With the second branch, the question you ask of your POS system changes: what do you maintain once for everyone, and what should differ from branch to branch? In bessa, articles, prices, customers and staff stay central. The order screen, inventory and price surcharges are set per branch. This guide shows how to build a branch structure and run it day to day.
How to arrange companies, locations and Sales Points in general, including several companies or countries, is covered in Structure your bessa account. This guide picks up where the structure is in place and the business is running.
The structure: one location per branch
Each branch is a separate location under your company in bessa. A location has its own Sales Points, its own warehouse and its own address, which appears on the receipts.
|
Level |
What it holds |
|---|---|
|
Company |
Company name, VAT ID, tax data; the default for all locations |
|
Location |
Address and contact details of the branch (these override the company data), branch warehouse, Sales Points |
|
Sales Point |
Order screen, consumption types and pricing levels, printers, users, fiscalisation |
New locations are created by bessa Support, because locations and Sales Points are tied to your licence. Register a new branch with bessa or your POS dealer in good time before it opens.
What stays central
You maintain this data once in the bessa Manager, and it applies in every branch:
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Articles and article groups: a new article or a price change is available at every Sales Point after synchronisation.
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Pricing levels: they are created centrally; which pricing level applies at which Sales Point is set per Sales Point (see below).
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Customers and discount groups: a regular customer is recognised in every branch.
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Users: an employee has one login for all branches. Where they may work is set through the Sales Point assignment.
Maintain larger ranges through the article import. Exporting, editing in Excel and importing again is faster than any single change when many articles are involved.
What can differ per branch
Order screen
Each Sales Point has its own order screen. The branch at the station shows only the quick takeaway range, while the branch with a café also offers breakfast and hot drinks. Articles a branch does not carry simply stay off its order screen.
Prices per branch
If articles should cost more or less in one branch, create a separate pricing level for it, e.g. "Station branch", and enter the different price on the affected articles. Then enable this pricing level only on the Sales Points of that branch, see Set up pricing levels for the Sales Point. Articles without a price in this pricing level are sold at their standard price.
Inventory
Each location has its own branch warehouse, set up by bessa or your POS dealer. Sales in a branch therefore always book stock in that branch's warehouse. For a finer split, e.g. a separate warehouse for the café inside a branch, create sub-warehouses, see Create and edit warehouses.
To move goods between branches, use Transfer in the bessa Manager: the quantity is deducted from one warehouse and added to the target warehouse, see Stock levels in the Manager. At the Sales Point, transfers are limited to the warehouses of its own location.
Vouchers
bessa has two voucher modules, and for branches the difference matters:
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Local vouchers (the bessa Kassa's Voucher Management module) are sold and redeemed only at the Sales Point. They are always valid in all branches; binding them to individual locations is not possible. See Vouchers at the Sales Point.
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Online vouchers are a separate bessa module. For each kind of voucher you decide whether it can be redeemed company-wide or only at individual locations, see Venue-scoped vs. company-wide vouchers. They can also be bought and redeemed in the web shop and in the app and also work at POS systems from other vendors, see Online vouchers.
If vouchers should be valid everywhere, local vouchers are enough. If individual branches should run their own vouchers, you need online vouchers.
Staff
An employee only sees their login on a Sales Point they are assigned to. Assign floaters who help out in several branches to all relevant Sales Points, and permanent staff only to their own branch, see Manage Sales Point users.
Comparing branches
Daily closings run per Main Sales Point, that is separately per branch. To compare branches, use the reports in the bessa Manager:
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Locations filter: a single branch or "All locations".
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Enable comparison: sets the selected period against a previous one, e.g. this month against last month.
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Article reports per location: show which articles sell in which branch and help you tailor the order screen.
The Sales Point closings of all branches are under Sales Point closings; select the location there first.
Checklist for a new branch
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Order the location and Sales Points from bessa or your POS dealer.
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Check the location data: address and contact details of the branch, so they are correct on the receipts.
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Set the order screen of the new Sales Point; if the branch has the same range as an existing one, assign that branch's order screen.
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Enable pricing levels if the branch has different prices.
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Check the warehouse and record the opening stock by stocktaking or a stock-up.
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Assign staff to the branch's Sales Points.
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Fiscalise the new Main Sales Point, see Fiscalisation.
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Make a test booking and check in the bessa Manager that it appears under the right location.
Frequently asked questions
Can I create an article for one branch only? Articles apply to the whole company. An article that only one branch sells sits only on that branch's order screen; the other branches don't see it there.
Do my branch managers see the turnover of the other branches? Not at the Sales Point: reports there only cover its own Main Sales Point and Sub-Terminals. Access to the bessa Manager currently cannot be limited to individual locations; anyone with access sees all locations of the company. Part of the data, such as users and articles, applies to all locations anyway. Which roles get Manager access is covered in Structure user access.
When do changed location details appear on receipts? After the next Sales Point closing of the affected Sales Points.