INTRODUCTION Welcome to Advanced Point of Sale (made easy), the Point of Sale program designed for easy use by small businesses, without the need of any computer knowledge. This low cost program is a complete cash register as well as an accounting, inventory and Customer management system all kept up-to-date by simply using the cash register and protected by a four level security system. The Cash Register handles new sales with any number of items and quantities up to 9999 per line item. Any number of deposits can be put on a sale as well as balance payments at pickup time. Returns and voids are also handled by the cash register. A ledger is updated with all cash register transactions. Inventory and Customer databases are also updated when the register is used. Payments may be made by cash, check, or credit card and any number of split tenders are supported. Quotes can be made and turned into sales at a later date. Tax exempt sales are also easily made. The Accounting system keeps track of all dollar information on sales, returns, voids and tax collected as well as inventory. This information can be requested for any time frame and includes the number of sales, the total dollar amounts of the sales broken down by type (I.E. cash, check, credit card type), the dollar amounts collected and returned, and the tax collected. A ledger can be viewed showing all cash register usage by date or by sales number. The ledger can also be printed for any date range. The information shown includes the date and time of sale, sales number, dollar amount of sale, tax, amount collected, method of payment and employee number of the sales person. End of day reports giving the same information may also be requested, dollar values for inventory sold are also given for predetermined categories as well as a parts usage report showing all parts used and there profit margin, the end of day report is from the last time the cash register was cleared. The Customer database keeps a list of all customers and is built through use of the cash register or manual entry. When the register is used the last four digits of the customer's phone number are used to find the customer information, if the customer is already in the database the information will automatically displayed and if not you will be prompted to ask for it. Customer information is not needed to complete the sale, but if entered the customer database will be updated to include it. Mailing lists/labels can be printed based on the last date the customer purchased something and by the items purchased. The Security system has four levels to allow limited access to information. Level one is the lowest level allowing only the ability to make new sales, take deposits, and pick ups as well as checking part quantities and looking up receipts by number, last name, or date. Level two gives all of level one plus the ability to do returns and voids. Level three also gives the employee access to inventory control and clearing the register. Level four has complete access to everything. The Inventory control system is used to add, delete, and edit items in your inventory. The information saved has room for three vendors each with three price ranges, reorder levels, maximum levels, on hand quantities, price paid, selling price, description. Each item may be assigned to any one of one hundred categories and listed as taxable or nontaxable. Upon running the end of day reports a reorder printout may be requested giving a list of part numbers that have on-hand levels plus on-order levels lower then the reorder level. When parts are ordered into the system the on-order levels are increased. When parts are received into the system the on-order level is decreased and the on-hand level is increased. A printout of parts received into the system may be printed to verify entry. A list of parts can be displayed, edited, or printed several different ways. On-order lists and parts usage reports including profit margins may also be printed as well as UPC labels. Part numbers can be from six to twenty characters long and can be formatted. Total size of both part number and description is fifty-two characters. As the part number increases or decreases the description size is inversely affected. P.O.S. will run on any IBM compatible XT, AT, 386, 486, or higher computer running a DOS version of 3.01 or greater with a minimum of 640k of memory and a 30-megabyte hard disk drive. A printer is also needed. The printer should be able to emulate an Epson with the extended graphics character set. It is however suggested, for performance reasons, that a 386 25MHz or higher system with 2 megabyte of memory and a fast hard disk drive be used. A tape backup unit is also recommended. LOADING P.O.S. on your computer 1. Insert the program floppy into the floppy drive. 2. Select the floppy drive. Example: "A:" 3. At the prompt type "Install" 4. Follow the prompts and the program will be automatically installed on you computer. 6. Start the program by typing "POS" SETTING UP YOUR PROGRAM After reading and agreeing to the license agreement by answering "Y" (yes) to both prompts the program will be loaded onto your computer. To start the program after it has completed loading simply type POS at the DOS prompt. The program's banner screen will appear. In the upper left is the version number and in the upper right is the serial number assigned to your copy of the program. Your serial number is very important for registration of this program and should be written down and kept in a safe place for it will be used when updates are made. Since this is a new copy there is no password so all you need to do is hit the return key. On the bottom of the screen will flash "CHECKING DATA BASES...Please wait" this will check files for errors before letting you start. The next screen that will appear is the first setup screen. The first question on the setup screen is asking where the data bases are located. The installation program has already told setup where they are and this information will be displayed as the default answer. You should not have to change this unless you change the data base drive or path. The next question is the format you want to use for your part numbers. There is a short paragraph explaining that using an "X" will allow entry of any character in that position, a "9" will allow only numbers in that position, and that the characters "/" and "-" will be fixed in that position. Overall length of the part number can be 6 through 20 characters. As the part number grows from 6 characters up to the 20 maximum the length of the description field will go down proportionally. The default is ten characters allowing letters, both upper and lower case, and numbers. Upper and lower case letters are not considered the same so care should be taken when assigning part numbers. This allows for sixty-two possible entrees per position giving many possible part numbers with few character positions used. Also if using a slash or a dash in the format and the format is changed care must be taken that the new format will allow old part numbers to be entered. The format and size can be changed at any time. The next three questions deal with how you would like the cash register to function. The