Chat Transcript - September 2008
Product: Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS)
Topic: Tender Types, Currencies, and Payment Processing
Date: Thursday, September 11, 2008
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Tender type display order
Q: Setting up the tender type display order is a great feature, but if it is changed then the green tender touch screen keys at the bottom of the screen don’t work. If we leave all the tender display order values set to “0”, they work fine. Why?
A: This is a documented issue that we have concluded that the code and testing impact would be too large to fix. We have published a Knowledge Base article with resolution to the problem. I have pasted the link to the Knowledge Base article below for your convenience:
https://mbs.microsoft.com/knowledgebase/KBDisplay.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;862004 (login required)
Q: I have the cash tender type on top for sales (tender screen) but not for the closing amounts screen. Aren't they to be the same?
A: They should be the same. I just tested this and I cannot reproduce the issue that you are describing. Are you sure that you have printed a Z Report after making your Tender Type order changes?
Q: I have many store locations that AMEX is on top of the closing amount screen one day and Cash is on top the closing amount screen the next day. Please fix or help.
A: I would encourage you to contact our Technical Support Team and report this as a possible bug. If we can recreate it, we will submit this to the Sustained Engineering team for bug review. In the meantime, here are a couple of things that you could check:
1. Verify that you have unique register numbers for each computer. I.E. do not have two Register 1's with open batches at the same time.
2. Make sure that you process a Z Report on every computer that has an open batch after making any Tender type changes. This includes back office computers and any other computer that has ever opened Store Operations POS regardless of whether they are an active Point of Sale Register.
Q: How can we possibly Z out "non POS" computers that at one time or an other opened POS (during the RMS 1.x days) and are no longer able to do so because they don't have a POS license?
A: This is a great question. I have listed detailed steps below to temporarily use one of your licensed point-of-sale computers to close an old batch. If you have any further questions or problems, feel free to call Technical Support.
1. Close all RMS applications on the back office computer (with the open POS batch).
2. Close all RMS applications on a licensed Store Operations POS computer.
3. Start Store Operations Administrator on a licensed Store Operations POS computer.
4. On the File menu, click Configuration, and then click the Register tab.
5. Change the Register Number to the Register Number of the back office computer, and then click OK.
6. Start Store Operations POS.
7. Print a Z Report.
8. Close Store Operations POS.
9. Change the Register Number back to the original Register Number so that the next time you start Store Operations POS it reverts back to the original Store Operations computer.
Q: This works for closing the batch but there are two (other) problems associated with this. 1. When you add a new tender to RMS it won't show up on any non-pos computers (cause you cannot Z out). 2. It creates an open batch (annoying!).
A: 1. Where are you saying that it will not show up? The new Tender Type should show up correctly in reports and in the Tender Type properties screens.
2. Any time that you start Store Operations POS on a computer it will open a batch for that computer.
Q: In Manager when updating blind close amounts. I realize this but this causes confusion (open batches for a long time from registers that are not really registers at all).
A: OK, I see what you mean. I agree that this is somewhat annoying. But hopefully you are not changing your Tender Types that much.
Q: Is running HQ client changing the order of the closing/ opening tender types? Is it by default that they are in alpha order? Is it by internal structure of the table?
A: 1. Headquarters Client should not be making any changes to the order of your Tender Types. 2. By default, the Tender Types are displayed by their Tender.ID database values.
Disabling tender types
Q: How can I disable/hide a tender that we no longer need/use? I was told by MS support that a tender should NEVER be deleted, if this is correct why is there not an "inactive" option available? The same for no longer needed cashiers (cause of history).
A: There is not a way to disable or hide tenders or cashiers that are no longer needed; but if you have a large number of tenders you could re-number the non-needed tender to be at the bottom.
As far as disabling or hiding the tenders or cashiers these would be great Product Suggestions, which you can enter using the following tools. Login is required.
CustomerSource link
https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/productsuggestions/productsuggestion.htm
PartnerSource link
https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/productfeedback/productsuggestion
Q: Making tenders and especially cashiers inactive should have been included from day 1 (do you know a single company where no cashier has ever quit or got fired?). I don't mind making products suggestions but nothing ever happens to them!
A: Thanks for your note. All suggestions are reviewed, evaluated, and considered for new releases and scoped based on number of customer requests and impact, as well as scope of work. We are currently in development of V3 and are evaluating this suggestion. Thanks so much!
Offline mode
Q: Offline mode questions:
What does RMS do/use to check the Offline data is validate?
Is the Offline data truncated if not relative to current batch?
Is the Offline data with CC validate for duplicates?
A: Can you please let us know if all of your questions are in regards to credit card transactions in offline mode? If not can you please elaborate on what you are asking? Thanks.
Q: Is Offline data validated when syncing?
A: I'm not sure what you mean be validated; but the sales, tender, etc. information should be transferred to the live database when a sync is done.
Q: How does RMS validate the Offline data?
A: The business logic scopes the data.
Foreign currencies
Q: In Store Operations, foreign currencies and foreign currency suppliers works well. Printed PO shows foreign currency symbol and foreign cost. But in Headquarters, printing PO from worksheet does not show foreign currency symbol. Will this be fixed soon?
