Momentus Elite supports accounts with more than one venue. When an account includes multiple venues, it is important to set up each venue correctly to ensure that reporting, operations, pricing, and other areas work as expected across the account. This article covers what to consider when working with a multi-venue account.
In this article:
- What is a venue?
- Configure a Multi-Venue Account
What is a venue?
A venue represents a distinct, independent operational environment. A venue should represent:
- A separate physical building or facility.
- A completely independent booking environment. For example, a Sales Manager at Venue A does not book at Venue B.
- Distinct calendars and operational differences.
A venue should not represent:
- Different departments within the same facility
- Internal versus external events
- Finance segmentation only
Example: A performing arts organization operates two locations. The first is a performing arts center with two theaters and shared operations. The second is a standalone amphitheater with its own operations, event policies, and separate inventory. Because the two locations have independent operations and separate booking teams, each qualifies as its own venue, making this a two-venue account.
Venues are a first-class concept in Elite, and every room must be assigned to a venue. The Momentus team creates the venues that are in your account service agreement during the account setup process. If you would like to add an additional venue to your account, please contact your primary Momentus contact so that you can discuss updating your account service agreement.
Configure a Multi-Venue Account
The first steps to configure your Elite account are:
- Account-Wide Configuration: Configure your venues and rooms and other account-wide information. This information includes customizing your status names, and setting up reference data such as event types, business classifications, space usage, and more.
- Access and Visibility Configuration: Create roles to define access to venues and functionality, with calendar and list views segmented by venue and role. This controls booking access and event interaction through venue-specific permissions. You can then create users, assigning them to the appropriate roles. Once users are created, create staff assignments. When creating staff assignments, select the users at each venue who are available for the staff assignment. If no users are selected for a venue, that staff assignment will not display on the venue's events.
- Inventory and Pricing Configuration: Set up inventory and instruction sets to serve all venues, then create venue-specific price schedules to control what inventory can be added to an event and ensure correct pricing per venue.
While multi-venue accounts follow these same steps, each decision should consider how each venue operates and the reporting needs of the venue as well as the business as a whole.
Account-Wide Configuration
Account-wide configuration establishes the shared foundation that all venues will build on. As you work through each setting, keep the needs of all venues in mind; decisions made here affect how events are managed and reported across the organization.
- Venues and Rooms: Venues are created by Momentus support based on your service agreement. Your first step is to add rooms to each venue, and group them if needed. You may list your spaces in a flat list, but if a venue has many ancillary spaces, organizing them into groups can make them easier to manage.
- Statuses: Elite uses Prospect, Tentative, and Definite as its core event statuses. You can set a custom display name for each to match your organization's terminology. These cannot be customized per venue.
- Reference Data: Add reference data such as event types, business classifications, genres, and space usage to support reporting and event management. When creating reference data, avoid venue-specific variations. For example, create a single "Concert" event type rather than separate types for each venue. In reporting, you can segment by venue based on the rooms assigned to an event.
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Revenue Streams: Revenue streams are used during the sales process to create estimated revenue for events as well as to report actual revenue after the event. If venues share the same revenue streams, we can segment revenue by venue in reports based on the event rooms. If venues report revenue in different ways, create revenue streams for each venue, but include the venue name in the revenue stream to ensure data is applied correctly.
- In sales revenue estimating, all revenue streams will be visible regardless of event venue.
- For revenue actuals, the revenue stream is applied on the category, and the inventory item gets its revenue stream based on its category. See Inventory and Pricing Configuration for details.
- GL Codes: GL codes can be assigned at the category or item level depending on your needs. If GL codes differ by venue, include the venue abbreviation in the GL code name.
Access and Visibility Configuration
In Elite, some functionality is account-wide and some is specific to a venue. Access to functionality is granted using permissions, which are built into roles which are then assigned to users. Below is a high-level overview of critical functionality; for detailed information see User Role Permissions, where all permissions are listed, grouped by account-wide or venue-specific.
What Can Be Segmented by Venue
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Events: Events can be segmented by venue; events are booked in rooms and each room belongs to a venue. Users need at least view access to a venue for its events to appear on the calendar or in search results. In addition:
- Calendar views can be configured to show events by venue, and permissions can be set to allow viewing or editing events per venue.