first question, "adding customers during sales" allows you to bypass to customer data base entry if your business does not warrant it. The second question, "validate every price", is asking if you want to have and chance to modify the price on each part entered as they are sold. As parts are sold, the selling price is automatically retrieved from the inventory database and if you answer "Y" (yes) to this question you will have to confirm or change the price on each item entered. This is an extra step for each item and is not necessary if most of the time the price will not be changed. The price can also be changed by hitting to edit the item sold as explained later in the Sales Menu section of this manual. The third question, "ask for quantities", is asking if you want to enter quantities for each line item or if you want to just enter the part number and each line will be a quantity of one. Answering "Y" (yes) will allow you to enter quantities for each item. If you plan on printing labels the next line should also be filled in. This line is printed on the bottom of every label. The next four lines will print on the sales receipts in the lower left across from the totals. These lines will not print on the sales quotes. Under that are the last invoice and quote numbers. Once that screen is complete screen two will appear. The next few questions deal with what is connected to your computer. The prompts will allow you to chose between parallel and serial communication ports. Use the arrow keys to highlight the correct choice and then press enter to select it. (Important: the system will not function properly if you chose a serial port but do not have the cash drawer, pole display, or printer installed). You will also be asked to choose a printer type. At the time of this printing support for Epson, Panasonic, and IBM emulation's are supported for the report printer and Citizen and Star for the receipt printer. Only the EMAX Universal 104-pole display has been tested but most 20 column 2 line serial displays should work. By answering "Y" (yes) to the next question, "Ask before printing receipts", a prompt would appear after every sale asking if you what to print a receipt. Answering "N" (no) will automatically print receipts after a sale. To reenter any of the above information answer "N" (no) to the last question otherwise answering "Y" (yes) will continue you onto the third and final setup screen. All the information on this screen can be changed at any time. The next screen shows the information that the program will use for the front banner and the sales receipts. The registered owners' name will appear on the Login screen under "Registered to" and will be double-spaced. (I.E. There will be a space between each character in the name.) Next is the information that is printed on the receipt. Line 1 is printed in double high and wide print and is 20 characters maximum. Line 2 is under line 1 and is 30 characters maximum. Lines 3 and 4 are also 30 character maximum. Line 5 is the phone number. Lines left blank will not print and all others will be centered. After entering the information a registration form will print and you will be reminded to fax or mail in the form within 30 days or your copy will no longer function until you receive and enter your registration code. This allows us to keep you up to date on changes and improvements to the program and protects us from unauthorized copies being used. There is no cost involved with registering your legal copy. On the next screen you will be prompted to enter at least 1 level 4, system wide, employee. Here you must enter a 4-digit code and then after pressing the return key you will be asked to verify it. Next you will be prompted to input a first and last name. The security level on this first entry must be a 4 and no other number will be accepted. After entering the employee you will be at the employee menu and may enter more employees by hitting the letter "A" for add and following the same procedure as before only now level 1 through 4 is possible. There this a default employee number with level 4 access already inputted. This default number is 9999 and can be deleted if desired. For more information on the employee menu choices see the section entitled "EMPLOYEE MENU". Before you can use the cash register parts must be entered into the program. The procedure for entering parts is covered in the section entitled "INVENTORY MENU". It is recommended you read through all sections of this manual, but to enable you to start using P.O.S. right away you may want to skip to the inventory section first, as it is the only thing that must be done prior to use of the cash register. Once parts have been added the program is ready to make sales. To do this you can go to the SALES MENU and go to the sales screen as explained in the section entitled "SALES MENU" or quit out of the program and restart it. After you have entered the startup information and restart the program it will automatically go to the sales screen whenever started. For information on getting back to the menus please read the SALES MENU section of this manual. MAIN MENU The MAIN MENU is a path to all areas of the program. It is accessed by typing "MENU" in the employee number area on the cash register and then inputting a level 3 or 4 employee number, level 3 has limited access to menu functions and level 4 has full access. The menu system is not needed to perform any cash register functions. Menu choices are made by ether hitting the letter of that choice which will execute that choice and bring you to the next menu or by using the up and down arrows to scroll through the choices. When scrolling through the choices a sub menu showing the choices under that menu will also be updated. For information on the sub menu choices see the appropriate section in this file. ACCOUNTING MENU By pressing the letter "A" from the MAIN MENU the ACCOUNTING MENU will appear. This menu is use for all information about money. As with the MAIN MENU you need only hit the first letter of the choice or use the arrow keys to highlight it and hit enter. By pressing the letter "L" from the ACCOUNTING MENU the ledger menu will be displayed. Pressing "D" from the LEDGER MENU will display the ledger on the screen. The right arrow key will move the whole screen to the left showing additional information for each line. Using the left arrow will move it back and the up and down arrow keys move you though the information records. Page up and page down may also be used to move more quickly to the records wanted. Pressing the question mark "?" will display additional navigation keys. The "F1" key sorts each line by sale date, this is the default, and the "F10" key sorts them by sales number making all transactions, for that sale, appear next to each other. You can also delete lines by pressing the "Del" key. The word "DELETE" will appear on the top of the screen showing that the line is marked for deletion. Pressing "Del" again on the same line will undelete that line. To exit the ledger press the "Esc" key, if any lines are marked for deletion a prompt will appear on the bottom of the screen. These lines have only been marked for deletion but are not actually removed until you hit the "F1" key. Hitting the "F10" key will not remove the lines giving you a chance to go back and undelete then. Be very careful when using this feature because you are changing the databases and this may give you inaccurate reports in the future. Pressing "P" will print the ledger. First you will be prompted to enter a beginning and end date for the printout giving you the ability to print only the date range that you want. Once these dates have been entered the ledger will print all entries from the beginning date through the ending date. Pressing the letter "B" from the ACCOUNTING MENU will bring up the BIG PICTURE screens. The Big Picture is a snapshot of all sales dollar information within any time frame. When requesting Big Picture information first will appear a box asking you to enter the beginning and ending dates that you would like the information for. The system will default to the dates of the first and last sale in the current data base. To use these dates, giving you a total picture of your current database, simply hit "ENTER" or you may change the dates by typing over them with the dates wanted. Hit "F1" to show sale dollars by category and then to return to the ACCOUNTING MENU. By pressing "S" from the ACCOUNTING MENU a box will appear requesting you to enter the beginning and ending dates of the sales tax period you want information for. Unlike the BIG PICTURE the system does not default to any dates and you must always enter them manually. The taxable sales are the total sales of taxable items not including the tax, the nontaxable sales are the total sales of items that are nontaxable, the exempt sales are the total sales of taxable items that no tax was charged, the total sales line is the total of all three types of sales, and the tax collected line is the amount of tax collected during the time frame requested. You may print this screen by pressing the "PRINT SCREEN" key on your keyboard, any other key will take you back to the ACCOUNTING MENU". By pressing the letter "E" from the ACCOUNTING MENU the End of Day report is requested. The End of Day report gives you information on all sales since the register was last cleared. This information may be requested with or without clearing the register. This is done by pressing ether the letter "Y" which gives you the information but does not clear the register or pressing the letter "Z" which gives you the information and also clears the register. In addition a reorder list may be printed by answering "Y" to question "Print reorder list?". Once this screen is completed the computer will start getting the information needed, this may take a minute or so depending on you computer speed and the amount of information in it. After the computer has finished the report will be printed. If your printer is not ready or not working a beep and a message will appear on the bottom of the screen telling you to make the printer ready and hit any key or to press "Esc" to abort the printing. This message is normal for all printouts and in most cases hitting "Esc" will bring you back to the last menu that you were on, but for the End of Day report the information will be sent to the screen one page at a time. Pressing the "F1" key will display the next screen The first part of the report is much like the Big Picture except that it only shows information for the time period since your last clearing of the cash register. This can be used to reconcile the cash draw. The next part, the Category List, shows all one hundred possible categories that parts may be assigned to and the dollar amount sold in each category since the register was last cleared. All parts when entered into the inventory are assigned by default to category 0 but can be change at any time, see the INVENTORY MENU section for more information on categories. The last part, the Parts Usage section, shows all parts sold since the register was cleared listing the part number, description, total dollar charged for that part, and the profit margin made. Part usage can also be printed for any length of time and any range of part numbers through the parts printing option in the inventory section of the program. For more information on that feature see the INVENTORY MENU section of this manual. If a reorder list was requested this would print after the End of Day report. When inputting parts into the system you can set up a reorder level. Parts printed in the reorder list are those that have an on-hand plus on-order quantity less then the reorder level. For more information on the on-hand, on-order, or reorder levels see the INVENTORY MENU section of the manual. The next choice on the ACCOUNTING MENU is the "Inventory $". By pressing the letter "I" you will be prompted to input a range of part numbers that you would like the total value of. The default is all part numbers in your inventory. The returned value is computed using the latest "last paid" price for each item times the "on-hand" number for that part. The next choice on the ACCOUNTING MENU is the "Category list" option. Pressing the letter "C" will bring up a sub menu. The first choice, "Edit category", is selected by pressing the letter "E" and will next ask for a category number. After inputting the category number desired the description field will be displayed and may be edited to describe the category. After entering the description and hitting the "Enter" key you will be asked to hit "F1" to enter the new information or "F10" the abort the entry returning it to its original state. The other choice is the "List" option used to display all one hundred categories. This list can be modified by highlighting the field you wish to change and then pressing the "Enter" key. Once "Enter" has been pressed a cursor will appear letting you type over the information in that field. The category numbers can not be changed. The last choice on the ACCOUNTING MENU is to graph sales. This is done by pressing "G" from the menu. The system will prompt you with the choices of graphing by days, weeks, or months. The graph will show twelve bars each representing one day, week, or month. After selecting one of the choices the system will prompt you for a date. The default date will be the date that the system is using as today's date. This date can be changed to any valid date and the graph will count back from that date twelve time periods. On the left side of the graph will be the dollar value of each step on the graph. These figures are automatically scaled based on the highest value of the time periods. Along the bottom of the graph is the date and exact dollar amount for each bar. The date will be the day, the beginning of the week, or the beginning of the month. Weeks are seven-day periods, and months are calendar months. Pressing "Esc" will return you to the ACCOUNTING MENU. CUSTOMER MENU Pressing "C" from the MAIN MENU the CUSTOMER MENU. This menu allows you to Add, Delete, Edit, and View customer information as well as to print customer lists and labels for mailing lists. Pressing "A" will bring up an Add Customer screen. It is not necessary to manually add customers since using the cash register will automatically add new customers when they purchase items. This is a second way to add customers without using