Programming the Discretionary Service Charge
Programming a Manual Discretionary Service Charge Button
POS Staff Permission to Clear Discretionary Service Charge
Summary
Common practice in the UK restaurant industry is the addition of a Discretionary Service Charge (DSC) to the bill when table service is provided.
The DSC can be configured for application as a calculated percentage of the subtotal of the bill or as a set amount. Businesses may choose to have the POS automatically apply the DSC if a sale meets the programmed criteria, or it can be manually applied by the POS staff if required.
A DSC can be removed from the sale by the POS staff at the request of the customer.
The overview article on Discretionary Service Charges is here.
Prerequisites
This functionality is available to clients with Polygon POS installations.
The software versions required are:
Polygon POS Management: 2503.13.1 or later
Polygon POS Terminal: 2503.11.1 or later
Programming the Discretionary Service Charge
A DSC is programmed to automatically apply to sales that meet the configured criteria.
To enable an automatic DSC you need to:
- Access POS Location Settings (or Default Location Settings, as appropriate)
- Navigate to POS Terminal Settings | Sale Settlement | General
- Access and complete the Discretionary Surcharge Update Form
You can define:
- the value of the DSC
- a specified currency amount
- a set percentage of the subtotal of the sale - the sale types relevant to the DSC
- Dine In and/or Table Service
- at least one sale type must be selected - the days of the week on which the DSC will be applied
- at least one must be selected.
- To disable the DSC, deselect the Active checkbox.
- The GL liability account Discretionary Service Charges will be assigned by default. You can choose another liability account from the Chart of Accounts if desired.
You can find details on accessing the POS Location Settings and applying Default POS Location Settings here.
More details on programming the DSC can be found here.
Programming a Manual Discretionary Service Charge Button
There may be times when the staff want to manually apply the DSC to a sale. To do this they will need a DSC button programmed on a product keypad at the POS.
The button will be:
- Keypad button: Other
- Type: Discretionary Service Charge
- DSC Type:
- Percent (enter the required % value in the DSC value field - this can be a decimal value)
- Amount (enter the required currency value in the DSC value field)
- Open (the POS staff member will be able to enter the percentage or amount value)
You can find details on accessing and programming Product Keypads here.
You can see the instructions for programming an Other type button on a product keypad here.
POS Staff Permission to Clear Discretionary Service Charge
Before a POS User can remove the DSC from a sale they must be assigned a POS User Security Role role with the following permission granted:
Polygon Point of Sale | Application Wide Permissions | Sales Data Access | Clear Discretionary Service Charge
You can learn more about how to access and apply permissions for POS User Security Roles here.
Related Articles
More detailed information on Discretionary Services Charges can be found in the following articles.
Article Change Log
| Date | Record of Changes | Author |
|
March 2025 |
First publication of this article. |
S Black |