A self-serve entry lane sounds simple: a guest holds up a phone, a light turns green, and they walk in. Getting there with Altru is less about buying a scanner and more about deciding what the scanner is allowed to decide on its own. This guide covers what a self-scan lane needs, where Altru’s own tools fit, and the questions to answer before you put a device on a stand and walk away from it.
Start with what “self-serve” means for your entrance
There are really three setups that get called kiosks, and they need different things:
- Assisted scanning. A staff member or volunteer holds the device and scans each guest. This is the easiest to run and the one most Altru organizations already have in some form.
- Self-scan with a host nearby. A mounted device faces the guest. They scan their own ticket or membership card, and one person watches two or three lanes and steps in when something fails.
- Unattended entry. The scan alone opens a turnstile or gate. This needs hardware integration, a fallback for every failure, and usually a conversation with your facilities and safety staff.
For most museums, gardens and zoos, the middle option is the realistic target. It moves the line faster without leaving guests stuck at a red light with nobody to ask.
What Altru handles and what you should confirm
Altru issues tickets with barcodes for daily sales, advance sales and online orders, and membership cards can carry a barcode tied to the constituent’s membership. Altru has some ticket validation of its own, but we would not assume any of it was designed to run as an unattended kiosk, and the details vary by setup. Before you plan around a specific behavior, test it in your sandbox or ask Blackbaud support directly, especially these:
- Which barcodes are scannable. Print-at-home tickets, emailed eTickets, receipts from the front desk and membership cards may not all produce the same barcode format. Collect a sample of each and scan them.
- How a ticket is marked as used. You want a scan to record the redemption in Altru so attendance reports are accurate and the same ticket can’t be reused at the next lane.
- How timed entry is enforced. If you sell time slots, decide how early and how late a ticket should be accepted, and confirm the scanning tool can apply that window rather than just checking the date.
- How memberships are validated. A member card should be checked against the current membership status, not just whether the barcode exists. Lapsed members are where self-scan lanes get awkward fast.
Hardware that holds up
The guest-facing device decides whether the lane actually moves. A few practical points:
- Use a scanner or camera that reads phone screens reliably. Most guests will present a ticket on a phone with the brightness turned down. Test with older phones, cracked screens and screenshots.
- Mount the device at a height and angle that works for wheelchair users and kids. If a guest has to lift a phone over their head to scan, the lane will need a staff member anyway.
- Give clear feedback. A big green or red result and a distinct sound are worth more than any instruction sign. The failure message should tell the guest what to do next, such as “See the host at the desk.”
- Plan for power and network. Outdoor entrances at zoos and gardens often have weak Wi-Fi. Find out what happens to a scan if the connection drops, and whether it can be recorded later or is simply rejected.
- Lock the device down. Use the operating system’s single-app or guided-access mode so a guest can’t close the scanning app or open a browser.
Design the failure path first
A self-scan lane is only as good as what happens when a scan fails. Write down the answer for each of these before launch:
- Ticket is for a different day or time slot.
- Ticket has already been scanned (a shared screenshot, or a guest who stepped out and came back).
- Membership has expired, or the card belongs to someone not in the household.
- Group or school tickets where one person holds the barcode for thirty people.
- Comp passes and reciprocal members who have no Altru barcode at all.
Each of these should route to a person, not to a second scan attempt. Groups and reciprocal visitors usually belong in a staffed lane from the start.
Roll it out in stages
Run the self-scan device next to your existing staffed lane for a few weeks before relying on it. Have the host track every rejection and why. That list tells you whether the problem is barcode format, timing rules, member data quality or signage. Duplicate constituent records, for example, are a common reason a valid member gets a red light, and that’s a data cleanup job rather than a scanner problem.
Once rejections are rare and understood, add lanes. Keep at least one staffed lane open at all times for groups, accessibility needs and anything the device can’t resolve.
Where Social Good fits
Our Ticket Scanner scans Altru tickets and membership barcodes at the door on mobile devices, with Altru holding the ticket and membership records. If you’re planning a self-scan setup, we can talk through which parts of your entrance it suits and which still need a person.
Quick answers
Do we need turnstiles for self-serve entry?
No. Most organizations start with a mounted scanner and a host watching several lanes. Turnstiles add cost and integration work and are worth considering only after the scan process itself is reliable.
Can members and ticket holders use the same lane?
Usually, if both barcode types scan cleanly on the same device. Test membership cards and tickets side by side before you mix them.
