Problem with "groups"

[Tim]

Hi Dale,

I have "use groups" on by default...when I park a sale to start a new one (option #2 on park sales menu), I am prompted for my associate number, and then am taken to the sales screen...but not the groups. I must press F1 for the groups...

Not a big deal for ME, but for my clueless sales staff...that's another story. Shouldn't the stock table/groups appear by default?

Thanks!
-Tim

[Dale Harris]

Tim,

Well not actually a problem, it is just the way the program works. I suppose I could change it but it is going to cost ya.

You are the only person to tell methat you use the "groups" feature. How about writing me a paragraph or two to tell me how groups works for you? What do you like about it? What surprised you about it? How could it be better? Bonus points for details.

Dale

[Tim]

Dale,

I'm shocked to hear about the lack of "groups" use. I love the groups feature!

I use the groups feature to do just what you designed it for--to "replace" a touch screen on a commercially available POS system. I use this POS system at a bar which also serves desserts--it's more of a lounge than a bar. To make matters much easier for the wait staff and bartender, no need to memorize stock numbers.

I've got the stock table organized into 5 groups:
A) Cover charge
B) Beers
C) Mixed drinks
D) Soft drinks
E) Desserts
F) Appetizers

The staff can easily then select what was ordered, instead of having to recall from memory the stock numbers, or look them up, it's a simple two key-press operation for each item.

Again, I like the ability to easily train the staff and make transactions quick even with the limitations of the hardware. Plus, this is easy software to use. I don't like the commercial products, they take too long to configure.

When I first read about the groups feature, I thought there would be more "layers", more menus. However, this method works well too. I mean for instance if I pressed "F" for appetizers, I could be presented with "Hot" or "Cold" then pick an item. Instead, just one option, then directly taken to the stock table.

None of the categories in my stock table are longer than 20 items, so I can't really say anything about difficulty of finding items, I think it's a great feature. One thing I always seem to have trouble with is figuring which lines each of the seperate groups should be on in the stock table. Poor math on my part.

Tim

[Dale Harris]

Tim,

I have changed the program so that anytime you return from the parking lot you will be back into the "groups" mode. Assuming of course your register uses groups.

This will be in the next release version 6.35 which has been uploaded now.

<center> http://keyhut.com/pos3.htm </center>

[Dukane]

Terriffic!

[Dukane]

Dale,

When I enter an item from the groups menu, I feel that I should be taken back to the groups menu (the top level menu) where I can select from my general categories again. It appears in the latest version, when adding an item from a group, I'm taken back to the second level menu.

For instance, the groups menu appears, and I select "Drinks" from choices of "Snacks", "Drinks", etc... Then I get a list of drinks, such as "Pepsi", "Water". I then add the item to the sale. When the item is added, because the groups feature is the default on my register, the groups come back up. However, I am borught to the second level menu where I can pick "Pepsi", "Water" again. But if I want to add a pretzel, I would have to hit ESC first to get back to the top-level menu again.

Is this by design or by error? I think it would be a lot easier to start from the top-level menu again.

[Dukane]

Nevermind, got it.

[Dale Harris]

I just love the problems that solve themselves.

[ChrisKraus]

Is this by design or by error?

That problem was designed to solve itself.
- Chris