A fixed admissions desk with a wired barcode reader works fine until the line backs up past the gift shop, or a second entrance opens for a special event, or the timed-entry slot at 10:00 fills at once. That’s usually when someone asks whether staff could just scan tickets on a phone or tablet and walk the line.
This page is for organizations running Blackbaud Altru that want mobile scanning at the gate without replacing Altru. It covers what to decide before you buy anything, what to test, and where the hard edges are.
Start with what you actually need to scan
“Ticket scanning” means different things depending on how guests arrive. List every kind of barcode or credential that shows up at your entrance:
- Advance and online tickets printed at home or shown on a phone screen.
- Timed-entry tickets, where staff also need to know whether the guest is early, late, or in the right slot.
- Membership cards, physical or digital, where the question is “is this member current?” rather than “is this ticket valid?”
- Group sales arrivals, which may come in as one order covering many people.
- Event tickets for after-hours programs that run on a different entrance or schedule.
A scanner that handles tickets well but sends every member to a separate line hasn’t solved much. If members are a big share of your daily attendance, make membership lookup part of the requirement from the start.
Questions to settle before choosing a tool
Where does the scan get checked?
The scan is only as useful as the data behind it. Ask whether the tool checks barcodes against your Altru data, how current that data is, and what happens to a ticket sold online five minutes ago. Ask the vendor directly rather than assuming; “works with Altru” can mean anything from a live connection to a nightly file.
What happens to a duplicate scan?
Screenshots get shared. Decide what staff should see when the same ticket is scanned twice, and test it. A clear “already scanned” message with the time of the first scan saves an argument at the gate.
How good is your Wi-Fi at the entrance?
Outdoor gates, parking-lot entrances, and stone buildings are notorious dead zones. Walk the entrance with a phone and check signal before you plan around mobile scanning. If coverage is weak, fix the network or add an access point first. If you need scanning to work with no connection at all, ask any vendor specifically how that’s handled and don’t assume it.
Which devices will staff use?
Phone cameras are fine for most printed and on-screen barcodes, and staff already know how to hold a phone. For very high volume, some sites prefer devices with a dedicated scan trigger. Whatever you pick, plan for charging, cases, lanyards, and a spare. A dead battery at opening is a more common failure than any software bug.
How does attendance get back into Altru?
If your board reports, grant reports, or member-visit tracking depend on scan data, confirm where scans are recorded and how you’ll report on them. Don’t settle for a vague answer here; ask to see it.
Before you switch: what Altru may already do
Altru has its own ways of handling ticket redemption and membership lookup at the point of sale, and some organizations get by with a barcode reader attached to a sales workstation. What it supports natively, and on which hardware, depends on your setup. If you’re not sure, confirm with Blackbaud support or test in a sandbox before deciding you need something extra. A mobile scanner is most useful when your bottleneck is the line itself, not the lookup.
A simple rollout plan
- Pilot one entrance on a normal day. Run mobile scanning alongside your existing process for a few hours, not on your biggest event.
- Test the awkward cases on purpose. A ticket for tomorrow, a lapsed member, a reused screenshot, a crumpled printout, a phone at full dim.
- Write a one-page cheat sheet. What each result on screen means and what staff should say to the guest. Seasonal and volunteer staff will rely on it.
- Decide the fallback. If a device fails, staff need to know whether to look the guest up at the desk or admit and note it. Pick one before opening day.
- Compare counts after the first week. Check scan totals against sales for the same days. Big gaps usually point to a process issue (people waved through) rather than the software.
Video walkthrough
This short video shows mobile ticket scanning in action. Watch it with your entrance in mind, and note anything you’d want to test during your pilot.
Where Social Good fits
Our Ticket Scanner lets staff scan Altru tickets and membership barcodes at the door on mobile devices, so one person with a phone can work the line or cover a second entrance. Altru stays where your sales and membership data live. Run it through the same pilot and edge-case tests above before you rely on it on a full day.
Quick answers
Do we need special hardware?
Not necessarily. Many sites start with phones or tablets they already own. Test with your actual tickets and lighting before buying dedicated devices.
Can one device scan both tickets and memberships?
That’s worth requiring. Splitting tickets and members across two tools or two lines tends to slow the entrance down rather than speed it up.
