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Author Topic: Designing POS Software - Asking For Input Cody Martin Expert Film Handler Posts: 214 From: Edinburgh, IN, USA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 10-26-2009 11:57 AM                        Hello, I am currently in the process of taking my BS of Computer Science senior project ( A Drive-In POS System) and converting it into a multiple station POS Software. I was wondering what types of features would make you look into a new system for your theatre. I am very open to ideas and would love to hear your input. I am starting small with just box office, but will eventually add concessions into the system. I have also started talking to Mercury Pay about credit card integration. The core system will also have giftcard capabilities. Receipt printing is currently limited to one type of printer (EPSON TM88), but will be expanded. The system will run on any standard touchscreen terminal XP and up. The goal is to create a low cost, yet highly functional piece of software that meets the needs of our business. I would love to get your input on this. I am also planning on releasing a test version soon for those who would like to try (please know it will be limited in functionality for some time, but with each release I will try to have one major function completed ready for testing. Thanks for your time, Cody  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-26-2009 01:02 PM                        Without knowing where you're starting, off the top of my head: Electronically report the evening gross to distrib. Multi-screen funtionality Cashier sign in/sign out for security Tamper resistent for security Real time attendance (ie it says there are 365 tix sold as opposed to you looking at open/close numbers and adding in your head) Payroll Inventory control for concession easily updateable price/cost change mechanism Daily weekly reports including percap as a whole and by item All sorts of other reports I'm sure there are more;> Good Luck  |  IP: Logged Cody Martin Expert Film Handler Posts: 214 From: Edinburgh, IN, USA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 10-26-2009 01:15 PM                        Thank you for your input. It'll be a time consuming project, but I'm hoping to apply the knowledge I have gained from working at a few differnet theatres to the project also. I current have implemented the following features to some degree. *Multi-screen capability (18 screens) each movie is assigned to one theatre and can have up to 6 showtimes. *cashier sign-in/sign-off and lock mechanism *the application will be designed to be run full screen with no exit for non manager employees. *cash drawer will only open for manager level *real time attendance is currently working for auditoriums/showtime *status screen with last transaction totals for drawer/session totals I am working on the cashier part currently and will work on the back end as the project goes on. If all goes as planned, I would like to implement a report generation feature that will allow the manager/owner the ability to design custom reports based off of any capture field in the system. This will be the most time consuming part I believe as due to the nature of this part, it needs to be very user friendly. Thank you again, Cody  |  IP: Logged Adam Holland Film Handler Posts: 66 From: Oak Grove, LA Registered: Nov 2007 posted 10-26-2009 08:16 PM                     (1) Do not post your email address. (2) Do not conduct private business on the board. [ 10-27-2009, 12:54 AM: Message edited by: Adam Martin ]  |  IP: Logged Paul Trimboli Master Film Handler Posts: 274 From: Perth Western Australia Registered: Dec 2002 posted 10-27-2009 05:57 AM                     Firstly I would defiantly not lock it into Windows, it should be cross platform. So maybe look at doing something that uses a webfront end.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-27-2009 11:31 AM                     I think Rusty Gordon at Sensible Cinema would tell you differently. It's much more practical to integrate a Windows based scheme and in fact I'd look into XP Embeded for this sort of applications since it boots very quickly. Mark  |  IP: Logged Cody Martin Expert Film Handler Posts: 214 From: Edinburgh, IN, USA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 10-27-2009 11:50 AM                        Thank you for your ideas. I will be building this in the .Net so I can convert a lot of code to a website in the long run if I choose to go that way. I do like the idea of an embedded system, however the price makes most people back away. However, it is something I am considering to make sure it is both compatible and an option for those already using an embedded system. I'm enjoying your inputs, so please keep adding!  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-27-2009 12:42 PM                        You might want to consider doing a keyboard interface. Not everyone will want to (or be able to) put touchscreens in. We use RTS currently -- due to limited space, I use a regular cmoputer keyboard in the boxoffice, with touchscreen in the concession. That way I can use the office computer for other things. The "screens" in RTS (especially on the keyboard mode) are sort of ugly, so improving the looks might be a good competitive thing. Also their manual/"help" system is the worst I've ever seen. But the software is very robust and dependable.  |  IP: Logged Cody Martin Expert Film Handler Posts: 214 From: Edinburgh, IN, USA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 10-27-2009 01:02 PM                        Mike, That is an excellent point! I have been looking at an integrated keyboard/trackball/magswipe model for those who cannot afford or do not have the space for touch screen. The footprint is similar to that of a standard keyboard. Would using the mouse/trackball be a fair compromise in your situation, or would you rather stick to a keyboard only mode? Here is a sample screen prototype of version 2 of the software. You will see that you can have up to 18 movies with 6 ticket types(per movie) and 6 showtimes(per movie).  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 10-27-2009 02:01 PM                     Is the 18 movies limit just because you can't put any more blocks on the side panel? If so, why not steal an idea from other softwares and simply have a button that displays more movies?  |  IP: Logged Cody Martin Expert Film Handler Posts: 214 From: Edinburgh, IN, USA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 10-27-2009 02:21 PM                        Chris, There is technically no limitation on the number of screens the software could support. The backend is very open to expansion. 18 was the number I choose after looking at many of the theatres around the area. However, it will only display the first 18 movies currently. I've also thought about how to add more in there (the concession screens will use an idea like what you mentioned). The button size could also be modified, but after doing some testing for the original project, this size allowed the easiest keying with fewer mistakes in product selection. I have also thought about having two box office tabs (movies 1-18, movies 19-36) However I am not keen on that idea as it will increase order time. With the current setup if a screen has two movies, it will list both movies separately and have the showtimes. If the same movie is on 2 screen it will list them both seperately, but the showtimes will be different depending on what you select. The real-time count will be placed under the show times for the selected movie in the format "SOLD"/"AVAILABLE". Showtimes are locked out 20 minutes after the start of the showing. I plan on adding that as a user configurable option along with a warning level threshold for the seats sold.  |  IP: Logged Mark Hajducki Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 500 From: Edinburgh, UK Registered: May 2003 posted 10-27-2009 03:01 PM                     Look into ways of continuing if there is a failure of some of the hardware. Having one ticket selling station running when the main server/network goes down will make life a lot easier. Having the concessions tills run in a stand alone mode will also help. ----- A (possibly more long term) development would be to add a membership/loyalty scheme for customers where they can buy a year of reduced price admission and concessions purchases, staff could have a special category of membership to allow free tickets/ drinks to be recorded. Will reserved seating be an option (but not compulsory for every show/screen)? If you have online ticketing or have automatic display board functions have an option to prevent the publishing of certain shows.  |  IP: Logged Cody Martin Expert Film Handler Posts: 214 From: Edinburgh, IN, USA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 10-27-2009 04:59 PM                        Though I have not thought of a "stand-alone" mode, I am implementing a failover server scheme so that the sales can continue to happen. I will also implement the selective publishing as that seems like a very smart feature to implement. I have also implemented some of the membership/loyalty card program in the design of the system. The system will be based upon point value when completed. This is a long term goal, but it is on the slate. Keep your input coming, Cody  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 10-27-2009 10:31 PM                     And if you do an actual stand-alone mode in case the backend is down... it would be nice for it to not allow you to do something stupid like actually use credit cards while the CC backend server is down. It's pretty annoying to have the thing sit there for over a minute waiting for the transaction to time out while you could easily do cash in between (and simply have those transactions sent to the server once it is up).  |  IP: Logged Damien Taylor Master Film Handler Posts: 493 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2007 posted 10-27-2009 11:01 PM                     quote: Chris Slycord it would be nice for it to not allow you to do something stupid like actually use credit cards while the CC backend server is down. I'm not sure how our system does it, but at my work the server stores all card data until the bank connection is restored. All that is disrupted is there is no cash out, and everyone must sign for their purchase.  |  IP: Logged

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