Point of Sale

Release 8

Original version by Odoo

November 03, 2014

Contents
1

Introduction

Video Case Study

Start with Odoo Point of Sale

3.1 Install the App & Select your Accounting Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2 Set up your Default Taxes & Currency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4
4
4

Set up your Point of Sale

4.1 Populate your Products Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2 Configure your Point of Sale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3 Connect your Peripherals to the PosBox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4
4
5
5

Sell in Seconds
5.1 Open a Session, Handle Several Customers at the Same Time and Sell your Products
5.2 Create an Invoice for your B2B Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3 Give a Refund to Your Customer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.4 Apply Time-Limited or Seasonal Discounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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6
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7

Manage your Cash Control

6.1 Set a Cash Control for your Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2 Open and Close Cash Registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8
8
8

Analyse your Sales Activity

7.1 Print Daily Reports about your Shop Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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7.2

Produce Statistics on your Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 Introduction
The Point of Sale is an element that was first introduced in version 6.0 of OpenERP and has been improved since
then to become an important feature of Odoo. The PoS is a unique application inside the apps set of Odoo. First
of all, it is among the first PoS systems running on a 100% web-based environment, which means any computer
with a web browser can host Odoos PoS. Secondly, the PoS is the first two-part app in Odoo, with a front end and
a back end.
The Point of Sale application allows you to:
Connect your existing peripherals to your Point of Sale application;
Sell your products in seconds thanks to a neat and user-friendly interface;
Create invoices on the spot for your B2B customers;
Track your shops performance;
Automatically generate accounting entries and stock moves.
The Front End:
Points of Sale are systems that are used in places where people must interact quickly with their environment. Lets
think of cashiers that need to quickly scan items or waiters that have to check several tickets at a time. In that case,
they need an interface that is designed for them, and not only forms with a lot of fields they need to fill up (even
though completing these fields can at least be partially automated in Odoo). For this very reason, Odoo designed
a front end for its Point of Sale.
The Back End:
The back end is the place where managers will go to configure the PoS, print reports and analyze sales. The back
end of the Point of Sale works with the usual Odoo interface.
The Offline Mode:
Thanks to the back-end/front-end architecture, Odoo made the PoS very robust allowing you to use the front-end
offline mode. This means that once the PoS front end is launched, Odoo server and/or the connection could be
shut down, without affecting the PoS. This offline system requires more time to implement new features, but is
more robust. Lets imagine several case were having an offline mode is of prime interest:
Connection to server shutdown in a big supermarket;
Use in environments that require mobility without wifi;
Use in low-tech environments.
Note:
The Point of Sale is the name given to the Odoo app. But the PoS is also a concept we use inside this
module. This concept can be understood as a link from a shop to the accounting data. It is also on the
point of sale object that you will specify the possible interfaces it can relate to (such as payment terminals,
printers, etc.)

2 Video Case Study

The Organical Company sells organic food. The company is well-known for its seasonal fruits and vegetables
packs, produced by local farmers. Growing at a fast pace, Ann and Catherine want to expand their business
quickly by developing a network of physical shops. As their first shop opens next week, they need to deploy a
point of sale application as soon as possible.

3 Start with Odoo Point of Sale

3.1 Install the App & Select your Accounting Package
Start from Odoo.com as any new user and install Point of Sale.
Once in the Accounting Configuration wizard, select the Accounting package that applies to your country
or the Custom one if you do not find the country.
If you have an Odoo instance already, install Point of Sale. You probably already set your Accounting
package. If not, Odoo will automatically ask you to do it.
Note:
The Accounting package (or chart of accounts) contains national taxes, fiscal positions (see Billing chapter), accounts (see Accounting chapter), etc. A company has by definition only one chart of accounts. Once
installed, you cannot remove or replace it.
The Custom package is a template that can be used to build your own chart of accounts, so you dont have
to start from scratch. It embeds a set of generic preset accounts and taxes etc. You can rename and duplicate
them as you need.

3.2 Set up your Default Taxes & Currency

In the next wizard (Set Your Accounting Options), you can select the default taxes to apply to your new
products and your companys main currency (USD).
If you have selected the Custom chart of accounts, you have to set the default tax rates (15% by default).
To set those taxes as default taxes for your new products, go to the Invoicing settings page (eInvoicing &
Payments section).

