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Author Topic: RTS POS system Dave Bird Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 777 From: Perth, Ontario, Canada Registered: Jun 2000 posted 03-22-2017 10:27 AM                        Thanks Mike, and Jack, we certainly do close them each night and since I'll be at the theatre more this season I'll try to figure that out early on. Sheepishly, I will admit that we do not use the "inventory" function since we don't enter "receiving" into the system. I suppose that's a relic from my supermarket days, where you couldn't really do this with 40,000 "SKU's" (at the time anyway). The inventories we do are by hand, but mostly just to know what to order, so it's "my bad" on this. I appreciate the tips. If I can figure out a way to get this last bit of info, RTS is pretty darn bulletproof.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 03-22-2017 12:02 PM                        Dave, the reports will show sales for your selected date range, even if you don't put received stock into the inventory module.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-22-2017 12:05 PM                        We don't use RTS for inventory either, but we do have each of our items entered individually so the deposit report will show what we sold. You just go to Reports > Deposit > Total and set the "Item sales" option to True.  |  IP: Logged Jay Glaus Expert Film Handler Posts: 123 From: Pittsburgh, PA USA Registered: Dec 2010 posted 03-22-2017 01:46 PM                        Just wanted to weigh in on this… Back in the early 2000's I had RTS in my concession. I always liked it. It seemed to do what I needed it to, and probably even more. The only thing that was tricky about it if memory serves was it was tough to create an item and have it work with your stock room inventory, or at least it seemed it to me. I remember having support set up new items, but things could have changed. And maybe a good read of the manual would help. I wasn't a fan of the yearly fee, but I guess you get what you pay for. The only reason we quit using it was equipment failure. Those terminals can get pretty expensive and at the time we just went back to using our cash registers and kind of put this on the back burner. We have added a lot of menu items since, and it is harder to keep an inventory the larger your menu gets and especially since we have 3 stand alone concessions on the property. So we recently have begun looking at point of sale systems again. We use Sensible Cinema in the box office, so it made sense to give it a whirl in the stand. I like the interface and how easy it is to completely set up your items from scratch. All seemed well until I tried the inventory. Heres how the inventory works… You enter in a starting count. A week later you re count, enter in any additional items you brought in, any waste, and it will tell you what you should have made $-wise that week. Then you have to go back in and get your sales reports for the week, and compare the $ amounts to see if everything is kosher. Pretty much every other POS I have seen is capable of deducting sales from the stock room and giving you an updated count of what you should have. Obviously you would recount to make sure the numbers jive, but the system should be able to tell you what your stock room should contain. I like to use that updated count as a makeshift shopping list when I don't have time to count everything. But unfortunately Sensible cannot do this. It's inventory program is completely separate from its selling program. Quite frankly, I could do what it does with Excel, or even a piece of paper. Why the inventory was never incorporated into the sales portion of the program I will never know. POS can be a decent investment, so I want to make sure it can do exactly what I need it to, and unfortunately I need a running inventory. I demo'd Vizzy (I think thats how its spelled) and it seemed like a nice program. It works off the "cloud", so I could be at home and build my shows for the box-office, and pull up any report from the box office or the concession stand without even setting foot on the property. I thought that was kind of cool. they have a monthly fee, but for drive-ins they reduce your rate in the off season, which is also kind of cool. I also got in touch with RTS about pricing for getting them back in my concessions. I have acquired terminals now, so all I really have to pay for is the software. In the end, I'm probably going to go with RTS. The price is a little higher than some, and I'm not one for reoccurring fees, but I'm very familiar with the program, and I know it does what I need. Just thought I'd throw in my two cents.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 03-22-2017 07:09 PM                     quote: Jay Glaus I demo'd Vizzy (I think thats how its spelled) and it seemed like a nice program. It works off the "cloud" https://www.veezi.com/ Found the page on the Vista site  |  IP: Logged Dave Bird Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 777 From: Perth, Ontario, Canada Registered: Jun 2000 posted 03-22-2017 11:05 PM                        Jack, you're a genius! (Your wife agrees right?) I have looked at that option a hundred times and assumed it needed inventory and never tried it. Mike, I'll try that when we open in May, I see my Item Sales is "true", likely I'll just need to pick a detailed report (we've always used "Recap Daily" which is pretty basic).  