Accounts that have the same email address will be grouped together under one user. If you go through the “Add customer” form and use an email that is already in use, it will add that account under that existing user.  

New accounts:

• If you wish for the customer to have separate accounts (and therefore separate invoices), under the same email login, then you may use the “Add Customer” form to create an additional account under that user’s email.
• If you wish for the customer to pay for multiple parkers under one invoice add an additional parker on file to one of their existing accounts.  
• If you wish for a new customer to have their own account login and invoices, use the “Add Customer” form with a unique email address.  

Existing accounts:

• You want to move an account to a user that already exists: Type in the email that you want to move the account to. You will see the message “Email address already in use. Are you sure you want to move this account under this user?” Click yes.   
• You want to change all accounts using a certain email to a new email: Type in the user’s email address under parking info, the email address will update across all accounts using that email.   
• You want to move an account out of the current user/email’s control and onto a new user/email: Click the yellow “Move account to new user” button. The account will be moved under a fresh user with a fake email address. You can change the email address now. 
• Parker wants to move their account to another user that exists: They will receive an error message that says “User email address already in use” and will require an operator to change the email on their account.    

Thank you for this suggestion. Show them you understand why this is useful (ex “A report like this would help operators identify which cards need to be reattempted”). We’ll record your vote on this feature so it may be developed in the future if it collects enough requests from other operators. In the meantime, (offer a workaround if one exists).

Starting FlashPARCS ver. we have the ability to do so. Please see Pre-Paid Prices at the Logical Zone level 

Currently, if a user has access to the application then they will have access to all Logical Zones.

With Automatic Billing Monthly Accounts are billed once a month at a specified rate with that said, you can attach a higher rate to a monthly account that has access to multiple facilities however, this would still show under one monthly invoice.

Validators’ access is restricted based on the validation prices that they have access to. Within the Validation User Account, we select which validation prices are linked. Additionally, we can say which Ticket Types Allow which validation price.

To pause an account’s invoicing, please open the account’s billing tab and select “Edit/Setup Recurring Invoice”. On the drop-down that says “when should the first invoice send” select “Pause Recurring Invoice”. This will stop the account’s monthly invoices from being generated and sent. 

Closing the books is an accounting practice that prevents system changes in closed accounting periods. For instance, you may have a month in Flash A/R that has already been recorded as accounting entries into a General Ledger system like Quickbooks. You would close the books to make sure you don’t change any transactions in that period that would cause your Quickbooks entries to become inaccurate.

Click here to learn more. 

When an account is transferred from an outside system into Flash AR, the account’s current balance needs to be recreated in Flash AR. There are two approaches that depend on the operator’s accounting team’s needs.

Click here to learn more. 

An operator may want to schedule rate code or charge type changes to take place on a certain date so they don’t forget to change it or so on the rate code change date, there aren’t to many rates to try to change all at once.

Here’s how to schedule a rate change:

1. Go to the settings screen for a selected location.
2. Click on the tab that says “Scheduled Rate Change”.
3. Click the “Add Scheduled Rate Change” button.
4. Select the rate code or charge type you want to schedule a change on. Then select the new base amount and the date for the change to take place. Please note that you can only change base amounts and not tax amounts.
5. On the day of your scheduled change, the rates will update for existing and future parkers and the new rate price will display on the garage application page if it’s a public facing rate.

A couple of things to note:

• Rate changes will take place before invoices send. If your invoicing date is the 10th and you schedule a rate change for the 10th, the rate will update before invoices send so that your new invoices will have the new rate.
• Only charge types and rate codes can have scheduled rate changes, not fees.

You are able to configure FLASH AR to send automatic invoices for accounts that are late.

It will send an invoice with a one line item, flat/fixed late fee amount on the day of the month you’ve chosen for that location to generate late fees to accounts with past due balances.

Click here to learn more. 

To correct a recurring invoice, open the account from the “Accounts” tab. Then, click on their “Billing” tab then select “Edit/Setup Recurring Invoice.” You may modify any line items you wish on this screen. If you wish to correct an invoice that has already been sent, please void the invoice and resend by selecting “Send One Time Invoice”.

Like many accounting systems, Flash AR (ParkIt) does not allow you to modify an invoice once it’s been sent to help enforce accounting best practices. This is because your customers may be recording these invoice amounts and numbers and if you modify an existing invoice, it will cause confusion for your customer when they go to audit. Therefore, if you wish to change what someone was billed, you have two options:

1. Void the invoice and resend => To void an invoice, go to the account’s billing tab and scroll down to the bottom of the invoice history table. You may select the blue button that says “Change Status” which will open a pop-up screen. Then select “Void“ as the option and click the green “update” button. The parker will automatically receive a notification that their invoice has been voided.
2. Apply a credit to reduce the amount owed on the invoice => To apply a credit, go to the account’s billing tab and select the “Record Transaction” button. Fill out the “Amount” box with the total amount of the credit. You may apply the payment to the invoice by entering how much of the payment you wish to apply to the invoice under “Outstanding Invoices” by entering the amount into the “Payment” box.

Invoice voids cannot be undone, however, you can recreate the invoice by sending a “One Time Invoice” on that account. If you don’t want the customer to receive an email notification you can select the “Create but don’t send” option on the invoice send button.

To stop the system from generating invoices automatically for the entire site/location, go to the Billing and Invoicing section of the admin portal. Set the “Disable Recurring Invoice Sending” option to “Sending Disabled” and save. To resume, set it to “Sending Enabled”.

If a site reports that accounts aren’t being invoiced automatically by the system, be sure to check this setting and ensure it is set to “Sending Enabled”.

