How it works

Selling while the connection is down

When the internet drops, the till keeps selling cash, EFTPOS, account charges, credit and tabs, keeps the sales on the tablet, and sends them when it is back.

Who this is for: Anyone with “Use the till” (by default: Administrator, Head Coach, Casual Staff, Bar Manager, Bar Staff).

If the till loses its connection, it keeps selling. Each sale is kept on the tablet and sent, in order, as soon as the connection returns. A band across the top of the till says what is happening, and nothing is lost by carrying on.

What you see

When the connection drops, a message says The connection has dropped. The till keeps selling: cash, EFTPOS, accounts, credit and tabs. A band stays across the top:

Offline. The till keeps selling: cash, EFTPOS, accounts, credit and tabs. Sales are kept on this tablet and sent when the connection is back.

The band has a button such as 1 waiting to send, which lists what is kept on the tablet. When the connection returns, the till says Back online. and sends everything.

A paid sale made offline shows Kept on this tablet; sent when the connection is back. Its receipt has no number until it is sent, and it can be printed from the browser but not emailed or sent to the receipt printer until then.

What works offline

Selling products, with member prices, happy hours and the licence rules worked out on the tablet.
Cash and EFTPOS.
Charges to a member's account and spending prepaid credit, using what the tablet last knew of the account and the credit.
Opening, adding to and paying tabs. A tab made offline shows Not sent on the strip until it is sent.
Finding members by name, number or card. While a session is open, the till keeps each member's name, number, card number, type, status, whether they may charge, what is left to charge and their credit, so it can find them offline. It never keeps an email address, phone number, address or date of birth.

What needs the connection

Court and table time, guest fees owing, hire, restringing and prepaid credit top-ups. Their buttons say Needs the connection. Opening and closing a session, refunds and voids need it too.

Limits taken on trust

Offline, the till cannot check the server's figures, so two things are allowed and reported to the manager instead of refused:

a charge that takes an account over its limit, and
a sale past a stock count of nought.

Both are listed in the session's cash-up under Sold offline and written to the audit log.

Sending

Sales are sent in the order they were made. Each sale and each payment is written once, however often it is sent, so nothing is counted twice.
A session cannot close while anything is waiting to send. Wait for the connection, then close.
Signing out with sales waiting is refused with This till holds 1 sale not yet sent. Wait for the connection before signing out.
A sale kept offline must be sent by the next day. One older than that is refused with That sale was made more than a day ago. Put it through again as a new sale.
A sale the server does not accept stays in the list marked Not accepted, with the reason, and Try again or Throw away.

Keep the page open

The sales are kept in the tablet's web browser. If the browser cannot keep them when the page closes, the band says so: keep the till's page open until they have been sent. Closing the session or signing out wipes what the till kept about members.