What are sessions?

Sessions are a way to track coat check information from shifts or events. Sessions allow you to see revenue, transaction volume, and other details about checked items during a shift.

Using sessions also ensures that all items are accounted for at the end of each shift and keeps unnecessary tagging or item mistakes from affecting the next shift.

Opening a session

The first time you scan a tag or start a check-in at the beginning of a shift or event, you will see an alert saying the device is closed.

Tap Open to open the device.

Note: You must have internet access to open (or close) a device.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when working with sessions:

• If there is no active session, opening a device will start a new session.
• It is possible to use Chexology devices offline as long as you connect to a working internet connection when opening and closing the device.
  • It is important to understand that if a device goes offline while tagging items, the longer it is offline, the longer it will take to synchronize when you bring it back online.

To open a device manually, go to Chexology Settings→ Sessions and tap Open Device.

Closing a session

Overview

Closing a session allows Chexology to finalize all transactions across all devices at your location. It then generates a Session Report in the admin dashboard showing important details like the number of transactions, and if there are any outstanding items.

To close a session, you must:

1. Close all open devices and reconcile all items.
2. Each device must be connected to the internet in order for it to be closed. This ensures anything that might have been checked while offline has been synced and will be properly logged.

Closing a device

1. To close a device, go to Chexology Settings→ Sessions and tap Close Device.
    
2. Wait for the device to close.
    
3. Once the device is closed, you can lock it or turn it off.

Security Reminder: People love playing with iPads. It is important to close and shut off kiosks when staff are not around to prevent unauthorized inventory manipulation or customers' personal items getting checked out.

Reconciling all items

You cannot close a session if there are any items still open. The Reconcile button on the search screen shows you the total number of items or tags that are currently open.

Every item that is still in the system at the end of a shift needs to be reconciled before the session can be closed.

Reconciling an item means that it will be marked as Closed, Outstanding, or Disputed which mean the following:

• Closed - The item was returned to the guest. 
• ​Outstanding - The item was left behind by the guest. Marking the item as outstanding will send the guest an alert text message, with information on how to retrieve their items. 
• Disputed – An item was returned, but the owner of the item did not receive it.

To reconcile items:

1. Tap the Reconcile button.
    
    
2. Select the item(s).
   
   Pro Tip: You can tap Select All on the top left.
    
    
3. Tap Outstanding for items that were left behind or Close for items that were returned to guests.
   
    
4. Confirm your choice by tapping OK.
   

Returning outstanding items

If a guest is comes back to pick up an outstanding item, it needs to be returned in the Chexology app.

1. Search for the item by tag number or last four digits of the guest’s phone number.
    
    
2. Tap the item row to open the Customer Details screen.
    
    
3. Select the guest’s item.
    
    
4. Tap Return on the bottom right corner of the screen.
    

Closing all devices at once

In Chexology Settings→ Sessions→ DEVICES IN VENUE SESSION, you can see which devices are Open or Closed at your venue.
 

After you have reconciled all open items, if your location has multiple Chexology devices, you can use one device to close all the others if the following conditions are true:

• All Open devices must be turned on.
• All the devices must be connected to the internet.
• All the devices must have the Chexology app open.

When all of the above are true:

1. Tap Close Venue Session.
    
    
2. Your device will make a Device Closure alert appear on all the other devices.
   
    
3. If all devices are running the app, stay connected to the internet, and no one clicks "Cancel," the session will close.

Note: If someone on your team was line busting with an iPhone or iPad, but then switched it off, that device will not receive instructions to close itself out and will block the session from closing. To fix this, turn that device on and open Chexology on it so it can receive the device closure request or simply close the device manually.

If you receive a device closure request

1. If someone on another device is trying to close out a session, you will see the Device Closure Request message mentioned above. You have two options:
   
   
   1. Tap Cancel to continue checking items. This will keep your device and the whole session open.
   2. Ignore the alert and allow the device to close so the session can close.

Session Report in the dashboard

After a session is closed, the finalized information from that shift can be seen in the Session Report in the Admin Dashboard. These session reports (or shift reports) show details like the number of items checked and total revenue for the shift.

That’s it! You now know how to open and close a session.