If you wish to send an account an additional invoice (outside of their automatic recurring billing), then you may send a “One time invoice.” You would send a one-time invoice for situations such as them adding a parker mid-month, billing them late fees, or billing for validations.

To send a “One Time Invoice” go to the account’s billing tab and select click “the blue Send One Time Invoice” button.

The rate code column is blank which would cause the system to upload people without any billing amounts. To have people enter the system with billing amounts, please add any necessary rate codes to your “Rate Codes” tab and then enter the row number into the “Rate Code Row #” column.

Anyone who is paying for multiple spaces should be recorded as a group account by entering the group account info to their “Groups” tab and then recording their group row number on the associated parkers under the “Group Row #” column.

If a rate code is deleted, all invoices using that rate code will be set to “unassigned charge” in reports. A newly assigned rate code should be applied to any accounts using the deleted rate code.

To create a rate code/charge type, visit settings, then select the yellow edit button of the location you want to manage. You will see a list of all of your rate codes enabled at this location. To add a rate code, click the green “Add Rate Code” button. To edit a rate code, click the yellow edit button on the rate code you wish to manage. You have the option to set “Visibility to public” which determines how/if your parkers see this rate code on the “request parking” view of your portal. Here’s an explanation of the settings:

• Public => This option will display the rate code to the public on your portal on your request parking page for this location.
• Hide => This will hide this rate code from the request parking page but will allow admins to see it as a selectable rate code on your backend.
• Show rate option, but put call for pricing as price => No rate code price will be shown, but parkers can still click to request the rate.
• Waitlist => Redirects parkers to the waitlist rather than allowing them to submit applications.

Rate Codes are the monthly fees for parking for example Reserved Parking vs Unreserved Parking. Charge types are the extra fees on top of parking an operator may adde for example, access pass deposits or hang tag fees. Both Rate Codes and Charge Type will show in reports as “Products Sold”.

Yes, even if an invoice is $0 it will still send to the account. It will look just like a regular invoice except for the total amount due is $0. It’s best not to add a Rate Code to a parker if they should not be invoiced.

A monthly account will be greyed out if the Monthly Mode is set to External, meaning a Monthly API is integrated with the FLASH system. The monthly account information is being sent from an external source and accounts should be managed in the third party system . 

Monthly accounts can’t use the same phone number for a credential. Our system does not allow duplicate access credentails under the same location. You can use the same phone number (or any access credential) for two completely seperate FLASH locations. 

Validations can’t but coupons can! 

No, you’re only charged the value amount of your stay if under the Cap Limit amount. If the amount owed surpasses the Cap Limit amount you’ll only be charged up to the Cap Limit amount.

If members will have a credit card on file (either the Auto Reload or Charge Everytime Setting) the location must be setup with a merchant account to process the credit card transactions. 

All of them. Prox card, BLE, Barcode, AVI, LPR, PIN, IVR. All the same credentials as a monthly account. This will require the Flash PARCS version to be on 3.15.0 or higher. 

1. If the ticket is a HOT Car one and the system can’t post, we require the ticket to be linked to the reservation. 
2. The Name and Room Number don’t match, so payment cannot process.
3. The guest has more than one room, and the Folio is charging parking on a different room than selected for the Overnight Guest.
4. The guest switched rooms after check-in and it was not fixed/switched before processing payments.
5. If the guest made the reservation using Expedia, ect and the Reservation Code has not been changed to a hotel type code, it could convert the ticket to a HOT CAR or not process the payment. 
6. The Departure Date changed for the Hotel, but has not updated in FlashValet.
7. There is a NO POST on the room.
8. CC is to be charged at end of the stay only.
9. Guest is a Rewards Member so parking is free

For multi-night stays, only one night is charged at a time. The only time you would have multi-night charges would be if the system did not charge for a previous night and now the folio is being charged for the accumulation of charges. 

Yes, the system will skip the ticket marked as Paid to prevent double-charging guest folios. 

1. Tapping “Pay All” again will check any existing charges and will skip them. 
2. After a charged is processed, the ticket will turn green and be parked as Paid.

When Flash AR (ParkIt) processes a transaction on your gateway, if the gateway tells us it was a successful transaction, Flash AR (ParkIt) will record a successful payment.

Click here to learn more. 

If a parker has selected a non-card payment method type, they need to log in and change their billing method to automatic card payments or manual card payments. If you are charging any kind of payment processing fee, you will receive an alert email if a parker changes their payment method which will indicate to you that you need to add a fee as a line item to their recurring invoice.

Click here to learn more. 

Reversals are when a payment was marked as successful but then the bank reversed it (like if a check comes back for nonsufficient funds, or someone disputes a credit card charge or ACH failed). It’s like an undo button for a transaction, where refunds are when you are returning money to the customer.

When an ACH transaction goes through, the payment is immediately recorded as successful with a payment date as the date the transaction was submitted. It takes the customers’ bank 5-7 days to transmit the funds so the payment date in Flash AR (ParkIt) will indicate the date of the transaction posting, not the date the payment was received into your gateway nor your bank account. The gateway and merchant don’t tell Flash AR (ParkIt) when an ACH payment fails so the operator must talk to their gateway and ACH merchant providers to see how they can be notified in the event of an ACH failure so the operator can reverse the transaction on Flash AR (ParkIt).

If an ACH transaction fails, you will be notified by your payment gateway via email (or you may manually check your gateway for ACH failures). An admin will need to mark that transaction in Flash AR (ParkIt) as reversed when that happens so that the invoice shows as unpaid. You have the option, as always, to reattempt an invoice payment by going to “Change Status” => “Reattempt Payment”. However, I’d recommend connecting with the customer to make sure their routing and account information gets corrected or that they have enough funds on their account.