- Event and function staff assignments allow you to create specific responsibilities and then assign the staff member who will be fulfilling those responsibilities for the event or function. As you create staff assignments, you will also select which staff work at which venue. If a venue doesn't have anyone selected for a certain staff assignment, that assignment will not display on events that are booked in that venue.
- Permissions: Venue-based permissions allow control over actions such as viewing events, requesting or booking events, and editing event details.
- Custom Views and Reporting: Venue-specific versions of reports, templates, dashboards, event list views, and shared calendar views can be created.
What Cannot Be Segmented by Venue
- CRM: Accounts and contacts are shared across all venues and cannot be separated.
- Inventory: Inventory is shared and relies on organizing into departments and categories to segment inventory by venue as needed.
- Financials: Invoices, payments, and other financial data cannot be separated by venue because they are tied to accounts in the shared CRM. This includes invoice numbers: you cannot have multiple invoice number ranges.
User Roles
Build user roles that give staff the access they need. Multi-venue accounts often use two types of roles:
- Functional roles: For teams that work across venues; examples include Booker or for clarity, All-Venue Booker. You can also use the standard functional roles which include Booking, Detailing, Finance, Full Access, and View Only. These roles have account-wide permissions as well as venue-specific permissions to multiple venues.
- Venue-specific roles: For teams that work exclusively within one venue; examples include Theater Booker, Arena Booker, Theater Operations, Arena Operations, and so on. These roles have limited account-wide permissions and have venue-specific permissions to one venue.
There is no limit on the number of roles you create.
Calendar and Event List Views
Elite allows you to create custom views for your calendars and event list. For multi-venue accounts, views are a key tool for ensuring each team sees only the information relevant to their venue.
Users will only see events for venues they have permission to access, so venue permissions form the first layer of visibility control. Views then allow you to further refine what information is displayed within that access.
Since views are shared with user roles rather than individual users, creating venue-specific views and assigning them to venue-specific roles keeps each venue's information appropriately segmented. If users at one venue need visibility into another, create a view-only role with a calendar view that exposes only the event information appropriate for that audience.
Because shared views affect what all users in a role can see, limit who has permission to create shared views.
Inventory and Pricing Configuration
Now that you have configured the venues and rooms, your account-wide settings, and created roles and views to give staff the correct access, you can dive into the details your staff will add to the events. These details are added using items and instructions:
- Inventory items include any item you need to execute the event, such as tables, chairs, staging, food and beverage (meals, coffee stations, snack breaks) and labor.
- Instructions are notes or other information needed to execute the event. These can be added individually to the event, or you can create instruction sets for typical events that allow you to quickly add a group of instructions to an event.
Items and instructions are organized using departments and categories:
- Departments: Departments represent the highest level of organizational grouping for event information and inventory items. Often, these are the teams that are responsible for specific event information or manage specific inventories. Departments can represent one venue or both venues.
- Categories: Categories are grouped together into Departments, and inventory items are added to Categories. Shared departments can contain venue-specific categories, for example the shared Security Department could have Theater - Security Equipment and Arena - Security Equipment categories.
There is more detailed information on inventory strategy below.
Items are then added to price schedules. Price schedules are the primary financial protection mechanism. They control which items appear on events, apply venue-specific pricing, and act as operational guardrails between venues.
You should have a price schedule for each venue (you can have more than one for each venue if needed). You will only select the items which are available for that venue, and add that venue's cost, price, and GL code to the item. When detailing events, staff will select the price schedule based on where the event is booked and only be able to add items which are available for that venue.
If an event is in both venues, you can add both price schedules to the event. Staff must just be careful to assign items based on where that part of the event is happening.
Instruction sets can be created to be shared between venues, or you can have sets specific to a venue. Instruction sets are not controlled with price schedules, so be sure to label any venue-specific sets with the venue name.
Access
There is no way to fully hide inventory and pricing between venues within the same account; inventory and pricing are account-level structures. Users with inventory and pricing access can see all structures across the account.
