We have been running SambaPOSv4 for about two weeks and I must say SambaPOS is by far the greatest POS I have ever installed and used.
Couple questions and suggestions.
Questions:
Do you have any plans to include an employee Time Clock?
Do you have any plans to include Credit Card module for North America?
Suggestions:
Improve discount portion of SambaPOS. Order Tags are a great start. Improve Order Tags by adding:
a. Discount based on dollar amount displayed on screen. E.G. buttons for $1, $5, $10
b. Discount based on percent amount displayed on screen. E.G. buttons for 5%, 10%, 50%
c. Discount based on custom dollar amount. Prompt user for dollar amount.
d. Discount based on custom percentage amount. Prompt user for percent amount
e. Apply above discount to selected products. E.G. Select item and apply any of above discounts or select multiple items and apply discount
Add button with a SQL script to clear sales based on a date. This is helpful for two reasons.
a. It will be very easy to install SambaPOS at a second location by DB backup/restore and clearing sales
b. Restaurant owners is US love clearing their POS data at various times for various reasons.
Low priority. Add a reporting module to run custom reports.
Let me know if you need assistance or clarification with anything above.
Your hard-work is always appreciated and SambaPOS is going to be big player in a crowded market.
Question 1&2 - These items are listed for future releases as a project. Date TBA
In regards to discounts, all these can be done by Automation Commands, and Order Tags. Look through sambapos.org as there is documentation on this.
Adding a button to clear SQL data is very dangerous, thats why we clear data the hard way so accidents don’t happen. You can look here for a script I use http://forum.sambapos.com/t/zero-all-accounts/511
Custom reports again has been listed in future projects.
Hi JohnS,
Thanks for Question 1&2. I am excited and look forward to implement these two features.
Regarding Discounts.
I have setup 25% and 50% static discounts based on v3 tutorials. I was not able to setup a discount where it is prompting users for discount amount in percent.
Any chance you can create a tutorial where it is prompting for custom amount. I think this will help me and SambaPOS community tremendously.
Ideally, we should have one discount button and when pressed it should have options for 10%, 25%, 50% and Custom Amount button in percent.
I am happy with 25% and 50% discount buttons in SambaPOS. I am only making this as a suggestion to enhance SambaPOS based on my experience as restaurant person and as IT professional.
The American restaurant business has become extremely competitive in last six years. As an owner, you have to run lots of marketing and discounts to bring people at the door.
In the last six, many successful businesses were created specializing in discounts. E.G. Groupon.com, Livingsocial.com
Regarding transactions clearing:
I understand this feature could be dangerous. I believe, SambaPOS is installed by people that are technical enough to understand ramifications.
Even more dangerous is deleting SambaPOS.sdf database if running on .sdf. So there is always risk.
In our restaurant, servers do not have access to Main Screen (admin portion) of SambaPOS. They only have access to Table Screen.
I think, it will be helpful if a database module is added to SambaPOS Main Menu. Database module should include.
SambaPOS database backup based on schedule and how many backups to keep.
Hello @na1978. Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. There are some solutions for the discount feature that works as you’ve suggested but I’m planning to release a feature for easier implementation soon. When it is released I’ll create a tutorial.
I look forward to new features. I forgot to mention in earlier post, it will be helpful if discounts can be restricted by day of the week. E.G. Create discount that only shows based on the day of the week.
What are your thoughts about adding a database module?
Since SambaPOS supports starting external processes it is already possible with some SQL script knowledge but I know it will be easier with a module. I’m developing a database management module for backups, rollbacks, custom scripting actions etc… Most probably it will be a paid module ($1.99) and I’ll test Samba Market payment features with that. So it may take a one or two weeks.
I am currently using a third party software to backup SQL database. I tested backup and restore with this software and it worked flawlessly. Having DB backup/restore from SambaPOS will make it easier to restore if something goes wrong with SQL server.
Great idea with paid module. I will be your first customer.
I have done some investigation about being able to clear transactional data from within the application.
In some countries it is illegal to delete past sales figures due to fraud and tax evasion. For this reason alone, there should be no facility within SambaPOS to clear transactional data. If this feature is available within SambaPOS, even as an add-on, it may make SambaPOS illegal to use in some countries.
The tools we have to clear the data, while not a single click solution is still effective and easy enough for most people.
Do you also plan to add the employee time tracking? It is another cost for restaurants. Eıther get a device or use online time tracking websites. Even it is a paid module, that would be great addition to the software.
@socoburgers, I am anxiously waiting for features above as well. They will make SambaPOS a complete POS.
In the mean time, you can download a third party time clock application. I personally use http://www.timeclockmts.com/shop.htm for one PC. Works every well for our staff.
Map F12 button to open this application for employees to clock-in.
opps… so we don’t have clock in and out for employee right now?and a summary of list of time of active employer and working duration on the admin site etc…
I have found Picture TimeClock which is free and suffice for regular use. (just for sharing)
“TBD” is frustrating. As a developer myself I know how annoying it is when customers press for a time frame. But the truth is that without CC integration, Samba is impossible to recommend in the US, which is a fairly large market.
Are there any posts/docs on integrating an external app time clock and CC processor that can be accessed on other workstations? If CCs can only be swiped at one location it creates a bottleneck and interrupts the service flow.
@BSDguru, you are right, and it is frustrating, but the truth is that no one gets paid to develop and support SambaPOS, and these features have been listed in the projects, and would have been developed if the fund raising campaign had been success to create a team of developers to fast track the projects.
Credit Card integration has been a big request from US users, and back in V2, one user had actually developed the code himself.
The other side to this is that it only seems to be the US (and possibly Canada) that are allowed to use integrated Credit Card processing. By that I mean, card swipe on the POS terminal and the software processes the transaction via the internet, or dial up modem.
In many countries like Australia, we can only use approved EFTPOS terminals to process Credit Card payments. Yes we can connect the POS Terminal to the EFTPOS terminal to send total amount and get back the receipt to print, but that is it. Terminal integrated Credit Card processing is dangerous as a POS terminal can be compromised and customer Credit Card details can be stolen. For this reason alone, that is why integration is not allowed in some countries.
Besides that each country has their own EFTPOS solutions, so a generic solution is somewhat hard.
Soon, I will be looking at EFTPOS connectivity again for SambaPOS, but the development we will need to cover all of the major banks here will cost AUD$1000 for the development kit, and for every release of SambaPOS, it will need to be verified before it can be used.
A chicken/egg problem Without CC processing, many can’t use or consider it, or even take the time to look at it. It’s a daunting task to evaluate the 300 POS systems on the market.
Some systems have an “external” option; it would likely be easier to do that in the interim.
Frankly I don’t care if the POS has the CC processing embedded in the program itself. But there has to be a clean way to pop open a window, scan the card and then mark the ticket as paid.
Your right, some people will not consider SambaPOS because it doesn’t have CC processing, but the fact is that SambaPOS has an international user base already. We have users from all around the world using SambaPOS V2, V3 & V4. The US is just one of hundreds of countries.
An external option still needs integration into the payment workflow.
Yes, but we have more entrepreneurs here than anywhere else. And entrepreneurs need POS systems. Just seems a pity; its a very good product. Better than most others I’ve looked at. Just a couple of features away.
I dont see that CC integration is a must. Most countries have propietary POSNET systems, and integration is not possible unless you apply and certify… even worst… in most cases, people are lazy and the waiter goes with a wireless machine to the table and does the CC processing… imagine having to carry the POS system to the table, or even worst, loosing clients becuase you dont have wireless machines…
so… i think that CC integration is not a must…