Credit Card => Vist the transaction log https://onboarding.parkitmonthly.com/admin/view_transaction_history.php and search by invoice ID for the charge that is failing. The “message” column will explain why the transaction failed.

ACH => To find the reason for an ACH decline, open your payment gateway portal and find the declined transaction. Your gateway will have an error message that describes why that payment was declined.

ACH Push is bill pay. This means the parkers have opted to log in into their banks and sign up to send money directly to your bank account using the routing and account information on your invoices (if your routing info is not on your invoices yet, let us know and we can assist). Flash AR (ParkIt) is not directly involved in this transaction since it is the parkers bank sending money directly to your bank account. These transactions should be recorded in Flash AR (ParkIt) as you would a check.

ACH pull is initiated by you/Flash AR (ParkIt). This works more like credit card payments since you control when an account is charged and for how much.

To charge an open invoice using a payment method saved on file, visit the parker’s billing tab and scroll down to the invoice history table at the bottom. Click the blue “Change Status” button then select “Reattempt Payment”. If you don’t see this option it means neither a card nor bank account has been saved to the parker’s profile. If you do see this option, clicking “update” will charge the invoice using the saved payment method and give you feedback about whether or not the charge was successful. If the charge is successful, the invoice will mark as paid and the payment will automatically record. If a payment is unsuccessful, it will send an email notification to the parker alerting them to update their payment information on file.

To record a payment or credit, open the parker’s account and go to the billing tab. You’ll see a blue button on the right-hand side of the page that says “Record Transaction”.

Click here to read more. 

To remove a payment from someone’s account, click on the “View Payments” tab on the parker’s billing tab. Click the yellow “Reverse” button of the credit you wish to reverse. Reversing a payment acts like an “undo” button and will remove the credit from any applied invoices. You cannot reverse a payment that has been refunded nor can you reverse a payment that has already been reversed.

When Flash AR (ParkIt) processes a transaction on your gateway, if the gateway tells us it was a successful transaction, Flash AR (ParkIt) will record a successful payment.   

Some gateways will hold a transaction in “Pending” and require the gateway’s owner to approve it in order to finish settling the transaction. Some gateways do this as a fraud prevention method and it is usually able to be turned off. If a transaction is not approved on the gateway in time, the gateway will “Expire” the transaction without telling Flash AR (ParkIt). Therefore, Flash AR (ParkIt) will show that transaction as processed when the gateway actually decided not to process that transaction.  

To fix this: 

• Please check your gateway’s logs for any expired transactions and send them to Flash AR (ParkIt) so the payment may be reversed. After a payment is reversed, you can reattempt the transaction. 
• Send this transaction ID in question (Gateway transaction ID here) to your gateway account rep to have them confirm why the gateway expired this transaction and what setting can be changed to prevent this from happening in the future 

We do not recommend reconciling cards and ACH payments from Flash AR (ParkIt) directly against your bank account because the gateway batches will rarely align.

To reconcile Flash AR (ParkIt) with your bank account, please take the following steps using your “Transaction List by Date” report:

1. Please note that Flash AR (ParkIt) makes credit card + ACH payments/refunds via your payment processing gateway. Therefore, the card payment dates on Flash AR (ParkIt) should reconcile with your payment gateway and your payment gateway should reconcile with the bank account.
2. As for reconciliation of cash and checks, please speak to your accounting team to determine if the payment date in Flash AR (ParkIt) is the date payment is received, deposited, or appeared in the bank account.

You may run the report “Sales by Product Summary” on either a cash or accrual basis. The total displayed shows “Total After Tax” which means you will simply multiply that number by your tax percentage to get your total tax owed for that product type.

If you have a copy of the invoice, run an invoices and payments report by either the due date or created date of the invoice, then search the invoice number in the search box.

Otherwise, you can run the invoices and payments report for a wider range of dates and search for an invoice in the search box.

The “Transaction List by Date” report will show you payments received on a cash basis. It will display a breakdown of each payment received during that date range including the payment type, date received, invoices applied to, customer name.

A) Tickets that can be answered by the FAQ => Respond to the customer using the information below

B) Questions that are not answered by the FAQ, bugs, and feature requests => https://flash-team.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portals 

C) New customer asking to sign up for product => Transfer to Sales

D) Existing ParkIt customer looking to add an additional location => send this ticket to salessupport@flashparking.com 

See the “General Mailgun” credential in Keeper.

To add/edit operators and their locations please use the onboarding and service portal. Here are the steps to log in and use it. 

1. ParkIt – Monthly Parking Made Easy and use the “Parkit General Super Admin” cred in Keeper
2. Go to https://onboarding.parkitmonthly.com/admin/admin.php 
3. From this screen, you can edit the operator portal settings from the edit operator button or manage their location, user settings, sync their locations with flash and more from the edit locations button

Confluence pages here 

As an accountant for a parking operator, you need a way to get all the financial activity that happened in FLASH AR into your accounting system at the end of the month. That way, you don’t have to manually do entries for accounts receivable, revenue, and cash collected.

Click here to learn more. 

Thank you for this suggestion. Show them you understand why this is useful (ex “A report like this would help operators identify which cards need to be reattempted”). We’ll record your vote on this feature so it may be developed in the future if it collects enough requests from other operators. In themeantime, (offer a workaround if one exists).

If the “Rolling A/R” functionality for an operator is enabled (contact support/onboarding to get this done) then a section will appear on the emailed copy of the invoice to the customer that displays all invoices, payments, and credits created on the customer’s account since the last invoicing day. It will also show a “prior balance” to indicate what the balance was at the time of the last invoicing day and a “total due” to indicate the total balance on account.

