Chapter 11 — Point of Sale

Module code: POS Features: pos_dashboard, pos_config, pos_session, pos_register Home: /pos/

11.1 What the module is for

Point of Sale is counter selling: a cashier scans or searches for products, takes payment, and hands over a printed receipt. Behind that single action the system moves the stock out of the shop, posts a customer invoice, records the cash received, and reconciles the two.

It is separate from the Sales module (Chapter 6), which handles quotations and orders for named customers over time, and from Merchandising (Chapter 16), which is field visits rather than counter sales.

11.2 Concepts

Only one session may be open per shop at a time. This is what makes the cash figure meaningful.

11.3 Setup

Creating a shop

/pos/shops/            list
/pos/shops/new/        create
/pos/shops/<id>/edit/  edit

1. Select New shop.
2. Enter:

3. Save.

Before the first sale

[ ] Items exist, are marked sellable, and carry a barcode if you scan
[ ] Items have a sales price and a sales tax
[ ] Stock is on hand in the shop's warehouse
[ ] The walk-in customer has a receivable account
[ ] Cashiers have create rights on pos_register

Two limitations to know before going live: the register does not sell services (there is nothing to move out of stock), and it refuses items tracked by lot or serial number, because a counter sale has no place to choose a batch. Sell those through the Sales module.

11.4 Opening a session

Screen: /pos/sessions/

1. Go to /pos/sessions/.
2. Select Open session for your shop.
3. Enter the opening float — the cash physically in the drawer at the start.
4. Confirm.

If the shop already has an open session, you are taken to it. If the shop is archived, a session cannot be opened.

11.5 Selling

Screen: /pos/register/

1. Open the register. It works against your shop's open session.
2. Add products: - Scan a barcode — an exact barcode match adds the line immediately. - Or search by name or code and select from the results.
3. Adjust the quantity on any line, or remove it.
4. Choose a customer if this is a named customer; otherwise the shop's walk-in customer is used.
5. Select Pay.
6. Enter the payment. Split across more than one method if the customer pays partly in cash and partly by card. The payments must add up to the ticket total including tax — the sale will not complete otherwise.
7. Confirm.

In one step the system:

1. Creates the ticket and marks it paid
2. Moves the goods out of the shop's warehouse
3. Posts a customer invoice on the shop's sales journal
4. Records the money into the shop's payment journal and
   reconciles it against that invoice
5. Adds cash payments to the session's expected cash

Printing the receipt

Screen: /pos/orders/<id>/receipt/

After payment, select Print receipt. The receipt is an 80 mm slip formatted for a thermal printer, and the browser's print dialog opens automatically.

There is no direct thermal-printer driver. Printing goes through the operating system's own printer dialog, which works with any 80 mm thermal printer installed on the machine — and lets you save the receipt as a PDF where that is more useful.

11.6 Returns and refunds

Screen: /pos/register/ → Return

1. In the register, choose Return.
2. Look the original ticket up by its number.
3. Enter the quantity being returned on each line. Partial returns are allowed, and a ticket can be returned against more than once — the screen shows what is still returnable.
4. Take the refund payment method and confirm.

The system then:

1. Creates a refund ticket linked to the original
2. Brings the goods back into the shop's warehouse
3. Posts a credit note to the customer
4. Takes the cash out of the drawer and reconciles it
   against the credit note
5. Subtracts cash refunds from the session's expected cash

The original ticket stays marked paid — it was paid, and history should say so. The refund is its own document.

11.7 Closing a session

1. Go to /pos/sessions/ and select Close on the open session.
2. Count the cash physically in the drawer and enter the counted amount.
3. Confirm.

The difference between counted and expected is calculated and recorded. You are taken straight to the session report.

Do not close a session with a difference you have not investigated. A short drawer recorded and explained on the day is a manageable event; the same figure found a month later is not.

11.8 The session report

Screen: /pos/sessions/<id>/ Printable: /pos/sessions/<id>/print/

Works for open sessions as well as closed ones, so a supervisor can check a shift in progress.

Tax authority status

Where the workspace uses FBR (Pakistan) or ZATCA (Saudi Arabia) e-invoicing, each ticket carries a read-only status badge for the linked invoice.

The point of sale does not submit to a tax authority by itself. The badge reports what has happened; submission and validation are done from the accounting invoice form (Chapter 12), where the invoice can be checked first. The badge links straight there.

FBR status never applies to a refund credit note. ZATCA can appear on both invoices and refunds when the company's provider is active.

11.9 Permissions

A cashier who can search products but gets an error on Pay has view rights without create rights on pos_register.

11.10 Daily routine

Opening
  [ ] Count the float and open the session with that figure
  [ ] Confirm the register loads and a test search returns products

During the shift
  [ ] Take sales; print a receipt for every one
  [ ] Process returns against the original ticket, never as a negative sale

Closing
  [ ] Count the drawer
  [ ] Close the session with the counted figure
  [ ] Read the session report; investigate any difference before leaving
  [ ] Print the session report if your cash procedure requires a paper copy

11.11 Troubleshooting