4 Set up your Point of Sale

4.1 Populate your Products Database
Go to Point of Sale Products Products and create your first products. Give each of them a name, a
sale price and an image.
Define an EAN13 barcode to be scanned in the PoS interface.
Define for each product to which Point of Sale category it belongs. For each point of sale category, define a
name, a parent category and add an image.
Note:
For products that must be weighed in the PoS interface, tick To Weigh With Scale in the Sales tab.
If you want to import a products catalogue, feel free to use the template provided with the training material.

4.2 Configure your Point of Sale

Note:
For Trainer: Demonstration scenario
Go to Point of Sale Configuration Point of Sales and open the Main Point of Sales.
Explain Picking Type, Sale Journal, Stock Location & available features.
Customize the receipt header & footer: e.g. Thank you for shopping at Organical! See you soon.
Show how to create a new payment method.
Create a bank account for the company and set the related journal as an available PoS payment method
(option to tick in the Point of Sale tab). This way the payment method is automatically set up in terms of
accounting.
Go back to the PoS configuration form and add it as a new payment method.
Go to Point of Sale Configuration Point of Sales and open the Main Point of Sales.
Rename it as you want.
Add new payment methods that you previously created or made available in the PoS.
Customize the receipt header and footer to your companys needs.
Note:
Picking Type: stock moves operation to process after each sale in order to update the stock. You can
retrieve a history of all the moves linked to this picking type in Warehouse Operations. Do not change it
if your stock is based on only one stock location. Picking types can be set up in Warehouse Configuration
Types of Operation. To find out more about it, have a look at the Warehouse chapter.
Stock Location: stock location from which the products sold are picked.
Sale Journal: accounting journal in which all the sales are recorded in your accounting. Learn more about
journals in the Accounting chapter.
Payment Methods: When you go shopping, you can usually choose how to pay (Bank, Visa, Cash, Check,
etc.). Each PoS can be associated to specific payment methods. In Odoo, these payments methods are
accounting journals for which PoS Payment Method is ticked (in the Point of Sale tab).
A Point of Sale does not necessarily correspond to a physical shop. In most use cases, this assumption is
true. However, if your physical shop has several counters with cash drawers, you need to create a point of
sales for each counter. This configuration enables you to open a session for each counter. Furthermore, you
can also connect several PoSBoxes, one for each point of sales.

4.3 Connect your Peripherals to the PosBox

Connect the PosBox with an Ethernet cable to your modem.
Connect your peripherals onto the PosBox.
Plug the power adaptor of the PosBox.
Go to Point of Sale Configuration Point of Sales and tick the boxes Cashdrawer, Print via Proxy and
Scan via Proxy. If the PosBox is not automatically detected, you can directly enter the IP address of the
PosBox in the Hardware Proxy subsection.
The PosBox and the peripherals should be up and running.

Tip:
Some ways to debug your PosBox:
Printer should print a ticket.
Check the connectivity on the front end.
Connect in SSH to your PosBox. The SSH address is given on the printers ticket.
Have you tried turning it off and on again?

5 Sell in Seconds
5.1 Open a Session, Handle Several Customers at the Same Time and Sell your
Products
Note:
Session: A session is the temporary use of a Point of Sale by a user. If you connect to the PoS because he is
in charge of the sales during half an hour at the front desk of the shop, then he needs to close the existing
session and open a new one in the PoS. Every PoS order will be linked to a session.
PoS Order: Order created by the PoS. The way customers usually see the PoS order is the printed output:
the ticket.
Note:
For Trainer: Demonstration scenario
Go to Daily Operations Your Session. Select the point of sale you created and click New Session.
Show the different sections of the Point of Sale interface:
The top bar showing the connected user, the different ongoing tickets, the PoSBox status and the
connection status.
The shopping cart.
The search bar and the public categories breadcrumb. Show how you can refine the product search
through public categories.
The payment methods and the virtual keyboard.
Create a ticket by selecting one jar of jam, one bottle of orange juice and one pear.
Show how you can give a 15% discount on the bottle of orange juice.
Change the quantity of pears to two.
Change the price of the jar of jam.
The customer forgot to take an article in the shelves, and leaves to take it; in the meanwhile, create a second
ticket for the customer waiting in the line.
The customer pays $10 in cash and the rest with his/her credit card.
Validate the ticket.
Close the front-end interface, close the session (at the end of the day) and validate closing and post entries.
Show the list of PoS orders, the journal entries and the picking that are created.
Go to Daily Operations Your Session. Select the point of sale you created and click on New Session.
In the front-end interface, create a ticket either by selecting the products from the list or by scanning their
bar code.
If necessary, give a discount, change the quantity or the price via the virtual keyboard.
Select the payment method chosen by the customer.
Enter the payment details and validate the ticket.
Close the front-end interface, close the session and validate closing and post entries.

