Point of Sale Release Notes

• Release date:  TBD
• Software compatibility:  All previous versions can be upgraded
• Corresponding mPower Office version:  4.0.1.X
• Corresponding mPower Server version:  1.2.1.XXX
• Hardware/Software compatibility: Microsoft .NET 4.0 or higher

Overview

This Point of Sale release adds several new features and corrects a few bugs.

Features, Updates, and Patches

Appearance

Age Display

• Users wishing to display age dates can now choose to show dates for Age 18 and 21, or 21 only.
  • “Show Dates” will display both 18 and 21
  • Checking neither will result in no dates being displayed.
    

Color Inversion for Payments

• The colors on the Tender – Payment screen for Payments are now inverted from those of the Tender – Payment screen for Tenders, to differentiate the two.
  (Payment)           (Tender) 

Font Size

• The font size on the main Point of Sale grids can now be changed from the default of 14 point, to any size between 9 and 20 point.

Main Screen Display

• Users may now add a column for Container to the Home Screen.
  

• Users may now add a column for Extended to the Home Screen
  

Pole Display

• After a No Sale, the name of the store now appears on the Pole Display, not the last item scanned.
• A check box is now present on the Preferences screen to activate (checked) or deactivate (unchecked) continuous communication between the Resister and the Pole Display. If left unchecked, the Pole Display will make a single communication attempt then stop if met with a communication error.  If checked, the Pole Display will continue its attempts.
  

Functionality

Bottle Return Voucher

• When utilizing a machine that does bottle returns and prints out a voucher, you are now able to scan the vouchers directly into the POS.

Cash Drawer Tracking

• Users can now track, and print reports regarding, the opening of the cash drawer via the Open Drawer function key and the Pop Drawer button within the Open/Close screen.
  • The setting, located in mPower Office, under File >  System Config > Documents tab:
    
  • Drawer Openings, as represented in the Journal:
    
• In addition to the added functionality, the receipt printer will no longer print something when a key is used to open the drawer.

Check Cashing

• Users can now cap check cashing fees at both a percentage and dollar amount.
  • Example: 1% of the check, with a maximum of $9.99.

CRV Rates (California)

• CRV tax and CRV non-tax are viewable on receipts.
  
  • To set this up, in back office, under file -> System Config you need to select the “Tax Deposits” checkbox and put “CRV” in the Deposit description.
    

Flash Screen

• The flash screen is meant to be used as a reference point for cashiers and bring in the lower priced item, if applicable.
  
• From the Item Flash Screen you can see all the pricing on the first tab.  Pricing includes WebPrice, CasePrice and any active promos. The price is clickable.
  • 1) WebPrice will bring in the price if it is lower
  • 2) Case Price will bring in the price if it is lower and if there is a solid case on the transaction
  • 3) A promo click will add the coupon code to the transaction if there is one. The promo engine will determine if the transaction qualifies for the promo price.
• The flash screen will also show prices for all locations, if applicable.

Function Keys

• A new Function Key is available that will discount the highest-priced item in a given transaction by a set percentage.
• There is now a 15% off discount key in addition to the 10% and 5% keys.

House Accounts

• Users can now make payments to a Work Order, using a House Account.

mPower Remote Support

• There is now a link on the Main Point of Sale screen to allow mPower Support to access the register more easily, to support a user’s site.
  • The link is in the upper-right corner of the screen.
    
  • Due to spacing limitations, the link does not appear when a Customer has been selected.  To see the link, click the Clear Customer function key.

Multiple Item Selection During Search

• Users now have ability to add multiple items in a search to a transaction.
  • You can use the shift + down arrow to select continuous rows.
  • You can also use ctr + click to select non-continuous rows.
  • Hit enter to bring in the selected rows into the transaction.
• Additionally, if you are unable to search for an item, you are now able to select a match if they are all the same SKU.

Multi-Location 

• Multi-location clients of Register now have the ability to change items at HQ. When you go to edit an item the user will be prompted to setup an HQ connection that will allow them do this.
  • You can setup the new HQ Connection by going here:
    
• Multi-location clients will no longer be able to change items to their Local POS locations, instead any item changes must be made to HQ and synched back down to the Local POS. If a user has not setup their HQ Connection and tries to edit an item they will receive this prompt:
  
  • If they choose Yes the same HQ Connection dialog will guide them in setting up a new HQ Connection.
  • If they choose No the edit item screen will not appear.
• The HQ Connection dialog looks and behaves the same as the Connection Manager that you are familiar with:
  • You can choose between connecting through SQL Server or mPower Server.
    