the register. Once entered on the screen press "F1" to enter it into the database or "F10" to abort that entry. Pressing "D" will cause the system to request that you press the number "1" to locate the customer by the last four numbers of the phone number or "2" to locate by last name. After hitting the number "1" the system will request the last four numbers of the phone number of the customer you wish to delete. After entering it, if more then one customer is in the system with that number a list will appear and then using the arrow keys you highlight the correct customer and hit enter. By hitting the number "2" the system will request the last name. It is not necessary to know the complete spelling of the last name, enter as little as is known and then hit enter. The system will display the customers last name closest to the entered name and let you search forward by pressing "F" or backward by pressing "B" from there. When you find the correct name press "U" (use) or if the name is not found press "Q" (quit) to return to the menu. After the information is on the screen press "F1" to delete that customer or "F10" to abort the deletion. Pressing "E" works much the same way as deleting to get the customer information up onto the screen. Once the information is on the screen the cursor will be placed over the first name allowing you to change any information needed, hitting enter or using the arrow keys will move you from field to field. Changing the phone number will cause the four-digit number used to locate the customer to change to the new last four numbers of the phone number. This screen will also show you the last date any items were sold to this customer. This date may be changed to allow the customer to be included it a mailing discussed later in this chapter. After entering the information and hitting enter on the sale date the changes will automatically update the database. Pressing "V" will display on the screen the database information for all customers. Using the left, right, up, and down arrows will move you around the database as will as the "PgUp", and "PgDn". By highlighting a field a hitting enter you can change the information, but as in the ledger, use caution making changes this way. If you change the phone number for example, the four digit code will NOT change. The information is, by default, sorted by the four digit customer number, (last four numbers of phone number), by pressing "F10" the information will sort by customers last name. Hitting "F1" will again sort it by customer number. Pressing "Esc" will exit you back to the menu. Pressing "P" simply will print a list of all customers. Pressing "M" will cause the system to request sales dates and a part range for the mailing list printout. The defaults are all sales dates and all part numbers giving you a complete mailing list. By changing the dates you can control the mailing to a range of either recent or old customers. By changing the part range you can mail to customers that have purchased specific items or range of items. Once done the system will request you insert labels into the printer. The system is setup for 15/16x3.5 by one wide labels allowing for minimum waste when finishing in the middle of a page. After inserting the label forms press any key to continue and the system will ask if you would like to print line up labels. If you answer "Y" (yes) three labels of X's will print to help you line up the forms. After the forms are lined up answer "N" (no) and the address labels will print. INVENTORY MENU Pressing "I" from the MAIN MENU will bring up the INVENTORY MENU. Pressing "A" brings up the ADD PARTS SCREEN. The first field entered is the part number you wish to assign to the new part. If the number is already used the system will display a status line at the bottom of the page "Part already on file...Hit any key" this means that the number you have entered is already in the system as either a different part or that the part you wish to enter is already entered. If the number is not in the system the cursor will move to the next line where the description of the new part is entered as you wish it to be displayed throughout the program screens and printouts. Next is three vendor information areas, this information is for reference only and need not be entered. First is where the vendor name is entered, next is an area where quantity and price ranges can be entered. After the vendor information areas is the quantity on-hand field, this is the number of pieces in stock. Then comes the reorder level, this level is used when requesting a reorder list with the End of Day report. If the on-hand plus the on-order levels are at or below the reorder level this part will appear on the reorder list. Next is the maximum on-hand level, this is for informational reasons only. After that is the on-order field used to keep track of the number of this part on-order but not yet in stock. Next is the line that tells the system whether or not the item is taxable. Answering "Y" (yes) to this question tells the system to calculate tax for the sale of the item, and answering "N" (no) tells the system that this item is nontaxable and no tax will be calculated for this item when sold. Next is the selling price of the item, then the price last paid for the item. The price last paid is used for both informational reason and for calculating profit margins. Last is the category number you wish this part to be assigned, the default category is 0 for all parts and can be any number up to 99. After entering this information press "F1" to enter the part into the database or "F10" to abort this entry. The cursor will go back to the part number field for your next part number, when finished entering numbers hit enter with a blank part number to return to the menu. Pressing "D" will bring up the DELETE PARTS SCREEN. The system will request you enter a valid part number and after hitting enter will display all information about that part. At the bottom of the page a status line will appear requesting you press "F1" to delete this part or "F10" to abort the deletion. Pressing "F1" will also bring you back to the part number field so that another number can be entered. As with the add part screen, entering a blank number will bring you back to the menu. Hitting "F10" will bring you directly back to the menu. Pressing "E" will bring up the EDIT PARTS SCREEN. The system will request you enter a valid part number and after hitting enter will display all information about that part. The cursor will be positioned on the part number allowing you to change any field information by moving to that field using the up and down arrow keys or hitting enter, once at the field you wish to change just type in the new information then hit enter. After hitting enter on the last field, (category), the status line will appear at the bottom. Press "F1" to enter changes or "F10" to abort changes. After this a blank parts screen will return requesting the next part number. Entering a blank number will return you to the menu. Pressing "R" will bring up the RECEIVE PART SCREEN. This screen is used to receive parts into the system adding the quantities to the on-hand level for that part number. If there is an on-order level it