Community Deployment Overview

Modified on Wed, 3 Jun at 1:54 PM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Welcome to Cloud Retailer!
Weekly Training Schedule
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
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

Our Customer Success Leader (CSL) Team will be reaching out in the meantime to get remote access on the POS lane to use for Groundwork, as well as establish remote access on your database (if applicable, for select customers who are having data imported).

⚠ Important: You will need to be able to log into these computers as a Windows Administrator User to enable us to install the access tool and import tools, so make sure you have your password. You will not need to share the password, but you will need it to log in as admin and allow us access.

When applicable for select customers, our Tech Team will use this remote access to begin your data import. Please establish with the CSL you speak with if we are able to remote in anytime (dedicated servers) or if our Tech Team needs to call first during business hours (combo POS lane / database server).

Once import has begun, do not change any unique product identifiers in your current POS system, such as UPCs. Read more about Import best practices, and what is safe and what is not safe to change, in these articles:

Database Conversion Considerations

Microsoft Dynamics RMS to CR Database Import Q&A

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 from a web browser with no special download required. You can click on the training events in the calendar above to see the Zoom link you will click on to attend under "More Details".

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.

A bit about your Cloud Retailer Database...

In Cloud Retailer, your database lives securely online in the cloud. We often call this your “back office instance.” This is where you’ll handle your day-to-day business management—things like adding products, updating prices, managing users, and running reports.

Your back office is accessed through a web browser, which means you can log in from any internet-connected computer, anytime.

Your Point of Sale (POS) works a little differently. It’s a software application installed directly on your register. This is the tool you’ll use to complete sales and assist customers.

The POS connects to your online database by syncing with your back office instance:

It pulls information like products, pricing, and customer data from your database.
It pushes updates back to your database when transactions occur.

This constant exchange of information is what we call syncing, and it ensures everything stays accurate and up to date.

A helpful comparison is your smartphone’s photo storage:

When you take pictures, your phone automatically uploads them to your cloud account (like Google Photos or iCloud). That way:

You can access your pictures from other devices.
Your photos transfer easily if you get a new phone.

Your POS works the same way:

It syncs with your cloud database to stay current.
If a device is connected to a different database, it will sync to that one instead.

When you first begin, you’ll be given access to a Training Instance.

This is a shared, pre-built database used for learning the system. It includes sample products and data that are not connected to your actual business. Any changes you make here are strictly for practice and won’t affect your real system.

During training, your POS will be set to sync with this Training Instance so you can safely explore and get comfortable before going live.

When can I access my data?

Generally speaking, as soon as your data is imported, we will reach out to you and make sure you can log into your live instance. We do this so you can begin reviewing the data as soon as possible to find any potential issues with the transfer.

The goal is to find any areas we may have missed or any mistakes we made e.g.

Cost were used for retail price
Groups of products were missed
Certain pieces of product data are missing
Barcodes are missing leading zeros

For issues with the original data, we can help, but it is generally considered a special request that would incur premium support hours.

⚠ Keep in mind- at this stage, it 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, you should thoroughly document what the problem is, the affected product, etc., and what the correct value(s) should be. You can record minor issues using this form link. Minor issues should not stop you from making transactions - we ask you to persist through minor issues and document them for us to fix.

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

Final Import

After you've gone live, we do one final import of your product costs, and your quantity on hand if it is accurate in your old system. This is also where we import customer points if your previous system had a loyalty program that needs to be migrated.

Testing Live Sales for the first time

On Testing Day, before you begin taking real sales in Cloud Retailer, our tech team will change what your POS program points to: we will change it to point to your actual instance so it syncs with your real data. In some cases, a data refresh before testing day may be necessary to import over any product or price changes and data corrections (when applicable, for some customers).

On Testing Day we will go over our System Review Checklist with you. Our System Review Checklist helps us verify your data is correct. We will then have you begin taking real sales in Cloud Retailer for at least 4 hours.

At this point, when you have validated your data is correct, we ask that you complete the System Review Signoff before we can complete switching over your remaining registers.

What if I have questions outside of training?

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!