EPOS wishlist - our own

[actinico]

resubmitted this thread - see below ....

So it will stay on the main page hopefully!

[TraceyG]

Hi,

All the above have been added to our wishlist.

[actinico]

Hi
Glad to know.

Regarding the import/export on different file type (as in most database programs), it would simplify your job as most problems I found were database related and impossible to manage - like bar code deleted but still held internally (invisibly to us) and the last I found when I decided to use barcode as Product Code and now I am stuck with it and lost a product that I cannot re-enter!

Export to Excel (cvs, etc.) type of file it probably covers most of computers as they generally have installed at least Works, which includes cvs handling etc. and save us that do not have and need Access, to purchase it just to use with EPOS.

If you do this (soon as a patch) - it will solve 50% of problems as we would be able to handle 'all' data - Tracey :cool:

[actinico]

I DO TRUST ACTINIC TO SOLVE PROBLEMS SWIFTLY AND TO HOPEFULLY UPGRADE THIS VERSION OF EPOS - or I would not have invested our earned cash - I trusted the name and I hope you will be able to resolve issues promptly and without charge!


Hi
I thought we ought to have our own wishlist on EPOS only.

If you wish so, please add your reply and every time you have a new wish - pleasead it on the same reply and we will keep it short and concise to our Actinic friends to work on.

1. program must be 'a lot' more customisable
2. hardware should be too (do agreements with manufacturers and customize what 'you' sell - they will be happy, as you will sell their products more because of it
3. possibility to export / import database in different formats - it should not be difficult - on EXCEL starting from '97 version
4. settings too (as above)
5. more category fields listed within the 'Add a product' window, so you do not have to do it afterwards
6. make the program a 2007 one by raising it from the recommended 800x600
and also be able to have the windows like 'View by category' spread within the screen facilitating work within it. The same for all other options
7. DATABASE
a. when on main window of Product file, be able to see 'all' fields - so they will be easily modifiable, when you have thousands to do!
8. make program 32bit, so it will be resizable depending on type and resolution of customer monitor - at present it is on the old 16bit (nowadays we already are on 64bit) and does not expand with monitor size, only the background window automatically resizes to maximum screen and it is also not settable. Every time I have to reduce it manually, in order to be able to see other programs at the same time. If you reduce program window size and click on an option like: prouct details etc, it automatically resizes to full screen, very annoying when you are opening and closing windows all the time - for example doing stock taking or initial setup!
9. Be able re-order in alphanumerically order - for example within Product File:

1. Suppliers, 2. Category, 3. Category 1,
and anything else really.

How do you re-order the way you need a list?

Example in data sheet: 1. Barcode ordering, 2. Product ordering, 3. price , ordering, 4. cost ordering

10. In Product File 'Single Cost' is rounded to 2 digits after the decimal point
Ex: I have a 0.0083 single item cost within a pack of 100 and program rounds it at 0.01 - unfortunately I do need to have exact figures to the smallest number. When you do stock taking, you cannot round numbers or they will not collimate with the books. Unless this happens only on the product file and it is only shown short and then the number is still as we entered it and the final accounts will be exact.

11. Enable [MOUSE] Cut/Copy/Paste to facilitate working with program - sometime I need to copy/paste a barcode I cannot swipe and do a 'Lookup'

12. In Product File 'when entering barcodes': If I enter in Product code 345-5667 or 345G-778/4 which is the product code we buy, then EPOS automatically fills the Barcode field (it copies the product code) that is fine, but it should filter all special characters and only read 3455667 or 345G7784.

13. In product File if you wish to change name to a category or just modify its name slightly - whatever changes you do (2.704 version) you will loose its sub-category names - that should not happen as we need once in a while to rename fields

14. on Product File, if you click on Add Barcode and add a existing one, you get a window saying: Error Adding New Barcode Invalid use of Null
OK, but if you click on the OK button EPOS remains in a infinite loop and I have to shut it down!

