WATPOS Release 3.0

Point of Sale System

Overview

Waterloo Information Systems Limited

33 Dupont Street East

Waterloo, Ontario

N2J 2G8

© Waterloo Information Systems Limited  2000

The information contained herein is proprietary and considered a trade secret of Waterloo Information Systems Limited and shall not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written authorization of Waterloo Information Systems Limited.

System Overview

The University of Waterloo Point of Sale System (WATPOS) was originally developed by the University's Information Systems Development Group and is now supported and exclusively marketed by Waterloo Information Systems Limited. WATPOS provides both Point of Sale and Backroom functions for a store environment. The Point of Sale portion runs on a cash register, and provides sale transactions, returns, voids, payments on account, and so on. The Backroom portion runs on virtually any terminal, and provides reporting, data-transfer, and support functions for the Point of Sale devices.

WATPOS runs on an Open Systems server(UNIX or Windows NT). A variety of hardware platforms may be utilized, including Intel systems and RISC based systems..

WISL offers a point of sale device utilizing a standard PC as the system unit and Windows 95 as the operating system. To the standard PC platform a point of sale package has been added that includes a printer, a keyboard with a magnetic card reader, a cash box and a scanner may also be added that may be connected via a keyboard wedge or serial port. WATPOS may also be integrated with WISL Bank Authorization to provide credit and debit authoriozation through the register..

For the Backroom terminal, any ASCII terminal or PC emulating an ASCII terminal may be used, including a MERIT cash terminal if desired.

WATPOS is a transaction driven system, meaning that each type of transaction or function can have its own unique requirements, separate from any other transaction.

The following types of transactions can be supported:

Other phantom-type transactions such as Void, No Sale, Session Opening and Session Closing are also supported.

WATPOS includes the following features:

Back-office access, updating, and reporting are configured to give WATPOS great flexibility in a variety of POS applications. All of the above features are discussed in detail in the next section.

Features of WATPOS

The operator is prompted for all necessary information. If an error is detected in the information input, a helpful error message will be displayed, and the operator will be prompted to re-enter the information.

At any time while editing a screen the operator can get help on any field.

Option choices are kept in parameter files. These parameter files are maintained by the Backroom system. For example, a new tender type can be added by the Backroom operator as needed.

Cashiers can be accountable in two different ways for each register group:

A bar code (UPC code) can be read by a laser scanner and used in a price look-up (PLU) to determine the price, description, department and tax code. Prices can also be looked-up using any other identifying number (ie. SKU) entered by the cashier.

All tender types are defined to the system by a parameter file. The user can create new tender types, and change existing tender types, with no changes to the actual programs.

The following options can be specified in defining a tender type:

Multiple tenders may be accepted as payment or returned to the customer within a single transaction. In such a case, amounts are prompted for with each tender type used until full transaction amount is reached.

Each transaction is saved on disk for further processing. Each item is recorded, not just summary information. New files are created daily, leaving the previous day's file intact for future processing. The transaction files can be transferred to a host computer as desired. Transactions are saved in an archive file for several days before being deleted automatically.

All data entry is checked for "reasonableness". For example, an entry in the price field will be checked for the following:

Any tender type can be set to prompt for an account number, which can then be checked to ensure the purchaser is authorized to use that tender. The checking, if done, can be either a "must find" (positive credit) or "must not find" (negative credit) table look up.

Before using any WATPOS functions, all clerks must enter a confidential clerk code. Each person can be assigned their own clerk code, or a group can be given one clerk code. As described below, that clerk code defines which menu actions that clerk will be allowed to access.

Individual clerks can be disallowed access to menu options. For example, only one person would likely be permitted to access the Backroom menu option that changes clerk codes.

The headings and footings of the of the receipts (slips) can be customized for groups of registers. Date, time, cashier (clerk) code, transaction number, and register number can be placed as desired. Lines can be specified as normal or double-width characters.

Validation (imprinting) can be forced by one or more of transaction type, department, or tender type involved. Only multi-tendered transactions will ever possibly force more than one imprinting per transaction.

Line items entered can be discounted by a percentage specified for that item, by a percentage pre-established for that item's department (inventory class), or with all other items in the transaction globally, or any combination thereof.

Up to three levels of taxation can be controlled as needed (ie: Federal, Provincial/State, Municipal). If necessary, taxes can be compounded onto higher level taxes. The ability to be exempt and overridden are controlled individually for each tax level. Any of the individual taxes applied can be summarized individually on the slip as needed.

A full-screen calculator can be accessed from any field on any Point-of-Sale or Backroom Screen as needed, with the results returned to the field if desired and if applicable.

If the optional keyword index is maintained, an inquiry feature can show the items and their prices in each store.

If the optional keyword index is maintained, the inquiry screen can be used to make a line item selection directly from the inquiry screen.

Totals by Department and Tender are automatically provided with the closing of each register session. Multiple forms of these reports and several other analysis and audit reports are available as desired through Backroom menus. Reports can be grouped by session, register or date, and can be sent to the screen, the printer, the slip printer or a terminal printer.

Multiple stores can be established independently of the number of machines being used or the grouping of registers. Different stores can use different sets of product prices as desired.

Provided a new transaction has not been started, the last slip produced by any given register can be reproduced if the originally-printed receipt is not usable. Reprinted slips are obvious on the audit copy of the paper roll.

If allowable for each specific tax level, the tax which would normally be charged can be exempted and reported as such. Similarly, if allowable, the tax code normally used can be altered for a particular item.

The PLU (Price Look-Up) and Parameters files can be kept up-to-date in multiple-machine installations using available Backroom steps. Similarly, transactions can be gathered together on a host machine for reporting or further processing.

Any transaction still online (in the current file or any of the archive generations) can be viewed from the Backroom System.

The full-function Point-of-Sale system can be used to train an operator without effecting actual transaction totals. Reporting is also fully available to training transactions.

The Point-of-Sale system allows transactions to be assigned to the current or next business day. This feature allows some (or all) registers to close early and then re-open using the next business day as the transaction date.