Community Deployment Overview

Modified on Wed, 15 Jul at 9:43 AM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Welcome to Cloud Retailer!
References

Welcome to Cloud Retailer!

This page has (almost) everything you need to know for our deployment process. You will be referencing this page a lot - so be sure and bookmark it!

The goal is to keep things moving fast to get you live, so review the schedule, information, and links carefully as there are things we will need from you to keep things on track.

Weekly Training Schedule

⚠️ Note that times listed are in Central Time (CST).

Tuesdays – POS & Back Office Training

Morning Session: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Afternoon Session: 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Sessions rotate weekly to give you flexibility. You can choose to attend either the morning or afternoon session based on your schedule.

Thursdays – Open Office Hours (Q&A)

Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Open-format session where you can ask anything related to Cloud Retailer.

➤ How to Join

Zoom Meeting Link: https://fullsteam.zoom.us/j/93975738194?pwd=kHlV9DSCCirTC2OejhaWW5byg2a8ep.1
Passcode: 728770

You can join directly from your web browser:

Click the link above
Select “Join from Browser” (no download required)

⏰ Important Notes

Please arrive 5-10 minutes early as the event will begin at the precise starting time
If there are NO attendees 10 minutes after the event is scheduled to start, the session will be closed.
No worries if you miss a session—there’s always another one the following week.
If you’re unable to join after clicking the link, contact support at 320-230-2282 before the session begins.

Groundwork

The first step in your Cloud Retailer migration is laying the groundwork for your deployment. You must have all of your hardware ready and at the store, including Credit Card Terminals. Whether you sourced your own hardware or purchased hardware from RITE, our Tech Team will investigate your setup, and work with you to select and install Cloud Retailer on the best fit for training purposes.

If you purchased your new hardware from us, the video links below will guide you through connecting all purchased hardware.

Watch our video on setting up your new POS Ready Dell computer

Watch our video on setting up your new Inspire C14 All-in-one computer

Once the groundwork has been completed, you may begin exploring the training environment we've provided. You'll want to be prepared - read more here: Community Deployment Survival Gear Checklist

The link to schedule Groundwork, along with your training instance, username, and password credentials can be found in the email you will have received: "Cloud Retailer Deployment Package - [STORE NAME]".

Here's what you'll want to have ready to be prepared for Groundwork:

A bottle of Fireball to test scanners.
- A 200ml is set up inside the training system and is the perfect product to have handy for scanning on the training POS.
Internet access on all of your POS stations - so we can access it remotely
Make sure your IT guy/gal is available if we need them. Usually not needed but just in case!
- More important with city municipal liquor stores / places with strict security rules or firewall settings.
Access to one POS station for training and testing
- This means a computer you already have or space for one of your new computers

Remote Access and Data Import

Generally, during the kick-off call, your Import Analyst (IA) will schedule a time with you to begin the process of moving your old POS data to Cloud Retailer. Depending on your situation and the system you are coming from, we can do this in a few ways:

For most systems, you will work with your IA to export your old system's data as a spreadsheet and transform it so it can be imported into Cloud Retailer. This might sound complicated, but in many cases, it is as simple as changing column names.
If your data is messy and you want a fresh start, we can set you up with our template database, a large catalog of well-organized products. The template database is explained in more depth in the Database Conversion Considerations article, but essentially, you scan each product in your store, and if we find a match, a product is created in Cloud Retailer with consistent descriptions, sizes, departments, etc.
If you are coming from Microsoft Dynamics RMS, we will set up a connection to the computer that hosts your database and import the data directly.

Once we have begun the import process, do not change barcodes or any other unique product identifiers in your old system. We use these to match products from your old system to Cloud Retailer, so they must remain the same.

For more information about the import process, see this article: Database Conversion Considerations

Training

We have 2 main training sessions we ask you to attend: POS Basics and Back Office. These 2 trainings are cycled on a weekly basis with options in the morning and afternoon: one week, the POS Basics Training is offered in the AM, and the Back Office in the PM. The next week, it's vice-versa.

