PPOS Manual

Installation and Quick Start guide

Copyright © IPD

Index

1) Introduction and Overview

2) Installation i) MySQL server ii) MySQL administrator iii) MySQL query browser iv) Windows Installer v) .NET Framework vi) .NET Connector vii) ODBC Connector viii) Report Designer ix) PPOS Installation x) PPOS Configuration

3) Quick Start guide i) Logging on to PPOS ii) The PPOS environment iii) Capture your stock in the system iv) Making your first Cash Sale v) Creating Cash Suppliers vi) Capture purchased items in the system vii) Viewing and printing reports

Introduction and Overview Thank you for choosing PPOS as your point of sale solution. This software makes use of the latest technologies to provide you with a stable, fast and flexible solution. PPOS uses Microsoft’s latest programming language to give you a fast and stable working environment. All transactions are stored in a super fast MySQL database which allows PPOS to handle a high transaction load. You also have the benefit of a Report designer which allows you to customize your slips and reports, or even create your own. Every part in PPOS (Cash Sale, Quotation, Reports etc.) is a separate program. Each with its own set of slips and configuration. Although this might make PPOS a bit more complex than other point of sale packages, what it gives you is the power of flexibility. After you have installed PPOS, you will be able to use all the programs except the ones with licenses. By default those programs will have expired licenses. The following programs have no licenses (they will never expire). They are: Cash Sales, Cash Clients, Debtors, Cash Purchases, Cash Suppliers, Creditors, Product Center, Reprints and Control Center (for Reports). The following programs have licenses (and consequently a license fee). They are: Cash Returns, Credit Sales, Credit Returns, Debtor Payments, Debtor Journals, Sales Orders, Quotations, Job Cards, IBT’s, IBT Returns, Cash Up, Cash Purchase Returns, Credit Purchase Returns, Purchase Orders, Creditor Payments, Creditor Journals and Stock Taking. In a small cash based business you would normally do the following things: 1) Capture your stock in the system - Product Center 2) Sell the captured items to your clients - Cash Sale 3) Create cash suppliers who you buy stock from - Cash Suppliers 4) Capture purchased items in the system - Cash Purchases 5) View or print reports - Control Center With the 5 programs above, you have a decent level of stock control and since these programs have no license fees, they are free to use for as long as you like. If you find that you will need more than the 5 programs above, or if you want to link up more than one computer in a network, we recommend that you register and sign up for a support contract. Once signed up you can buy a license period that suits you, and all your programs will be licensed accordingly.

Installation

1) Start Windows XP ® or Windows Vista ® 2) Make sure all applications are closed. 3) Insert the PPOS CD into your CD or DVD drive 4) If Window’s ® Auto play is enabled, a main installation screen should appear.

If Auto play is not enabled, click on the Start button on your Windows ® Taskbar, then on Run. Type D:\Setup and click OK. Note: If your CD or DVD drive has a drive letter other that D, substitute that letter.

The main installation screen that you will see will have a list of buttons on the left. Every button represents a program that will have to be installed for PPOS to function properly. We are going to install every program starting from the top and working our way down. Note: If you are going to installing PPOS on only 1 computer, then you will have to install all the programs. If you are going to install PPOS on more than 1 computer (Network), then you will l need the assistance of a PPOS Certified Member. This installation is streamlined to be installed on a C:\ drive, if your installation will be on a different drive, contact your dealer for further assistance. Make sure the Windows ® Firewall is turned off before proceeding. If you are not sure how to turn it off, consult the Windows ® Help for further assistance. You can always turn it back on after the installation.

5) MySQL server a) Click on the button that says MySQL server to launch the installation program. b) On the Welcome screen click in the Next button. c) On the Setup Type screen choose the Complete option and click on the Next button. d) Click on the Install button, and on the MySQL.com Sign-Up screen choose Skip Sign-Up and click on the Next button. e) On the wizard Completed screen, make sure the ‘Configure the MySQL server now’ option is checked and click on the Finish button. f) On the Configuration Wizard welcome screen click on the Next button. g) On the Configuration Type screen choose the ‘Standard Configuration’ option and click on the Next button. h) On the Windows Options screen check the option ’Include Bin Directory in Windows PATH’ (All other options will be checked) and click on the Next button. i) On the Security Options screen in the ‘New root password’ field type in 1234 and also in the ’Retype the password’ field. Check the option ‘Enable root access from …’ and click on the Next button. j) On the Ready to Execute screen click on the Execute button. k) If a screen comes up saying that you need to turn off your firewall and your firewall is turned off, click on the Try Again button. l) When successful click on the Finish button to close the wizard.

