Our experience with computerization of many Supermarkets and Pharmacies shows that quite a number of them had computerized BEFORE they called us in.
Here are the main issues we found

POLE DISPLAY NOT WORKING
In quite a number of shops, we found that the pole displays were substandard attempts by the Chinese and had never worked well from day one, or ceased working for a long time.
We examined the displays and quite a number simply needed the power supply (which many of you know as “charger”) to be properly plugged or changed to a more NEPA resistant one.
Several other pole displays had also stopped because drivers could not be found for them when the Windows OS was upgraded. Since quite a few of them used the EPSON Esc command set, we simply told the computer that the pole was a printer and ran an Epson driver on it, and the old boy kicked to life.
In one or two cases, we found that the communication cable between the computer and printer was faulty. In the early days, most of these cables were locally built, so we went online to get the wiring diagram and rebuilt the cable and viola.
Others were as a result of faults from faulty computer port or faulty programming from the software itself.
In some rare cases, the pole display itself was gone completely, so we simply replaced with a brand name from EPSON or SAMSUNG BIXOLLON.
RECEIPT PRINTER NOT WORKING
Receipt printers by design, are very rugged hardware, so that up to ten twenty years they are still running. Very rarely have we found a faulty printer that was dead. Most times it was just that the staff didn’t want computerization and junked the poor thing, or NEPA blew the charger.
To know if a printer is alive, you don’t need a computer. Just connect it to power and switch it off from its on/off button. Press form feed down and without releasing it, switch printer on. Release the form feed after 3 seconds. Printer should print.
In the recent times, printer installation has changed to a two step process in which a TSR is first launched from the Driver CD, before the printer is connected and switched on to be autodetected by windows.
If the printer is not installed in the manner prescribed n the manual, it can keep “falling” out of drivers and become quite a nuisance as work progresses.
Also substandard USB or communications cables (Serial or parallel) can disturb the printer from working properly and dropping drivers.
On the windows control panel, go to Printers and Devices and see if your printer is there. If it isn’t, you have a driver problem. If it is offline, switch it on. If it stays offline, you have a communication cable problem.
Get a new cable, try and uninstall the printer and re-install from the disk.
Roughly pulling out paper from the printer before it has ceased printing can damage the print heads, especially for the dot matrix printers which also use ribbon cartridges. If your printer has an auto-cutter, it is advisable to enable it.
Check if your ribbon has expired or run out of ink and replace.
I advise people to buy thermal printers instead of dot matrix because there is no ribbon or ink to buy. However, since the ink is built into the paper, you need to buy good quality paper so that your printouts are legible.
CASH DRAWER NOT AUTOMATICALLY OPENING
In many cases, cash drawers receive the character 7, or bell from the software. Many engineers connect the telephone cable to the wrong port on the computer modem, so that the drawer is not getting the signal to open.
Ko le werk!!!
Change your engineer.
BARCODE SCANNERS NOT WORKING
The barcode scanner is a very sensitive device and is quite fragile. There are two common types of connections, USB and keyboard wedge.
The keyboard wedge connects to the keyboard slot and provides an alternate port for your keyboard.
If after connecting, the scanner doesn’t beep, it has died peacefully. So, just get another one.
If it beeps and flashes a red light, you may be using it out of range or gunning it wrongly at the numbers instead of the lines.

COMPUTER SYSTEM NOT WORKING
No 1 reason is NEPA, followed by not shutting down, and viruses in no particular order.
The second reason is bad engineering. Every Tom, Dick and Harry is a computer vendor and engineer these days.
Get an engineer from the company you bought the software from, NOT the company you bought the hardware from.
Get a good UPS and Stabiliser. Ensure your generator “engineer” is not powering your gen beyond 240volts in the fallacy that a small gen can take a big load such as a freezer. It will just blow your appliances.

