Recommended end of day / shift process for cashiers

Modified on Wed, 20 Mar at 4:47 PM

Overview

Below are some recommended workflows for the end of day process.

Here is a video highlighting the above procedure with the exception of not showing the payment terminal batch prompt:

Procedure

Once a cashier is done with their shift a reconciliation step should happen to ensure proper accountability for the tenders of the day. A few key notes:

Most users end the shift once per POS station at the end of the day, some execute this process at the end of each shift (may be more than one shift per day.
If a POS station has not been used you do not need to execute this process.
Sales information moving between the back office and the POS is NOT reliant on this process. If you never close the shift sales data will still transfer though some processes are executed when you close a shift and may be important. They are:
- You are prompted to settle your credit card batch which also executes as reconciliation step between the payment terminal and the POS
- A few maintenance processes are executed on the local POS database. If these are not done regularly they may be a degradation in speed.
If the POS station is not connected to the internet / not syncing data you can close the shift but you will not be able to fully complete this process.
There are multiple ways to execute this process, this is only our recommended method. We believe for most users this process creates good protections and accountability for cashiers though may not be a perfect process for everyone.

STEP 1) Close shift at POS

Go to the manager tab (typically) and touch the "END SHIFT" button, when you do so you will be prompted to:

A) Settle your credit cards - we recommend you say YES to this. When you do it will compare the amount that the terminal reports that it has processed in credit cards against what the POS thinks it has processed in credit cards. This is to ensure that there were no communication or other issues with credit card processing during the day. While the system shows you how many dollars in credit cards were processed this data is also available in great detail from the back office reports so there is typically no need to record this information. Each credit card "batch" will result in its own deposit to the bank.

If the message presented does show an imbalance you may be aware of why this is, at which point it can be ignored, otherwise you should contact Cloud Retailer technical support.

B) It will ask if you want to reconcile the till now.

STEP 2) Reconciling shift in back office

if you say YES you will be taken to the Cloud Retailer back office website and prompted to log in again for verification purposes. You will then see your opening amounts, shift amounts, and closing amounts. Open amounts are how much you started with at the beginning of the day, closing amounts are how much you ended the day with, and shift amounts are how much the system thinks you took of each based on the transactions themselves - the system is expecting you enter the opening and closing amounts at this point. As such, if you hit YES, it assumes you are wanting to count down your drawer right now, at this machine. If you want to count your drawer down later or at a different location (in the office instead of out at the till) then you should hit NO to this prompt. You will also get a small receipt that will have a batch number and depending on which flavor you're using it may contain information about the shift totals. The real value of this receipt comes into play if you hit the NO option (more to come on that).

With some tenders you will not be allowed to enter the opening and closing amounts - this typically makes sense with things like credit cards where the system is managing the amounts and therefore there's nothing to "count". That said, if you do want to count a tender type like credit cards (count all the receipts up), you can configure any tender type to require reconciliation or not.
As you're entering your opening and closing amounts the system will give you feedback on if the till is over or short.
If there are specific notes you want to add about the shift, maybe why something was off, etc at the bottom of the page you have an option to "Add a note" - this can be multiple notes as it will identify who added the note and when. It is often used as a communication mechanism between the cashier and the manager.

Once you're happy with your reconciliation you have two options - you can "Save" or "Save and Reconcile". Saving the shift will simply save any notes or opening-closing amounts but it will leave the shift open. This is typically used if the cashier is allowed to count their money down but the manager has to confirm it (the cashier saves but only the manager can mark the shift as "reconciled". There are also permission settings around this, you can give and take away the ability for users to mark a shift as reconciled.

After the shift is marked as reconciled there are no additional changes that can be made to it, it becomes read-only.

ALTERNATE STEP 2)

If you hit the "NO" button when the system asks if you'd "like to reconcile your shift now" you have a few key benefits:
1) In some cases, the cashier is responsible for simply closing the shift at the POS and the manager will do the counting later. We do not recommend this as it does not give the cashier the ability to verify their tender amounts (accountability reasons - not system reasons).
2. It allows you to take your drawer with money in it out of the till and to a safe location like an office to perform the countdown process. As soon as you close the shift a new one begins so if it's midday the next cashier can insert their fresh drawer and start. You do not need to finalize the closing process for the next cashier to start. A shift does not have to be reconciled the same day, it can technically stay closed and unreconciled indefinitely but we do recommend that the process is completed within 48 hours for a few reasons
a) If you realize something if off people's memory of events is short. The sooner the better.b) Some other systems may rely on batches to be marked as reconciled before they can use the data. Accounting system integrations we do (as an example) require that batches be marked as reconciled before data will be pushed to them.
To continue the reconciliation process you'd take the receipt that is printed during this process which will always contain a "shift" number and depending on the receipt template you're using may or may not contain shift totals. Some people want their cashiers to know how many dollars should be in the till, others do not. We recommend that you do not make this information known. You take you drawer with the money in it to an office area where there is a computer, you count your drawer down (if cashiers need help they can use a tool like our countdown Excel spreadsheet - click here to download, feel free to make it your own). Then log in to the back office site and either go to
A) Tools > End of day reconciliation - once here you'll be prompted for your batch number or
B) Reports > Summarized End of Day report - assuming you're looking at the right day you'll see all batches associated with sales data and can pick and choose the ones you want to reconcile.
TIP: Most users create a link to the "End of day reconciliation" option on the tools menu right from the desktop of the computer near where cashiers count their tills down - this makes it super easy for them to get to the right spot to execute this process.
Once you're into your shift totals the process is the same as what's been described above.

FAQ
Q: If I rang a transaction in error and I've closed the shift, how do I "undo" that transaction?

A: Once a shift is closed, it's closed. We recommend that you "undo" the transaction in the next shift and then close that shift immediately afterward (there will be only one transaction in that shift). In the notes of both of these shifts explain the situation. The two shifts added together should balance fine.

Q: What if I want cashiers to see how much money should be in the till prior to closing the shift?

A: We can create a button (typically called an "X Report" that will print that information prior to needing to close the shift.

Average Time to Complete

20 minutes