rewards Item Setup is only shown if ACE Rewards has been enabled for the current branch; otherwise, the option isn't listed.

Vendor EDI - Extra Function Options

POS Data Send

The purpose of this option is to allow manual processing of the daily transmission of Point of Sale rewards data to ACE Hardware Corporation. This is an automated process that would usually not require user intervention; however, manual processing may be necessary in the event of transmission errors (Internet issues, power outages, etc.) or if ACE Hardware Corporation requests a refresh of your customer or item (inventory) data. It’s important to point out that manual processing for the current day’s transactions is not suggested since your company may not get full credit for the later processing of any instant savings.

Data transmission is limited to certain times... the following notice from ACE Hardware Corporation explains these limitations:

• Stores must transmit data before 3:00 AM CST. Data cannot be transmitted between 3:00 AM and 5:00 AM CST. Hawaii stores are more likely to send data a day late.

We suggest that companies transmit at 10 PM.

You must choose one of the two (2) radio buttons (either “New POS Data” or “All Data for Specific Dates”).

New POS Data (Since Last Send)

Sends all Point of Sale data (invoice data) since the last send date. This includes any current day data, so it should either be run prior to the start of business or after the close of business for the day.

Extras: POS Data Send Function Options