OFBiz-POS (Point Of Sales)

OFBiz has it's own open source POS front end application. The interface utilises XUI whilst the business functionality is directly reusing the core OFBiz technology underneath. Thus the POS terminal gains all the benefits already built into the framework around products, pricing, promotions and facilities etc.

User documentation

OFBiz POS User Manual - version 9.11.pdf (POS functionalities did not change since)
Manuel du Point de vente OFBiz - version 9.11.pdf (Le point de vente n'a pas changé depuis)

See also attachments page for older version

System options

Those familiar with OFBiz will understand most of these options as they already exist in the framework.

• Choice your Database as per OFBiz entity engine. Run one locally on the POS terminal, effectively standalone mode for resilience against network connection problems, or from another machine if you only want to maintain one database.
• Synchronise - It's possible to synchronise the POS database with an upstream central (or mid tier) database. This allows for all product administration to be done at the upstream level and synchronised down to the POS terminals. This process works the other way for reporting of sales back and customer info into the central system from the POS terminals.
• Stock management - In simple terms the main database will have visibility on the stock levels and the POS terminals can feed updates. As always the real time argument comes into effect based on how often you synchronise and even then you will still fall foul to the customer who has picked it from a shelf but not processed through the till yet scenarios!

It would be nice to see development of a stock check against other facilities screen to ease customer enquires about other shops having it in stock. Think real time stock issues again though!

To Setup

Getting Started
POS Setup Process
Technical Production Setup Guide
Business Setup Guide
Documentation Index

To Run

The POS alone

*nix and Mac: ./ant start-pos
Windows: ant start-pos

The POS with also the web applications and eCommerce webstore

*nix and Mac: ./ant start-both
Windows: ant start-both

The webPOS component can be seen in action via http://demo-trunk-ofbiz.apache.org/webpos/control/main

Getting Started:

Login with userid "1" and password "1" (or 2/2 for a non manager person).
To use the "register" it must be opened, which basically involves telling the system how much cash you are starting with. It will then keep track of cash transactions so you can see if everything balances when you close the register.

To open the register click on the MGR button on the top and near the right, and then on the "Open" button on the right side of the screen near the top.

Using Load and Save Sale buttons, you can park customer transactions for later recall. If using a central store database it allows you to pick up again from any till.

Internationalisation (I18n)

Localisation (L10n) of POS application is straightforward, look in \applications\pos\config\.
There are 2 kinds of labels.

• Those managed by OFBiz directly : in PosUiLabels.xml
• Those managed by XUI : in XuiLabels.properties (add your language if needed)

CRM

There is now (2009-11) a beginning of a CRM in the POS. At least you are able to search, create, modify and select a customer profile (full name, email address, phone number, card number). To allow a customer profile to be selected, it must have a card number. This card number must also correspond to an existing promotion code. Once a customer is selected, the card number is used as a promo code to give customised privileges. Also as the customer is known during the sales processing much more could be done with it...
See more about it in the Promotions chapter in the attached Till Manual.

Synchronization

Sync Setup Notes and Example

Tried and Tested hardware:

You may find a more complete list here. To know more about JavaPOs in general

As with any POS system the hardware can vary dramatically, but any hardware supporting JavaPOS should be able to do the trick. It would be interesting to have some idea of hardware people have tried and tested either with or without success.

512MB of RAM is coming up as a recommended level, certainly going below that will cost you performance.

How to setup the Epson JavaPOS ?

Setup the Epson JavaPOS

Areas for thought/investigation

For UK receipts the VAT needs to be shown as the amount made up in the gross price. The system can handle multiple VAT codes/values i.e. books have 0% VAT and books with tapes have 13% and pretty much everything else has 17.5%. The till functions correctly in applying the different amounts when the data is configured but need to look into the receipt reporting as we need a sub total listing the amounts for each VAT code separately. Plus if we store gross amounts then the VAT should not be added, just show how much it is! Ray Barlow 25/05/05

Individual stores require control of "their" product database in terms of store X can add and sell a product that store Y doesn't. Also store X should be able to add and sell a product that store Y might take on later, so the product data should also be transferable if desired. Again individual stores require control of pricing for a product although it will be standard for 95% of products. Ditto promotions!

Price enquiries - A quick (bar)code price check that does not make any changes to or need an existing transaction.

Find products by code, name and or descriptions!

Ray Barlow 13/07/05 Attached is the document we have written for users of the POS system (Till Manual_V2.0). It may be a little bit specific to us in areas and it does have a little customisation i.e. we have added two functional buttons that we thought useful, you can see them on the screenshots.
1) DEL : If you are typing a number on screen and you make a typo this saves pulling the keyboard out to correct it.
2) - (minus) : We use this for quantity corrections, price mods etc.