6) MySQL Administrator a) Click the button that says MySQL administrator to launch the installation program. b) On the Welcome screen click on the Next button. c) On the License Agreement screen choose the option ’I accept the terms…’ and click on the Next button. d) On the Destination Folder screen click on the Next button. e) On the Setup Type screen choose the ‘Complete’ option and click on the Next button. f) On the Ready to Install the Program screen click on the Install button. g) After successful installation click on the Finish button.

7) MySQL Query Browser a) Click on the button that says MySQL query browser to launch the installation program. b) On the welcome screen click on the Next button. c) On the License Agreement screen choose the option ’I accept the terms…’ and click on the Next button. d) On the Destination Folder screen click on the Next button. e) On the Setup Type screen choose the ‘Complete’ option and click on the Next button. f) On the Ready to Install the Program screen click on the Install button. g) After successful installation click on the Finish button.

8) Windows ® Installer a) Click on the button that says Windows ® installer 3.1 to launch the installation program. b) On the Welcome screen click on the Next button. c) On the License Agreement screen choose the option ’I agree’ and click on the Next button. d) If a small screen pops up with a Continue and Abort button, click on the Continue button. e) After successful completion check the option that says ’Do not restart now’ and click on the Finish button.

9) .NET Framework a) Click on the button that says .NET framework 2 to launch the installation program. b) On the Welcome screen click on the Next button. c) On the License Agreement screen check the option ’I accept the terms …’ and click on the Install button. d) Note: This will now take a few minutes to install. e) On the Setup Complete screen click on the Finish button to close the installation program.

10) .NET Connector a) Click on the button that says .NET connector to launch the installation program. b) On the Welcome screen click on the Next button. c) On the License Agreement screen check the option ’I accept the terms …’ and click on the Next button. d) On the Setup Type screen click on the button that says ‘Complete’. e) On the Ready to install screen click on the Install button. f) After successful installation click on the Finish button.

11) ODBC Connector a) Click on the button that says ODBC connector to launch the installation program. b) On the welcome screen click on the Next button. c) On the Setup Type screen choose the option ‘Complete’ and click on the Next button. d) On the Ready to Install screen click the Install button. e) After successful installation click on the Finish button.

12) Report Designer a) Click on the button that says Report designer to launch the installation program. b) On the Select Setup Language screen click on OK. c) On the Welcome screen click on the Next button. d) On the License Agreement screen choose the option ’I accept the…’ and click on the Next button. e) On the Destination Location screen click on the Next button. f) On the Select Components screen click on the Next button. g) On the Select Start Menu Folder screen click on the Next button. h) On the Select Additional Tasks screen click on the Next button. i) On the Ready to Install screen click on the Install button. j) After successful installation un-check the option ’Launch Report Manager Designer’ and click on the Finish button to close the installation wizard.

13) PPOS point of Sale a) Click on the button that says PPOS point of sale to launch the installation program. b) On the Welcome screen click on the Next button. c) On the License Agreement screen choose the option ’YES – I accept …’ and click on the Next button. d) On the Readme screen click on the Next button. e) On the Setup Type screen choose the ‘Typical’ option and click on the Next button. f) A Windows ® display properties screen will pop up where PPOS screen savers will be included in the list. (It might not appear in Vista ®). g) Choose a screen saver and click on the OK button. h) On the Choose Destination Location screen click on the Next button. i) On the Set Program Shortcuts screen click on the Next button. j) On the Confirm Setup Settings screen click on the Next button. k) On the Setup Complete screen click on the Finish button.

