Understand and Use: Shopkeeper Polling
Emalie Fergusson, Support Application Specialist
June 2012
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Welcome!
• First free Shopkeeper Understand and
Use webinar for 2012
• 30 minute duration
• Feel free to ask any questions at the end
of the presentation
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Today’s Agenda
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What is Polling?
Polling flow of events
– Creating Profiles
– Profile Types
– Profile Options
– Processing Store Files
– Troubleshooting
– Automating Profiles and Processes
Polling Options
The new .NET Polling Service and navigation in Version 8
Demonstration
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What is Polling?
Polling synchronises your
Head Office and stores
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Polling Flow of Events
Creating store updates and processing your sales
Profiles Updates
• Created in the Polling Module at Head
Office and saved in the Shopkeeper
Export folder where NetPollHO will
compress the files into a zip file
• NetPoll at store level will receive the files
from Head Office and uncompress the
zip file, saving the files in the Shopkeeper
Import folder at store level, and triggers
HQUPDT to process the update
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Polling Flow of Events
Creating store updates and processing your sales
Sales Processing
• Once End of Day is complete, NetPoll
will compress the sales data and store
the files in the Import/Export folders, it
will then trigger End of Day Processing
at store level to process the sales at the
store from the Import folder and will
send the data from the Export folder at
head office.
• At this stage, NetPollHO will
uncompress the files in the Import
folder. Polling Module is then required
to process the stores files.
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The Polling Module
allows you to process
sales and create profile
updates for your stores
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Creating Profiles
Profiles are sent to stores to keep them up to date with the latest data at Head Office
There are four types of Profiles that can be
used to update your stores:
1. Account Profiles send up to date
account customers and balances
2. VIP Profiles send up to date VIP
customers and balances
3. Lay-by Profiles send up to date lay-by
details to the stores in which they were
created
4. PLU Profiles send up to date
information for all other records
required at store level
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Markinson Tip
To keep your stores up to date, send
Audit Trail profiles on a daily basis and
an All PLU profile on a weekly basis.
Profiles should be created
after store files are processed
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Profile Types
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Profile Types
1. All
Creates a profile for all records from the relevant tables at head
office. This option requires exclusive use of the tables at store level
when updating
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Profile Types
2. Only Audit Trail Entries
Creates a profile for all new, deleted, modified records based on the
selected date range only
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Profile Types
3. Deleted Only
Creates a profile for all deleted records within the selected date
range
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Profile Types
4. New Only
Creates a profile for all new records created within the selected date
range
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Profile Types
5. Updated Only
Creates a profile for all modified records created within the selected
date range
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Profile Types
6. All as Audit Trail
Creates a profile for all records from the relevant master tables at
head office. This option does not require exclusive use and is a
good option if needing to send during the day
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Profile Options
When creating new profiles, filters will include all data, but there are many different
options to choose from to filter the data being sent to stores.
Two options available in all types of profiles:
1. Date Range this will always default to one week, but can be modified
to your preferred date range
2. Range of Records will always default to all records (first record to
the last record in alphabetical order) but can be modified to narrow
down the range or to select a single record
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Profile Options
PLU Profiles allow you to filter by department,
product group as well as the type of data to be
sent, such as:
• Create Staff Only will only send staff
details
• Create Remote SOH Table allows stores
to view inventory stock on hand for other
stores
• Inventory Only will send a limited
number of files including inventory, staff,
departments, product groups and tax
information
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PLU and lay-by profiles can
also be filtered by location
Fields for PLU Profiles
Controlling Inventory Fields sent to stores
Controlling the fields to be sent in a PLU profile can be easily maintained
through Polling Module and can be changed at any time.
Reasons to use this function:
• Restrict stores from accessing
selected fields such as cost prices,
lead times and/or Suppliers you
purchased the goods from
• Reduce the amount of data sent to
the stores
Some fields are required at store level.
If this is the case, Shopkeeper will
advise you and will not allow the field
to be changed
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Simply double click the field
name to change the status
Troubleshooting
Updates have not been received at stores
If your profile updates are not getting to your stores, below is
a simple checklist to follow:
1. Which locations are selected in the profile that was sent?
2. Check for update files in the Export folder at head office
3. Check for update files in the Import folder at store level
4. Check that NetPoll is running at head office and the store
5. Click ‘Poll Now’ in NetPoll to pick up any files awaiting to
be received or compressed
6. Check Communications (i.e. Internet/Network/Modem
issues)
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?
Processing your data
is made easy using
Polling Module.
