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POS Guide

This guide covers the two roles built specifically for a retail counter: POS Cashier and POS Manager. If you're setting up the module itself (payment methods, stores, numbering), see the Point of Sale module reference → instead — this page is about the daily job.

As a Cashier​

Your role is deliberately narrow: ring up sales, take cash out of the till when genuinely needed, and manage your own till shift. You can't void a sale or adjust stock — ask your manager for those. You also can't see the financially-sensitive report tabs (Stock Movement, Register Sessions, Profit & Loss, Reconciliation), though you do see the Sales tab (your own sales only) and the Expenses tab under Point of Sale → POS Reports.

Daily workflow​

  1. Log in — you land on a minimal shift-status screen showing whether your register is already open.
  2. Open the register — enter the opening cash float before Checkout becomes usable.
  3. Ring up sales all shift, one after another (see below).
  4. Take cash out of the till when needed — see Cash Out below.
  5. Close the register at the end of your shift — count the drawer and enter what you counted.

Ringing up a sale​

  1. Go to Checkout (it may be called Take Order, or "[name] Checkout", depending on how your till is set up). If you can see more than one store, pick the one you're working at.
  2. Add items to the cart — scan a barcode, type a name/barcode to search, or tap a tile in the Quick-Add grid below the cart. Typing 3* before scanning adds 3 at once. An item marked Low Stock or Out of Stock may ask you to confirm, or may not be added at all, depending on your store's setting.
  3. Adjust quantity or remove a line directly in the cart if needed, and enter any discount your manager has agreed (per line, or Whole-Sale Discount under the Total).
  4. If the customer wants their TIN on the receipt, pick them in Customer (search by name, phone or TIN, or + New Customer) or just type their 9-digit Customer TIN.
  5. Tap the customer's payment method (Cash, M-Pesa, or whichever tender types your store has active) and enter the amount tendered — Cash shows change due automatically. If the customer wants to split the bill across two tenders (e.g. part Cash, part M-Pesa), click + Split Payment instead and add a line per method until nothing's left to pay — see Splitting a payment below.
  6. Click Complete Sale and wait for the success message — the button shows Saving… until the sale is safely saved. Stock is deducted automatically and, if your tenant has TRA fiscalization on, the receipt prints with the fiscal QR code already on it. If you get an error instead, the cart is still there — check the connection and press Complete Sale again.
  7. Print the receipt from the Last Sale card, or share it via WhatsApp if your tenant has this turned on (it's an opt-in feature, not on by default).

If a customer steps away mid-sale (e.g. to fetch more cash), click ⏸ Hold to park the cart and start the next customer — resume it later from the "on hold" bar above the cart. Held sales belong to your current register shift, so finish them before you close the register.

Splitting a payment​

Only shown once your store has 2+ payment methods active. Click + Split Payment on the payment screen, add one line per tender the customer is paying with (with an optional reference for non-Cash methods), and keep going until the Remaining indicator hits zero — unlike a single Cash sale, a split payment must land on exactly the total, no change given. Click ← Single Method if you started a split by mistake and want to go back.

Cash Out​

Need to take cash out of the drawer for something other than a sale (paying a delivery boy, a small supply run)? Click 💵 Cash Out near the register status, enter the amount, pick the best-fitting Category, add a reason, and confirm — wait for the "cash-out logged" message. This is subtracted from your expected closing cash right away. If your manager has turned on Cashier Expense Approval, it still reduces your expected cash immediately, but won't post to the books until a manager approves it.

Closing your register​

At the end of your shift:

  1. Click Close Register.
  2. Count the physical cash in the drawer and enter that figure as the Counted Closing Cash.
  3. The system shows your Expected Closing Cash (opening float + the Cash portion of sales for the shift, minus any Cash Outs you logged) and the Variance between the two — review it before clicking Confirm Close.
  4. Wait for Register closed. If you see "The register was NOT closed", nothing was saved — check the connection and click Confirm Close again.

A large variance is visible to your manager afterwards in POS Reports, so count carefully before submitting.

As a POS Manager​

You have everything a Cashier has, plus oversight of the till, the stock, and the store(s).