SOFTWARE NOT WORKING
Many times, the computer itself is working, but the software isn’t. Chief reason is virus attacks, or the software is pirated, or the guy supplying you stole it from his employer, who is the original author of the software.
Somebody did that with our software and even renamed the ShopMaxi as SuperMaxi and started selling it in Abeokuta. Definitely, those in Abeokuta can’t enjoy the full benefits of the software because of curses associated with devourers, and also because of technical support and upgrades to Windows.
Databases need re-indexing and other forms of support too, so it makes sense to link up with an authorized reseller of the product and have a technical agreement for the software.
Quite a number of vendors now license the software to just one year so that at renewal, you can have maintenance carried out for a small fee.
We do not stop our software from working after one year, but we charge an optional yearly fee so that you can get preventive maintenance.
Also you need to have a data backup. So that if one computer breaks down, or is stolen, you can move the software smoothly and keep working.
Avoid calling hacks to solve problems on your business system running POS. This idea of formatting at every small problem is common among “Engineers” and that means lost data.
Get a solid antivirus, pay for it, and update it from the internet at least once a month, and scan your system.
Get a good UPS and Stabiliser.
And call in the company that wrote the software. If you look well, they have a website and telephone support.
For instance, we can repair our software for our clients anywhere in the world via the internet.

ENTIRE SYSTEM USELESS
Most times, this isn’t true unless the software itself was a bad one from day one, or it was badly implemented by a hack or thief.
Staff can be complicit in abandoning POS systems because they don’t want the daily audit so bewareof your Manager.
Also, don’t let the computer be used as a game machine, internet or video playing device or its ports, power outlets or extensions phone charger.
If NEPA goes often, don’t let the UPS cry and cry until it dies with the system on it.
When power is restored, let sales that was lost be recorded back into the computer to balance stock.
When goods are bought, let them be entered as purchases. Check the expired goods reports for stock that will soon expire.

STAFF STEALING
If your software isn’t good, get another one. Get ShopMaxi. At installation time, don’t enter stock yourself. Let the experts do it and pay them. During installation, we normally detect a lot of missing money and inventory, if done right.
After that, take physical stock regularly and compare with your computer’s reports. Update discrepancies and differences.
Penalise staff for the shortfalls in sales and inventory whenever you find a difference between computer and physical. Share the cost of computer repairs among them, and install a CCTV camera in the shop, one watching the computer directly. Make sure your CCTV has a DVR.
Don’t keep large amounts in the till. Get a software with an SMS alert that tells you when cash has reached N20,000 in your shop or whatever amount you want to bank. Software can now send alerts and calls to even your bank to pick up the cash from your shop.
Get a cash drawer, CCTV cameras can spot stealing from cash drawers easier than other types of drawers because of the automatic action.
Print duplicate receipts and have a security at the door who checks that all goods are receipted. Compare collected receipts by security with sales records.
Check for any missing receipt numbers in a sequence of receipts. Know the last receipt No for each checkout machine each day.
Have a good relationship with your suppliers and customers. Never let your staff be the one who pays suppliers. Get the impressions of your staff from your customers and suppliers.
Rotate staff from the till regularly.
Keep your software company close and your hardware “engineers” far from systems.

For More Information Call us on 09080561955, 08033120866

Informative piece

UniqueMB:
Informative piece

Thanks..

Contact us for solutions to your supermarket POS problems. We also do hotel, pharmacy and hospital software and hardware repairs and installation. Call 08033120866

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We now have an office in Ilorin, Technical reps in Kaduna, Akure, Abuja, and Owerri. Contact us on 08033120866 and we'll solve that problem today

UniqueMB:
Informative piece

Thanks sir

Bonanza
Buy a copy of shopMaxi Lite between now and 30th of July 2019 and get a barcode scanner and printer absolutely free..

Features same as ShopMaxi PoS but requires less memory to load..

Yearly renewable version N50k
Everlasting version N95k
ShopMaxi Full Version.N120k

Bonanza
Buy a copy of shopMaxi Lite between now and 30th of Nov 2020 and get a barcode scanner and printer absolutely free..

Features same as ShopMaxi PoS but requires less memory to load..

Yearly renewable version N35k
Everlasting version N65k
ShopMaxi Full Version.N80k