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-23-2017 01:23 PM                     I think most of my customers use it with the exception of some Sensible Cinema systems here and there. I wish there were more Sensible Cinema and less RTS because it's a much better system with much better support. RTS does not interface well to the TMS and at locations where I did interface it the schedule has to be imported every day. Sensible Cinema interfaces much better and it's a once a week schedule import unless you need to change it. Mark  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 03-23-2017 02:09 PM                        One of the things that always bothered me with RTS was there was very limited data for real time reporting. For the most part you can't look at your sales until you close out. I'm used to working with systems which let me look up almost anything during the day, so I was frequently frustrated with RTS. One example of this would be if we needed to look up whether a transaction was tendered or whether a customer was charged for a certain item. It's been almost 2 years since I used RTS, but my memory was this information was not available until after the station had been closed out.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-23-2017 03:26 PM                        There is a 'monitor' function where you can watch transactions happen, but you have to click "Refresh" to see updated info and I don't think it tells whether the transactions are cash or credit card. That's a flaw. Mark - I didn't know there was a problem with interfacing with the TMS - maybe you should write to them about that? They seem like they want to keep up with the times.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 03-23-2017 07:18 PM                        The RTS system is a bit aggravating in this regard, especially while the day in question is "open". It doesn't aggregate information into "statistics" until they technically become them, which in the minds of the RTS folks, seems to be when you close the day from further transactions. On the other hand, touching on Justin and Mike's observations, there are ways to look up individual transactions, including which station generated them and whether or not they were paid by card. It's just not intuitive to find that information until you close out for the day. My wife likens this to a cash register that hides the "X" function, while easily providing the "Z". Dave: Was considered near god-like around here, until my job of 27 years was reduced to pressing "play" by digital technology. Now, I wander around, merely acting like I own the place. Unfortunately for me, the jig is up and my wife and daughter (boxoffice and concession operations) now beleve they fill the true seats of power. Sigh... (whine)...  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 03-23-2017 07:32 PM                        quote: Mark Gulbrandsen RTS does not interface well to the TMS and at locations where I did interface it the schedule has to be imported every day. Sensible Cinema interfaces much better and it's a once a week schedule import unless you need to change it. All of my locations use RTS and all can import the weekly show schedule with no problems.  |  IP: Logged Dave Bird Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 777 From: Perth, Ontario, Canada Registered: Jun 2000 posted 03-25-2017 10:56 AM                        Yes, the lack of "real time" sales data is what freaks out an old grocery guy. It all depends on the mind of the initial programmer and then you're kind of stuck with that concept until such time as they blow it up and start new, which is unlikely. Ha, ha, Jack...I don't even get to push play, though I've adjusted fairly well to being the "extra attacker" when things get busy. Occasionally I'm heard to sheepishly mumble something about "checking the projector", but nobody really buys that. Can't believe our first is putting herself through Uni running the place, but we're blessed to be able to do it. And I'm an expert on plumbing now.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-25-2017 03:08 PM                     I don't know what was so difficult for you, Mark, on the RTS schedule. It will export as often as you like (every 5 minutes (I think about every 5-8 minutes is about as fast as it can generate the new schedule). It will FTP it to wherever you want. All of the major TMSes (including GDC) recognize its file and import it just fine. If anything, Sensible was late to the table on their interface. At first, they had an optional app that would generate the file you needed but you still had to arrange to get it to the TMS. Now, I believe one can have it automatically fire off the schedule.  |  IP: Logged Dave Bird Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 777 From: Perth, Ontario, Canada Registered: Jun 2000 posted 03-26-2017 10:50 PM                        Anyone using a kitchen printer with RTS? I'd like to add one which would only print the kitchen a ticket if certain items are ordered. Our concessions layout makes it difficult to consider a 2nd POS station for busier times unless I can do this. If you do this, how does it work for you?  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-27-2017 02:31 PM                     quote: Mike Blakesley Mark - I didn't know there was a problem with interfacing with the TMS - maybe you should write to them about that? They seem like they want to keep up with the times. I actually did try to work with them initially, but they were basically no help in regards to it. It's not an issue unless a show start is held for a bit so a large audience can have time get in place, or if the ticket person doesn't update the schedule.... It was just the fact that it has to be done every day and does not happen automatically as other ticket systems do... The people that tried it just decided that in four or five min they can program the whole weeks worth of TMS schedules anyway and they decided to skip it. Mark  |  IP: Logged

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