Tenants allow an operator to track multiple accounts to a tenant and report on how many parkers are in the accounts assigned to a tenant. This would be used more commonly in Class A office buildings where certain people in the building are only allowed to have X number of spaces or if the operator wants to track who’s coming from what company. The operator can add a tenant by going to the settings tab and clicking on a location, then going to the tenants tab. Once the tenant is created, you can assign accounts to it by opening up an account and going to the parking info tab. From that tab you can assign a tenant.

• Profile tab (for the account itself) – All fields.
• Parking Info tab (for the account itself) – Business Name, PO Number, Cancel Parking/Change End date.
• Edit (next to individual parkers on the account): Name, Phone, Department, Vehicle information, Start Date/End Date.
• Billing tab (for the account itself) – Billing Method (tender type).

If you need to delete an account or change an account’s end date, go to the “Parking Info” tab on the Account holder’s profile. You’ll see a red button where you can “Cancel Parking/Change End Date”. If an end date has already been selected, you’ll see their end date instead. Once their end date has passed, this account will drop down into the “Past and denied accounts” section of the accounts screen. Set an account’s end date to a date in the past if you wish for the account to be inactive starting today.

Some additional things to know:

Parkers can also change their end date, but are restricted to selecting the last day of next month. You receive an email notification when a parker updates their end date.

1. Parkers can’t see past or denied accounts of theirs’ when they log in. If you cancel someone’s parking, they won’t be able to see that account once their end date has passed.
2. If you wish to cancel someone’s parking, make sure any outstanding invoices are voided. 

Accounts that have the same email address will be grouped together under one user. If you go through the “Add customer” form and use an email that is already in use, it will add that account under that existing user.

Click here to learn more. 

You can check to see what parkers are expiring this coming month by checking the “Active Accounts” page. If you filter by end date, that will give you a list of everyone’s PARCS card who should be returned this coming month. While Flash AR (ParkIt) will not automatically notify you for parkers whose end dates are coming up, you’ll only need to check this table once a month before the end of the month to ensure you are getting your PARCS cards returned and deactivated. In a few weeks, end dates will also be added to the “Permit Holders” report which will show you which PARCS cards have termination dates coming up. There shouldn’t be any surprises since parkers can only cancel themselves at the earliest for the end of next month (unless an admin had manually entered an earlier end date). 

PARCS Card Inventory can be uploaded with an Excel file.

Click here to learn more. 

These are added under the PARCS tab for each location in the Settings menu.

The name for these items must match exactly to how they are entered in the Flash PARCS and Parkonect systems.

Note: The system does not support apostrophe’s in the name. A sync error will occur. ex: “Flash-Account-Update: Xception.Exceptions.ServerNotRespondingException: Error code: 102 select * from SelectMonthlyPool WITH (NOLOCK) where (Date_Deleted IS NULL or Date_Deleted > getutcdate()) and Company_Location_ID = ‘0ff5ecc3-8ab6-41f4-a626-25cb6098c7 #339460”

WeekDays in one system and Weekdays in another won’t work.

PARCS ID for Access Level in Flash PARCS will just be the same as the name. For Parkonect locations, Parkconect provides that ID.

Once added in, they can be applied to the accounts. All are applied under each parker under Parking Info. May need to use +Additional Fields button to see those options. Pools can be set individually, or for the entire account (under Advanced tab).

FLASH AR does not have an out of the box method for moving parkers between accounts. However, with a bit of excel manipulation, parkers can be downloaded from one account and uploaded to another using the Bulk Parker Import feature.

Click here to learn more. 

Operators are able to bulk import parkers to an existing account. This is commonly used for when a large batch of parkers is signing up and the operator doesn’t want to add them manually.

Click here to learn more.

Click here to learn more. 

On rare occasions, parkers will try to delete all their information in the system. These account holders replace their information with space bars in order to “wipe” their record from your system. FlashAR (ParkIt), at one point, prevented parkers from removing their information but we found that people would enter fake information which is far worse since it is harder for operators to catch.

You may ask your garage manager to keep an eye out for their vehicle to recollect their information or consider the account closed after charging the last outstanding invoice using the payment method on file.

If you deny a parking application by accident, you will need to recreate the account for the parker by taking the following steps:

1. Go to the “Add Customer” form.
2. Use the same email address on file that the parker was using before. This will create a new account under their existing user.
3. Fill in as much information as you can about the parker.
4. You can either wait for the parker to complete filling out their information (they receive an email alert asking them to complete their application) or you can accept the application if you feel you have enough information to do so.

This is a setting on the Advanced tab on an account that when set to ON, the system will automatically deactivate parkers credentials if the invoice isn’t paid by the due date.

Setting the ‘PARCS Card Audit Day Number’ in the A/R Admin portal > Edit Operator page to 0 (zero) will essentially “turn off” this process for all accounts.

If a parker drops out of the application process before entering their vehicle information or selecting their payment method, their application will show as “Finished Signup” set to “No”.

Click here to learn more. 

To change an account’s parking location please take the following steps:

1. Have the parker log in to their account and submit a new parking application for the new location. Alternatively, you may use the “Add customer” form and use their existing email address to add a new account for their new location to this user. They will be required to submit payment and parker information.
2. Set the end date of their account at their old parking location.

From the “Permit Holders” report: Select a location from the drop-down and then check number of “entries”.

If you don’t see a parker under the parking info tab, click on the arrow that says “View Past Parkers.” Parkers who’s termination date is in the past will show up under that view. It is also possible that an admin deleted the parker.

