Workstations

Owned by Sue Michael (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Aug 11, 2021 by Shannon Ball
6 min read

Overview

Workstations are devices that have access to your Readysell system. The following types of devices are classified as workstations:
  • Readysell Windows clients
  • Readysell Point of Sale clients

Workstations are automatically created by the system the first time each workstation accesses Readysell.

The workstation list in Readysell allows you to review shifts, transactions and log entries related to individual workstations as well as modify various workstation-specific settings.

Reference

Buttons

ImageNameDescription
Populate From DefaultPopulate Site and Workstation Settings from Default Workstation
 
Refresh From Default Refresh workstation settings from default workstation 
 
Populate From Presets Populate workstation settings from Readysell's built-in defaults

Fields

NameDescription
Workstation IDThe Windows computer name of the workstation.
Workstation TypeWhether the workstation is a Readysell Windows client or Readysell Point of Sale client.
SiteThe site that this workstation defaults/belongs to.
Workstation SetAn optional grouping for workstations that can be used to enable combined cash-counting of multiple workstations together.

Shifts Tab

See Shifts

Logs Tab

Workstation logs are used to audit various actions performed on Readysell Point of Sale clients.

NameDescription
DateThe date and time (local to the workstation) when the action took place.
Log Type

The type of the logged action, can be one of:

  • Open Cash Draw: The cash draw on the workstation was opened using the "Open Cash Draw" button (i.e. outside of a transaction)
  • Price Change: The price on a particular sale line was manually overriden
  • Refresh All Data: The "Refresh All Data" action was performed
Reference NumberThe reference number of any transaction associated with the logged action.
TextA text string explaining the action logged (may include specifics such as the user's name and what was changed).

General Settings Tab

NameDescription
DescriptionA description for the current workstation (for reference purposes only).
Default LocationAn override to the site's default warehouse location. Often used for workstations serving as point of sale terminals where customers are taking stock from an alternate location (such as the showroom rather than the warehouse).
Default Workstation

A flag to indicate that this workstation is the default. If it is set to true, the following occurs:

  • Any new workstations created will copy their settings from this one
  • Any workstations that have no report settings set will use the report settings from this one
Default Zone

Overview 

Workstations can have a default zone specified. The default zone can be used to make sale shipment lines entered from workstations in the POS area of the business put locations from the POS zone onto sale shipments. Preventing POS sale shipments from automatically selecting stock out of the warehouse.

It is important to recognise the workstation default zone does not effect stock allocation and does not effect the "Pick" button or the "Pick" process when it is run by automatic warehousing.

I expect the system should allow you to set the locations in the retail area to quarantine, but still select from those locations when you manually enter a sale shipment without hitting the pick button. Locations that are in the POS zone should be put on the sale shipment line if you type in a sale shipment from a workstation with a default zone of the POS zone and the location in the pos zone has stock. Even if that location has a supply type of quarantine.

We need this to stock the warehouse picking form the POS zone while still allowing the POS zone locations to default to a location in the POS zone if any of the POS zone locations have stock.

Procedure

A retail area in the business which is/could have all it's location in a zone say "retail". All other workstations, other than POS workstations, would normally have the default zone remaining blank.

  • Let's consider an example where some pos workstations exist and the default zone on those workstations is set to a zone named "POS". 
    • Some locations that have stock are in the "POS" zone 
    • When any sale shipments are typed in from a workstation where the "default zone" is specified, in this case "POS". Then only locations that are in the "POS" zone and which currently have stock will be considered to be placed on the sale shipment line.
    • If none of the locations in the "POS" zone have stock on hand when a product is entered on a new sale shipment line. The system will drop back to the standard picking logic and suggest a location in the warehouse that has stock for the product if one exists. As we want to supply the stock to the customer if we can.
    •  When the user tries to complete the shipment, such as from a POS workstation, warn them about a location being empty if there is not enough stock in the location selected for that product to supply the sale shipment line
  •  Pos workstations, when creating sale shipments as for POS transactions, not sale orders. Can have a specific zone associated with the workstation. Then when sale shipment lines are entered, select a location from the specified zone if one exists and leaves the location on the sale shipment line empty if no locations in the specified zone.
  •  Workstations other than the POS workstations are not expected to have a zone
  •  This feature is not intended to effect sale orders. Sales for the warehouse are generally processed as sale orders.
  •  The "pick" process applied to sale shipments is not changed. The pick process assigns stock locations to sale shipment lines when they are created from sale orders by automatic warehousing or when the pick button is pressed on sale shipments. The pick process tries to free up locations, make them empty so they can be reused in the warehouse, by always picking from the location with the least stock first. 
  •  If you don't want the "pick" process to consider any of the locations in the "POS" zone, those locations should have a supply type of "Quarantine". Which will stop the pick process, used by the warehouse sale shipments, from picking stock in the "POS" zone. 