will be reduced by the amount received. Entering a part number will display the description of that part. Next enter the quantity received. Next will appear the last price paid allowing you to change it if your cost has changed. Then the current selling price will appear giving you a chance to change it. The status bar will then appear, hit "F1" to enter the new quantity or "F10" to abort that entry. When you are done entering parts enter a blank part number. A window asking if you would like to print a list of the received parts will appear. If you answer "Y" (yes) to the print list question, you will be asked if you also want to print labels. Answering "N" (no) to printing the reorder list will save the information till the next time you receive parts. It is suggested that you print the list when you are done receiving parts otherwise the list will keep growing until it is printed. Pressing "O" brings up the ORDER PART SCREEN. This is use to put parts on order in the system and to get them off the reorder list. It also helps give useful information when looking at the status of parts inventory letting you know that the part has already been ordered. After the quantity has been entered press "F1" to order or "F10" to abort. Entering a blank part number will bring you back to the menu. To print an on order list use "P" Print Parts discussed next in this chapter. Pressing "P" will bring up a window allowing for seven different parts printouts. By pressing the numbers "1" through "7" the printout listed will be printed. Printouts "1" through "4" will request the range of part numbers you wish to print defaulting to the total part range. Printout "6" will request both a date range and part range defaulting to all dates and all parts. Printout "7" will request you to input part numbers and quantities for labels to be printed. Pressing "L" will bring up a display of the parts database. This display, like the others, can be moved through by pressing the arrow keys and the "PgUp" or "PgDn" keys. By highlighting a field and pressing enter, field information can be changed. Pressing "Esc" will bring you back to the menu. SALES MENU This menu can be used to make sales, "Cash Register", return items, "Return", void sales, "Void", pick up items with deposits or make second deposits, "Pick Up", and display sale, return, void, deposit and quote information, "Display". These functions are explained in more detail in the text to follow since they will most often be used from within the cash register. The major difference is that the employee number will not be required from within the menu system for each transaction as it is at the cash register since it had to be entered to get into the menu system. All transactions performed from the menu will have the employee number of the person who signed into the menu system. The cash register screen will normally be displayed when the system is first brought up and is where all sales are performed. If this screen is displayed for more then four minutes a screen saver will be displayed to avoid "burning" the register format into the screen. To display the register just hit any key on the keyboard. At the top left of the screen "Employee number" will be flashing. To make a sale the employee's number must be entered. After a valid number has been entered the cursor will move down to "Enter last four digits of phone number" prompt. At this point the last four digits of the customers phone number should be entered. If a past sale was made to the customer their name, address, and telephone number will automatically appear. If more then one customer with the same last four digits is in the computer a box will appear on the screen showing the customers first and last name. Using the arrow keys move the highlight bar to the correct name and hit the ENTER key to select it. If many customers have the same last four digits the box that appears may only show the first few names and by continuing to press the down arrow key the names will scroll through the box showing more names of customers with those numbers. If no customer with those numbers is found a box will appear requesting the customers' name, address, and phone number. This information is not mandatory and may be left blank. If entered, the customers information will be added to the customer database for future sales and for customer lists such as mailing. If entered this information will also print on the sales receipt. Once this is done the cursor will move to the bottom of the screen waiting for part number entry. This can be done by typing in the part number and then hitting ENTER or, if using a wand, by passing the wand across the bar code. If the part number is valid the part description and price per unit will appear and the cursor will move to the quantity column if the setup question, ask for quantities, was answered "Y" (yes). If the part number is not valid a message under the number will appear along with a short beep. After responding to this message the cursor will return to part number column waiting for a new number to be entered. After a valid part number and quantity greater then zero, if quantities are being used, has been entered the cursor will move to the selling price if the setup question, validate selling price, was answered "Y" (yes). After this the line item will move up into the middle part of the screen. As new parts are entered the line items will fill the middle section of the screen and the total sale and tax information in the top right part of the screen will be updated. If the middle section fills up the lines will begin to scroll up but will not be lost. When the cursor is in the part number column pressing "F1" will highlight the already sold items allowing you to use the arrow keys and select and item to edit. Once the line has been selected pressing the ENTER key will place the cursor over the quantity sold. To remove this line simply enter a quality of zero. If the quantity is greater than zero the cursor will move to the part number allowing you to change the part number to another valid number. If the number is left alone or change to another valid number hitting ENTER will move the cursor to the parts description field. Changing this field only affects this one receipt and does not change the description in the parts database. Again pressing enter will move the cursor to the price per unit column allowing you to change the price for that item only one this one sale and like the description the parts data base is not effected. Pressing enter at this point will update the receipt and return you to part entry column at the screens bottom. When the cursor is in the part number column pressing "F3" will first ask you to confirm that you wish to clear the sale and if answered "Y" (yes) will then remove all parts from the sale. This will not take you out of the sale, it only zeros the totals and lets you reenter parts for that customer sale. When the cursor is in the part number column pressing "F8" will first ask you to confirm that you wish to abort the sale and if answered "Y" (yes) will delete the sale returning you to the "Employee Number" prompt. If new customer information was entered this information will be saved even though the sale was