Recording and Managing Payments

Last updated: August 19, 2026

Front Desk Financials & Shift Management

This chapter details the essential workflows for handling physical currency and checks within Memberworks. To maintain high financial integrity, the system uses a strict Shift and Cash Drawer logic. This ensures that every dollar collected at the front desk is tracked, reviewed, and reconciled before it is ever posted to your organization's General Ledger.

1. The Logic of Shift Management

Memberworks requires all staff members handling cash or checks to be "clocked in" to a specific shift. This creates a secure, time-bound audit trail for every manual transaction you process.

  • Physical Drawer Binding: Each shift is tied to a specific physical Cash Drawer at your branch. This allows the system to balance the "virtual" record of sales against the actual cash sitting in the drawer.

  • System Impact: Without an active shift, the system will restrict your ability to record manual payments. This prevents untracked money from entering the system.

2. Starting Your Shift

Before you begin your work for the day, you must initialize your shift through the system dashboard.

  • How to do it: Navigate to your dashboard and click the "Start Shift" button.

  • Selection Criteria: You will be prompted to select your Branch and the specific Cash Drawer you are operating.

  • Resuming: Memberworks allows you to end a shift for a break and "resume" the same shift later, keeping your daily totals consolidated in one record.

3. Recording Manual Payments

When a member pays an outstanding invoice in person, you will record the transaction through the Financials > Invoices tab on their profile.

  • Payment Types: You can select Cash, Check, or Other.

  • Check Tracking: When you select "Check," the system opens a mandatory Check Number field. Entering this number is vital for backend reconciliation and ensures that finance teams can match physical checks to system invoices during bank deposits.

  • Record vs. Charge: Remember that "Recording" a payment is used for physical currency already in your hand, whereas "Charging" a card is an automated electronic process.

4. The Closeout Process: Reviewing Transactions

At the end of your shift, you must perform a Closeout to reconcile your drawer. This is your opportunity to ensure the system record matches your physical work.

  • Reviewing Activity: The system will present a list of every cash and check transaction you recorded.

  • Correction Requests: If you notice a transaction was recorded in error, you can Request Removal directly from the closeout screen. This alerts your supervisor that an adjustment is needed before the final reconciliation.

5. Physical Counting and Verification

Once you have reviewed your transactions, you must perform a physical count of the currency in your drawer.

  • Entering Totals: You will enter the Total Cash Counted and the Total Check Counted into the system.

  • Handling Shortages/Overages: If your physical count does not match the system's expected total, you will be prompted to note the discrepancy. This transparency allows management to identify and address handling errors immediately.

6. Final Submission & Supervisor Approval

The final step in the financial workflow is submitting your shift summary for management review.

  • Submission: Once your counts are entered and verified, click Submit Closeout.

  • Documentation: After submission, you can Print or Download your Summary. This document serves as your personal record and is often included in the physical bank bag for your supervisor.

  • Reconciliation: Your submitted shift moves into a "Pending" status for a supervisor or branch manager. They will perform a final reconciliation and approve the batch, which officially moves the funds into the organization's active revenue accounts.

Front Desk Operational Note: Memberworks is designed with a "Double-Entry" mindset. Every action you take in this module affects Deferred Revenue and General Ledger mappings. Following these steps precisely ensures that the finance department has the accurate data they need for organization-wide budgeting and reporting.