15. On SALES (training mode) I input our supplier code (which 'is' listed in) instead of the barcode and EPOS asks me to input a new barcode! This should not happen and on SALES the database should also search for SUPPLIER CODE as they are on 90% of items anyway and if we have one item left with no barcode (we are allowed to miss one once in a while!) EPOS ask to input a new barcode which is not necessary and keeps our customers waiting.
Please add this feature ASAP - thanks

I think most of the above points come out as simply modify the program in order to be able to set it as 'we' the customer likes it - depending on 'the customer' way of managing 'their' stock

Thank you for listening

[calljj]

See this post hasn't been used for a while so either everyone is incredibly happy with the product, or perhaps no-one has seen for a while..

I would like to add the option to add postage charges through the check out when selecting a customer to make a delivery to. I note that the delivery charge and other delivery fields already exist within the database structure.

[actinico]

Hi
Actually I am still using it with the same problems!

It is that I learned work arounds, but I still have a few problems.

One of which - accounting discordant as others had, sometimes a product is unfindable (but tit is there), etc.

Several small but annoying things.

The problem in my view is there are not many users of this program (!) and
nobody has seen it since I stopped adding points - that keeps up and obviously Actinic do not make it sticky!
Also I believe there are many of the few that use this program that are happy to pay them £. 600 x year to have assistance on 'mainly' program problems still not fixed, rather than standard 'user' questions.

It is a nice program, but to me it looks like it is still in its infancy, until somebody that know what their doing will 'finally' fix it.

I just keep going on with it and learned the lesson. :(

The other thing is that there is not a proper updating system for this program and every time you also have to visit their Downloads part of the website and find if there is an update.
Then you must back up everything as this program is 'very' dangearous!

I still work with the 2.73v and I downloaded the lastest a few weeks ago, but decided to do it after Xmas - I do not need to go mad during high season!

I do also use MSaccess to do the small changings - it is easier and always work - but it may take time and every Saturday I use MSaccess and do a 'Repair Database' as this program keeps getting 1Mb larger during the working week and MSaccess compacts it well and keeps it working.

The most annyoing thing to me is the fact that it corrupts the database too easily (but that may be Microsoft problem - one of many!) and that is why it looses pointers to some products once in a while and cannot find it.

Ciao!

[calljj]

EPOS should check windows regional settings on installation, and notify if not set as they should be - particularly date format which will cause issues with the database recording of transactions e.t.c If done in VB, a possible solution would just be a few simple lines of code such as:

Private Sub ChangedateLocale()
Dim lngLocale As Long
lngLocale = GetSystemDefaultLCID()
If SetLocaleInfo(lngLocale, _
LOCALE_SSHORTDATE, _
"dd/MM/yyyy") = _
False Then
' Handle an error if it occurs

End If
End Sub

[cdicken]

Hi chaps

Thanks for the input on this thread. I've made the post sticky, so it's easier to find, and passed on the details to the EPOS team.

[calljj]

Enable the rentals module again.

I would be very interested due to renting equipment. Would be even better if YESPAY did pre-auth on credit cards as "deposit"

[cdicken]

Thanks James - I've passed this on to the team.

[calljj]

Improve screen resolution.
Tiny little epos display on lovely big 17"

[calljj]

Option to select templates that do not include the shop's details, i.e templates for invoicing and packing slips e.t.c than can be used with headed paper.

[cdicken]

Thanks James - I've passed these two on to the EPOS team.

[calljj]

Option to select which printer for which task, i.e Receipt printer for recipts, a laser printer for invoices, a label printer for barcodes, a networked printer for picking lists etc.

[calljj]

After completing a sale the last sold item remains displayed above the "pay" button.
Needs to be modified so that end of sale, boxes are refreshed to blank again.

[calljj]

If pack size is set to 1 (i.e number of items per pack = 1) when adding a product for the first time, then for all other processes relevant to that product, the options should be greyed relating to number in pack.
For instance, as a company where each product is 1 pack and 1 pack conatins 1 item of stock, it becomes quickly tiresome on stock entry having to enter pack numbers and singles numbers.
Likewise there is no need for pack numbers/single numbers in the reports when items are supplied/sold as 1 per pack.