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Processing Store Files
Store files include sales, gift vouchers, VIP’s, Account Customers and Names
To process your store files and sales at Head
Office, access ‘Update with Polled Data’ in
Polling Module and choose one of the following
options:
• Immediate Update is the most common
option and will immediately look for and
process store files in the Import directory
• Concurrent update with Polling will check
for and process the files in the Import folder at
regular intervals based on the time specified
and will remain active until cancelled by the
user. Press ‘ESC’ on your keyboard to cancel
• Future Update will wait until the specified
time before processing store files in the Import
folder
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Processing Store Files
Continued…
Process your store files in two steps:
1. Integrity Check will not process records containing invalid data and will be
flagged as a rejected transaction for you to resolve the issue. Check your
Polling Exception Report to view errors.
2. Processing files that have passed the integrity check will be processed and
will update Sales Analysis, Inventory and Financials, etc.
To check your figures after polling, one of the quickest ways is to check the Shop
Analysis report through Shopkeeper Sales Analysis menu or through the Actuals
Vs Register details under the Shopkeeper POS menu
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Troubleshooting
Sales or store data has not updated at Head Office
If you are missing store information at Head Office, follow these few simple
procedures to check your data:
•
Ensure the store has completed End Of Day on
their register(s), including any offline shifts
•
Ensure NetPoll is running at Head Office at
store
•
Click ‘Poll Now’ in NetPoll to pick up any sales
that may not have come through
•
Click ‘Immediate Update’ in Polling Module to
processed any files in the Import folder
•
Check for invalid records under ‘Rejected
Transactions’ in Polling Module and amend as
required
•
Check Communications (i.e.
Internet/Network/Modem issues)
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Rejected Transactions can be
fixed through this screen
Profile update
creation and sales
processing can be
automated!
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Automating Profiles and Processing
Profile creation and sales processing can be automated using Windows Scheduled Tasks
For the purpose of this example, Polling Module
is located on C:\Shopkeeper folder.
To set up a scheduled tasks for sales processing,
your trigger would be: C:\Shopkeep\tdcpoll.exe
“/EOD” - this should be run at least at hourly
intervals each day.
To set up a scheduled tasks to create PLU Profile
number 1, your trigger would be:
C:\Shopkeep\tdcpoll.exe /ProfilePLU#1 - this
will need to be run once daily after your store
files have processed at head office.
Instructions on how to set up each of these
options can be found in the Polling Help Files.
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Important Notes
Timing your profile creations are important
Inventory transfers can result in incorrect data if your
profiles are created prior to processing your store
files.
When a transfer is created and sent to the relevant
store, it may be received during the day.
If you create a profile prior to processing store files
for this day, it will result in the transfer showing up to
be received again
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Shopkeeper
Polling Options
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NetPoll
NetPoll is a key function of your polling process used to send and receive files
between locations for processing
NetPoll is used to compress (zip) and
uncompress (unzip) files between
locations and also initiates End of Day
processing and Head Office updates
(HQUPDT) at stores.
NetPoll needs to run continuously on
your desktop and will automatically
check for files every hour but can be
manually triggered at any time by
clicking ‘Poll Now’
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Trickle Feed
Polling via this method allows you transfer files between head office and stores in
real time
There are three trickle tasks that are run
continuously at Head Office and store level:
1. Trickle Sales will send sales data from
stores, to the Import folder at head office
and remove files at store level once
receiving confirmation from head office
2. Trickle Enquiry will allow enquiries from
POS to be sent to head office
3. Trickle Update processes updates
received from head office. Head office will
monitor any updates and will send the
information to stores.
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Trickle Feed will automatically send VIP
and Account Customer updates so you
do not need to create these profiles
Polling Service Monitor
Real time system updates of head office
and stores
Benefits of using Shopkeeper Polling Service
Monitor:
• Data transferred is a fraction of the size
of the files sent via trickle feed meaning
your data is sent much faster and uses less
bandwidth
• Easy to monitor your polling status:
Red = Polling has received an error and
has stopped operating
Amber = Polling has received a warning
but is still operational
Green = Polling is fully operational with
no errors or warnings
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Polling Monitor can also be
minimised to your taskbar
Version 8
Polling through the
Shopkeeper Desktop
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Polling in Version 8
Navigating your way though SK Desktop
Version 8 has an integrated desktop where
all of your back office functionality is
accessed through the Shopkeeper
Desktop.
Polling functionality is found under the
Polling Module. Through this menu you
can create profiles, process sales, fix rejected
transactions and view polling reports.
Polling Menu in SK Desktop
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Any Questions? ☺
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Thank you.
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