What can be controlled using roles:
- Access to all inventory, pricing, and instruction set setup, including translations. Users can have no access, view access, or edit access.
- Access to all inventory and pricing reference configuration (housed in the Inventory & Pricing > Setup tab). This includes revenue streams, inventory units, rate types, GL codes, taxes, and service charges as well as discount, payment, credit, refund, and deposit types. Users can have no access, view access, or edit access.
- Ability to view, add, or override rental rates on events at a particular venue using the venue-specific permission Rental Rates > Edit and the Override Rental Rates option.
- Ability to view, add, or override item and package prices on events at a particular venue using the options under the venue-specific permission Detailing > Edit.
Strategies for Departments and Categories
Departments
Departments are the highest level of inventory organization and determine the operational grouping of items, labor, and services. Because departments are account-level structures, all venues can see all departments. Design departments intentionally to keep inventory organized and reporting manageable across venues. You can use shared departments, venue-specific departments, or a mix of the two:
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Shared departments: Shared departments apply across all venues. Start by identifying which operational departments exist at every venue, then standardize them across the account. Examples include:
- Housekeeping
- Security
- Engineering
- Building Operations
- Food and Beverage
- Venue-specific departments: Venue-specific departments are needed when a department exists only at one venue, such as when a department represents a tenant organization. Include the venue name in the department name to make ownership clear. For example, a department named "Hometown Symphony" clearly indicates it belongs to a specific venue and represents a unique operational group, not a shared service. Because departments are account-level objects, venue-specific departments are visible to all users across the account. Clear naming conventions and a well-structured category hierarchy are especially important for these departments.
Categories
Categories sit within departments and are where financial and operational separation most often occurs in a multi-venue account. Revenue streams are assigned at the category level, so category design directly affects how revenue is tracked. GL codes are assigned in the price schedule and can be added at the category or item level.
There are three approaches to category structure:
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Shared categories within a shared department: Use shared categories when inventory is operationally shared and the revenue stream does not need to be split per venue.
- Labor is shared across multiple venues
- Accounting requires the revenue stream to be the same across all venues
Example: Housekeeping Department with categories for:
- Labor
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Venue-specific categories within a shared department: Use venue-specific categories when revenue streams differ or labor or equipment must remain entirely venue-specific.
- Revenue streams differ by venue
- Labor or equipment is venue-specific
- Accounting requires separate financial tracking
Example: Housekeeping Department with categories for:
- Theater Housekeeping Labor
- Arena Housekeeping Labor
- Theater Housekeeping Equipment
- Arena Housekeeping Equipment
- Venue-specific department with venue-specific categories: Use when a department belongs entirely to one venue and all inventory, labor, and financial tracking must remain separate.
- Each venue has its own operational team
- The department represents a tenant organization
- Financial tracking must remain fully separate
- Inventory and labor belong exclusively to one venue
Example: Hometown Symphony Department with categories for:
- Artistic
- Education
- Marketing
- Media
- Recording
Strategies for Items
Items live within categories, which will determine their revenue stream, and are controlled through price schedules. Items must be designed carefully to ensure that venue-specific pricing is supported, accurate financial reporting is maintained, and operational availability is reflected. You can use shared items or venue-specific items, but we recommend that you standardize items whenever possible. GL codes are assigned in the price schedule and can be added at the category or item level.
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Shared items: Shared items are used when the same item exists across multiple venues. Use a shared item when:
- The item is physically shared across venues
- It has the same operational purpose at each venue
- It can be scheduled across multiple spaces
- If the only difference between venues is the price, rate type, or unit, use a shared item.
Examples: folding chairs, tables, dance floors, shared AV equipment, shared labor pools (including holiday and overtime rates), administrative fee charged per day at Venue A and per event at Venue B
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Venue-specific items: Venue-specific items are used when an item can only be used at one venue. Create a venue-specific item when:
- The physical item exists only at one venue and should not move between venues
- Operationally, the item is only needed at one venue
- The item should only be reflected under venue-specific categories
Examples: gallery uplighting specific to one building, theater production equipment, venue-specific labor pools
When differences between venues are minor and the category does not require a separate revenue stream, use shared categories and include the venue name in the item name to distinguish them.
