A guest calls to ask why they paid $38 for two adult tickets when the website says $24 each. You open their order in Altru, see the line items and the total, and still can’t say which discount was applied, or whether one was applied at all. The math tells you something came off. The record doesn’t always tell you what it was.
That’s a common frustration for Altru admins. The discount is stored with the sale, but how clearly it shows on the order you’re looking at depends on where the sale happened, how the discount was applied, and which screen you’re on. Below is how to find it, and how to set things up so the answer is easier to get next time.
Why the discount can be hard to spot
Altru records a discount as part of the transaction, but an order page is built around items, quantities, and payments. Depending on the sale, you may see:
- A reduced line price with no label saying why it’s lower.
- A discount listed separately from the items it applied to.
- Only the net total, which is common when you’re looking at the payment or revenue side of the sale rather than the order itself.
Daily sales, advance sales, group sales, and web form purchases don’t all present orders the same way, and an automatic discount (one Altru applies because the cart qualifies) can look different from one a cashier selected by hand. We’d rather not guess at exact screens here. Open one known discounted order of each type in your own database, ideally a test order in a sandbox, and note where the discount appears on each. Ten minutes of that is more reliable than any general guide, this one included.
Places to look, in order
- The order or sales transaction itself. Start with the item detail. If you see a discount entry or a discount name, you’re done. If the price is just lower than list, keep going.
- The revenue record tied to the order. Revenue shows what was actually paid and how it was applied. It confirms the net amount, but it may not name the discount.
- Your discount setup. Compare the price paid to your active discounts and their rules: date ranges, qualifying items, minimum quantities, and member or group eligibility. When only one discount fits the numbers, that’s usually your answer.
- Reports. Check your sales and revenue reports for any that break out discounts by transaction. What’s available varies with your setup and permissions, so check what’s in your list before deciding you need something custom.
- A query. This is the most dependable option, and it’s covered below.
Build a query you can reuse
When staff ask “what discount did this person get?” more than once a week, stop opening orders one at a time. Build an ad-hoc query on sales orders and look through the available fields for discount-related ones, such as the discount name, discount amount, or the item a discount applied to. Field names and where they sit vary, so browse the sales order source and its related sections instead of searching for one exact label.
A practical layout:
- Order date and order number (or transaction ID)
- Constituent name, if the sale has one
- Item, quantity, and list price
- Discount name and discount amount
- Amount paid
Filter by date range, and save one version that only returns orders with a discount. Your front desk lead can run it before calling a guest back, and finance can use the same query to reconcile discounts each month.
If you can’t find discount fields in the sales order query source, ask Blackbaud support whether they’re available in your version and which source to use. It’s a quick question for them, and it saves you an afternoon of clicking through nodes.
Make future discounts easier to identify
Some of the confusion comes from setup, not from Altru. A few habits help:
- Name discounts so the name explains itself. “Spring Member 20% Adult GA” tells staff more than “SPRING20.”
- Retire old discounts instead of leaving overlapping ones active. Two discounts that could apply to the same cart are a common source of “which one was it?”
- Train cashiers to add a short note when they apply a discount manually, especially for comps or manager overrides.
- Keep promo codes and discounts lined up. If online promo codes connect to discounts, use matching names on both so a code a guest mentions points straight to the discount on file.
Quick answers
Can I add a “discount” column to the order page itself?
We’re not aware of a supported way to change what Altru’s standard order pages show. A saved query is the usual workaround. If it matters to your team, confirm with Blackbaud support.
The total is lower but I can’t find any discount. What else could it be?
Look for a price override at the register, a member price applied because the guest was recognized as a member, or a partial refund afterward. Each one changes what was paid without being a discount.