If the user clicks the "Pick" button, when typing a sale shipment in from any workstation, including the workstations in the "POS" zone. All the rules above are ignored. As those special rules only apply to sale shipment lines that are typed into a sale shipment from a workstation that has a default zone specified. Those rules do not replace or change the default logic behind the "PICK" process. So if you press the "Pick" button, or if a sale order is entered from those workstations. The "Pick" process will set locations on the sale shipment lines considering all locations in the business. 

You do not need to put the warehouse workstations into any special zone

You do have to ensure the POS operators do not press the "Pick" button when they enter sale shipments.

Worked examples

Example for a workstation setup with a default zone being used to enter sale shipments as point of sale transactions

  • I am on workstation 7. I want to assign a zone for POS. So I create a zone and name it POS by selecting administration, zones from the Navigation panel. Then clicking the "New" button to create a new zone. I then put my workstation 7 into the default zone of "POS"
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  • Then I selected a product, it could be any product that you wantt to stock in the warehouse and seperately stock in the retail zone. In this case I picked product "002P". Theproduct which only has stock in the warehouse.


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  • So I have to create a new location for the product in the pos zone. I created a location, it could have any name, but for the sake of this exersize, I named the new location in the pos zone "POS-01", put that location in the "POS" zone
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  • I created a new location for the product, move some of the stock from the warehouse location to the pos location.
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  • I used a stock adjustment to move stock from the warehouse to the new pos location. I could have also used a stock location transfer to do the same thing. I would use the stock location transfer approach if I had a lot of products to change.
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  • I need my sample product to have less stock in the POS location than in the warehouse location.
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  • Now I can test the changes to settings are working for me. By entering a sale shipment for product "0002P" from workstation 7. I am doing several checks:
    • What happens if I enter a sale shipment from workstation 7 for product "002P" and  any stock exists in a location in the pos zone, location "POS-01" to supply the quantiy being shipped. I expect the system to show location "POS-01" on the sale shipment line and it does. See example below:
 Show me..

  • What happens if I enter a sale shipment from workstation 7 for product "002P", there is stock in a location in the pos zone, but  the stock required is more than in a location in the pos zone, location "POS-01" to supply the quantiy being shipped. I expect the system to show location "POS-01" on the sale shipment line and it does. Any stock is enough, I don't need the POS location to have sufficient stock to supply the full quantity of the shipment. That will be handled manually when I try to complete or finalise the shipment. See example below:
 Show me..

  • What happens if I enter a sale shipment from workstation 7 for product "002P", there is no stock in any  location in the pos zone for that product. 
    • To this I enter a stock adjustment and set the stock in the retail location "POS-01" for product "0002P" to zero.
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  • I expect the system to suggest one of the warehouse locations if there is no stock in the POS zone. As we want to get the stock to the customer if we can. It does as expected.
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  • Lets try things from the warehouse angle. I expect the pos zone to be fare game to the warehouse unless I set the locations in the POS zone to have a supply type of Quarantine.
  • To test this I set my workstation 7 to have no default zone. So it will behave like the warehouse. Then set the warehouse location to have more stock than the pos location. 
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  • When I enter a sale shipment, the sale shipment line starts as being on the default location. But being in the warehouse. I then press the "Pick" button
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Example of preventing the warehouse from picking stock from the "POS" zone.

  • If I don't want the warehouse to pick from the POS locations. I set the "POS-01" location's supply type to "Quarantine". Then press the pick button again to check this warehouse sale shipment will no longer pick from the location in the pos zone "POS-01".
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  • Now when I press the pick button, the sale shipment keeps trying to pick from the warehouse location, as the POS location is supply type quarantine. Expactly as expected:
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InactiveIndicates that this workstation is no longer active. The workstation will be hidden from the list view.
Operator Code Required

Indicates that an operator code must be entered (or a staff card must be scanned) before any new transaction is performed on this workstation. Typically used for shared terminals (such as point of sale or warehouse machines) for audit purposes.

