How to add Workstation for PlusPoint?

How to add Workstation for PlusPoint?

When opening PlusPoint and a window appears advising that a workstation is not defined, the Computer name was changed or a new computer or Windows tablet was purchased then the workstation should be defined on PlusCentral.

To add a new workstation follow the below steps:
Navigate to Administration > Point of Sale Administration > Workstations
To register a new workstation click on the Add button and complete the following fields:
Details Tab:
  1. Workstation: Click on the lookup button and select the workstation from the network names listed.
  2. Description: Type in the workstation name, this alpha-numerical field can accept between 1 – 30 characters.
  3. Interface ID: Give each workstation a unique number for interface and reporting purposes. E interface ID needs to be unique
  4. Bill Printer: Select from printers installed on the pc or network where the guest bills should be printed, and enter the font and size as per printer driver configuration.
  5. Alternate Bill Printer: Select an alternative printer as a backup to print guest bills to, and enter the font and size as per printer driver configuration.
  6. Requisition Printers 1 - 5: Categories, stock items, and non-stock items can be pre-configured to print to a specific requisition printer. The requisition
    printer numbers will appear next to the requisition printers. Select the appropriate requisition printer and enter the font and size as per printer driver configuration.
Printer Fonts:
PlusPoint uses the Windows printer driver to communicate with the bill printer, it is there for very important that you use the correct printer
driver. There are two types of fonts you can use: - Workstation Fonts and Printer Fonts
  1. Workstation Fonts: Are listed on the pull-down box when defining your PlusPoint workstation. You will be required to use a font where every
    character is equally spaced i.e. “Courier” or “Courier New”. NB!! These fonts may cause the printer to print very slowly as the text is converted into a
    picture before printing.
  2. Printer Fonts: Are only listed in the printer manual I.e. for an Epson TM300 printer the supported fonts are “16cpi” or “13.3cpi”
In order to reduce issues with invoice alignment and appearance some recommended printer settings have been added to the workstations screen. To access the suggested settings select the Printer Info button, which will display recommended fonts, control fonts, and cut and kick

Device Control Tab:
Cash drawers, Pole Displays, Fingerprint readers, Email POS invoices, and Fiscal port settings are defined here.
  1. Control Font: Select the Control Font Type from the options on the drop-down list. This is critical for cash drawer installations.
    1. PLEASE NOTE As we are no longer talking directly to the port we need to be able to send special instructions (paper cut, drawer kick, etc) to the printer via the driver. Sending special characters to the printer is done with the special font called the “control font”. The name of this control font can be found in the printer’s user manual.
  2. Printer Control Codes: Paper cut and release codes as per the printer driver used; this is not in use anymore as this is determined by the driver installed.
  3. Pole Display: Should a Pole Display be installed, it’ll use the same port as the cash drawer, and display code configuration will usually differ as per the printer driver used.
  4. Cash Drawer Installed: Cash drawer tick and control font must be activated, the drawer  kick codes is as per printer driver used
  5. Finger Print Reader Installed: Should the Point of Sale staff use Finger Print readers to log into  PlusPoint this field needs to be ticked.
  6. Email POS Invoice: When this field is activated Point of Sale invoices can be emailed from the Point of Sale. The Control button must be accessed on the POS, the user then needs to navigate to the “Print Past Invoices” button and select an invoice. The email button will then be displayed as seen in POS Bill Print, once the button has been selected the email, with the attached invoice will be generated. PLEASE NOTE SMTP settings need to be configured on Administration > General Administration > System Configuration.
  7. Fiscal Printer COM Port: This feature should be used where fiscal printers are installed, the com port should be entered here
Click on Save once all the settings have been added to the workstation.

Outlet Restrictions Tab:
Should a Workstation only be allowed to access certain Outlets it can be configured on the Outlet Restrictions tab
  1. Click on the  "Add Outlet" button
  2. A window will appear listing the Outlets that have been built in the system with empty tick boxes next to them.
  3. Tick the appropriate boxes on the left of the screen to restrict the Workstations access to the outlet selected, remember to click on the Save button when done
PLEASE NOTE that when an Outlet is added to a Workstation this Outlet will not be  available to select when working on the Point of Sale
  1. To remove an Outlet from a Workstation, just click on the Outlet once and click the "Delete Outlet" button. A confirmation window will appear prompting the user to select “Yes” to continue to delete the Outlet Restriction from the Workstation

PLEASE NOTE
  1. Workstations and Printers need to be defined on the actual POS station and not from other workstations or main PC in order to ensure that printers and workstation name is correct and the POS station can actually "see" the printer.
  2. If there is no PlusCentral Shortcut on the POS workstation, right click on the PlusPoint shortcut, select "Open file location" and then search for the PlusCentral.exe in the PlusPoint folder

To Change Workstation:
To change the information entered select the workstation from the list on the left of the screen  and click on the "Change" button; all fields can be changed except the workstation field, remember to save the changes when done

To Delete Workstation:
To delete a workstation select the workstation from the list on the left of the screen and click on the "Delete" button, a confirmation window will appear prompting the users to select “Yes” to continue

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