shaz77,
OK, let's get to it...
Q1) He would like to be able to do multiple transactions, on one till at a time. So if he has 30 tables full on a Saturday night he can run 30 tabs/transactions at once and update them throughout the evening and total them up when the customer is ready to pay.
A1) Go to the “Sale parking” feature of the POSCONFG.EXE program and you can allow as many sales as you want (up to 255) to be parked. You can then ring up individual sales and then park them. You can then retrieve parked sales and add additional items to them and park them again. Just remember that the maximum number of lines on one sale is 60. When parking a sale you have to give it a 1 to 4 character label, using table numbers for a label would be a good idea.
Now go to the “Printer setup” feature of the POSCONFG.EXE program and set “Allow printing of sales checks” to “YES” Now when you total a sale by pressing [+] you will be offered the option of completing the sale or printing out a sales check to present to the customer for payment. After printing the sales check the sale will be parked.
Q2) I would like to be able to manage his stock levels via a simple database or spread sheet on a back office PC. We really only need this for items from the bar.
A2) Go to the “Stock table’ feature of the POSCONFG.EXE program and choose the number of lines you wish to use for a stock table. Even though you only want to track items from the bar you will have to allow enough lines to list EVERYTHING you sell in the stock table. (The stock table does many more things than just keep inventory.) Set “Do you wish to track inventory in your stock table?” to “YES” If you now press [F4] you will be able to enter items into the stock table. When you are in the “INVENTORY” column of the stock table you can either enter your current inventory for that item or press [F7] to not keep inventory of that item.
Q3) I would like 2 separate screens on the till, one for drinks and one for meals.
A3) So what if they have drinks with their meals? I am not exactly sure what you are trying to do here but I think the answer to question #6 may solve the problem.
Q4) Also there are 4 tills. Could I easily increase to 7-8 at a later date?
A4) Yes, just add the computers to your network. Load the POS software on each computer. And then setup the software the same way you did with the original computers. You will not have to make any changes on the GLOBAL folder.
Q5) Can the simultaneous transactions I asked about in Question #1 be stored on the back office PC in case of a till failure? I am just thinking, if we had 20 bills going on a till and it failed it would be a big problem! Are there any other ways of protecting against this sort of situation, possible printing an updated receipt every time?
A5) Well, good news here. All of the parked sales are kept on the GLOBAL folder on the server. This means that even if all of the registers except one are blasted off of the face of the earth that the remaining register would be able to recall the parked sales. This also means that any sale, parked on any register, can be recalled by any other register. If you run a LOCAL folder on the server along with the GLOBAL folder then even of all the registers, or the network, goes down then you can still recall and ring up the parked sales from the server. However if the server itself blows up then you are really in trouble, same if you lose power in your business. You may want to install an Uninteruptable Power Supply on the server and at least one register.
As explained in answer #1, you can either park the sale from the sale or you can print a sales check and then park the sale. Either method works for me because you are the one that has to keep track of all the paper.
Q6) I have some TEK touch screen tills. Will these work with the free POS? Can I use the touch screen feature with the correct drivers?
A6) Well, no. But the program can do something just a good. Read on...
The reason the POS program cannot use touch screens is that the program does not map the screen, like would be done with a mouse. The program expects that you will be pressing a key. The program cannot translate clicking (or pressing) on the screen at location X=425, Y=247 as being the same thing as pressing [G].
So how about this. On the screen will be a list (or menu if you will) with 20 items on it each, lettered from A to T. To enter an item into the sale all you have to do is press the letter. For example...
Code: Select all
12584181 A CHICKEN SANDWICH 2.59
34134444 B HAM SANDWICH 2.78
35413144 C BEEF SANDWICH 2.97
35431434 D HOT DOG 2.49
65134354 E POLISH SAUSAGE 2.99
87131412 F GYRO 3.19
13513416 G COLD CUT SUB 3.89
64515441 H MEAT BALL SUB 3.89
46546144 I HAM SUB 3.89
84146541 J BEEF SUB 3.89
15541535 K TURKEY SUB 3.89
71364144 L CHICKEN SUB 3.89
64515442 M MEAT BALL SUB/FOOT 5.89
46546145 N HAM SUB / FOOT LONG 5.89
84146542 O BEEF SUB/FOOT LONG 5.89
15541535 P TURKEY SUB/FOOTLONG 5.89
71364144 Q CHICKEN SUB / FOOT 5.89
35116714 R BACON LETTUCE TOMATO 3.79
82135441 S HAM CLUB 3.79
71335414 T TURKEY CLUB 3.79
To ring a HOT DOG into the sale all you have to do is either press [D] or use the arrow keys to scroll down and then press [ENTER]. Want to sell three HOT DOGs then press [D] 3 times. If the sandwich you want is not displayed then press [PAGE DOWN] for 20 more, then 20 more after that.
If you sell way more than just sandwiches you can have a list of menus, called “groups”, like this...
Code: Select all
A SOFT DRINKS
B BEER / WINE
C HARD DRINKS
D APPITIZERS
E BREAKFAST ENTRES
F COLD SANDWICHES
G HOT SANDWICHES
H LUNCH ENTREES
I LUNCH SIDES
J DINNER BEEF
K DINNER OTHER MEAT
L DINNER PASTA
M DINNER OTHER ENTREES
N DINNER SIDES
O DINNER SALADS
P DESSERTS
Q PIES
Now to sell a “HAM SUB / FOOT LONG” you just press [F] for the “cold sandwiches” and then [N]. So you can enter any of hundreds of different items by pressing only 2 keys without having to memorize anything and without the need for expensive touch screen monitors. Pretty neat.
There are several options for you to customize the way “groups” works. You can have the sales screen or the groups list or the stock table page as your default method of entering items into the sale. After entering an item you can return to the sales screen, groups list, or the last viewed stock table page.
Much planing is needed to set this all up. To read all about it go to the actual stock table in the POSCONFG.EXE program and press [F6], then press [F1] for the instructions. Or here is a wacky idea, read the user’s guide here
http://keyhut.com/postip6.htm#touch
Dale