There can be several reasons you don’t see a customer on your dashboard: 

1. Double check the spelling of a name or try searching by email or phone number.
2. If you’re searching under active accounts and you don’t see them, try searching under “permit holders” instead with “Show expired parkers” enabled. An account holder’s name can be different than the parker on file.
3. If they are using a business name, the business name, rather than the account holder’s name, will appear on the active accounts page.
4. An account holder may have changed their name and/or contact information on file when they set up their account.
5. If you had added this customer via the “Add customer” form, and used an email address of a parker already on file, it will add this application to the existing account holder with that email on file. To correct this, move the parking end date of the incorrect application to a date in the past (to cancel the parking application), then recreate the parking application with a unique email via the “Add Customer” form.

If a parker drops out of the application process before entering their vehicle information or selecting their payment method, their application will show as “Finished Signup” set to “No”. You can resend the application to the account holder for them to complete it if you click the yellow edit button next to the application and then click “Resend Invite.” It will send the parker a link where they are asked to confirm all their information on file and complete any missing information.

The application will remain as “Finished Signup” set to “No” until the parker clicks the link that they receive and completes the entire sign-up process. If the parker tries to advance through the sign-up form without completing the required information the system will prompt them to complete the missing information before continuing. The parker must also complete their vehicle information on file by adding at least one parker (1) before pressing the continue button (2). 

Once the parker has completed the form, they will be set to “Finished Signup” = “Yes”. You can, of course, accept a parking application before all information is complete. 

If they are logging in for the first time:

1. Have them click the link at the bottom of the invite email they were sent. If they do not see an invite email, you may resend one to them by opening their profile and clicking the yellow “Resend Invite” button on the top right-hand corner. If there is no yellow button they have already finished their profile setup.
2. They should complete the invite form to finish profile setup. This will allow them to set a password and/or make initial changes on their account.

If they already have an account: 

1. Have the parker click “Login”.
2. If they forgot their password, they may select “I forgot my password” and enter their account’s email address.
3. If the parker is still having issues, verify that the email address on their file matches the one they are trying to use and that there are no misspellings.

Operators:

• Late invoice paid
• New parking request
• New waitlist submission
• Summary of PARCS cards deactivated by auto deactivation
• Auto charge payment failure summary
• Password reset
• Parker changed information (start dates, end dates, vehicles on file, phone number, billing method) 

Parkers:

• Invites to finish sign up when the operator fills out the add customer form
• Invoices (auto every month and one-time invoices)
• Receipts (when payments are manually recorded or card/ACH transaction succeeds)
• When PARCS card is deactivated for nonpayment
• Invoice marked as fully paid email
• Invoice marked as uncollectable
• Invoice marked as void
• Password reset
• Parking request accepted
• Auto charge payment failure

Custom Message to Operator – Enter a message here, it will show up on the 1st screen during the signup process. The parker then enters their message in the text box. That message will show up in the Parking Info tab of the account when the operator views the application. “Message on Application: Yes, I will need 1 keycard”.

Parking Instructions – Enter a message here, it will show up on the email sent to the parker once their application is accepted.

Parking Agreement – Operator provides the file for us to upload. It shows up during the signup process for the check box for: “I agree to the Terms & Conditions” and in the Parking Info tab of the account. “Agreement Signature Date: Document was sign on: [Date and timestamp when parker signed up]. Document link”

Billing Selection Message to Parkers – Enter a message here, it will show up in the Billing tab of the account.

An email may not be reaching customers for several reasons:

1. The email on file is incorrect. Please confirm the email address is correct.
2. The email is going to their spam folder. Please check your spam folders.
3. The email is being blocked by an email firewall or filtering setting. Please contact your tech support to have them investigate email filters.
4. Operator not receiving emails because their email settings are disabled for that location (found on the users tab in settings).

At this time, FLASH AR only supports the capability for one email for logging in and receiving invoices. If you wish to have email address other than the account holder to receive invoices, you may either:

1. Ask the parker to forward their invoices to the billing department’s email will be the email used to access the account. All parkers under this account would know the password.
2. Use the billing department’s email address as the login.
3. Use an email that both the billing department and account admin can access.

Tender types/payment methods are enabled/disabled from the Flash AR (ParkIt) Admin portal by clicking Edit next to each Location Name. Then use the checkboxes under the “Payment Methods Accepted” section.

If a parker already has a specific payment method selected prior to that payment method being deactivated, the operator must manually assign them another payment method.

All payment methods will always display to the operator (or us). Only valid payment methods will display to the parker.

Operator is looking for signed parking agreements

If a client is looking for a signed parking agreement, the document is under the Parking Info tab for the parker, but it is not signed in a traditional way. The terms and conditions listed on a site’s request for parking page has this document linked. The parker needs to agree to these terms in order to sign up for parking. The system doesn’t have parkers fill out and sign that PDF file, just check the box in order to agree.

As Flash Admin, open the location edit page and click the yellow button that says “Soft Delete”. You will be asked for a PIN (we are not putting that in these docs to restrict who has access to use this action). When you soft delete, the following will occur:

• Listing will disappear from the map and reports
• PARCS will be disconnected
• Parkers can still see their account when they log in
• Payment gateway removed
• Emails will stop sending
• Invoices will stop generating

Since we never want to move someone’s invoicing day to create a scenario where someone has invoices sent twice in a month or not sent at all, here are the conditions that you can or cannot move someone’s invoicing date (feel free to try moving someone’s date, you will get a warning if one of the following rules are broken)

• You can move an operator’s billing date backward or forward in the month where today > new billing date and today > old billing date
• You can move an operator’s billing date backward or forward in the month where today < new billing date and today < old billing date
• You can update an operators billing date from 0 to any number
• You can’t move an operator’s billing date forward in the month where today < new billing date and today > old billing date:
• You can’t move an operator’s billing date backward in the month where today > new billing date and today < old billing date:

Click here to learn more.

