Services are various features, not under inventory control, your store offers customers, often sold at the POS. Services can include gift certificates, gift wrapping, and so on. Some services, such as gift certificates, are sold as tenders to customers, and can be sold in varying amounts. For example, a customer may purchase a gift certificate for $10.00 or $100.00. These are called tender services. Other services, not sold as tender, such as gift wrapping, have a standard, fixed charge. Either way, you maintain your store's services here in the Service Properties program.
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You must create tender services (services sold at the POS as tender, such as gift certificates) in Tender Properties, but once created, you can maintain them here in Service Properties. |
You can access the Service Properties program in several ways.
Click on the Service toolbar icon at the top of your [i] Merchant Desktop, if you have toolbars displayed. The Find Service screen appears. (At this screen, you can create a new service. Simply click on the New toolbar icon at the top of the Find Service window. The Service Properties window appears.)
From the menu at the top of the [i] Merchant Desktop, select File-Open-Service. The Find Service screen appears. (At this screen, you can create a new service. Simply click on the New toolbar icon at the top of the Find Service window.)
To create a new, nontender service (create a tender service in Tender Properties):
From the menu at the top of the [i] Merchant Desktop, select File-New-Service. The Service Properties window displays. This is where you enter the information for the service you are creating.
The Service Properties window contains the following fields:
Description is, very simply, the description of the service. Key in a description that makes sense to you.
Short Description/ID is an abbreviated description of the service, and it needs to be unique within Services. The Short Description is, in reality, the code for the service.
At this point, the screen presents you with two tabs: System control (the default), and Custom Fields. The nuts and bolts of Service Properties lie under the System control tab. So we'll begin with the fields under that.
The Accounting Code field pertains to G/L and accounting information. Select an Accounting Category in this field. This will enable you to export G/L information for your services when (or if) you run the G/L Export. (If you need to view information on how to select a parameter in a code-driven field, please click here.)
Allow Discount is where you determine whether or not you will allow discounts for this service. Click on the arrow to the right of the field, and select the choice you want.
Tax Code is where you select the appropriate tax code for this service. Essentially, it comes down to if you will be charging sales tax when selling (issuing) this service. If you need to view information on how to select a parameter in a code-driven field, please click here.
Cost Percentage generally only comes into play for general services. For tender services, simply leave this field set to zero. For general services, key in the margin percentage (percentage of retail value) you want for the service.
Allow Automatic Credit provides you with two options in its pulldown menu--either to allow (activate) automatic credit for the service or not to allow (use) it. If you select to activate it, the quantity field at the POS will automatically fill in with a default quantity of -1 when the service is selected during a transaction. Then, when the clerk enters a dollar value in the Price field, the value will automatically fill in as a negative--because it is a credit. This comes in handy for services such as coupons, or anything that is an automatic credit for customers.
To the right of the above fields is the Prompt for Service box. Prompting for a service means that, upon selecting a service at the POS, a message box (prompt) will appear. The cashier will then either need to key in a response to the prompt (required), or will have the option either to key in a response or simply to cancel out of the prompt without having to key anything in (optional). If there is no prompting tied to a service at all, then no prompt box will display at the POS when that service is selected.
The first field within the Prompt for Service box determines whether or not a message box (prompt) will appear at the POS when the service is selected, and, if the prompt appears, whether or not the clerk is required to respond to it or has the optional to cancel out of the prompt without responding. The three choices in the pulldown menu (None, Optional, Required) are self-explanatory. Select the appropriate choice for each service.
The Text for Prompt for Service field is free-form and only applies if you selected Optional or Required in the Prompt for Service field. Essentially, what you key in here will be what the message box (prompt) displays when this service is selected at the POS. This is what the clerk will see. Then he or she will respond to it if required, or have the freedom to cancel out, if optional.
If the clerk keys in a response to the prompt, the clerk's response will display under the Description column for the service, both on the screen and the sales slip. This, essentially, is the value of prompting. It allows the clerk to key something in specific to that service during that transaction. This means that the same basic service can appear in countless different forms on the sales slip. If the clerk takes 50 transactions for the same service but keys in 50 different responses to that service's prompt, then 50 different descriptions will appear for that one service on the sales slips.
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The majority of your services likely will not include a prompt (meaning you would choose None in the Prompt for Service field). There would be no need. But a few might. Here is an example of why you might want to include a prompt for a specific service. Imagine that one of your services is Jewelry Repair. The prompt allows the clerk to key in a description specific to each transaction. Maybe one repair was to a ring, another to a bracelet, another to a necklace. Rather than having the homogeneous "Jewelry Repair" appear under the Description in each case, the prompt allows for more specificity. Now, the clerk can key in "Necklace Repair," or "Ring Repair," etc. This can add a more personal touch. |
The Custom Fields tab is just that. It allows you to set up custom codes and/or fields for the service. It is optional.
There are three Custom Code fields. You can use all of them, or none of them. By assigning a code (or codes) to services, you can group certain services together, under select codes. For example, maybe you create an R code, for Repair. Then, you would assign this code to all services that have to do with repair, and so on. Utilize the Custom Code fields however you wish.
There are also three Custom Text fields, also optional. These are free-form fields that allow you to key in basically whatever you want. Again, use as you see fit.
If you want to create a new service that is very similar to an existing service, you can use the Save As option. This works much the same as the Save As option in other applications, such as Microsoft Word.
To use the Save As option:
Locate a service in the Find Service window.
Access the Service Properties window for the selected service.
Change the field or fields you want, making sure you alter the Short Description/ID field. Remember, the Short Description/ID must be unique.
Once you have changed the applicable fields, select File from the menu at the top of your computer screen.
Under the File menu, select Save As. The new record is created.
Close the Service Properties window. The new service will be at the bottom of the grid within the Find Service window. It will also be highlighted.
If you wish to delete a service:
Select the service you want to delete; then, when you are in the Service Properties window for that service, select Edit-Delete from the menu at the top of the screen. A message box appears asking if you want to delete the record. Select Yes if you want to or No if you do not.
Once you delete a service, you can immediately restore it (if, for instance, you deleted it by mistake):
After deleting the service, you will be brought back to the Find screen, and the just-deleted service will have a strikethrough line running through it. Highlight the just-deleted service, then double-click on it, press Enter, or click on the Properties button. The system will prompt you with a message box saying the service has been deleted from the system, but if you want to restore the service, click on "Yes." If you do click on "Yes," you will be taken to the Properties screen for that record. It has now been restored to your [i] Merchant system.
You can even restore a deleted service at a later point, such as a week (just as an example) after having deleted the service:
At the Find Service screen, select View-Show Deleted Items from the menu at the top of the screen. Then run your search. Any services (that fall under the criteria of your search parameters) that were deleted at a previous time will appear in the grid at the bottom of the screen with a strikethrough line running through them. If you want to restore a service, highlight the record in question, double-click on it, press Enter, or click on the Properties button. The system will prompt you with a message box saying the service has been deleted from the system, but if you want to restore the service, click on "Yes." If you do click on "Yes," you will be taken to the Properties screen for that service. The service has now been restored to your [i] Merchant system
You can create notes for each service you create, if you want. Click on the Notes icon at the top of the Service Properties window, or select Notes-Service Notes from the menu at the top of the Service Properties window. The Notes window opens.
When you are finished filling in the above fields in Service Properties simply close out of the Service Properties window by clicking on the Close toolbar icon. If you need to save your information, the system will prompt you.
Anytime you want to access an existing service, simply use the Service Find program, as described at the top of this page. Once you access the Service Properties window for an existing service, make any changes you need.