Cancellation and loss management
Cancellation management is an essential task for POS systems and for you as the person responsible. It is therefore extremely important to understand the interrelationships and the possibilities that Hypersoft provides to adapt the concept to your circumstances. The goals here are:
- to provide cancellation options as required.
- Gain control of voids.
Input errors or change requests regularly lead to the necessity to change or reverse bookings. With regard to these cancellations, the data in the POS system must be traceable and verifiable. At the same time, fraud attempts by employees must be prevented. These high requirements are optimally met by suitable functions, sophisticated authorizations and meaningful evaluations. So it's important to fully understand this area - where Hypersoft has more to offer than other systems - and use it based on real-world needs.
Hypersoft divides the available cancellation functions into different categories:
Category 1 Cancellation before Order: Typos, Quick Service, Mobile Devices
Usecase : Items have been entered by the operator, but the corresponding transaction has not yet been posted (no new balance, an internal order has not been triggered).
Scenario: The cancellation before order function is used at cash registers in the Quick-Service or at mobile devices at the table, e.g. if a guest wants to change an order or the operator wants to correct a typing error or similar. At the appropriate time, the operator is the only one in the company who knows the information. In this scenario, fraud would be almost impossible. It would, however, be possible for the operator to refer to entries which the guest can view on the customer monitor or on the mobile device in order to settle on the basis of these entries without finally booking these entries (no new balance, no triggering of an internal order).
Special feature of mPOS/Clou Mobile: The last "selected" item on the fixed keys / categories or from full text search dialogues is marked for booking and this marking can be ended by holding down the respective key. Since this item was only reserved and was not displayed or even booked at any time, the ending of the reservation is treated as a "typo" and not logged as a "cancellation before order". The reservation is only valid for the moment of input. If the view is changed or another item is "selected", the marked item is booked normally and can then be cancelled with cancellation before order also logged if necessary.
Special feature of reservation of queries at the POS: An item with queries is reserved when it is activated and booked after the queries have been answered. If the query is not answered but aborted, the reservation is terminated. Since this item was only marked and not displayed at any time (not even on a connected customer display or customer monitor) or even booked, the ending of the marking is treated as a "typo" and not logged as a "cancellation before order". The reservation is only valid for the moment of the query. If the query is answered, the marked item is posted normally and can then, if necessary, also be cancelled logged with Cancellation Before Order.
Category 2 Cancellation by order : changes, modifications, complaints
Usecase : Items were entered by the operator and the corresponding transaction was posted (new balance, internal order was triggered). However, the transaction has not yet been completed or settled. The ordered items were then distributed internally to the production sites. The products may or may not have already been created.
Scenario: The cancellation by order function only affects cash registers and handsets in Full-Service operation before closing the invoice. This is a focus of fraud and misunderstandings in day-to-day business. A cancellation after order can have several reasons here:
- It is necessary to correct an invoice before it is issued, for example, because incorrect items were posted.
- The manufacture of a product has become obsolete and should be avoided.
- An already manufactured product is not accepted by the guest or is unsaleable for other reasons.
- Another product is to take the place of the cancelled product.
If items were booked at the cash registers or at the handsets and ordered internally at the production sites, the production and handover to the operator is released. Once this has been done, any cancellation of items by the operator must then reach all recipients of the original order so that agreement can be reached between the operator and recipients of the order on how to proceed.
If in-house investigations are necessary to determine whether there is fraud in certain cases, information on the whereabouts of the goods in question is decisive. Has the cancelled products nevertheless been returned to the guest or is the whereabouts of the goods unclear or has they been disposed of in a traceable manner?
The information whether the customer has received and paid for the service despite the cancellation is essential for the tax audit. Regardless of whether the operator or employee is the beneficiary, this is a tax reduction.
Category 3 Cancellation after completion: like category 2 only after invoicing...
Usecase : Items were entered by the operator and the corresponding transaction was posted (new balance, internal order was triggered). The ordered items were then distributed internally to the production sites. The products were created and published. The transaction has been completed or settled (invoice created).
Scenario: The Cancellation after Completion function is used in Quick Service and Full Service operations at cash registers and handsets. It shall be applied after the closure of the accounts. The operator has therefore entered items, posted the corresponding transaction (new balance, internal order was triggered) and subsequently completed or settled (invoice was created).
A cancellation after completion can have several reasons:
- An item will be returned by the guest after the invoice has been created.
- A booked item was not ordered by the guest
- A booked item was not handed out to the guest.
Since an invoice was created, there is a high probability that the service was billed to the customer before the cancellation. Cancellations after completion should therefore be carefully considered and evaluated. Special fraud analyses, which Hypersoft provides in the Report Manager, help here.
Other possibilities...
For further requirements there is a correction cancellation and a returncancellation. We will discuss this function separately later.
Best Practice through Cancellation Loss and Informative Cancellation
With each cancellation, the question arises as to whether goods have been consumed or not. This circumstance is directly related to possible damage to an operation. If goods have been consumed despite cancellation but have not been disposed of in a traceable manner, it is possible that the goods - whether intentionally or accidentally - have been handed over and invoiced without authorisation. This is a critical point from both a business and a tax point of view. It is therefore important for a company to treat this feature correctly in the future.
Hypersoft provides the ability to assign multiple freely definable reasons to each cancellation category. When performing a cancellation, the operator is prompted to select one of the assigned reasons depending on the cancellation category. In addition, each reason entered can be set so that when you select it, either a cancellation loss is posted (a cancellation with an additional loss posting) or it remains an informative cancellation (cancellation without a loss posting).
Distinguishing between Cancellation Losses and Informative Cancellations is essential for success, as it affects all your internal and external processes and improves the handling of them!
The loss postings or also loss reasons can also be formulated freely like cancellation reasons. The function Losses originally comes from the Hypersoft Stock Management CONTROLLER, but it can also be used without active inventory management only with the POS area.
Change your previous decisions and effects by setting up clearly defined cancellation functions with your employees on the basis of practical examples. Support the sense of responsibility of your loyal employees with appropriate authorizations so that you can dispense with controlling the majority of your cancellations (as these are purely informative cancellations). With Hypersoft's reporting, you can regularly draw useful conclusions from the cancellation reasons and optimize your organization's internal transactiones. You stand in line with your loyal employees and are optimally prepared for tax audits.
Further documentation:
Cancellation bookings in practice
Monitor reversal after completion
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