Locations can only move to new operators who meet the following criteria which will prevent invoices from double sending to a location or invoices not sending at all in a month.

1. Operators appear as selectable if today < new operator’s billing date and today < current operator’s billing date
2. Operators appear as selectable if today > new operator’s billing date and today > current operator’s billing date
3. Operators ARE NOT selectable if today > new operator’s billing date and today < current operators billing
4. Operators ARE NOT selectable if today < new operator’s billing date and today > current operator’s billing date
5. Verify operators ARE NOT selectable if their billing date = 0

Click here to learn more.

If an operator requests that a new admin account be created, removed, or have new locations assigned to it – submit this request to development.

If an operator requests that a new user account be created, they can add it from the Settings tab on their locations portal. Do not add these users from the Flash Admin/Onboarding portal.

Steps are outlined here. Please note that for step #5 under the “Performing a Test Transaction” section, you may also see stdClass Object ([token] = instead of SimpleXMLElement Object ( [token] =

Customer-facing notes:

When updating or adding a parker, you may receive an “Error updating parker with PARCS. Contact customer support”. In this instance, you should click the notification bell in the top right corner which will list out all the errors that the PARCS system has reported. For example, “invalid RFID” is an error that Flash PARCS can generate which will log on that screen. Clicking the message will open a new screen which shows more details about the error such as what Flash AR sent to the PARCS system.

Internal:

https://onboarding.parkitmonthly.com/admin/PARCS_log_view_report.php

This page allows you to see every communication sent to the PARCS equipment (both successful and unsuccessful). You can search by operator, account, and parker to see what Flash AR sent and what the PARCS system returned).

The text entered under the “Pass Number” column will be the contact’s RFID badge in Flash. Each parker in Flash AR (ParkIt) will receive their own Account and Contact in Flash. Each Contact will have 3 vehicles created on file for them, even if they’re all blank. If an error occurs during sync check the following:

1. RFID/AVI/Phone number being used is entered correctly on Flash AR (ParkIt) (make sure you are looking at the right location for the right account)
2. If someone is in campus mode – make sure that RFID doesn’t already exist on another parker. If it does, the operator needs to choose which location in Flash AR (ParkIt) they will have that parker and then select an access level that will grant them privileges to both locations.
3. Does their selected access level have permissions for that location?
4. Make sure they’re not trying to use the same RFID card
5. That RFID doesn’t exist on another contact in Flash’s portal already
6. License plate states are valid
7. RFID is formatted correctly (no letters and contains “:” facility separator)
8. AVI doesn’t exist in Flash on another account already
9. Phone number is formatted correctly (parenthesis and dashes are ok but make sure there aren’t letters or other unusual things)
10. API keys entered correctly for that location in the Flash AR (ParkIt) backend

If a parkers invite link shows as invalid, it’s possible that the email address may have changed.

Should this invalid error show up, advise to check the email address and then try re-sending the invite again.

Yes, after creating the user you should go to that user details page and configure their roles and permissions. Without a role the user will be able to log in to Flash Central but won’t have the ability to access or edit anything.

Select the relevant user from the user table, under the user general details you’ll find the role and permission section 

The Company Admin role can create and assign roles for users at their company. This role can also assign the Company Admin role to other users or location specific roles 

If there is an issue with the location’s specific merchant account, Store and Forward mode will not be activated. The Payment Gateway at the system level controls if the system moves to Store and Forward mode, not an individual client’s.

An Internal Flash team has access to the Flash Offline portal. The team receives notifications of offline or unstable events and will log in to switch a location to Hybrid mode.

The Store and Forward method refers to payment data being captured while the internet connection or payment gateway is down. When the system is back online, the Flash system will push the payment information to be processed. 

Offline alerts will continue to operate per usual, the set notification recipients will receive an email notification in the event the ISP connection is lost. There are not currently any notifications for Hybrid mode, but this will change in future phases.

Procedurally, Flash will update the Status.Flashparking.com status page, anytime our internal team sets any region into Hybrid Mode.

No, these enhancements are specifically for the Flash PARCS kiosks.

The customer can tap Help and the gate will auto-vend. This will not be advertised on the customer-facing Help Center but can be relayed to clients.

There is no transaction limit in Hybrid mode. In Store and Forward mode, the Flash system can process 1-2 days’ worth of transactions when using USAePay. With Windcave, each terminal (kiosk) has a limit of 1,022 transactions until the system connection is restored, at which point the threshold resets.

The magstripe reader currently does not meet the P2PE PCI compliance. If this is a requirement, the magstripe reader can be disabled through the Adyen portal.

Not at this time, but this is an option with Adyen so it is on the Roadmap.

The field can handle up to 10 characters and is not limited to just numbers and letters, it is a free text field.

Ex.(including, but not limited to): “Ab12”, “AB-12”, “aB 12”, “A B 12”, “AB.12”

It’s not optional, it is 100% mandatory. The system will not let you login unless it is with Google SSO for all Flash Monitor Accounts trying to login to portal.flashvalet.com. 

First, determine which password you need to change:

1. Google Account Password: This is the password you use to log into the portal.flashvalet.com, Gmail, and other Google services.

• To change this password, go to Google Account Security and select the Security tab.

2. Flash Monitor Account Password: This password is used for FlashLog, FlashIQ, FlashValet iOS App, FlashPARCS app, etc.

• To change this password:

1. Log into the portal.flashvalet.com using your Google SSO credentials.
2. Select “_1 User Acceptance” or any company on the left navigation bar.
3. Select “My Details” on the left navigation bar.
4. Choose “Change Password”.