[calljj]

On stock in, quick scan, the mouseover help on the top box is incorrect and relates to box beneath it.

[cdicken]

Thanks for these James - I have reported a bug for the last one and added the rest to the wish list.

[Bun]

Thanks for these James - I have reported a bug for the last one and added the rest to the wish list.

Well, It has certainly speeded up Business with the 'Manage Stock in EPOS' enabled.....a lot better than it was

Well done:)

[Confused Sally]

When I put Carol into the customer search I get a weird option. there is another name that brings up something funny too, can't remember what that is

[proadventure]

How do i workaround the hidden items please, it keeps telling me to order them.

Also how do I use access to tidy up?

I don't have access, is there another way of doing this?

It's driving us potty at the minute as we are trying to automate our stock ordering but it keeps telling us to order deleted products.

Pete

[TraceyG]

Hi,

How do i workaround the hidden items please, it keeps telling me to order them
Set the minimum stock level to something like "-1000" on the hidden items

Also how do I use access to tidy up?
I don't have access, is there another way of doing this?
You can use access to compact and repair databases but you have to have Access to do this - there is no other way.

but it keeps telling us to order deleted products
How are you deleting products? You should only ever delete products through the 'Product File' and nowhere else in the software as that could result in not deleting the products correctly.

[calljj]

Under Ticket printing, have a button to select all products, or/and select all products from category, rather than having to lookup each product individually.

Also under ticket printing have the option to automatically upate the number of labels it prints based on the number of items you have in stock for that product.

Realise both of the above are more for people just starting out, but its a PITA without these simple things.

Also if i book stock in, does it automatically put those items and the quantity into the list ready for printing?

[calljj]

Put the option to tax exempt the entire sale during checkout.

[cdicken]

Many thanks for these wish list suggestions. I have passed them on to the developers.

[Confused Sally]

When cloning items, I generally clone because they are almost identical, just changing colour and bar code and product code, so could the clone please retain
a, all the categories not just top and no 1
b, the supplier / manufacturer
c, the cost and retail price, the option is there to change them but to pre fill would really speed things up

With regard to the accounts system, when using it as a loyalty scheme the following facilities would be useful, I hope they are already added to wish list but thought I would add them to this post so altogether

1. Generate a global statement telling you on a certain date how many points are waiting to be converted to cash.

2. Generate a global statement on a certain date telling you what you current cash liability is.

3. It would also be good if it was possible to produce a condensed report of which customers had redeemed what cash

4. If you would like some more ideas for the wishlist, I don't let my customers spend their 'free cash' until they have more than £5 so the ability to set a point at which you start looking at the customer would be useful, ie, print off a list of all the customers who currently have more than £10 worth of loyalty cash to spend, you could use this as a great marketing tool.

5. Also Is it possible to print on the receipt how what is left sitting in their accounts? or how many points they earned that visit (ie like Tesco's)?

I think the accounts section of EPOS could be a brilliant marketing tool - look what clubcard and nectar points have done for their respective companies. My customers love a loyalty scheme, we used to stamp a card, EPOS keeps better records, but now my customers don't know how many 'stamps / points' they have at any one time.

[cdicken]

Thanks Sally

I have passed this on to the development team.

[Jon 1095]

I'm still playing with the demo of the new version before upgrading just to get a feel for the differences. I noticed in the help menu the 'Icon' part of the buttons menu still says reserved for future use.


When can we expect this feature - many of my screen are getting crowded and as I've seen on other similar epos systems they have got round this by adding images and an ability to resize any individual button (ideal for lines that are sold more frequently as they can be larger).

[Jon 1095]

Most of our sales are loose goods, (the customer selects their own), we then weigh them at the till I have checked the box that asks for price at scanning however this doesn't help with stock control or ordering and has pretty much denied me one of the great benefits of an EPOS system, simplified ordering!

