The garden plant sale moves to the lawn. The zoo opens a second gate for a holiday lights event. Someone at the aquarium wants to sell memberships in the line that wraps around the building. Each time, the same question comes up: can we just hand a staff member an iPad and have them sell in Altru?
The short answer is “not the way most people picture it.” The longer answer is that there are several workable setups, and the right one depends on what you’re selling, where, and how you take payment.
Why an iPad isn’t a drop-in Altru register
Altru’s staff-side sales screens (daily sales, membership sales, donations taken at the desk) were designed around a staffed workstation: a full-size screen, a keyboard, and whatever payment hardware Blackbaud supports for your account. Because Altru is reached through a browser, it’s tempting to assume any tablet browser will do. In practice, three things get in the way:
- Screen and layout. The sales pages are dense. On a tablet they can be usable, but they were not designed for touch and small screens, and staff will be pinching and scrolling while a guest waits.
- Payment hardware. In-person card processing in Altru depends on the devices and connection methods your payment setup supports. A reader that pairs happily with an iPad for some other app won’t necessarily work with Altru at all.
- Browser support. Supported browsers and operating systems change over time. Don’t assume mobile Safari or Chrome on Android is supported for staff-side sales.
Before you buy hardware, ask Blackbaud support directly which browsers, operating systems, and card devices are supported for in-person sales today, and test the exact device in a non-production environment if you have one. That one conversation will save you from a drawer full of tablets that only half work.
Setups that do work
1. A Windows tablet or small laptop as a “portable workstation”
If your goal is really “a register that isn’t bolted to the counter,” a Windows tablet or a light laptop on a cart can behave much like your other Altru workstations, provided it meets the same browser and card-device requirements. Confirm that with Blackbaud before you buy. If it does, this is the least surprising option because the staff workflow doesn’t change. The trade-offs are weight, battery life, and the fact that it’s still the full desk interface.
2. Remote access to an existing workstation
Some organizations put a tablet in front of a desk computer using a remote desktop app. It can work for lookups and quick sales, but card-present payment usually breaks down here, since the reader has to be attached to the machine doing the processing. Treat this as a stopgap for lookups, not a payment station.
3. A web checkout running on the tablet
Instead of putting Altru’s staff screens on the tablet, put a guest-style checkout on it: a web page for tickets, memberships, or donations that writes the sale back to Altru. Staff (or the guest) tap through a simple flow, and the transaction is recorded in Altru. This fits outdoor events, line-busting, and pop-up membership tables well, because the interface was built for phones and tablets in the first place.
The catch is that these sales won’t look like desk sales from a cash drawer. Run a few test transactions and see exactly how they appear in your reports and batches, then agree with finance on how they’ll be reconciled before the first event.
Decisions to make before the first event
- What exactly will the mobile station sell? Timed tickets, general admission, memberships, and donations each have different rules in Altru. A station that only sells one or two items is far easier to get right.
- How will guests pay? Card only is simplest. If you take cash at a remote table, define who holds the drawer, how it’s counted, and how it gets entered.
- Is the Wi-Fi good where you’re standing? Test at the actual spot, at the actual time of day, with a crowd’s worth of phones nearby. Know what staff do if the connection drops; most browser-based sales need a live connection.
- How does it reconcile? Pick the batch or revenue view finance will use to tie out mobile sales each day, and run a test sale through to that report before go-live.
- Who owns the devices? Charging, locking down the home screen, logging out at end of shift, and keeping a spare. These details decide whether the station gets used a second time.
A note on capacity and timed tickets
If the tablet sells timed admission, it has to pull live availability from Altru, or you will oversell a slot that the front desk and website are also selling. Whatever setup you choose, confirm that a ticket sold on the tablet immediately reduces capacity everywhere else. Test it with two devices side by side.
Where Social Good fits
Option 3 is the one we build for. Checkouts is a branded, mobile-friendly checkout for tickets, memberships, and donations that supports Apple Pay and Google Pay and writes the data back to Altru, Because it’s a web page built for phones and tablets, it can be opened on a tablet at a gate or event table. Your records, reporting, and reconciliation stay in Altru.
Quick answers
Is there an official Altru app for iPad sales?
We’re not aware of a native iPad point-of-sale app for Altru. Check with Blackbaud for the current answer, since product offerings change.
Can a tablet station sell memberships?
Yes, if you use a web checkout that supports memberships. Confirm how renewals versus new joins are handled before you send staff out with it.