Not exactly, we have linked your Flash Monitor Account to use Single Sign-On (SSO) via your work Google account for the portal.flashvalet.com only. Your Flash Monitor Account will still be active and used for: FlashLog, FlashIQ, FlashValet iOS App, FlashPARCS app, etc.  

No, this only applies to the Flash Admin portal (portal.flashvalet.com). You will continue to use your Flash Monitor Account for: FlashLog, FlashIQ, FlashValet iOS App, and the FlashPARCS app. 

The Flash Gate has been tested to 5 million cycles. The Magnetic Gate reports up to 10 million cycles (not including wear parts) with the warranty covering 2 years or 2 million cycles, whichever comes first.

Gate arm can be installed using 3 different methods: a) swing-away, b) nylon bolt breakaway and c) secure bolted. Like all automated gates, pedestrian safety has to be a top priority and the correct choice should be made with gate mounting. Roadway striping, bollarding, and signage should always be installed to prevent injury to pedestrians.

The top and bottom of the arc are user-settable for the Flash Gate.

Yes!

Battery backup is not an option. An optional super-capacitor option is available for Fail Safe – gate opens on power failure. The default is Fail Secure – the gate remains down and locked on power failure. The gate can be manually opened using the hand crank inside the gate operator.

Yes, the Flash Gate is ADA-compliant when installed with a straight arm or a 98” clearance articulated arm.

We are currently not offering a Gate Wrapping add on. 

The Flash Gate averages 6 seconds per cycle and 1.7 to open/close.

It is has a powder-coated aluminum body available in the Flash sparkle gray color.

• 10 foot straight
• 10 foot – 84” articulated 
• 10 foot – 98” ADA-compliant articulated
• 12 foot straight
• 12 foot – 84” articulated 
• 12 foot – 98” ADA-compliant articulated

Reporting will be the same as what we currently have with Magnetic. The only connection between the Flash Gate and the outside world is the same as how we wire Magnetic Gates – only 4 connections: Vend, Arm Loop Status, Safety Loop Status, and Error State. All are digital outputs, i.e., Yes or No.

Not all supply depots have the Flash Gate arms or spare parts. Please check with your local operations team. It is recommended to order extra gate arms and spare parts for your supply depot when you begin selling Flash Gates in your market.

Yes, we will continue to sell Magnetic gates. We have a large installed base of Magnetic’s gates and will maintain a strong relationship with Magnetic. For high-volume garages/lots, Magnetic gates should be your first choice. The Flash gate is not intended to compete with the Magnetic gate, it is intended to compete with the lower-priced gates from Amano, Ski Data, Hy-Security, etc.

Austin, Chicago, and Dallas.

Flash Gate is an additional option for price-sensitive customers. The Flash Gate is ideal for competing with SkiData, Amano, Hy-Security gates, etc.

For now, Flash Gates are only being installed in locations serviced by regional technicians to ensure better support for any maintenance needs.

Loops are not included in the pricing and must be added on. 

Yes, but the license plate must set as required for all Reservation providers. If an license plate is not added to the reservation and the parker is also an autopay user, they could be doubled-charged.

• Express Pay is not supported for valet operations when vehicles are parked inside a PARCS garage.
• If a valet customer with AutoPay enabled enters through an LPR lane, the system will start an Express Pay session and apply the standard PARCS rate. Since valet services also bill the customer, this creates a risk of double billing.
• Express Pay cannot be used to pay for a valet-issued ticket.

This non-compatibility applies to:

• Parkonect with the Valet Hiker module
• Flash PARCS with PARCS Access

Note: There is a Valet API available with Parkonect that is ready for alpha location testing. Reach out to Parkonect Product team if the location is interested in being a test site. 

Yes. In Flash PARCS, a Non-Burnable Coupon can be converted into a reusable QR code. You can set a maximum number of uses and define the applicable logical zone where the discount applies.

Yes, if using Nested Enforcement for transients can you charge a user an additional fee for parking in a specific parking area (e.g., VIP or premium zones) and the updated rate can be paid via Express Pay.

Gift cards issued by major card networks (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) are accepted with Express Pay.

Yes, Express Pay provides a digital ticket with a QR code that can be scanned on a door reader for access. If utilizing Hybrid or Free Flow mode with Parkonect, and choose not to sign up for Express Pay, the POF allows you to look up your License Plate for payment.

No, Express Pay can’t be started if the driver entered with a reservation. All overage fees must be paid at a kiosk (POF or exit). 

Yes! Express Pay provides a digital ticket via SMS and there’s a link to apply a discount. Both Flash PARCS and Parkonect Validation and coupon barcodes can be scanned to apply a discount. 

DTC vs. Express Pay

While there are several differences between DTC and Express Pay, the primary distinction is when payment is processed.

• DTC (Digital Ticket Checkout): Payment is completed before exit, similar to a traditional Pay-on-Foot kiosk.
• Express Pay: Payment is triggered at the moment the vehicle exits, when the license plate is captured.

User Process and other differences

DTC:

• User scans the QR code on their paper ticket.
• Payment is completed before exit (LPR not required).
• Driver receives a digital ticket QR code, and must exit before the grace period.
• At exit, driver scans either the digital ticket or the original paper ticket.
• DTC supports Apply/Google Pay for stored cards.

Express Pay:

• Relies on LPR for entry/exit.
• Session can start anytime; payment is auto-processed at exit.
• Supports plate enrollment for autopay.
• Express Pay does not support Apple/Google Pay for stored cards.

Yes. A digital receipt is sent to the email address associated with your Express Pay account.

No. Express Pay registration does not offer the option to add a credit card via Apple/Google/Samsung Pay.

If the payment method on file is declined, the driver receives an automatic SMS notifying them of the failed payment. The message includes a link to update the payment method and pay the outstanding balance.