As it stands if I buy 10kg of X and sell that item loose it doesn't matter whether the customer buys 10g, 100g, 181g or 918g as far as EPOS is concerned that sale is 1 unit so my stock count goes down by 1. I tend to program the stock count based on 100g units as per our pricing so 10kg would be in effect 100 units.

This also impacts on profit and loss because the value of the sale could be more or less than the cost item of the product according to EPOS.

Now I'm certain that to have a weigh scales system it has to be Trading Standards approved and again as I understand it this is an entire system not parts, for me therefore it would mean buying a complete new hardware option making redundant hardware that works.

Is there a work around for this, it may mean creating a decimal point in stock units, something like this:

Customer fills bag with 180g of X which sells at 20p/100g. Item is weighed at checkout point and product found on EPOS. EPOS then asks to key in amount = 36p.

Having entered the amount EPOS then realises the customer has in fact bought 1.8 units of the product adjusts the stock control accordingly and the cost price, as this is also 1.8 times the unit price.

Or alternatively an extra box is required in the product screen for "Sell by Weight" and when this is checked, the weight can be entered as the stock amount and then at the sales screen instead of entering "enter price when scanned " another button "enter weight when scanned" which Actinic uses to convert into a price so as in the case above it would multiply 20p x 180g and display 36p, (The weight could then also be printed on a receipt). it may need an option to set the "sales units" i.e. 100g 1kg etc. or multiples +/_ thereof.

The latter would enable me to set a minimum weight before re-ordering and instead of having to manually check 100's of stock items each time I need to order I could make full use of the system and probably save about 6 hours a week.

[Jon 1095]

Sorry I feel like I'm hogging this thread at present.

Is it possible to look at an option to fully customise the design of the loyalty card within the system - I'm aware that you can add a picture (either customer, logo or whatever). I personally would like to be able to add my logo in a place I choose, add my address and telephone number, (great for encouraging telephone orders which adds to customer loyalty aspect), add a.n.other picture I'd like to add some of my own wildlife photo's to make them more memorable to customers and finally change the size (inc custom size).

Lastly, from experience running a sheet of labels through a printer to print one label will leave a grey mark on the sheet which after several run throughs will make the sheet unusable (particularly in reading barcodes), could there be a batch process similar to ticket printing where several could be undertaken together.

[TraceyG]

Hi Jon,

I've passed your requests to the developers.

[rapieriiia]

Although you can currently specify the destination printer and tray for reports and ticket printing, it does not save for future use.

It would be very useful to be able to save these settings.

[TraceyG]

Hi Nick,

I've passed your requests to the developers.

[Modhvadia]

I agree with one of the earlier posts you should expand the hardware range and compatability.

[scottydog]

Unbelievable that this isnt possible, import the cost price from EC to EPOS.

Reason I was given this isnt possible is because the pack qty would also be required. So why not default the pack size as one on import so at least we can get something cost wise into the field? Or put a pack qty field in EC so it will be spot on?

Back to manually putting them all in...

Scott

[Mark Evenden]

When using the "stock in" facility it would help in our shop if it were possible to alter any prices on that screen.

What happens in our situation is we get our weekly stock order and check it off against the invoice, the invoice indicates if there have been any price rises or pack size changes since you last bought the product. Recently everything seems to be going up regulary...its just a pain having to flick between "stock in" and "quick change"

We have been cheating and doing all the work on the "stock in" screen to save time, but you then dont get the "stock in" history :(

[glasgowmike]

With the new import functionality it would be good to add the following import fields and fix the following:

1) Department - useful for reports and it is our top level structure for our store. Odd it is not linked to Ecommerce V9 (means if you start at Department your sections will be messed up if you transfer data to ecommerce V9 as it starts with Category 0 as the top level section)
2) Supplier's Code & Description - Supplier Id is already an import feature but these two fields would help with stocktakes and ordering. Need to make sure the import then is link to the 'Suppliers' tab in the product file.
3) Minimum Stock Level & Packs to Re-order - same reason for #2
4) Fix or link the 'description' fields found in the product file data - when you import 'product description' it evidently changes/import/updates the description at the top of the PRODUCT FILE > DETAIL tab but it doesn't update the DESCRIPTION field at the bottom with the barcode data. The look up/search function uses the upper DESCRIPTION FIELD and as a result you need to manually update this field.
5) Fix cost issue - you can import pack cost and pack quantity but evidently it does not effect single cost (shows as zero always)

[Krithika]

Hello Michael

Thank you for bringing these points up.

