American Computing Systems

Multi-Site Polling

Multi-Store Polling provides a retail organization the ability to have POS transactions, Customer, and Inventory information from remote locations polled to the main Corporate location.

Click here for UPOS Multi-Site Polling Outline PDF

Click here for UPOS Multi-Site Polling Features PDF

Click here to view UPOS Multi-Site Polling Diagram.

Item Inquiry! Quantity On Hand can be reported for all stores from any location.

Mass Cost/Price Change! Can be performed for all stores.

Recommended Reorder Report! Used for purchasing can be printed to list all stores.

Suggested Transfer Reporting! Reports Quantity On Hand (QOH) at all stores and indicates overstocking/ understocking at locations.

Daily Sales Information! Remote stores POS tickets and invoices are polled by the corporate location. Open invoices can be paid at any store.

Add/Change Item! Allows inventory to be added from central location for all stores. All Daily Inventory transactions are polled to Corporate nightly.

Add Customer! Allows customers to be added from any location. All customer information is polled to Corporate nightly.

POS Ticket/Invoice Entry! Fast Sales/Ticket entry can be performed at any location.

Inventory Lookups! Any store can lookup Quantity On-Hand status of other stores. Customer invoices - Any store can inquire any unpaid customer Invoices regardless of where they originated.

Customer Payments! Any store can accept payments from any customer for unpaid invoices.

Information Exchange! Corporate is updated nightly with Invoice, Payments, Customer , and Inventory Data. Corporate polls all remote locations and processes the remote locations data, then sends updated data to all remote locations.

Polling Versus Real Time

These are just a few Pros and Cons of a Multi-Site Polling solution versus a Real-Time (Citrix) solution. Your needs and requirements will determine which solution is best for your operation. UPOS supports both solutions. We have satisfied clients using Polling and satisfied clients   using Citrix. We will be happy to provide you with any additional information that can help in your selection of a Multi-Site solution that will best meet your needs and requirements.

Speed - In a Polling environment, the remote stores operate independently on a dedicated LAN separate from the Corporate LAN. Speed and System Response and efficiency is maximized. In a Real-time (Citrix) environment, expensive T-1 lines will be required in order to obtain satisfactory system performance. Using anything less than T-1 lines - speed will probably not be acceptable, in addition complaints from having a " Slow and Sluggish System" from clerks and customer dissatisfaction will prevail. Polling has a distinct advantage in the area of speed and system performance in comparison to a Real-Time solution.

Network Stability - Again in a Polling environment, the remote stores operate independently on a dedicated LAN separate from the Corporate LAN will provide a more stable environment. Downtime, and/or system maintenance at corporate in a polling environment does not affect the operations of any remote locations or stores. In a Real-time (Citrix) environment downtime at Corporate means "ALL YOUR STORES ARE DOWN". How costly is it - if all your stores are down at the same time because of a Corporate hardware problem, system or communication line problem? Polling has the advantage in Network stability and minimized risk.

Recurring Costs - Polling Communication costs are minimal in a polling environment. Polling is typically scheduled to take place at night in unattended mode, low cost dialup lines can be used. In a Real-time (Citrix) environment, each location will require a T - 1 line @ hundreds of dollars per month and depending upon your remote location distance from corporate, it could be thousands of dollars per month per store. Polling is considerably less expensive to operate and again has distinct advantages in the area of recurring costs.

Information Availability and Access -   In a Polling environment, information is polled nightly (can be more frequent) to the Corporate Office from the remote stores. Corporate then updates all stores. In this environment , information (sales, customer, inventory) at each location is current with real time updates of the local stores information. Though, information at Corporate and other locations will be current as of the most recent poll. As a result, some companies choose to poll multiple times a day, if their needs require more frequent refreshing of data. In a Real-time (Citrix) environment, the information and data at all stores is immediately available. The Citrix solution has a distinct advantage in this area .
Multi-Site Polling Overview
Corporate Location : Accounting modules - SM, AR, IC minimum are required at the Corporate location.

* Corporate does all the purchasing for remote locations i.e. centralized purchasing.

* Centralized Accounts Payable.

* Corporate is updated nightly with Remote Stores POS sales, customer information, inventory, and invoice payments.

* All Transaction detail is stored at Corporate.

Remote Location :

* Remote Location has full Point Of Sale functionality.

* Accounting modules are not required at remote locations.

* Optimized UPOS with Remote enhanced Inventory Control and Accounts Receivable functions are included in the Remote store Polling module.

Requirements per location :

Hardware PC - Pentium III or greater

64MB RAM(minimum) 200MB available Disk Free space (will vary)

Required Modules & Setup Corporate Location :

Accounting modules - Sys. Mgr., AR, IC, optional modules (PO,GL,SO,AP,Payroll)

UPOS Pro Corporate Multi-Store with Polling

Credit Card Processing (IC Verify) - Optional

Source Code - Optional (except - polling engine not available for distribution)

Remote Locations(each) :

UPOS Pro Remote Store with Polling

Credit Card Processing (IC Verify) - Optional

Source Code - Optional (except - polling engine not available for distribution)