14) PPOS Configuration Wizard a) Click on the button that says PPOS configuration wizard to launch the program. b) On the Welcome screen click on the Next button. c) On the PPOS location screen click on the Next button. d) On the Actions screen you have the following options: Choose a printer to print your slips to from the drop down box. Choose a slip size for your slips from the slip drop down box. Choose a default prefix for your transactions. (Leave the prefix on ‘WS001’) If you have chosen your default slip i.e. ‘Slip_A4’ you can click on the ‘Make changes’ button to type in your own business name and address. After you have clicked on the ’Make changes’ button the chosen slip will open up in a designer program. In this program you can make changes to the slip’s design etc. We are just going to change you business name for now. So click on the label on top of the slip where it says ‘PPOS Point of Sale’. A list on the left will appear showing you some options for this label. Go to the last option named: Text. In there you will see in the ‘PPOS point of sale’ in the field. Click in front of the first ‘P’ of PPOS in the field with your mouse and use the Delete key on your keyboard to take out all the words. Type in your own business name in the field. Click on the other labels like the address labels and make your changes.

When you are finished click on the first section named: Page Header to highlight it.

On the left you will see options for this header, so right-click on the option that says ‘External Path’.

A Pop up menu will appear, and then click on the menu item that says ‘Save Section’ to save the section changes. The ‘Page Header’ section makes it possible to change only the slip header once, and the change will reflect on all the slips in PPOS.

If you made any other label changes not in the first ’Page Header’ section then you must save the slip by clicking on the save button, and then you can close the report designer.

Now that you have made your slip changes, you can proceed with the configuration wizard. e) Click on the Next button of the configuration wizard. In the Thank You screen click on the Finish button. f) The Configuration Wizard will update all the PPOS modules with the selected printer, slip and prefix. g) After completion click on the close button to close the wizard. h) You can now close the main installation screen. You should only see your windows desktop now.

Quick Start guide

1) Logging on to PPOS On your windows desktop you will see a PPOS point of sale icon. Double click on it to open the PPOS program. You will now be presented with a log on screen.

If the ‘User Name’ field is empty, type in ‘pos1’ and press the TAB key on your keyboard to move down to the ‘Password’ field. If the ‘Password’ field is empty, type in a ‘1’, and then click on the OK button on top to log on.

2) The PPOS environment Once in PPOS you will be presented with a main menu on the top of the screen as shown below.

The Sales menu item contains programs that will help you sell your products to your clients. The Purchases menu item contains programs that will help you capture the product items that you have bought from a supplier. The Products menu item is where you will create and maintain your product items. The Reports menu item contains programs that allow you to view or print your reports.

3) Capture your product items in the system To add new product items in the system do the following: Click on Products in the main menu, and then on Product Center. This will open up Product Center.

First we need to tell PPOS that we want to change the Qty available of our new stock. Note: You only have to do this once when you open Product Center. So click on the Tools menu item (A) on top and then click on the item that says ‘Change Qty available’. You will notice that the Tot Qty Available field has changed from grey (non-editable) to white (editable).

Click on the Add button (B) to put Product Center in Add Mode. Let’s take for example a can of Coke. So in the ‘Product Code’ field (C) type in or scan the barcode of the can. Press the TAB key on your keyboard to go down to the next field. Leave the ‘Alt. Product Code’ field empty for now and press TAB. In the ‘Description’ field (D), type in ‘COKE CAN 340ML’. In the ‘Tot Qty Available’ field (E), type in the qty that you have in stock of this item (24 in our example). In the ‘Cost Price Exclusive’ field (F), type in ‘3.50’. This is the price that you have paid from your supplier and it excludes tax.

A B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

You will notice that when you press TAB after adding the cost price exclusive, the Avg. Cost Exclusive field will automatically be filled in with the same price as the cost price. The Avg. Cost Price is maintained by the system. Leave the Additional Costs field empty. If you know your selling price of this item, you can TAB down to the field that says ‘Retail Price Inclusive’ (G), and type in the selling price inclusive of tax (6.80 in our example). As soon as you press the TAB key, the system will work out the Markup % (H) (the % you put on your cost price), and your Profit Margin (I) (GP% - The % profit you will make when you sell the item for this price). You can leave the Departments and Location fields empty for now. You can now click on the OK button (J) or Press F9 on the keyboard to save this new item in the system. A balloon notification will come up in your lower left corner confirming that the new item was saved. It will disappear automatically after a few seconds. You will notice that the fields are now empty again so that you can put in the next product item. The new product item that you have just added will also be added to the search list (K) on the left of the screen. Continue to add all the items that you want to sell in the system.

