Updated: July 22, 2026 11:20am

Prism Administration Console Guide
Node Preferences > Transactions > Promotions

To create and use promotions, you must enable the feature in Node Preferences > Transactions > Promotions and define any options that are desired.  Refer to the following table for information about the available settings.

Preference Description
Enable Promotions (Required) The Enable Promotions checkbox must be enabled to use Promotions.
Automatically Apply Promotions If selected, Promotions are applied automatically at POS.
Manually Apply Promotions If selected, promotions are applied manually. Promotions can be applied manually in two ways: 1) The user can click Options > Apply Promotions or, 2) the user can click the Tender Transaction button and depending on the "Tender Action" preference either be prompted to apply promotions or the promos will be applied automatically upon clicking the button. (See the following description of the Tender Action preference)
Tender Action

Only available if "Manually Apply Promotions" is selected. When the "Manually Apply Promotions" preference is selected, the Tender Action preference determines what happens when the user clicks the Tender Transaction button.
None: The user is not prompted to apply promos upon clicking Tender Transaction. To apply promotions manually, the user must click Options > Apply Promotions on the main transaction form.
Prompt: The user is prompted to apply promos and can either choose Yes or No.
Apply: The user is not prompted to apply promos. Promotions are applied automatically.

Apply Promotions to Manually Discounted Items

This preference enables merchants to include/exclude manually discounted items when applying a promotion reward at the item level. 
To apply promotions to manually discounted items, both this preference and the "Apply to Manually Discounted Items" setting on the individual promotion (Activation Details) must be enabled. If the preference or the promotion setting is disabled, manually discounted items will be excluded from item-level promotion rewards.
Notes

  • The restriction only applies when the promotion's reward is applied at the item level.
  • For transaction-level rewards, the setting has no effect, since the discount isn't being applied to specific items.
  • A subsequent "spread" of a transaction-level discount to items is not treated as a new discount application, so it is not subject to this restriction either.

Example Use Case
A merchant has issued a coupon that entitles a customer to 50 percent off any item in inventory. Using the preference, the merchant can still include the item in BOGO promotions (for customers who do not have the coupon). If a customer does have the coupon, the merchant applies a manual discount to the item.

Use predefined discount reasons This preference allows retailers to restrict discount reasons used on promotions to the defined list of reasons. With the preference enabled, the Discount Reason field displays existing POS Discount reasons in a drop-down. The available discount reasons are the same as those used for manual discount reason selection.
Apply Promotions based on

Select which price is used as the basis (starting point) when applying promotions. This setting only affects percentage-based promotions. Amount- and price-based promotions are not affected.

  • Original Price: The discount is calculated from the original price (the price before any discount is applied). By default, the original price comes from the price level set in Admin Console > Node Preferences > Transactions > General: Bring Original Price from Price Level.
  • Current Price: The discount is calculated from the current document price, which may already include other discounts.
  • Active Price: The discount is calculated from the price level currently active on the transaction. Use this option when the Node Preference above points to a different price level than the one currently active — selecting Active Price ensures percentage-based promotions use the active price level's price as the basis, regardless of that preference setting.
     
Receipt item field to use for storing manual discounts When a promotion is applied, the name of the promotion is written to one of the Item Note fields (Item Note 1 through Item Note 10). This makes it easier to do reporting on the success or failure of individual promotions. In the Prism Admin Console Node Preferences > Transactions > Promotions, navigate to the Receipt Item field to use for storing manual disc setting. Select the desired Item Note field from the drop-down list. When one or more promotions are applied to an item, the plugin populates this field with a comma-separated list of all Promotion Names of promotions that are applied to the item.
Do not allow duplicate promotion names

When enabled, the system enforces unique promotion names. If you try to add or edit a promotion and the name already exists, an error message is displayed.
Important! The name check is performed within the current subsidiary only and is not case-sensitive. Promotion names "ABC", "abc", and " abc " are considered duplicates. Both active and inactive promotions are checked.
When copying a promotion, Prism first tries to name the copy the same as the original with " (Copy)" appended. If that name already exists, Prism appends " (#nnn)" to the original name instead, where "nnn" ranges from 001 to 999. This ensures that copying the same promotion multiple times always produces unique names. If there's a gap in the numbering, the first available number is used. For example, if promotions named "abc," "abc (Copy)," "abc (#001)," and "abc (#003)" already exist, the next copy will be named "abc (#002)" to fill the gap.
When viewing details or editing a promotion whose name is not unique, a "Promotion name is not unique" message appears in the right-side section of the promotion editor, below the promotion name.
Note: Duplicate promotion names typically occur when they already existed prior to updating Prism or enabling this preference.
Default = Disabled

Prompt for Coupon Code Change (2.5.5)
This preference controls how coupon rewards are assigned on promotions:
Disabled (default): The next coupon in the list is auto-assigned.
Enabled: At Print/Update, a dialog appears prompting the Associate to scan or enter a replacement coupon code. The code is validated against the coupon list; if invalid, the sale is not updated and the Associate is notified. Attempting to print/update again gives another chance to enter a valid code.  
This preference is especially useful when physical coupons are kept at each POS workstation and handed out by the Associate.

Node Preferences - Transactions - Promotions

Promotions Preferences

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