aborted. When the cursor is in the part number column pressing "F10" will complete the sale. The first thing that will happen is a box will appear requesting a method of payment. Split tenders are possible so the method chosen may only be for part of the payment. After selecting the payment method the cursor will move to the upper right section of the screen at the "Amount Received" prompt. If the sale is to be tax exempt press the up arrow and the cursor will move to the "Tax" prompt allowing you to zero the tax amount, hitting ENTER will then return you to the "Amount Received" prompt. The tax prompt will only allow full tax or zero tax on a sale, if only part of the sale is tax exempt it must be done on a separate sale. If the amount received is equal too or higher then the total sale a box asking if the sale is complete will appear. Answering "N" (no) will return the cursor to the "Amount Received" prompt giving you a chance to modify your tax or total amounts and if answered "Y" (yes) will cause the cash drawer (if installed) to open and the receipt to print. If the amount entered as the amount received is less then the total sale, a box will appear asking if this is a deposit, split (tender), or back. If "deposit" is chosen the balance due will flash in the upper right, the receipt will print and, if installed, the cash drawer will open. If "split" is chosen again you will be asked the method of payment and the same prompts will appear. Any number of splits can be made on the sale. Answering "back" will assume a mistake was made in entering the amounts and it will give you another chance to enter the payment information. To reprint any receipt, make a return as explained later in this section returning no items. After the return a new receipt will print. When the cursor is at the "Employee Number" prompt, just to the right of that prompt are some other commands that may be performed. Instead of entering an employee number any of the commands shown may be entered. The commands are performed by entering the letters that are capitalized. To return items from a sale, type "RET" in the employee number prompt. The system will then ask for the employee number. The employee must have a level two are higher security to do a sales return. After entering a valid level two or higher employee number a box asking for the sales receipt number will appear, enter the correct sale number and press enter. The system will find the sales receipt a display it on the screen. Pressing "F1" will highlight the first line item, and as in the sale screen use the arrow keys to highlight the line item desired then press enter. You may then enter the new quantity of that item being retained by the customer, for example, if the customer bought three of an item and returned one, two would be entered as the new quantity. If only one was purchased and then returned entering zero will remove the entire line from the sale. After all returns have been made pressing "F10" will open the cash drawer, if install, and print a new receipt. The cash to be returned and the method of payment will be displayed on the screen. If the sale had not been paid in full, it is possible that none or less then the total return amount will be displayed as the amount to return to the customer. If the tax rate has be changed since the sale the system will prompt you to enter the old tax rate to correctly compute the tax to return. The ledger will be updated to show a return. To void out a sale type "VOID" in as the employee number then enter a valid level two or higher employee number. Next as in the return, enter the sales receipt number. The system will display the sale and by pressing "F10" will void the entire sale, or by pressing "F1" will abort the void and return to the sales screen without doing anything. If the sale is voided the ledger will be updated to show a void. The next choice is called "Pick Up" which is entered "PKUP". This can be done by an employee of any level a serves two purposes, the first being that the customer is picking up a sale that has a deposit and is going to finish paying for it, or second they are putting additional money down on the sale but not paying the balance in full. As with the return and void the employee number and sales receipt number are requested and then the sale is displayed. Receiving money here is similar to receiving money in the sales screen. No receipt will print but the cash drawer, if installed, will open when complete. The employee should mark the customers receipt the show this transaction. The ledger will be updated to show a pick up if the final payment was made, or 2_deposit if only a deposit was left. Part is used by typing in "PART" in as the employee number. This option allows any employee to search for an exact part number, on hand level, or selling price of any part. A box will appear on the screen and the employee can enter the part number they desire or the closest number they know to that number, the system will display the closest match and allow the employee to search forward and backwards by part number to view the information. Hitting "Esc" or entering a blank part number will return you to the sales screen. "EDAY", which stands for End of Day, is a report that gives the employee a reading, or clearing of the cash register. The report which normally is printed to the printer consists of four separate sections. The first section shows all sales, returns, voids, deposits, and pick up dollar information as well as cash received and returned. It breaks this information down by method of payment and also calculates the total money in the cash drawer. The second section lists the one hundred categories that parts can be assigned to and the total dollars sold in each of those categories. The third section shows, by part number, all the parts numbers sold and includes the quantity sold, the total dollars of the item sold, and the profit margin percentage based on the last amount paid for that item. And the forth section, if you answered "Y" (yes) to the prompt "Print reorder list", is a list of all parts that have an on hand plus on order level lower then the reorder level set up for that part. If the printer is not working this report will be redirected to the screen so the information may be copied. All totals for the first three sections of this report are zeroed after it is ran only when clearing the register, if only a reading was taken all totals are preserved. This report can also be ran from within the menu system under Accounting/End Of Day. "QTE" is entered to create a sales quote. The screen is the same as the sales screen except that parts are not removed from inventory, and no entries are made in the ledger. There is a quote number assigned to be used later to recall the quote. When entry of the quote is complete the quote will be printed and new customer information will be retrained in the customer database. The quote can later be recalled using the look up command from within the cash register or through the "display" menu choice in the menu system. Once displayed through ether method the quote can be made into a sale by pressing "F10" or deleted by pressing "F5". Pressing "F1" will retain the quote for later recall. "MENU" allows