For autopay users, entry gates will still vend on their next visit to an Express Pay garage. However, they will receive an automatic SMS stating that a session could not be started. To begin a new session, they must manually update their payment method.

Express Pay cannot be used again until the outstanding balance is resolved, so users are only allowed one failed payment. 

During an Express Pay session, users can update or add a new payment method at any time before exiting. When manually starting a session, they can also add or edit license plates.

No, the only way to delete a credit card is through your ParkWhiz account, either in the mobile app or at www.parkwhiz.com. If a card is removed after an Express Pay session has started, the card used for that session will automatically be added back to the account once the driver exits. This prevents a loophole of allowing a failed payment.  

No, Express Pay currently does not provide a Rate Estimate to the user. This is currently in developement and will be available in the future. The digital ticket does instruct the driver to “See onsite signage for rates.”

Yes! Session Cancellation is now an option for Express Pay users. All Express Pay users have the option to cancel the Express Pay session, which unlinks the transient ticket from their Express Pay account. A Transient ticket QR code is still provided to the driver to use on exit, validate, POF, or a ped door access. 

When using a rental or temporary vehicle, the Express Pay enrollment process allows you to mark the license plate as temporary.

• Temporary plates cannot be enrolled in autopay.
• They will appear in the user’s Vehicle list.
• To remove a temporary vehicle, the user must delete it from their ParkWhiz account via the mobile app or the website.

If a parker is driving a temporary or rental vehicle and uses Express Pay for a one-time payment without selecting the “Temporary Vehicle” option, the license plate will be added to their account linked to their mobile number.

If another driver uses the same vehicle at an Express Pay garage, they may receive an SMS notification if the location has Proactive Comms enabled.

If the original driver enrolled in autopay for that temporary vehicle, subsequent drivers using the same vehicle could trigger automatic charges at Express Pay garages.

Removing a Vehicle from an Account

The user can remove the vehicle by:

• Log into their ParkWhiz account via the mobile app or at www.parkwhiz.com.
• Delete the vehicle from the list of Saved vehicles.
• Or visit www.parkwhiz.com/pay-by-plate/vehicles to edit the list of vehicles associated with Express Pay.
• Select the license plate, check the Temporary Vehicle box, and saving. This marks the vechicle as temporary but does not delete it from the account. 

No. The rate is assigned based on the entry ticket and Express Pay users will receive the active rate at the facility.

Yes. In Flash PARCS, Express Pay can be configured for certain Logical Zones while others remain standard. Campus Mode is supported in Looker reporting, unless the Logical Zones require separate merchant accounts.

No. Express Pay is configured at the location level and can’t be disabled for specific lanes. Just not installing LPR on specific lanes would bypass the use of Express Pay.

If the new car isn’t registered with Express Pay, the system won’t recognize it, and a session won’t start. You’ll need to pay manually at the exit or register the new vehicle.

Yes, you can have multiple license plates listed on your ParkWhiz account enrolled in autopay, but an Express Pay user can only have one open session at a time.

Yes, the same license plate can be listed under multiple ParkWhiz accounts, and all account holders will be able to use Express Pay (one-time payment) for that vehicle. However, a license plate can only be enrolled in Autopay under a single account.

Offsite registration isn’t supported by ParkWhiz, to register or start an Express Pay session, the parker must first enter the garage and have their license plate captured by LPR.

Offsite registration is supported through the ParkMobile app “Camera Parking” feature.

Yes, a parker can log into their ParkWhiz account and add or delete vehicle license plates and credit cards on file. Removing them from ParkWhiz account, removes them from auto-populating for an Express Pay session. 

Yes. Express Pay requires a cell signal to receive text messages and an internet connection to manually start a session. If cell connectivity is limited inside the garage, customers should be instructed via signage to start their Express Pay session or check text messages during their stay, in an area with better reception.

If the garage is online at entry (before going offline):

• The system matches the license plate and creates the Express Pay session.
• If the garage later goes offline before the driver exits, the session is already “taken over.”
• At exit, the gate will vend, and when the site reconnects, the session is processed normally.
• The driver may receive a delayed text message confirming session closure, but charges are still based on the actual exit time.

If the garage is offline at entry (no internet connection at the time of entry):

• The driver may still be let in via auto-enroll plate recognition.
• However, because the garage cannot connect to the cloud to match the session, Express Pay cannot complete properly.
• If the site is still offline when the driver exits, the system will not recognize the session and the driver will be stopped at the gate for payment. 

No. Flex Operating Modes –Full Control, Hybrid, and Free Flow are only available with Parkonect.

Hybrid and Free Flow allow the entry gate to automatically vend on a successful LPR read, so drivers skip kiosk interaction. The license plate read serves as the “ticket,” removing the need to press a button or pull a ticket at entry.

Full Control keeps gates down at entry and requires kiosk interaction, except for registered Auto-Pay users who still receive an automatic vend. At exit, gates vend automatically for both Auto-Pay and one-time Express Pay users.

Flash PARCS by default functions exclusively in Full Control mode and doesn’t offer the option to switch to other modes.

• If the parker entered their plate incorrectly, they can simply correct the plate and the session will be able to start successfully. 
• If the issue is LPR misread the plate, the Express Pay won’t be able to start. If it is a Parkonect location, it is possible to edit the plate read to the correct license plate in the Parkonect Admin portal, but this would require the user reaching out to the location operator or Flash support. 

On-site signage is used to indicate that Express Pay is available at a facility, so drivers know before starting their session. Express Pay labeling is not available through the ParkWhiz app or website at this time.

No, we are only implementing Express Pay with Vision.

No. Gates are always required.

No, new signs will need to be created with new beacon QR Codes.