This way, if you prefer to train in the AM, this gives you the opportunity to attend both morning options in the course of two weeks. You also could choose to attend both in one day if you wish.

We use Zoom for our trainings, which can be accessed directly from your web browser with no download required. Please refer to the 'How to Join' section above for the meeting link.

POS Training Session Topics

Cloud Retailer point of sale
Creating and managing products
Label printing
End-of-day closing procedures
Reporting basics and review common reports

Back Office Training Session Topics

Product change worksheets
Advanced report filtering & memorized reports
Store configuration settings
Creating and managing system users
Creating and editing task pad buttons
Creating and updating purchase orders & store transfers
Performing an inventory count
Custom and product discounts

Open Office Q & A Session

At this point, you've used Cloud Retailer - but we're sure you have questions! We invite you to our "Open Office" session where you can ask specific questions regarding Cloud Retailer. Like the training, this will be a Zoom Meeting and is open to the Community Deployments.

When can I access my data?

Generally speaking, as soon as your data is imported, we will reach out to make sure you can log into your live instance. We do this so you can start reviewing your data right away and spot any potential issues with the migration.

The goal is to catch anything we may have missed or any mistakes we made, such as:

Retail prices are incorrect
Groups of products were missed
Certain pieces of product data are missing
Barcodes are missing leading zeros

For issues that already existed in your original data (as opposed to mistakes made during the migration), we can still help, but this is generally considered a special request that may incur premium support hours.

⚠ Keep in mind: at this stage, your live instance is not yet connected to your POS on your computer. Your POS will still be syncing with the training instance.

What happens if there is an issue with my imported data?

If you encounter a data issue, please document it thoroughly: the affected product, what is wrong, and what the correct value(s) should be. You can record minor issues using this form. Minor issues should not stop you from making transactions; please keep working through them and document each one for us to fix.

If there is a major issue with your data that stops you from testing further or going fully live, reach out as quickly as possible and our team will work with you on a plan to get it resolved quickly.

Addons and Integrations required for Go Live

At this stage, we'll work with you on any optional Cloud Retailer Addons or Integrations you require before you go live.

Green Light Sign Off

Once all of the previous steps are completed there will be a final meeting with the Project Manager to go over the project and make sure everything is ready to put you live. The list includes but not limited to:

Confirm credit card processing is ready
All hardware has been recieved
You or someone on your team have been through training
Integrations are ready
- If specific integrations aren't ready you know about them and sign off that you are ok to go live without
You or someone on your team have been trained on the integrations that are ready
Data sign off is complete
Dual Pricing sign off is complete (if applicable)

Once everything is confirmed, we schedule the day you will go live. If something is missing, the responsible party works on what is needed and we schedule another Green Light Sign Off meeting to go over everything and make sure we are ready to put your store on Cloud Retailer!

Go Live!

This is the big day, and we're with you every step of the way. We'll call you an hour before your store opens to help you with any questions while your new POS is put in place, and to test transactions. Our team will be on standby for the entire business day to help with any questions that may come up.

Final Import

After you've gone live, we do the final import. This is to migrate any remaining data that must be migrated "live" to be accurate. This includes your costs, quantity on hands, and customer points if you have a loyalty program.

Just like with the initial import, if you are seeing issues with the import data, reach out and your IA will work with you to find the root cause ad

Remaining Addons and Integrations

Once you are live, we'll work with you on any optional Cloud Retailer Addons or Integrations you chose to defer to after you are live on Cloud Retailer.

What if I have questions?

You will be receiving an email from our ticketing system called "Cloud Retailer Deployment Package - [STORE NAME]". This ticket represents the ongoing work of your Cloud Retailer Project, and you can add a note to that ticket by replying to the email or better yet, using our support portal to view your Cloud Retailer ticket and ask any questions. Our team monitors this ticket for emails and notes, and will get back to you.

I'm live in Cloud Retailer - but I still have questions!

We have extensive resources for you to get help! Check out this article for how to get support.

You can also join any of our trainings again, which repeat on a weekly basis, as well as come to another of our Open Office Q&A sessions! And you can always contact us - see Getting Help — Find the Right Support Options!