a level three or four employee access the menu system. "QUIT" is entered to exit the program. After a valid employee number is entered the system will ask you to confirm that you want to exit the program. Answering "Y" (yes) will exit you to the DOS prompt and answering "N" (no) will return you back to the last screen you were at. EMPLOYEE MENU The employee menu allows security level four employees to "ADD", "DELETE", "EDIT", and "LIST" all employees. Pressing "A" will allow you to add a new employee to the system. When adding new employees, a unique employee code is needed. The system will check the new code and rejected it if it is not unique. It will then ask you to verify the code by reentering it. Once the code has been verified the employees name and security level must be entered. After the information has been entered pressing "F1" will enter the employee's code, name, and security level to the system, and pressing "F10" will abort the entry. Pressing "D" will allow you to delete and employee that is no longer allowed access to the system. The system will prompt you for the employee's code, then will show you the name and security level of the employee being deleted. Pressing "F1" will then delete the employee or press "F10" will abort the deletion and return you to the employee menu. Pressing "E" will allow you to edit an employee's information. You must first enter the employee's code then you will be prompted to reenter the code or a new code and verify it. Next you can change name information and the security level. Pressing "L" will list all information on all employees. Hit "Esc" to return to the employees menu. UTILITIES MENU Pressing "D" from the UTILITIES MENU allows you to change the date for all system activities. When the P.O.S. system is started the date is taken from the computers internal clock. From that point on the system will use that date for all transactions. Should you need to change the date while the system is in use press "D" from the UTILITIES MENU and enter the date you wish to use. This action does not change the date of the computers internal clock but only changes the date being used be the system. The system will allow only valid dates to be entered. Pressing "T" from the UTILITIES MENU allows you to change the tax rate for all future sales. The rate should be entered as a percentage. The system will keep track of the date of the change and, as discussed in the chapter on sales, request the old rate for returns and voids prior to that date for correct tax reduction on the ledger and for cash returned. Press "P" from the UTILITIES MENU to change the program's password. When changing the password you will first be prompted to enter the old password. Once the old password has been entered and verified you will be prompted to enter the new password and then to verify it. If verified this new password will be needed the next time the program is executed. Please note that the password is case sensitive (upper case and lower case characters are different). Pressing "A" from the UTILITIES MENU allows you to archive older sales information including the sales, returns, voids, and ledgers. The system will prompted you for a date and will then archive all information prior to and including that date. This function allows the system to work faster since the amount of information in the current databases is less. None of the archived information is lost, and can be viewed if needed. Viewing this archived information is discussed later in this chapter. Pressing "C" from the UTILITIES MENU allows you to use the current databases. The current databases are the data bases normally used. This feature is only needed if you were viewing the archived data bases and want to return to the current information. Pressing "V" from the UTILITIES MENU allows you to view archived information. This option is only active if you have previously archived data base information. Once activated there will be a message flashing in the upper right of the screen to let you know you are using the archived databases. Some of the menu choices in the menu system will not be active and will beep as well as give you a message that these functions can not be used while in the "view archive mode". Pressing "S" from the UTILITIES MENU allows you to change the setup of the system. The first question on the setup screen is asking where the databases are located. The installation program has already told setup where they are and this information will be displayed as the default answer. You should not have to change this unless you change the data base drive or path. The next question is the format you want to use for your part numbers. There is a short paragraph explaining that using an "X" will allow entry of any character in that position, a "9" will allow only numbers in that position, and that the characters "/" and "-" will be fixed in that position. Overall length of the part number can be 6 through 20 characters. As the part number grows from 6 characters up to the 20 maximum the length of the description field will go down proportionally. The default is ten characters allowing letters, both upper and lower case, and numbers. Upper and lower case letters are not considered the same so care should be taken when assigning part numbers. This allows for sixty-two possible entrees per position giving many possible part numbers with few character positions used. Also if using a slash or a dash in the format and the format is changed care must be taken that the new format will allow old part numbers to be entered. The format and size can be changed at any time. The next three questions deal with how you would like the cash register to function. The first question, "adding customers during sales" allows you to bypass to customer data base entry if your business does not warrant it. The second question, "validate every price", is asking if you want to have and chance to modify the price on each part entered as they are sold. As parts are sold, the selling price is automatically retrieved from the inventory database and if you answer "Y" (yes) to this question you will have to confirm or change the price on each item entered. This is an extra step for each item and is not necessary if most of the time the price will not be changed. The price can also be changed by hitting to edit the item sold as explained later in the Sales Menu section of this manual. The third question, "ask for quantities", is asking if you want to enter quantities for each line item or if you want to just enter the part number and each line will be a quantity of one. Answering "Y" (yes) will allow you to enter quantities for each item. If you plan on printing labels the next line should also be filled in. This line is printed on the bottom of every label.. The next four lines will print on the sales receipts in the lower left across from the totals. These lines will not print on the sales quotes. Under that are the last invoice and quote numbers. Once that screen is complete screen two will appear. The next few questions deal with what is connected to your computer. The prompts will allow you to chose between parallel and serial communication ports. Use the arrow keys to highlight the correct