A big thank you for the Sambapos team

[rvandam]

Today I finally installed the Sambpos in our restaurant. I installed in on a "Dell Inspirion One" which has a huge touch screen. For the two Epson TM-T88III serial printers I use a usb to serial adapter with 4 ports (only two com ports used). I connected the kitchen printer with a 20 meter cat5e network cable and two serial to utp adapters.

I use a script in combination with the Windows task scheduler to make a daily backup of the SQL Express database. With the program Autover I sync the backup dir with a nas using ftp. If anyone needs a copy of the script please let me know.

After this weekend I will post some user experiences.

[emre]

Great! We'll be waiting your comments.

[evail]

Nice and Goodluck.

My setup has being now like 6 months. I have to say feature by feature it is improving.

Now that you have mentioned automatic daily backup. Can you please share how to set up the automatic backup.

Thanks

[rvandam]

@evail

I made a directory c:\sql and put the following script in it:

Code: [Select]

SET BACKUP_DIR=C:\SQL\ServerBackups
::SET BACKUP_DIR=\\WIN-SC-SRV1\Downloads\SQLData
SET SERVER=localhost\sqlexpress
for /f "tokens=2" %%d in ('echo %date%') do (
for /f "tokens=1-3 delims=/" %%j in ('echo %%d') do (
set month=%%j
set day=%%k
set year=%%l
))
set /a day=%day%-1
if %day% lss 10 (
set day=0%day%
)
::set year=%year:~2,3%
::set year=20%year%
set mydate=%year%-%month%-%day%
for /f "tokens=1-2 delims=: " %%a in ('time /t') do set XTime=%%a%%b
sqlcmd -S %SERVER% -d master -Q "exec sp_msforeachdb 'BACKUP DATABASE [?] TO DISK=''%BACKUP_DIR%\%mydate% - %XTIME% ?-Full.bak'''"

You have to configure SET BACKUP_DIR and SET SERVER for your needs.

This makes a full backup of the database, and names it after the day of week. I call this script once a day, using the Windows task scheduler. You find more info here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/schedule-a-task

You can find the program Autover here:
http://beanland.net.au/autover/

This program is easy to setup, and does its job well.

The only problem with the solution above is that the sql dir gets filled with backups, and you have to clean up occasionally. There are scripts around to automatically remove backups which are x days old, but I like to do it manually.

Edit: I found the script on the internet (I think it comes from Microsoft)

[rvandam]

@emre and te rest of the Sambapos team.

Here is some feedback after working a few days with Sambapos. We worked two days with the Sambapos and the first results are very positive. We have some issues, which are not critical, but solving them would make our life a bit easier :-)

1. Product combinations
Sometimes people here drink their softdrinks with a lot of types of alcohol (for example rum). In the old pos I was able to select cola --> a plus key --> and then rum. The ticket showed cola + rum

To figure out every possible mix drink, and add them to the pos would be overkill, so on Sambapos I have to insert a product option group with all types of alcohol in it (which is a long list). So we select cola --> option rum

The problems with this approach:
      * cola is low VAT and rum high VAT How is this combination booked in the backoffice?
      * I have to keep track on prices on two locations in products and in product options.

A solution would be a "plus" key. Or the possibility to add a product group to the options. When I could add product group "strong alcohol" to a option group "mix drinks"

I used as example mix drinks, but also in food lots of combinations are possible.

2. Possibility to add products with a variable price.
For service purpose we have a little low traffic store with lots of articles. It would be great if I could type 15,95 --> store
Adding all products to the pos is of course possible, but gives a lot of buttons, and cost much time to keep up to date

This would also be great for some other articles like bowling. We have a few bowling lanes, and some clubs have a special price.
I know I can add extra options to an article and reduce or add value, but when 30 people of a club want to pay at the same time, it takes too much time. 

3. auto log out after x minutes.
On day time there are a lot of quiet hours. It is a security risk when the pos is unattended and people can unseen press the "open cash drawer" button. From experience I know it is very hard to track what happened when people (for example cleaning staff) takes small amounts from the pos occanionally. When the pos would log out after 15 minutes inactivity there would be less risk. 

[emre]

Hello rvandam. Thank you very much for the suggestions..

I liked the + button idea because it seems like easy to use. But I couldn't understand how it works. Can you give more details about how to calculate the final price and how to display it on ticket?

I saw some SambaPOS users configured most used companion drinks (such as Cola, Fanta, Sprite, Soda, Redbull,etc.) as product options for alcoholic drinks. It adds x price to the drink price but it is not the price when sold separately.

When a customer wants something unexpected like cola + beer (?) instead of a mix they sell & serve them as individual products. So displaying them as different lines on ticket won't be a problem.

Note: In our country when you mix products and sell them as a single item with a single price, VAT becomes the highest VAT.

[rvandam]

@emre
In our case when a customer orders a rum/cola, the prices are added. The only thing the + button did was grouping the two articles on the ticket.

Without + button:
Rum 3,25
Cola 2,00

With + button:
Rum + Cola 5,25

In the backoffice both scenario's are booked as 1x Rum high VAT, 1x cola low VAT

With this button the system becomes more flexible, because you can make unusual combinations (customer is king ), also with food.

btw: I have added all alcoholic drinks as mix options, and the amount of work was not as much as expected.

Edit: in our case the drinks are mixed at the bar, and the customers would be surprised to get two separate drinks. But you could also use this button for food combinations. For example:  French fries with ketchup and meat balls (the kitchen know now that all food must be served on one plate) 

Edit2: I just had a little discussion with my brother (he takes care of the administration). The handling of the VAT is the same as in your country. When alcohol is added to a drink, the whole drink becomes high VAT. So the VAT information I gave above was not correct.

Also when an item is grouped by a + button the highest VAT tariff must count for the whole combination.

[rvandam]

After a few day working work with the pos I must say I am really happy with it:

* I only need a few minutes to explain the pos to employees, so it is very user friendly
* We are addicted to the product options. It was much work to enter all desired options, but now the system is settled and it works like a charm.

A few really small remarks from our employees:
* the lower buttons for main menu and for switching to departments could be a bit higher.
* When a new customer is entered, the phone number is a required field, which is a bit confusing. 

Thanks!