Daily workflow​

  1. Check the POS Manager dashboard — today's sales, sales by tender, top sellers, low-stock alerts, recent register sessions, and any sales stuck in the "Pending TRA Submissions" queue.
  2. Cover checkout or open/close a register the same way a Cashier does, whenever needed.
  3. Review reports for the previous day or shift — Sales, Stock Movement, Register Sessions, Profit & Loss.
  4. Reconcile non-Cash payment methods — confirm what actually landed on M-Pesa/Airtel Money/bank statements against what the till recorded.
  5. Handle stock — receive new purchase invoices, run manual stock adjustments, action any stock transfer requests between stores.
  6. Investigate anything unusual — a register variance, a voided sale, a low-stock alert.

Voiding a sale​

Only a Manager (not a Cashier) can void a sale:

  • The sale just rung up — Void this sale on the Last Sale card on Checkout, before the next sale or navigating away.
  • An earlier sale (a return, or a mistake found later) — POS Reports → Sales, then Void on that sale's row.

A reason is required, and it's recorded for the audit trail. Voiding automatically reverses the stock deduction (and the accounting entry). If the sale was already sent to TRA, you'll be asked to type CONFIRM — you must then also void that receipt in the TRA portal yourself, and click Mark Done — Voided in TRA Portal on your dashboard once you have.

Adjusting stock​

Go to POS Reports → Stock Movement → + Adjust Stock. Pick the item, enter the quantity change (positive to add, negative to remove), and give a reason — a reason is mandatory, since this becomes part of the loss-prevention audit trail. For a large batch of counts at once (e.g. an initial stocktake when setting up a new store), use Settings → System → Data Import → Stock Levels instead of adjusting one item at a time.

Running reports​

Point of Sale → POS Reports has one page with several tabs — Sales, Expenses, Stock Movement, Inventory, Register Sessions, Profit & Loss, Reconciliation, and Audit Trail. See the Reports section of the module reference → for what each tab shows. The Audit Trail tab specifically needs its own permission and isn't granted to POS Manager by default — if you don't see it, ask your Tenant Admin to grant it.

Reconciling payment methods​

Cash reconciles itself at register close, but M-Pesa, Airtel Money, and other electronic tenders sit with the provider or bank until you actually check the statement. Go to Point of Sale → POS Reports → Reconciliation: each row is one payment method for one store on one day with at least one sale. Check your real M-Pesa/Airtel/bank statement, enter the amount actually collected, and save — the Variance and status (Pending/Reconciled) update immediately. Do this regularly, not just at month-end, so a shortfall gets caught while it's still easy to trace back to a specific day and shift.

Managing stores (multi-branch)​

If your business runs more than one physical location:

  • Settings → Company → Stores (called Branches & Properties if you also run a hotel or hostel) — add, edit, or deactivate a store. Settings is normally Tenant Admin only, so ask your Tenant Admin if you don't see it.
  • Settings → Point of Sale → Receipt & Stores — set which store is the default for shared devices (only shown once you have 2+ active stores).
  • Settings → Users & Access — set each cashier's Assigned Store, so their Checkout opens on it without a picker.
  • Point of Sale → Stock Transfers — move stock from one store to another; a transfer must be Approved before stock actually moves, and each one has a printable slip.

Restocking​

New stock normally arrives through a Purchase Invoice (vendor bill) — receiving it updates stock automatically at the correct store. Use a manual stock adjustment only for corrections, damage, or a stocktake, not for routine receiving.

Tips​

  • A register must be open before Checkout will accept a sale — if a cashier's screen won't let them sell, check whether their register is actually open first.
  • Keep reasons for voids and stock adjustments specific ("Damaged in delivery — 2 units", not just "Adjustment") — they're the only record of what happened later.
  • The fullscreen/kiosk mode icon on Checkout hides the rest of the app's navigation — good for a dedicated till terminal, so a cashier can't wander off into other parts of the ERP.
  • A sale's receipt can be reprinted or re-shared later from POS Reports → Sales even after the shift has ended — you don't have to catch it on the Last Sale card at the time.