K

Search for a product item Product Center as many other programs in PPOS has a search section (A) This section contains a Search drop down box (B), a Search text box (C), a Search button (D) and a Search result list (E). In our example the Search drop down box is on ‘Auto’ (the default) which means that when you click on the Search button, Product Center will search for any item with a Product Code starting with the letters you have typed in the Search text box. If it cannot find any items, it will then search for any item with a Description that starts with the letters that you have typed in the Search text box. In our example it did not find any items with a product code that matched with ‘PLUGTOP’, so it then searched for any description that matched ‘PLUGTOP’, and came up with 7 items in the result list. If you then click on any one of the items in the list, the selected item’s details will be displayed on the right of the search section where it can be changed and updated.

A

B

C

D

E

A note on Descriptions As you can see, the way you put in the description of every item is vital to finding the items quickly. This will be most important when you are selling the items, as you will most often search for an item by its description. Be consistent with you descriptions, it will make it easier for you and other people using the system to learn with what the description should start with. Here is a guideline you can follow: Let’s take a can of coffee from ABC manufacturers. It has a net weight of 500 grams. So ask the following questions in the same order constantly: What is it? (Coffee). What make or model is it? (ABC). What is its weight, size or length? (500g). Therefore you description will be: Coffee ABC 500g You can also put any other relevant information (like color) at the end of the description as long as you stick to the first 3 questions throughout. Changing and updating a product item To edit and update a product item, click on the Edit button in Product Center to put it in edit mode. Search for the item that you want to edit as shown in section ‘Search for a product item’. Select the item in the result list to bring up its details on the right of the result list. Change the relevant information (Press TAB to see any changes where values are involved) and then click on the OK button to update the changes. You will be asked for confirmation before the updated information will be written to the database. Click on Yes to save it or No to discard any changes.

4) Making you first Cash Sale A Cash Sale is a transaction where you sell your products and then the client has to pay cash for it before he/she can take the items. As you sell the items, it will automatically be deducted from your total qty available. Click on Sales in the main menu of PPOS and then on Cash Sale to open up the Cash Sale program.

The screen has the following sections: A Toolbar with command buttons (A). Product Search – Will show you a screen that you can search for product items Add – By default Cash Sale is in Add Mode OK – To save a cash sale transaction to the database Cancel – To cancel the cash sale transaction and quit the program.

A section with Tabs (B) Main – Shows you the transaction total and gives you fields to supply the clients details. Payment Details – This is where you put in the amount of money that the client pays. Transaction Info, Slip Note and Office Note can be used to store any other relevant information of this transaction and is beyond the scope of this guide.

A

B

C

A grid to capture the product items that you want to sell (C) Product Code – Type or scan in the product code or barcode of the item that you want to sell. Description – The description will automatically be populated from the product code. Qty – Type the qty of items you want to sell (default = 1). Discount – The maximum discount that can be given for this item. (must be set up in Product Center in the ‘Max Discount %’ field). Unit Price Incl. – The selling price of this item inclusive of tax. Total Incl. – The Total selling price = Qty x Unit Price (will be calculated automatically) . You will notice that the first cell block in the grid under the Product Code column is blue. This indicates that the grid has input focus (in other words you can type or scan in the product code in that cell). If you press the TAB key on the keyboard you will notice that the cell’s color has changed from blue to grey. This means that the input focus has changed to another section or field in the screen. Press the TAB key repeatedly until the grid has input focus again. Now type a product item that you want to sell in the blue cell and press the Enter key on your keyboard. You will notice that the first line in the grid is filled with the details of that item (A), and the focus has now moved to the Qty column (B) in the grid, and the Total on the right in the Tabs section is also updated (C). We used Product Code ‘EP01’ in our example.