Use these questions when creating items:
- Does this item physically exist at multiple venues? If yes, consider a shared item.
- Does pricing differ between venues? If yes, use a shared item and control the difference through price schedules.
- Does stock belong to a specific venue? If yes, create a venue-specific item.
- Do revenue streams need to be separated? If yes, place the item in a venue-specific category.
Stock Allocation
Stock allocation determines how inventory quantities are tracked and reserved across venues.
- Shared stock: If inventory is shared between venues, use a single item with the total stock level applied. For example, a pool of 300 folding chairs available to any venue should be one item with a stock level of 300.
- Venue-specific stock: If inventory belongs to a specific venue, create separate items with separate stock levels. If the item sits within a shared category or department, include the venue name in the item name to prevent availability conflicts. For example, Theater Folding Chairs (200 stock) and Arena Folding Chairs (100 stock) are created as two separate items.
Strategies for Price Schedules
Price schedules are the primary guardrail for multi-venue inventory. They control which items are available when detailing events, allow the same item to carry different pricing at each venue, and help prevent users from selecting inventory or pricing that belongs to a different venue.
Price schedules serve two functions in a multi-venue account:
- Pricing control: The same item can carry different prices at different venues without duplicating the item. For example, a dance floor can be $250 at Venue A and $350 at Venue B.
- Inventory exposure: Even though all items exist in the account, the price schedule controls which items a user sees when adding inventory to an event. This works the same way as in a single-venue account.
Without venue-specific price schedules, users may accidentally select equipment, labor, or pricing structures that belong to a different venue.
We recommend you create at least one price schedule per venue.
Price schedules are built on inventory categories, which also determines the revenue stream for items in that schedule. Keep this relationship in mind:
- Handle pricing and GL category differences through price schedules.
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Handle financial reporting separation through categories.
Additional pricing layers, such as nonprofit or internal pricing, can be configured within a venue's price schedule. - If the rates do not differ between venues, you may consider using one internal price schedule.
- For nonprofit or member price schedules, create venue specific price schedules, using this approach when discounts do not need to be tracked separately in reporting.
Use these questions when building a price schedule:
- Do venues share inventory but require different pricing? If yes, use shared items and separate price schedules.
- Should users see only inventory relevant to their venue? If yes, limit the items included in each price schedule.
- Do events sometimes span multiple venues? If yes, apply both venue price schedules to the event.
Multi-Venue Events
Some events span more than one venue, such as a conference held across multiple buildings, a festival spanning multiple performance spaces, or a campus-wide event. For these events, add a price schedule for each participating venue. When selecting items, you can toggle between the applied price schedules to choose from the inventory available at each venue, using the naming conventions created from in your inventory as a guide.
Other Financial Configuration
Discounts
Discounts are applied on the event. The Discount Type determines how discount usage is tracked and reported across your account; each discount type can have a GL code assigned.
Venue-specific Discount Types are appropriate when:
- Venues operate independent membership programs
- Venues have different promotional structures
- Finance teams need to track discount activity by venue, including for events that span multiple venues
Example: Hometown Symphony Member Discount and Amphitheater Member Discount as two separate Discount Types.
Venue-specific Discount Types allow organizations to configure default discount percentages or amounts tied to each venue's programming and provide more granular reporting on discount activity.
Shared Discount Types are appropriate when:
- Discount programs apply consistently across all venues
- Reporting does not require venue-level tracking
- Operational teams want consistent discount options when detailing events
Examples: Member Discount, Nonprofit Discount, Community Partner Discount
When shared Discount Types are used, the venue can still be identified through the event location. Reports can still be filtered by venue if needed.
Payments, Credits and Refunds
Configure Payment, Credit and Refund Types using the same approach as Discount Types. If the finance team requires venue-level reporting on credits and refunds, create venue-specific types and include the venue name. If venue-level reporting is not required, standardize Payment, Credit and Refund Types across the account.
Invoice Numbering
Configure invoice numbering prefixes to designate the venue. This allows additional visibility in financial report and invoice templates.