Keep your site operating smoothly during network disruptions with this offline management guide for POS.
Tip! POS is automatically configured for best offline performance. You can review your current settings with our Recommended configuration for working offline at POS.
Minor outages
During minor network disruptions, POS will seamlessly transition between online and offline mode, updating your services automatically. It’s unlikely you’ll need to take significant action, although you may still notice some of the changes listed below (such as tickets without seat numbers).
Major outages
During major disruptions, ask your POS operators to manually switch to offline mode using the Work offline button. Disconnecting from the network during significant outages can speed up transactions because POS isn't continually trying to reconnect. For more information, see Setting up the Work offline button at POS.
Use the list of suggestions below to help manage affected services and keep front-of-house operations running smoothly.
Managing affected services
When POS is in offline mode, you may need to manage your services differently. See our suggested management when POS is offline, and any follow-up actions you may need to take when it comes back online.
Note: For a brief overview of capabilities that are available while POS is offline, see POS: Available offline capabilities.
Note: If you’re experiencing network disruptions at POS, then integrations with your other sales channels might also be affected, as well as connections to other Vista services. You’ll need to manually manage any tasks usually handled by these services until they come back online.
Ticket sales
| Service | Service changes | Suggested management | Actions on reconnection |
| Cinema occupancy | Individual POS workstations aren’t kept up-to-date with ticket sales. |
Either sell tickets from only one workstation, or regularly add together the number of tickets sold at each workstation so that you know how many tickets have been sold for a session. Note: At each POS workstation, the number of tickets sold is displayed on the tickets screen on the availability and bookings line of each Film/Session. The same information is available in the seats section of the Alternate Tickets screen. |
Automatic: Cinema occupancy is updated across your POS workstations. |
| Allocated seating | POS workstations aren’t allocating seat numbers to tickets. | If tickets were sold with seat numbers before POS disconnected, either provide an usher to resolve seating conflicts, or tell patrons to ignore seat numbers. |
Automatic: POS workstations start allocating seat numbers to tickets again. Important! Tickets sold when POS was offline will remain unallocated. |
Concession sales
| Service | Service changes | Suggested management | Actions on reconnection |
| Concession sales |
POS workstations aren’t kept up to date with stock levels. |
Manually track stock levels until POS comes back online. |
Automatic: Stock levels are updated. |
Note: You can still waste inventory when POS is offline. The data is stored locally and updated when POS reconnects to the network.
Food & Beverage
| Service | Service changes | Suggested management | Actions on reconnection |
| Checks | Checks can't be viewed unless offline read-only checks has been set up. |
Use pen and paper to manually keep track of any changes to checks. If patrons need to leave before POS comes back online, you have two options:
|
Manual: Staff must update checks with any changes.
If patrons have left before POS comes back online, then either update the check and run their credit card details, or refer to the instant transaction to refund items off the check. |
| Prepare slips | Prepare slips can’t be sent from POS to network printers in the kitchen. | POS will automatically print prepare slips instead of sending them to network printers. Assign someone the job of taking prepare slips from POS to the service area. Note: If your POS workstation doesn’t have a locally stored template for prepare slips, then POS operators will need to write the order manually. |
Automatic: POS starts sending prepare slips to the network printers again. |
| Kitchen screens |
Kitchen screens may stop working if POS is offline. Note: This is usually because they're connected to the same affected network as POS. |
POS will automatically print prepare slips instead of sending orders to kitchen screens. Assign someone the job of taking prepare slips from POS to the service area. Note: If your POS workstation doesn’t have a locally stored template for prepare slips, then POS operators will need to write the order manually. Contact your Vista representative for more information on setting up a local template. |
Automatic: POS starts sending orders to kitchen screens again. |
Vouchers & Gift Cards
If the Vouchers & Gift Cards database remains online, you can still issue and redeem vouchers and gift cards. However, if the outage also affects your VGC database, then most services are affected.
| Service | Service changes | Suggested management | Actions on reconnection |
| Vouchers |
POS can’t issue vouchers. Note: Vouchers can still be redeemed. |
Ask patrons to buy vouchers at another time. | Automatic: POS can issue vouchers again. |
| Gift cards |
POS can’t issue or redeem gift cards. |
Ask patrons to buy or redeem gift cards at another time. | Automatic: POS can issue and redeem gift cards again. |
| Reprinting vouchers |
POS can’t reprint vouchers. |
Instead of reprinting a voucher, staff can refund vouchers to patrons. Ensure someone with the appropriate authorisation is available to refund vouchers at POS. |
Automatic: POS can reprint vouchers. |
Other services
| Service | Service changes | Suggested management | Actions on reconnection |
| Refunds | Refunds may need a different level of authorisation when POS is offline, as per your set up. | Ensure someone with the appropriate authorisation is available to handle these transactions. | Automatic: Refund authorisation returns to your online settings. |
| Booking pick-ups | Booking pick-ups may need a different level of authorisation, as per your set up. | Ensure someone with the appropriate authorisation is available to handle these transactions. | Automatic: Refund authorisation returns to your online settings. |
| POS sessions and floats | If POS is offline when operators log in, operators won’t be able to open or create POS sessions. POS operators also won’t be able to drop or receive float updates from CashDesk. |
Operators can log in without opening or creating a POS session. POS operates with an opening float of zero. Cinema managers can set up POS sessions in CashDesk to manually assign and keep track of floats. |
Manual: POS forces the operator to open an existing session or a create a new one (if permitted), which includes confirmation or entry of floats. Automatic: POS sessions are updated as offline transactions are processed. |
See also:
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