Boxoffice-September.1989

COMPUTERS IN EXHIBITION
Di/An Controls,
individual theatres to a home office.
Most circuits, however, prefer to retain
Inc.
considerable local control.
The Concession /Master is controlled
The Movie/Master and Concession/ by the central computer in the manager's
Master systems have both been upgraded
office. From there the manager
by Di/An Controls of Boston determines the function of each key on
since their last appearance in these the small concession terminals. The
concession staff punches a terminal
pages. The Movie /Master still issues
tickets at a rate of one a second. Two button indicating a particular item. The
cashiers are unnecessary unless the computer then rings up the correct
boxoffice area becomes congested. Because
price. Recent upgrades include an adap-
the relevant information is tation for commissary-style vending, a
printed on identical ticket stock, rather
than different color-coded tickets for
each movie and price, all tickets can be
sold from one window, regardless of
how many movies are playing. Several
upgrades have been integrated into the
Movie /Master since its last incarnation,
such as an improved ticket-inking system,
more user-friendly software, and a
redesign of the terminal keypads.
novelty sales package, and capacity for
perpetual inventories. Like the Movie/
Master, the Concession/Master can also
be monitored from a home office computer.
Expansion can be accommodated by
simply adding boxoffice and concession
terminals, up to a point. But because the
communication is performed over telephone
lines, it takes time for the home
office computer to dial up the local
theatre computers and take in their
data. Even with automatic dialing systems
that work through the night, circuits
with more than 200 theatres can
find the information transfer impossible.
At that point, the home office must
communicate over parallel dialing systems.
Contact Di/An Controls at 16 Jonathan
Dr., Brockton, MA 02401; 508-559-
8000; FAX: 508-559-8658.
monthly printouts necessaiA' for the
posting of all journals and/or ledgers.
The report can be printed for analysis
purposes at any time during the
month.
The theatre operations program can
meet the needs of a single-screen complex
or a circuit of any size, according to
M.I.S. Associates president Jerome
Ginsberg. It can make use of Service
Bureaus (a co-op computer), a minicomputer,
or a mainframe 'The programs
have been written for Datapoint
equipment but can readily be rewritten
for any hardware configuration.
"I don't believe in having a computer
in the theatre," says Ginsberg, "because
it makes it too easy for people to get at
it. There's tremendous cash flow in the
theatre business. My system can operate
from a main office far from those
who could meddle."
Ginsberg's software system and
equipment, four years in development,
are designed to monitor sales and inventory
at both the boxoffice and the concession
stand. The system's tamper-free
hardware components are compatible
with existing ticket dispensers and cash
registers, though neither is necessary to
the system's operation.
Contact Management Information
Services at 18040 Sherman Way #320,
Reseda, CA 91335-4631; 818-342-8259;
FAX: 818-342-7362.
Although each of the boxoffice terminals
in the Di/An system has its own
internal memon', it is actually controlled
from the manager's office. From
there the manager can program the
boxoffice computer up to a year in
advance, with such data as future movies,
future schedules and future prices.
Depending on which system the manager
has, he can call up a screen that
updates itself every time he consults it,
or every 10 seconds, automatically.
.Such a closely monitored system augments
security.
In larger situations, the manager can
also be monitored by an extension that's
installed in a circuit's home office. Before
the manager opens the boxoffice,
he can make changes and corrections in
his boxoffice. But once he starts selling,
he can't make changes until he goes
through a procedure authorizing them.
1 1