Receipts

• Comments entered onto receipts that are subsequently placed on Hold now remain on the receipt when the transaction is retrieved for further processing.
• Users can now e-mail transaction receipts from multiple addresses.
• Users now have the option to print only the signature CC receipt and not the customer receipt.
  • To set this, see the following options below.
    
    • Auto Print = Auto prints all receipts for every transaction
    • Auto Print CC = Auto prints receipts for the CC transactions only
    • CC Only = Only prints the CC slip when Auto Print CC is on
    • Additionally, this unchecks “Do Not Print Signature Receipt” under Payment Application Settings. On the change screen, clicking the print button prints just the customer copy and changes the text on the button to “Reprint.” Clicking “Reprint” prints both the CC and customer receipts.
• When adding an & to the receipt footer, simply put a double ampersand (&&). When only putting one &, it will show as _.
• For customers with a base unit as singles and use the additional UPC’s for 4-packs and 6-packs, the quantities on the receipt will show up as 1; it will also show up as 1 for item count function.

Reserve Transactions

• Users can now specify a “Date Required” when putting a transaction on reserve.
• Now when recalling a reserve transaction you can view the following columns: Date Required, Item Name, Item Size, Qty Reserved Pck, Qty Reserved Case, Price Reserved Pack, and Price Reserved Case.

Rewards Points

• Users can now set higher reward points for certain customer groups. To set higher rewards (i.e. double points) go into Back Office -> Add new customer group, with the Condition of ‘POINTS200.’ Ring them out.
  • If you wanted 1.5x points, you would set ‘POINTS150’ as the condition.
  • If you wanted 3x points, you would set ‘POINTS300’ as the condition.
  • And so on..

Selling with No Quantity on Hand (QoH)

• Users can now turn on a prompt that will advise cashiers when they are selling into the negative on the Point of Sale, as well as how many units are On Hand, on Work Order and on Sales Order.
  • The setting, located in mPower Office, under File > System Config > Documents tab:
    
  • The prompt, as it appears on the Point of Sale screen:
    
    

TagAlong

• There is now a feature to add a “TagAlong” to Completement on the Complement/Substitute tab on an item. When the TagAlong is checked, it adds a TagAlong with Qty = 1 when the item is scanned.
  
• This feature is useful when providing rebates on cigarettes, giving away a shooter with a purchase, and more.

Security

Credit Card

• Options have been added to require a CVV and/or Zip Code in order to process manually-entered credit cards.  Note:  These settings are configured by an mPower technician and are not available to the end user.  For assistance with this feature, please contact mPower Support at 972.234.5884, Option 1.

Discounts

• Updated setting to disallow the practice of Cashiers selling at discounts below a predefined percentage of retail by entering a lower price at which to sell the item.
• When manually discounting multiple items, only one Manager Override is now required.
• Added security feature to choose who may be allowed to override the “no discount” items.
  
  
  • Once security settings are changed, it will no longer be shown on the POS:
    

Other Minor Changes/Fixes

• Barcode should be scanning on POS Receipts
• Pole Display should no longer be freezing
• Receipts should no longer be jumbled (ie. barcode on lettering) when emailed.
• Scan Pulling Up Tender and Closing Sale
• Error when manual discounting adding rows has been resolved.
• When having the same case UPC on two items, the POS would not pull in case quantity, only pack quantity. This has been resolved.
• The error where additional UPC was not pulling in promotion price, has been resolved. The promos will also now work whether you scan all X amount of items or change qty.
• The following safeguards are now in place:
  • A manager override is required in order to tender a transaction with zero items.
  • A confirmation prompt appears when attempting to give more than $1,000.00 in change.
  • A confirmation prompt appears when attempting to tender more than $15,000.00.

• Release date:  8/22/2016
• Software compatibility:  All previous versions can be upgraded
• Corresponding mPower Office version:  2.5.0.116X
• Corresponding mPower Server version:  1.2.1.297
• Hardware/Software compatibility: Microsoft .NET 4.0 or higher

Overview

This Point of Sale release adds several new features, corrects a few bugs and contains additional EMV functionality for processors. We currently offer EMV for all of our integrated processors.