If this is checked, the following workflows will prompt for operator code :

  • Sale order
  • Sale shipment
  • Customer payments
  • Pay from Cards


Skip Complete Screen for AccountsIndicates this workstation should bypass the "Complete Sale" screen for account customers (i.e. customers where their tender method is "Customer"). This will mean that consignment details cannot be entered and invoice dates cannot be changed. Often used for workstations serving as point of sale terminals to reduce steps necessary for completing sale.
This should skip showing the "Complete Sale" screen when completing shipments provided the following conditions are met:

- The customer has a tender set, the shipment is being batch invoiced, or the associated order has already been paid
- This is not a drop shipment
- The sale is not linked to a machine
- The workstation is not set to print consignments

The reason for this is that if any of the above are true, the complete sale screen may be required to fill in additional details.
Start New Shipment After CompleteOption to always create a new sale shipment when a sale shipment is finalised or completed.
Start New Sale Order After Complete Option to always create a new Sale Order when you finish current sale order you are on
Auto Stock Adjustment (Win)Indicates that this workstation will generate automatic stock quantity adjustments when there is not enough stock to create a sale. Often used for workstations serving as point of sale terminals to avoid hold-ups when stock levels are not correct.
Docket Printer TypeThe make and model of the docket printer being used (if any). If your docket printer is not listed, please contact Readysell support.
Docket Printer Name

The UNC path of the docket printer.

Pole Display Printer NameThe name of the Pole Display use with the workstation. 
Execute Printing QueueIndicates that this workstation should periodically interrogate and execute the printing queue. If enabled, ensure that the workstation has permission to access all printers on your network. Ensure that you have at least 2 workstations with this setting enabled to avoid printing delays.
Open Till On Card TransactionsIndicates that this workstation will pop the cash draw on card (EFTPOS and credit card) transactions. Normally, the cash draw will only pop on cash transactions.
Scanner PortThe COM port to which the barcode scanner on the workstation is attached (e.g. COM5 or COM10).
Scanner Type

Indicates scanner type used, can be set to one of the following :

  • Honeywell
  • Opticon
  • Cino 
Sales Scan Level

The level of scan checking to be used for sales processed on this workstation, can be one of:

  • None: Scan checking will not be enabled for sale shipments and the scanning related fields will not be shown
  • View: Scan checking will not be enabled for sale shipments, but the scanning related fields will be visible
  • Warning: Scan checking will be enabled for sale shipments, but may be bypassed
  • Required: Scan checking is required for sale shipments
Purchasing Scan Level

The level of scan checking to be used for purchases processed on this workstation, can be one of:

  • None: Scan checking will not be enabled for purchase receipts and the scanning related fields will not be shown
  • View: Scan checking will not be enabled for purchase receipts, but the scanning related fields will be visible
  • Warning: Scan checking will be enabled for purchase receipts, but may be bypassed
  • Required: Scan checking is required for purchase receipts
Always Scan Purch in Def Buy UnitWhen scanning in Purchasing scan product as default buy unit on the product file
Always Scan Sales in Def Sell UnitWhen scanning in Sales, scan product as default sell unit on the product file

Report Settings Tab

Workstation report settings are used to specify the default layout to be used when printing various transactions in the system. They determine what layouts are printed, how many copies and to what printer.

Workstation report settings can be defined once (on the default workstation) or can be customised per-workstation as required.

  • Alternatively, report setting can be expeditiously populated by the Populate From Presets button which includes the following predefined settings:

    1. Back Office (Landscape)
    2. Back Office (Portrait)
    3. Point of Sale (Landscape)
    4. Point of Sale (Portrait)


NameDescription
Form ReportThe form report layout that will be used.
TypeThe data type that the layout represents.
Print DeviceThe UNC path to the printer that will be used for printing the layout. Leave blank to allow selection of a printer.
CopiesThe number of copies of the report that will be printed each time.
Copies (Account)The number of additional copies of the report that will be printed for account sales (i.e. sales where the tender method is "Customer")
Automatically PrintWhether the report should print automatically. If not enabled, a preview will be shown first.
Print to QueueSending the report to the Readysell Printing Queue to be printed later which the print helper runs (This only effect consignment note reports. This should be available after version 8.726)
Criteria

A criteria string that filters cases for when this layout will be used. Can be used to (for example):

  • Use a specific layout based on the tender methods used on a sale
  • Only automatically print layouts when a transaction has a certain status
  • Print different layouts for different sites

See also: