Using Party Center Software’s Point of Sale (POS) is a simple way to charge and record transactions with your customers. Here we are going to focus on how to use your Point of Sale. If you need assistance setting-up your Point of Sale, please see the article Setting Up Your Point of Sale for more information.
Using the POS screen is as simple as clicking on an item button and pressing Pay to start a transaction. Once you select an item, you will see it added to the item list on the left of the POS, along with the price of the item, quantity, tax and order total. Outside of these simple steps, there are additional buttons and features that can help you get the most out of your customer interactions in the POS.
Table of Contents
Main Screen
Below we see a sample POS. In addition to the item buttons in the center of the screen we see additional buttons on the top, left and bottom of the POS. Let’s explore what these buttons do and how we can use them in our POS.
Top
The top section of the POS will show the order number (# 8 pictured above) along with the date and time the order was generated. We can also see the different POS Screen buttons, which here, are named Admissions, Food/Drink, Attractions, and Merchandise. Each POS Screen helps to organize the POS buttons to make them easily accessible. In the images above we see the Food/Drink Screen is selected and its associated buttons are displayed.
Below is a list of the remaining buttons in the above image and their function:
- Cancel Order - This button will set the order status to Cancelled for the current order number (order # 8 pictured above).
- Select Customer - While it is optional, you can associate a customer account with the current POS order number by clicking the Select Customer button.
- Check Prepaid Account Balance - This button will only appear if your facility is setup to use gift cards with Party Center Software. If you are, selecting this button will bring up a new window where you can enter a gift card number and see the current balance on that gift card.
- Lookup Order - If you wish to bring up a previous POS order number, you can do so using the Lookup Order button.
- Exit POS - This button will exit the POS and take you back to the Party Center Software Portal.
Left/Item List
The box on the left of the POS shows the itemized list for the order. As seen above, we have the Item name, quantity and total/price for each line item. We can remove a line item by pressing the red ‘x’ to the left of the item name. Clicking the item name will bring up a new Edit Product box that allows you to add notes, change price and quantity, or add a discount to an individual line item. Clicking the number in the Qty column of the list will also allow you to change the line item quantity. Clicking on Tip will allow you to add a tip if the guest wishes to do so.
Below is a list of the remaining buttons in the above image and their function:
- Suspend - This button will allow you to leave the current POS order number unchanged and come back to it at a later time.
- Return Items - This button allows you to set the last line item as a negative quantity and provide a reason for the return.
- Close Order - We can close the order if the Balance Due is at $0.00. If there is a remaining balance, the Close Order button will be grayed out.
- Invoice - The Invoice button will allow you to print a copy of the invoice/order.
- Rcpt - This button will print a receipt from your connected receipt printer.
- Tax Exempt: Off/On - If a customer is tax-exempt, this button will allow you to toggle the tax on or off the order.
Bottom
The bottom of the POS contains the following buttons and functions:
- Pay - Once you are ready to process the transaction, press the Pay button. It will take you to the following screen where you can select your Payment options.
- Once a payment has been made, a new payment entry will show under the Payment History section of the POS.
*Note - Your payment options may differ based on what payment types your facility accepts.
- Clear All Products - Use this button to remove all line items from the order.
- Clear Last Product - Use this button to remove the last line item from the order.
- Discount Last Product - Applies a discount to the last line item only.
- Discount Order - Applies a discount to the order total.
- Additional Products - This button allows you to scroll through all of your products without having to switch between the POS Screens.