1) Department - useful for reports...
2) Supplier's Code & Description Have passed these 2 points to the development team.

3) Minimum Stock Level & Packs to Re-order Have added this to the wishlist for you

4) Fix or link the 'description' fields found in the product file data...This can be achieved in the current import feature. You would need to map the field in the import file containing description to both "Product Description" and "Barcode Description" in the EPOS Fields list, on the "Mapping Fields" tab page of the import wizard. This will update both the description fields at the top and bottom.

5) Fix cost issue - you can import pack cost and pack quantity but evidently it does not effect single cost (shows as zero always)This has been raised as an issue already to be fixed in a future release.

Regards

[Motoscope]

Hi Everyone,

We went live with Actinic EPOS on Tuesday (6/4/10) with three tills on a network. One till is also used as the back-office machine.

1) When booking an order from suppliers in through 'Stock In', the field Order_LastDate in tblProduct in data.mdb is updated with the month and day swapped. You can see this on the Product - Main Page as 'Last Ordered'. Has anyone else noticed this, or am I going nuts? If you agree it is happening can it be fixed?

2) Having three tills I haven't found how to print a a Z-Read which includes the information for all three tills:confused:. Presently I use reports 'Z Reads with Tender Type Breakdown' and 'Sales by Category' and get the PayIn amount from each till Z-Read. It would be helpful for these two reports to be combined into a single Branch Z-Read in the same style as the till Z-Reads. Even more useful would be to add a 'Branch Z-Read' option (probably with ZID starting with a zero) to the tills 'Sales Options' list. If it can't be added to the till 'Sales Options' list it should be added to the 'Reports' list in the 'Sales Report Group' and 'Accounts Report Type'. It should include all till Z-Reads, even multiple Z-Reads from a till, for a particular day.

3) On the Suppliers Details screen a LOOKUP button would be very useful, we have almost 300 suppliers.

4) When doing a 'Pay Cash In' or 'Pay Cash Out', an 'Add Line Note' would be very useful to add a 'Purpose' to the receipt slips which are printed.

5) When using 'Payment On Account' from the till 'Sales Options' there is no name printed on the 'receipt' or A4 Invoice printed out, unless you use customer lookup from the main till screen also. Can this be changed so that the lookup in 'Payment On Account' adds the Customer Name and Customer Number (where selected) to the receipt or A4 Invoice as the main Customer Name and Number if they are blank, or as a line note if the Customer Name has already been selected from the main screen. This would cover both possibilities a) account customer comes in to make a payment to their account, or b) a second customer decides to make a payment into another customers account (personally, this has never happened in the last 6+ years I have been doing the book keeping here:D)

6)On the Setup/Printing screen there is a 'Customer Number Printing On Receipt' radio button, which does not seem to work. Although I have this button checked on all our tills there is no customer number printed on any of our receipts or A4 Invoices. Can this be fixed please?


I'll stop there I think, for now.

Cheers,

Dave Jackson
Book Keeper, IT & Electronics Guy, Office Manager & General Dogs Body, etc.
Motoscope (Northallerton) Ltd
www.motoscope.co.uk (http://www.motoscope.co.uk)

[ton]

Can i second this request from Motoscope:

"When using 'Payment On Account' from the till 'Sales Options' there is no name printed on the 'receipt' or A4 Invoice printed out, unless you use customer lookup from the main till screen also. Can this be changed so that the lookup in 'Payment On Account' adds the Customer Name and Customer Number (where selected) to the receipt or A4 Invoice as the main Customer Name and Number "

TON

[Mark Evenden]

Is it / would it be possible to get a double beep, or differnt tone if an item scans as red screen.