choice and then press enter to select it. (Important: the system will not function properly if you chose a serial port but do not have the cash drawer, pole display, or printer install on it). You will also be asked to chose a printer type. At the time of this printing support for Epson, Panasonic, and IBM emulation's are supported for the report printer and Citizen and Star for the receipt printer. Only the EMAX Universal 104 pole display has been tested but most 20 column 2 line serial displays should work If you answering "Y" (yes) to the next question, "Ask before printing receipts", a prompt would appear after every sale asking if you what to print a receipt. Answering "N" (no) will automatically print receipts after a sale. To reenter any of the above information answer "N" (no) to the last question otherwise answering "Y" (yes) will continue you onto the third and final setup screen. All the information on this screen can be changed at any time. The next screen shows the information that the program will use for the front banner and the sales receipts. The registered owners name will appear on the Login screen under "Registered to" and will be double spaced. (I.E. There will be a space between each character in the name.) Next is the information that is printed on the receipt. Line 1 is printed in double high and wide print and is 20 characters maximum. Line 2 is under line 1 and is 30 characters maximum. Line 3 is also 30 characters and line 4 is 30 characters maximum. Line 5 is the phone number. Lines left blank will not print and all others will be centered. After entering the information a registration form will print and you will be reminded to fax or mail in the form within 30 days or your copy will no longer function until you receive and enter your registration code. This allows us to keep you up to date on changes and improvements to the program and protects us from unauthorized copies being used. There is no cost involved with registering your legal copy. If no changes are made the system will return to the UTILITIES MENU. If changes were made the system will prompt you to confirm that you want to make the changes and if answered "Y" (yes) that you must call and register the changes within seven days or the program will stop working. Even if it stops working no data will be lost and registering it will restore everything. If you answer "N" (no) to the confirmation the original information will be retained. Advanced Point Of Sale (made easy) Sales system - Full cash register - Handles any number of items - Handles quantities up to 9,999 per item - Automatically brings up customer information based on last 4 numbers of telephone number, or allows you to enter it easily, automatically building a customer data base for future use. - Very easy to correct mistakes - Prices can be adjusted for individual sales - Shows total of sale after each entry - Any number of deposits may be left before pick up - 4 Security levels limit level of use allowed by employees - Easy to create and save quotes - Quotes can easily be converted into sales - Easy look up of past sales, returns, voids, and quotes by receipt/quote number, customers last name, or date of sale/quote - Look up parts and inventory levels from within the cash register - Easy to make returns and voids - All activities logged in ledger and time stamped with employee number for easy identification - Part quantities checked as parts are entered and updated after sale - Description and price automatically shown - Optional use of bar code wand for easy and accurate part entry Inventory system - Ability to manually add, delete, or edit items - Easily receive parts increasing on-hand quantities and giving you a chance to change pricing - Prints list of received parts for verification - Enter quantities of parts on-order to remove them from the reorder report - View data base by part number - Print reports on inventory information 6 different ways - Price list with on-hand quantities - Price list without quantities - Parts list with limited information for any range of part numbers - Parts list with all information for any range of part numbers - List of parts on-order - Parts usage report for any time frame and any part range including profit margins - Print bar code labels including price, description and a fixed line Accounting system - Full view of ledger by date or sale number - Total register information for any period of time - Sales tax information for any period of time - Reading or clearing of current register - Current inventory value for any range of part numbers - Graph sales for twelve days, weeks, or months from any date Customer system - automatically built through sales system by using the cash register or quoting system - Ability to manually add, delete, or edit customer information - Print address labels for customers that purchased any range of part numbers during any period of time - Print full customer lists Employee system - Add, delete, edit, view employee information including a private 4 digit code and security level Utility system - Change tax rate - Change date - Change entry password - Archive older information - Switch between Viewing archived files or using the current information - Change owner or business information Security system - 4 level security protection to limit employees access - Level 1 can only make sales, take deposits, and do customer pick ups - Level 2 can also do returns, voids, and quotes - Level 3 also has access to limited inventory functions - Level 4 has full system access Printer and Cash Drawer Specifications Printer... Both parallel and serial interfaces are supported. The system supports use of ether one printer for reports and receipts or a report printer and a receipt printer. As of version 4.1 only Epson, and IBM compatible graphic printers are supported for report printing and full page receipt printing. Citizen and Star emulation is supported when using a receipt printer. 24 pin dot matrix printers that advance the paper to the perforation when finished printing, (sometimes called "Pcut"), work great and are inexpensive With 2 ply plain paper the receipts will have copies for you and your customers and the same paper can be used for printing reports. If your printer does not have the correct emulation, select the generic choice. Only some bold and condensed printing may be affected. Future versions will support more printer emulation's. Cash Drawer... Both parallel and serial interfaces are supported. The cash drawer must open by receiving an ASCII character. If the cash drawer you chose opens using a specific ASCII character it must be set to receive an ASCII "01" character. Pole Display... Only the EMAX Universal 104 pole display has been tested but most 20 column 2 line serial displays should work. .......................POS Optional Equipment Cash Drawers, Pole Displays, and Receipt printers can be purchased through M-S Cash Drawer Corp. They are located at 2085 East Foothill Boulevard, Pasadena, California 91107. Their telephone number is 818-792-2111, outside CA. 1-800-544-1749. Program Support Program support is available through: James Enterprises of New York, Inc. PO Box 272 Copiague, NY 11726 (516) 841-1456 http://www.aposme.com