A: Can you please submit a case and report this issue as this could be a defect that we may need to review?
Q: Would this be an incident or a bug report? would it be chargeable?
A: Open a new incident and report this issue as defect in the product. The engineer should not charge you for the request. Thanks!
Matrix items
Q: Is the matrix attribute sort/list order preserved after installing the latest hot fixes? Currently they are (often) sorted alphabetically instead of in sort order.
A: Yes, the matrix attribute sort/list order are preserved after the installing the latest hotfixes. In order to maintain the product consistency we are not changing the sort orders. Still we would recommend that before installing a hotfix, please do read the accompanying Readme file as it contains the list of the issues that we fix in a particular hotfix.
Q: When you open up a Matrix and go to the Component Items tab and apply a filter and do a copy to all rows it also incorrectly changes the values in the items that are not in the filtered/displayed list. When will this get fixed?
A: I am able to recreate this and am not sure if this is simply because the filter is hiding the other rows and they are really still there or not. However, please report this as a bug so that we can analyze it more by contacting Technical Support to open a non-chargeable support request. You can do this by calling MBS support at 1-888-477-7877 or by filling out the form on this Web site: https://mbs.microsoft.com/support/newstart.aspx (login required)
Roadmap
Q: What is RMS Roadmap? Is it for service?
A: Questions concerning the RMS roadmap refers to future plans and schedule for RMS.
Q: As promised during the last RMS live chat, can you please provide me with (a link to) the RMS roadmap (release date(s), enhancements etc.)?
A: As noted in the last session, the RMS roadmap is slated to be released in September. To the best of my knowledge, that is still on track; and will most likely happen later in the month. We look forward to hearing your feedback once it is published.
Q: I was in the understanding that V3 (isn't this supposed to be POS2009?) is basically in the alpha/beta phase and the feature set has (mostly) been set already and is scheduled for release in (calendar) Q1 2009 , is this not true?
A: Yes; you are correct. The correct name for V3 is Microsoft Dynamics POS 2009 and it is currently in beta and is scheduled for Q1 2009. That schedule has not changed. However, we may still consider suggestions but each will need to be scoped appropriately based on customer requests, impact, and scope of work.
Q: Thanks for clarifying the new RMS V3 name. I am surprised that MS decided to rename RMS to POS since it's way more than a POS system. Can we ask non tender questions yet?
A: Yes; feel free to post other questions regarding RMS at this time. Thanks!
Product updates
Q: 1) How long can I stay on 1.3? Will I be able to skip 2.0 and go straight to V3? Will there be an import utility included with V3?
2) OK to install Service Pack 3 for Windows XP Pro KB936929?
A: 1) You can find product support lifecycle information for 1.3 at http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-us&p1=10339&x=6&y=2
At this time, POS 2009 (V3) is not under public disclosure so we are unable to answer specific questions relating to POS 2009.
A: 2) KB952287 fixes the issue found in Windows XP SP3. In early September, this was released as an automatic update so your system should be updated if you have auto update enabled. However, please verify before installing Windows XP SP3.
Other questions
Q: Is there any way to display different custom button on different registers in RMS 2.0? (Just like you can have different printers/receipts etc. on different registers)
A: Since the Custom Buttons are entered via the Manager Application, the next time POS is loaded (regardless of register) that button will display. The option to customize buttons per register is not available in release 2.0.
Q: Any fixes for printing statements. When close billing for each month and print statements, some accounts have 10+ pages because no way to limit the statement to print just balances outstanding.
A: We could probably modify the Statement.xml file to remove the activity detail. However, this would remove the data for all accounts; not just the ones with a lot of information.
Q: I did a post to the newsgroup for a client regarding Physical Inventory. Error #2147217871 during physical inventory at the time of hitting the commit button. We were thinking it was a SQL Server Express timeout problem. Any thoughts.
A: Please provide the additional information requested in the newsgroup to assist with troubleshooting this issue.
Q: What makes an account out of balance error when closing the billing cycle?
A: There can be a number of possible reasons for this:
1) If you close the billing cycle on the same day as the last day of the billing cycle.
2) If you make adjustments to ARs from a previous period.
3) If you adjust AR or ARH records via SQL scripts.
Q: We have store locations that have duplicate CC in the batch. It is a lot of work to remove these duplicates. Can Microsoft make it easier for the store manager to remove the CC transaction.
A: If you would like to submit a suggestion about how this can be improved please use one of the following links. Login is required.
CustomerSource
https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/productsuggestions/productsuggestion.htm
PartnerSource
https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/productfeedback/productsuggestion
Q: Can you make all the field labels in Microsoft Dynamics POS 2009 user definable (just like we can do now with the subdescription1 - 3 fields)?
A: If you would like to submit a suggestion about how this can be improved please use one of the following links. Login is required.
CustomerSource
https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/productsuggestions/productsuggestion.htm
PartnerSource
https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/productfeedback/productsuggestion
Q: Is there going to be a easy way to print Barcodes for Assembly Items in the future?
A: As a work-around, you may select any one of the components when printing labels and include the group lookup code. We are considering this for Microsoft Dynamics POS 2009.