When scanning multiple items, if you don't glance at the screen each time it is possible to get red screen and blunder on ... then have to do it all again because you still get a single beep even if all is not well.

My girls don't get a problem with this.......just me ;)

[Krithika]

Hi Mark

Have added this to the wish-list for you.

[BoboMonkey]

Please can you disable the barcode scanner when at the pay screen?

Sometimes my staff would unknowingly put an item in its path and automatically scan it. Therefore the system thinks that the customer tendered the amount shown on the barcode scanned and conclude the sale with a crazy amount of change to give!

Also please can you put a 'cancel redscreen' button on the sales screen? It is tedious looking for it in the menu.

Thanks

[Motoscope]

When printing a copy of an A4 invoice (Main Menu/Data/Transactions), a second sheet is printed with only the invoice footer on it, if you have an invoice footer selected.

Can this be added to the fix list please?

[Motoscope]

It would be very helpful if the "Payment details..." could be added to the "Payment on Account" and "Refund on Account" A4 Invoices, like on other A4 invoices.

Also, on the Main Menu/Setup/This Till/Printing there is a tick box for "Customer number printing on Receipt", it would be very useful if this customer number could be printed on the A4 Invoices.

As you have probably guessed, we have quite a number of customers with accounts, and these two requests would make my job considerably easier.

Cheers,

Dave Jackson
Motoscope (Northallerton) Ltd

[Confused Sally]

Option to increase the price of an item by percentage, at moment can only increase by amount, this facility would be good as both a global action or for individual items

[Confused Sally]

Barcode should be displayed / available for insertion, on product screen of buisness, whether or not EPOS is linked

[ton]

This might be a stupid one but I would find this VERY useful:

Id like to know the minimum sale price of an item when I look at the individual product information screen.

Basically the Cost price Including vat

A couple reasons for wanting this:
-with some products it helps us calculate what is the minimum we need to charge.
-It would help with over the phone/counter price negotiations.
-On some occasions we sell items at cost so this price would have to include vat (selling off an item, selling to a friend)

A simple thing that would save a lot of calculator time that I always get wrong when Im under pressure with someone on the end of the phone or standing next to me looking for a price straight away

Tara

[BoboMonkey]

Many users have asked for this in the past but the issue has not yet been addressed!

With the actinic supplied pole display:

- 0.00 manual price entry does not display (cash sale, etc.)
- multiple item quantities do not display
- change due to customer, time displayed is too short

Please sort these out for the next update

[fireworkstore]

Would really like the option in reporting to report by individual department rather than all of them. Very limited reporting using any department reference.

[scodon]

I would like to see, and presumably others would like:


The ability to set a time-out for logged in users so that it re-locks after a period of inactivity to avoid accidental permission issues. Locked screen savers may prevent customers interfering with EPOS but lack of login prompt leads to potential exposure of credentials.

The ability to discount by value not just percentage.

The ability to discount by decimal percentage, required as we use penny code items that need to be discounted to create stock movements.


Otherwise its been very well recieved by the team.

Thanks

[Confused Sally]

Is it possible to create customisable reports? so I could choose what information is shown, not just the dates?

[DavidAM]

1. Ability to resize columns in various search/lookup screens.
2. Ability to suppress receipt printing "on the fly" from within the sales screen if a customer doesn't want a receipt. e.g. very small value transactions.
3. Button within the lookup facility on the sales screen to provide a quicklink to the highlighted product within the Products screen.
4. Improved reporting and ticketing interface allowing own editing of reports and ticket layouts without the need for Crystal Reporting.
5. Customisable interface with more modern button shapings and effects suitable for windows 7.
6. Improved and simplified multibuy and promotions options. e.g. allowing a whole category of products to be included within a 3 for 2 deal as long as the same tax treatment.

No's 1 & 2 are my top wishes as these would make my life easier in my own business.