Note:
If EAN13 barcodes are properly defined for products, you can easily use a scanner to add them to the cart.
To learn more about barcodes in Odoo, please refer to https://www.odoo.com/forum/help-1/question/whatkind-of-barcodes-are-supported-by-the-point-of-sale-53.
If you struggle to scan an item, you can type its barcode in the search bar to add it to the cart.

5.2 Create an Invoice for your B2B Clients

Tick Invoicing in the PoS configuration form to be able to generate invoices from the PoS interface.
Open a new session and create a ticket by selecting some products.
Assign a customer to this ticket since he is requesting an invoice.
Select a payment method and invoice the ticket.
Leave the front-end interface by closing the session.
Go to the last PoS order in Point of Sale Daily Operations Orders.
See the reference to the generated invoice in the subsection Extra Info Accounting Information.
Tip:
You can automatically recognize a customer by scanning a dedicated customer card. Enter the related
barcode in its contact form (Point of Sale tab). This barcode must start with 042.
If the customer is not registered in your address book, go to the back end and create a new customer from
the Sales menu.
You can generate an invoice for a PoS order from the back end as well. Assign a customer to the order, click
the Invoice button and validate the created invoice.

5.3 Give a Refund to Your Customer

One of your customers comes back at the shop because he is unhappy with one of the products he bought. He has
the receipt reference with him.
Go to Point of Sale Daily Operations Orders. Open the Advanced Search and select Receipt Ref
contains <ticket receipt reference> and open the related PoS order.
Click Return Products. A new PoS order with reverse quantities is created.
Edit this new PoS order in order to delete (or change the quantities of) the products that are kept by the
customer.
Register the payment by clicking Payment. Select the payment mode, the amount to be paid back and
mention why you proceeded this back payment.

5.4 Apply Time-Limited or Seasonal Discounts

You would like to apply a special seasonal discount pricelist for your PoS. For more information on creating
Pricelists, please refer to the Sales chapter.
Go to Point of Sale Configuration Point of Sales.
Assign the newly created pricelist to your PoS in the Pricelist field.
Check the new prices from the PoS Front End.

6 Manage your Cash Control

6.1 Set a Cash Control for your Shop
Open your Cash payment method and tick Cash Control in the Cash Registers tab.
Then in the Available Coins section, select the values you want to have in the Point of Sale. You can delete
some of the default coins or create new ones.
Tip:
If you want to allow a maximum difference between the ending balance and the theoretical cash for nonPoS Managers, set an Amount Authorized Difference in the payment method configuration form (Point of
Sale tab). If this limit is exceeded, the user cannot close the cash register.
To open a cash register with the last closing balance, tick Opening With Last Closing Balance in the
payment method configuration form (Cash Registers tab).

6.2 Open and Close Cash Registers

Go back to Point of Sale Daily Operations Your Session and open a new session.
Before validating and opening the session, edit this latest and state that you have 11 coins of $0.10, 6 coins
of $0.50, 6 notes of $1 and 8 notes of $10.
Validate and open the session.
Register several PoS orders.
Close the front-end interface and close the session.
Edit the session in order to specify the coins left remaining in your cashdrawer.
Validate closing and post entries.
Note:
In the back end, you can put money in or take it out of the cashdrawer from the Session form.
To learn more about the Accounting configuration of Cash Registers, please refer to the Accounting &
Finance chapter.

7 Analyse your Sales Activity

7.1 Print Daily Reports about your Shop Activity
At the end of the day, you want to print a report about todays sales.
Go to Point of Sale Daily Operations Orders.
Expand the search bar and group by Session.
Select all the remaining PoS orders and print the Sales Lines report.
Tip:
You can get a sales report per salesperson from Reporting Point of Sale Sale Details.

7.2 Produce Statistics on your Activity

After a few months of running, you would like to assess the evolution of your turnover and to find out your star
products/ product categories.
Go to Reporting Point of Sale Orders Analysis.
What is your best day so far in terms of revenue?
What are your most sold products in terms of sold quantity and revenue?
Who are your three most devoted customers?