A

B

C

To update the qty, type in a 2 over the 1 and press the Enter key. You will notice that the qty is now 2 (A) and the Total Incl. column (B) has been updated and so has the Total on the right (C). The focus is now in the discount column so to move to a new line in the grid you can either use the arrows on the keyboard or press the Enter key on the keyboard so that the focus moves to the cell just below the first item in the grid (in the product code column) (D). You can now type in or scan the next item that you want to sell and so on.

A B

C

D

To Search for an item that you do not now the product code of, type in the first few letters of the product’s code or description in the cell in the Product Code column and press Enter on your keyboard. (We used PLUGTOP in our example) PPOS will present you with a search screen showing you a list of matching items in the list.

The search screen looks and behaves similar to the one in Product Center. If the item that you are looking for is in the list, you can either double click on it with the mouse, or use the up or down arrows on the keyboard to navigate to the item and press the Enter key on the keyboard or click on the OK button to insert the selected item in the sales grid. You can also press the Esc key on the keyboard to go back to the sales screen if no item was selected.

After you have entered all the items that you want to sell in the grid, you can now click on the OK button or Press F9 on the keyboard to accept the items in the grid. You will notice that the Tabs section have changed to show you a field to put in the amount that the client is going to pay. The ‘Total Due:’ label will remind you what the total amount is (43.80 in our example). Let’s say the client pays you 50.00, then type in ‘50’ in the ‘Amount Paid:’ field. The ‘.00’ will be added automatically when you press the TAB key. The ‘Payment Method:’ field allows you to choose with what type of money the client is paying you with (i.e. Cash, Credit Card etc.).

Now click on the OK button or press the F9 key for the second time to save the sale. PPOS will now ask you if you would like to print the slip with a yes or no answer. After your selection the grid and totals will be cleared so that you can proceed with the next sale. You might have noticed that Cash Sale as with most other transactional programs are divided into 2 parts (you have to click OK 2 times). The first part is accepting the items in the grid (You can add or change items in the grid). The second part is finalizing the transaction (You won’t be able to add or change items in the grid). When you are in the second part of a transaction and you want to go back to the first part (as when the client forgot to buy something that is not in the grid), you can just click on the Cancel button or press the Esc key on the keyboard to go back.

5) Creating Cash Suppliers A Cash Supplier is an entity (person or business) that sells you their products and then you have to pay cash for it before you can take the products. The reason for creating cash suppliers is so that you can have a record of what you have bought from and returned to that supplier. Let’s start by opening up Cash Supplier. Click on Purchases in the main menu of PPOS and then on Cash Suppliers to open it. You are presented as in Product Center with a Search section (A), a Details section (B) and a Toolbar on the top (C). The search section looks and behaves similar to the one in Product Center. The toolbar buttons have the following functions: View – Disables all the fields so that you can not change any information already in it. Add – Allows you to add a new supplier by putting cash suppliers in add mode. Edit – Allows you to change a suppliers details by putting cash suppliers in edit mode. Remove – Allows you to remove old cash suppliers not in use. OK – Confirms an action depending on the current mode (i.e. Add mode). Cancel – Quits cash suppliers.

A

B

C

To add a new supplier click on the Add button to put Cash Suppliers in Add mode. The ‘Account No:’ field is where you give the supplier a unique account number that you choose. For example: Supplier name = Global Electrics. So an account number for this supplier could be G001 if this is the first supplier starting with the letter G. If not it could be the G002 or so forth. It does not really matter what account number you use, as long as you stay consistent with the naming. The ‘Name:’ field is obviously the name of the supplier (in our example - Global Electrics). The ‘Address:’ field consist of 3 lines so the supplier’s address could look something like this: 46 Queen Street Zeerust 2865 or like this: 46 Queen Street Zeerust, 2865 VAT REG No: 487599027726 Just take note that 3 address fields together with the Account No and Name fields are printed on the slip. So whatever you need on the slip, include it in those 5 fields. As in our example: Account No: G001 Name: Global Electrics Address: 46 Queen Street Zeerust, 2865 VAT REG No: 487599027726 The rest of the fields are optional and can be filled in at your own discretion. To save the new supplier, click on the OK button or press the F9 key on the keyboard. A notification balloon will pop up in the lower left corner confirming that you have added a new supplier. You will also notice that the fields are cleared indicating that you can add the next new supplier.

6) Captured purchased items in the system You will most likely buy new stock from your suppliers as your current stock gets sold. So you will have to capture this new stock in the system to add the qty’s bought to your total stock that you currently have. Cash Purchase is just the program suited for this job. Click on Purchases in the main menu of PPOS, then on Cash Purchases to open up the program. A screen similar to this one below will show. Cash Purchase has the following: A drop down box to choose the supplier that you have bought your products from (A). 3 Tax options (B). No Tax means that the supplier has not charged you tax for the products bought from him. Inclusive means the tax is included in the cost price (the price that you are paying) of every item on your invoice, and Add On means that tax is added on to the total that you have paid from your supplier. A Invoice No field (C) to fill in the supplier’s invoice number that is on his slip. A Invoice Date field (D) to select the date on the supplier’s invoice. A Grid (E) to capture the items that you have bought from your supplier and running Totals (F) which must be the same as the totals on the invoice when you are finished.

A

B

C

D

E

F

In our example we are going to capture an invoice from our supplier where the tax is added to the end of the invoice (to the sub total). Thus we will choose Add On from the 3 tax options. The Supplier’s Invoice: Note the Date (A), the Invoice No (B) and the unit prices (C) that does not include tax. The Tax is added at the bottom to the Total to get to the Grand Total. So this invoice is an example of a Add On invoice.

A

B

C

The invoice from the supplier captured in the system:

Note that the totals on the top right must correspond with the totals on the original invoice.

If all the information is captured in Cash Purchase and the totals on the invoice are the same as in Cash Purchase, then you can click on the OK button or press F9 on the keyboard to accept the information. You will then be taken to the second part of the transaction where you will be asked to supply the amount that you have paid for your supplier (which will normally be the same as the invoice), and how you paid him.

After choosing the payment method, click on the OK button the second time to finalize the purchase. You will now be asked to print the slip or not. It is always a good idea to print the slip because it can then be filed together with the original invoice to indicate that the invoice has been captured. So an original invoice without a printed cash purchase slip means that it has not been captured yet. After the purchase is saved the fields and the grid will be cleared to capture a new purchase.

7) Viewing and Printing Reports All this information (as you create new product items, and then sell and purchase them), is stored by PPOS in a Database so that this information can be grouped and sorted in a representable and informative manner for you to view in a report. Any report can be exported to a multitude of file formats (i.e. Excel, PDF etc.). You also have the ability to e-mail a report, edit or even create your own reports, although the above features are beyond the scope of this guide. We will be more concerned with viewing and printing a report in this guide. To open up the reports screen, do the following: Click on the Reports main menu in PPOS and then on Control Center. You will be presented with the following screen.

The reports are listed in (A). To view a report simply double click on one of them in the list, or click on a report in the list and then click on the ‘Pre-View’ button to view it. The design button will enable you to make changes to a report, but that topic is beyond the scope of this guide.

A

B

Choosing Parameters in a report Parameters are options in a report that you can set. For example a sales report would normally be displayed between 2 dates (from a date, to a date). Now these dates that you can choose are 2 of the parameters of that report. The parameters will differ depending on the report that you are currently viewing. To see what parameters are available for the current report that you are viewing, click on the ‘Parameters’ button (A) or press F12 on the keyboard. The parameter window will look similar to the one below. You can now choose your dates and press the OK button to see the results.

A

Note: All transactions will be included in the report between and including the dates you specified. If you want a report for the whole of November set the ‘from date’ to 1 November 2007 and the ‘to date’ to 30 November 2007. If you only want sales for one specific day, set both dates to the day that you want. The dates that are displayed in the parameters window, might be in a different format that is shown here, because of the regional settings of your computer. Generally it is set up as Month/Day/Year, but you can change it in Window’s Control Panel to whatever format you prefer. For any information or comments please feel free to contact your local dealer or IPD directly at 018 64 23779. Thank You.