Age Verification ID Scanning

• We can now add a shortcut key to the Point of Sale software if you don’t want to force your cashiers to scan an ID before every transaction. It will bring up the Age Verification screen where you can use a 2D scanner to check a driver’s license.
• We also added new states and new licenses as they became available throughout the year.
• We added the ability to use DS6700 2D scanners to scan driver’s licenses.
• We updated the Age Verification functionality. Click the following link for details: Age Verification Options

Singles on Receipts

There is now an option when setting up a receipt to remove the “0.17 @ $10” from receipts. The sequence below shows the change on the receipt when you unselect the ‘Single Info (@)’ checkbox that is in the receipt designer. To find the check box, click on the Preferences shortcut key on the Point of Sale software, then click on ‘Edit / Add Receipt Formats.’ You can then choose the receipt format that you want to change by selecting it and clicking the Edit button.

Scan Items on Change Due Screen 

You can now scan an item for the next transaction while the change due screen is up. You don’t have to select the “Done” button to move to the next transaction.

Reserve Items Functionality

You can now add Reserve Item shortcut keys to the Point of Sale software. One button allows you to take a reservation for a customer. The second allows you to easily recall a reservation. mPower customers that take keg reservations will find this feature especially useful.

Other Updates and Patches

• Improved the ability to email receipts from the Point of Sale
• For additional UPC codes, you can now use alphanumeric characters and add them at the register
• Improved ability to read customer phone numbers on receipts
• Fixed issue with shipping showing up incorrectly on X and Z reports

mPower Implementation Guide

• Release date:  10/1/2015
• Software compatibility:  All previous versions can be upgraded
• Corresponding mPower Office version:  2.5.0.1056
• Corresponding mPower Server version:  1.2.1.282
• Hardware/Software compatibility: Microsoft .NET 4.0 or higher

Overview

This release adds several new features, corrects a few bugs and also addresses EMV integration moving forward.

On October 1, the shift of liability on counterfeit cards from Visa/MasterCard to the merchant goes into effect.  Below is an explanation of the shift of liability:

“This liability shift means that those issuers and merchants using non-EMV compliant devices that choose to accept transactions made with EMV-compliant cards assume liability for any and all transactions that are found to be fraudulent. MasterCard defines the liability shift this way: The party, either the issuer or merchant, who does not support EMV, assumes liability for counterfeit card transactions. Understand that by issuer, the card companies do not mean themselves; the term refers instead to banks, credit unions, and any other financial institution issuing credit or debit cards.” (http://www.paymentsleader.com/will-retailers-be-ready-for-emv-by-oct-2015/#sthash.A9ZCups2.dpuf)

mPower has been working diligently to provide customers with EMV solutions for the past 15 months.  Not all platforms are ready for EMV, however, and some customers have chosen not to deploy EMV-enabled devices.  To help customers protect against fraud and the associated liability, mPower has added a few additional options to the Point of Sale around which merchants can build internal policies and procedures.

Purchase Threshold(s) for Checking IDs and Forcing Manual Entry of Cards

You can now set dollar amounts to alert your cashiers to check an ID to match with a credit card and another amount to force a manual entry of credit cards. Both of these techniques can help reduce the chance of counterfeit cards being used, but neither guarantees it.

As always, our Support team is available to answer any questions you may have.  Please don’t hesitate to call us at 972-234-5884 opt. 1.

Features, Updates, and Patches

Point to Point Encryption

mPower is integrated with several products that offer Point to Point Encryption.  A P2PE device encrypts the card information before it is passed to the computer, preventing hackers from stealing sensitive card data from the computer.  All card information is transmitted, encrypted, to the processor, and is unencrypted once it reaches their system.

Signature Capture

mPower is integrated with the Ingenico iSC250  signature capture pad.  Signatures are recorded in the Journal with the associated receipt and can be reprinted, if necessary.

Check ID and Manual Entry Prompts

As mentioned above, the Point of Sale can be configured so that an alert pops up asking the cashier to check IDs on credit purchases above a set dollar amount.  Merchants can also set a ceiling on swipe purchases, forcing manual entry of card information if the total sale is above a certain dollar amount.  Both settings can be changed by an administrator with access to Preferences in the Point of Sale.  By clicking on the gear button, customers can set these limits in the Point of Sale.

Other Updates and Patches

• Comments now printing again on Hold receipt
• Error message: ‘Column ‘SummitGenKey’ does not belong to table TABLE.’ – Resolved.
• Pressing the ‘Enter’ key or down arrow after updating the Qty of an item takes the cursor back to ‘Lookup Item,’ so the cashier can scan the next item
• Can mark individual items on purchase as ‘NoTax’

mPower Implementation Guide