Gift Cards

The Gift Cards module manages stored-value cards from issue through redemption, expiry, breakage, and audit. Each financial change creates an immutable transaction so the card balance and its history can always be reconciled.

Gift cards can be used as a payment method in POS. They may be branch-scoped or global, but every card has one currency and a liability owner.

Key Concepts

Item	Meaning
Card code	The unique code entered or scanned to find and use a card. If no code is supplied on creation, the system generates one.
Initial balance	Value loaded when the card is issued. It cannot be changed later.
Current balance	Spendable value remaining on the card. It changes only through ledger transactions.
Scope	Branch when the card belongs to a selected branch; Global when no branch is selected.
Currency	Taken from the selected branch, or the default system currency for a global card. It is not selected manually.
Liability branch	The branch that owns the card’s financial liability. It is fixed once the card has financial activity.
Funding type	Paid for customer-funded value, or Promotional for value granted by the business.

Card Status

Status	Meaning
Inactive	Card exists but is not yet available for normal use.
Active	Card has usable value and can be redeemed, subject to scope and expiry.
Used	The card has no usable balance; it can be recharged when permitted.
Expired	The expiry process has completed. The card cannot be redeemed or recharged.
Disabled	The card is blocked from normal operational use.

An expiry date is optional. The scheduled expiry process closes eligible cards after that date and records the remaining-value outcome in the ledger.

Cards

Open Promotions → Gift Cards to view and manage cards.

List and Filters

The list shows the code, branch, customer, status, initial balance, current balance, expiry date, and creation date. Filter by branch, currency, scope, status, and date range; use search to locate a card by code, UUID, or customer.

From a card row, users can open the details, perform a permitted financial action, edit card details, or delete the card. Cards can be exported when the user has the export permission.

Deletion is intentionally restricted. A card cannot be deleted once it has transactions, a non-zero balance, or an active status.

Create a Gift Card

1. Select Create.
2. Optionally enter a code; otherwise, allow the system to generate one.
3. Select a branch to create a branch card, or leave it empty to create a global card.
4. Enter the initial balance, status, optional customer, optional expiry date, and notes.
5. Select the funding type. For Paid issuance, select the tender method and, where accounting is configured, the appropriate financial account.
6. Save the card.

Field	Required	Notes
Code	No	Must be unique; generated when blank.
Initial balance	Yes	Positive amount in the derived card currency.
Branch	No	Determines branch scope, currency, and liability owner. Blank creates a global card.
Customer	No	Links the card to a customer record.
Status	Yes	Choose the appropriate operational state.
Expiry date	No	Set only when the business policy requires expiry.
Funding type	Yes	Paid or Promotional.
Tender method	Conditional	Required for paid issuance.
Notes	No	Saved with the issue transaction for audit context.

Creating a card records an immutable Purchase transaction for the initial value. After this transaction exists, the branch, scope, and currency are financial identity fields and cannot be changed. Editing a card updates only allowed descriptive and operational fields; it never changes the balance.

Card Details

The detail page shows the card identity, scope, branch and liability branch, customer, status, balances, currency, expiry date, notes, batch, and audit timestamps. It also lists the card’s full transaction history, including before/after balances and links to related orders, payments, or reversals.

Financial Actions

Financial actions are available from the card list when the card state and your permissions allow them. They require an economic date, notes, and an idempotency key supplied by the application to prevent duplicate posting.

Action	Balance effect	Use it for
Recharge	Increases	Adding value to an existing card. Select Paid or Promotional funding; paid recharges also require a tender method.
Cash Out	Decreases	Paying out remaining card value where policy permits. A tender method is required.
Issue Void	Decreases	Voiding the original issue. It must reference the card’s original Purchase transaction and cannot be used twice for the same issue.
Adjustment	Increases	A controlled manual increase. Requires the dedicated manual-adjust permission.
Adjustment Decrease	Decreases	A controlled manual decrease. Requires the dedicated manual-adjust permission.

The system prevents a debit that would take the balance below zero. Expired cards cannot receive ordinary financial actions. Disabled cards permit only the limited administrative actions needed to correct, expire, or reverse their records.

POS Redemption and Refunds

Redeem a Card

In the POS payment flow, choose Gift Card, then enter or scan the card code. The system validates the card’s state, scope, currency conversion, and available balance before recording a Redeem transaction. The payment and order are linked to the transaction for traceability.

Refund to a Card

When an order is refunded to a gift card, the system records a Refund transaction and restores card balance. Refund and redemption transactions belong to the payment workflow; correct them through the related order/payment process rather than from the generic transaction screen.

Transactions and Reversals

The Gift Card Transactions page is the financial ledger. It lists the type, amount, balance before/after, card, order, payment, branch, currency, economic date, creator, and reversal links. Filter by branch, card currency, order currency, type, and date range; export is available with permission.

Transaction types include Purchase, Redeem, Refund, Recharge, Adjustment, Adjustment Decrease, Cash Out, Issue Void, Expire, Breakage, and Reversal.

Transactions are immutable. An eligible manually managed transaction can be reversed by an authorized user, with a reason and economic date. The system writes a linked Reversal record instead of modifying the original. Purchase, payment-owned (Redeem/Refund), expiry, breakage, and reversal records have dedicated workflows and cannot be reversed from the generic transaction action.

Bulk Card Batches

Use Gift Card Batches to create multiple cards for campaigns, corporate programs, or events.

1. Create a batch name (translations are supported), optional code prefix, branch, quantity, and value per card.
2. Save the batch. The system generates the requested cards automatically.
3. Review the batch to monitor generated cards, used cards, and remaining cards.

The quantity must be between 1 and 10,000. Cards generated from a branch batch inherit that branch’s scope and currency; a batch with no branch creates global cards using the default currency. Batches can be deleted only while their state permits it; generated cards and financial activity remain protected by their audit records.

Breakage Batches

Breakage records the recognized value of eligible expired cards as a controlled batch, rather than allowing ad hoc changes to expired balances.

The workflow is:

Draft → Reviewed → Posted → Reversed

1. Create a Draft for a branch, select eligible cards, enter the economic date and required review note.
2. A user with Review permission checks and freezes the batch.
3. A user with Post permission posts it. The system records Breakage transactions for the frozen card values.
4. If required, an authorized user can reverse a Posted batch with a reason, creating the appropriate linked reversals.

Use the batch detail page to review selected cards, frozen amounts, expiry dates, status history, review/post users, notes, currency information, and audit data.

Analytics and Reports

The Gift Card Analytics dashboard summarizes card health, outstanding balances, card activity, expiry watchlists, transactions, and batch activity. Use its branch and date filters to investigate trends and liability exposure.

Gift-card reports are also available through the Reports area, subject to permissions. They cover sales, redemption, outstanding balances, liability, expiry, transactions, branch performance, and batches.

Controls and Best Practices

• Use branch cards when usage must remain at one branch; use global cards when the card should be visible across branches.
• Give Manual Adjust, Reverse, Review, Post, and Breakage Reverse permissions only to trusted financial roles.
• Always record a clear note and correct economic date for any financial action.
• Use Issue Void only to void the original issuance; do not substitute it for a cash-out or manual adjustment.
• Review expiring cards, outstanding balances, and breakage batches on a regular finance cadence.
• Never try to correct a posted balance by editing the card. Use the relevant financial action or reversal so the ledger remains complete.