AccuPOS Retail on screen keys setup guide

 

The on screen buttons in AccuPOS Retail can be used to switch between menus and apply items on to transactions. Laying out the menus and items correctly is crucial for a productive operation. This guide will walk you through creating menus and assigning items to keys the right way, the first time.

 

Before you get started setting the keys and menus in AccuPOS, the items must be setup in your accounting software first.

 

Once the items are set in the accounting software, and before you start setting up the keys, it is important that you know how many categories (pages) and how many items (keys) will be under each category. Doing so will help determine the number of menu pages that will be required and the number of items that will be listed under every menu. AccuPOS allows up 14 pages and each page may contain up to 63 items.  If you have more then 63 items in a category, you will need to dedicate more then one page for this category.

 

Excel is a good program to use for this purpose. You can name the columns as your categories (pages) and the rows as your items (keys). Below, you can see a sample list.

When setting up the keys in AccuPOS, it is better to set them up alphabetically. Doing so will help cashiers find the items they are looking for quickly. Once the columns are set, and the corresponding items are listed below, select each column and sort by ascending.

 

Next, you will need to set up the menus using AccuPOS Management. From the Setup menu, select Keys, and Set Main Screen Keys.

 

The top two rows contain static keys (keys that stay no matter what menu you are in); these keys will be used as the menus keys. There are 14 keys on these two top rows; you may only see seven keys since as default we used 2 key spaces for each menu. If you need more then seven menus, you will have to change the width of the key to one.

 

Generally, the number of menus you should set will be the number columns you ended up with on the Excel page.

 

 

Example:  Type in STARTERS in the page drop down and drag the key called PAGE 1 to the workshop.

In the Button Label type in the name of the menu (example: STARTERS).

Select the image color from the top row that will represent the color for this menu. Later you will select the same image color for the items under this menu.

There is a button example on the bottom of the screen that represents what the key would look like on the POS screen.

 

 

Click OK, and continue creating all your pages.

 

 

Now that you have the menus setup, you can begin adding the item keys to your pages.

Before you start, count the number of items you will have under every category. Keep in mind that every page at the Point Of Sale contains seven columns and nine rows, which amounts to 63 keys. If you find that you have a category with only a few items, you may want to combine it with another similar category that has a limited menu items. For example, in the following menu we combined Beverages with Deserts (see below).

 

It is important to keep the color of the keys similar to the color of the menu. After a while, cashiers will associate the color of the page with the menu displayed on the screen. For example, when the cashier will be facing a pink screen, they will know they are looking at the Beverages and Deserts menu.

 

To begin creating your Main Screen Keys, select the category from the page pull down menu.  You are now ready to begin entering the items from your Excel Spreadsheet.

 

 

 

Right click on an empty spot and a new button will appear. Drag the button to the Work Shop and the keys workshop will appear.

 

1.      Enter the information you would like the cashier to see in the Button Label field. This is not what will print on the receipts; it is just for the cashier to identify the item

2.      Click on the Items lookup button and select the item you would like this button to apply to the transaction and click Select.

3.      Check the Enter CR after, it will send a carriage return after the item code

4.      Do not select the cannot repeat, it is only used on the first key when it takes two keys to enter an item to the transaction (see multi size below)

5.      Set the width and the height for this button by clicking on the corresponding button. Remember, the width will expand the button to the right and the height will expand the button to the bottom. If the buttons are faded out it means that the button will not fit. To make a key bigger you need to make space available surrounding the key you are setting up.

6.      Select a button image that corresponds with the button color of the menu key.

7.      If you selected a dark button color, click on Text Color and select a color that would provide a good contrasting text to the button color.

8.      Click Done to save

 

Setting up multi size items

 

This section will guide through setting up keys for items that are available in multiple sizes. For example, hot drinks may be available in Small Medium and Large. To eliminate the need to use three keys for each drink, set the items up the following way.

Assign item codes in the accounting the following way

All Small items will start with 11

All Medium items will start with 33

All Large items will start with 44

For example

Item Code 112001 description Small Coffee

Item Code 112002 description Small Latte

Item Code 332001 description Medium Coffee

Item Code 332002 description Medium Latte

Item Code 442001 description Large Coffee

Item Code 442002 description Large Latte

Notice how the only thing that changes in the prefix, the rest of the item code is the same. Latte ends with 2002 no matter what size it is.

 

Note: Do not set items up to start with the number two (2). Two is a reserved number for deli scales and should not be used as a leading character for an item

 

When setting up the keys, set Small Medium and Large on the top row, since these keys are used often, it is recommended to use 2 x 1 sizes.

 

1.      Click on the top left key under the menu keys

2.      Enter SMALL in the button label

3.      Enter 11 in the text (or the prefix you selected for that size)

4.      Set the width to two

5.      Uncheck the Enter (CR) after since this will be the first of two keystrokes

6.      Check the Cannot Repeat to prevent accidentally clicking on the key twice

7.      Define the button and text color, make the button color slightly lighter then the menu button color

8.      Click OK

 

 

 

Once the sizes are defined, set the items below.

1.      Click on an empty button under the Small button

2.      Enter the drink name in the button label (example Coffee)

3.      Enter the second part of the item code (example 2001)

4.      Check the Enter (CR) after since this will be the second of two keystrokes

5.      Uncheck the Cannot Repeat

6.      Define the button and text color, make the button color exactly the same as the menu button color

7.      Click OK

 

 

Before you set all the buttons up, start the Point Of Sale program and make sure the keys you are setting up are working. If you need assistant, contact tech support.