ROSnet PowerCenter: Training Guide
ROSnet PowerCenter
Forms & Transmit
What is ROSnet?
ROS Technology Services, Inc. (ROS stands for Restaurant Operations Support) provides leading edge information services for the restaurant industry. ROSnet, the main service offering of ROS Technology Services, Inc. is an internet-based enterprise data collection and reporting service. Your company has contracted with ROS Technology Services, Inc. to provide ROSnet services for your restaurant. There are two major components of the ROSnet system, the ROSnet Forms & Transmit program and the ROSnet PowerCenter website. This guide will concentrate on the ROSnet Forms & Transmit program.
ROSnet and your POS
ROSnet is not replacing your existing POS system, nor is it eliminating any of the normal steps you currently perform on the POS system. ROSnet procedures are independent of the POS system, except that you must perform certain steps on the POS system before you can send data to ROSnet
For example, at the end of the business day you must…
· make necessary adjustments to timekeeping information on your POS system
and
· complete the normal POS shutdown procedure
…BEFORE transmitting your daily data to ROSnet.
A Brief Tour of ROSnet Forms & Transmit (F&T)
The ROSnet Forms & Transmit program is used to collect relevant information – sales, labor cost, deposit information and other data – from your restaurant and sent it to ROSnet for processing. As the name implies, there are two parts to this program.
1. Forms. Forms are provided for logging of daily information that is important to your company, but not available from the Point of Sale (POS) system.
2. Transmit. A secure connection is made through the internet, and the transaction data from your POS system is encrypted and safely transmitted to the ROSnet Network Operations Center for further processing.
One of ROSnet’s design goals is to NOT make you re-enter information that has been entered previously in your existing in-store information collection systems. But in the cases where your in-store systems don’t record all of the information that needs to be reported to your office, the top half of the screen, titled Daily Logs & Forms, allows you to fill in the gaps.
Fortunately, the POS system provides most of the information. In fact, the only information that will need to be recorded in the Daily Logs & Forms is:
Cash Deposits/Drops – record required information on cash drops throughout the day.
Paid Ins/Outs – Forms for recording petty cash transactions (if relevant in your company).
The bottom portion of the screen, titled Transmit to ROSnet, provides the ability for you to transmit your daily sales and labor cost information along with the log entries to ROSnet.
Launching Forms & Transmit
Follow these steps to access the ROSnet Forms & Transmit program.
1. Double-click the ROSnet Forms & Transmit icon.
The ROSnet F&T program will be launched and the main menu (pictured earlier) will be displayed.
Look at the business date displayed in the upper-right corner of the F&T screen. Every time you launch F&T, this date is automatically set to the business date that you will be customarily processing at the time. On occasion, the date may need to be changed to a previous date. For example, if late corrections needed to be made to the previous day’s deposit, the date would need to be rolled back to that of the previous day. To do so:
· Click the DOWN-arrow key beside the date displayed to move to a previous date, – or –
· Click the UP-arrow to return to the current date.
The screen will not allow advancing to a date in the future. A “friendly reminder” message will display when attempts are made to do so.
Logging a Cash Deposit or Drop: Step-By-Step
This is the procedure for logging daily cash drops or deposits in ROSnet.
1. Launch the Forms & Transmit program.
2. Click the button. The Deposit/Drop Log form will be displayed.
3. Ensure that the correct business date is displayed at the top of the form.
NOTE: If the incorrect date is shown, refer back to the previous for instructions on changing the date.
4. Place a check-mark in the box corresponding to the first available line on the form.
5. Type your initials in the space provided, and then press the [Tab] key.
6. Type the amount of the drop or deposit in the space provided, and then press the [Tab] key. (Enter the amount in dollars, decimal and cents; no $-signs or commas are needed)
7. Double-check the amount that you just entered and the daily balance displayed to the right in the Balance column to ensure that the amount of the entry is correct.
8. When satisfied that the entry is correct, left-click on the Close button. The deposit or drop entry will be saved.
Once a number is entered on this log, it cannot be changed. If you make a mistake, enter a correction on the next line to reverse the mistake. For example, if you enter 12000.00 instead of 1200.00, enter -10800.00 (the minus sign must be entered) to correct the problem.
Logging a Paid-Out: Step-By-Step
This is the procedure to log a paid-out transaction in ROSnet.
1. Launch the Forms & Transmit program.
2. Click the button. The Paid-In / Paid-Out Log form will be displayed.
3. Ensure that the correct business date is displayed at the top of the form.
NOTE: If the incorrect date is shown, refer back to the instructions on page 3 for instructions on changing the date.
4. Type the total amount of the paid-out transactions in the Paid Out(s) field and press the [Tab] key.
5. Type the total amount of the paid-in transactions in the Paid In(s) field.
6. Click Save to save your entries.
7. Enter all food purchases in the Food Management program to ensure proper variances.
End of Day Transmittal
ROSnet allows you and your supervisors to view operational reporting far beyond the capability of the POS system. Additionally, ROSnet data submitted by you can be interfaced directly into your corporate accounting and payroll systems.
Before any of this can happen, your data must be transmitted to ROSnet on a nightly basis, by following this simple procedure.
1. Launch the Forms & Transmit Program.
2. Ensure that the final cash deposit has been entered for the day, along with all paid-out/paid-in transactions. Refer back to the preceding pages for instructions on making entries in these logs, if needed.
3. Click the button. The Full Transmittal screen will be displayed.
4. Ensure that the correct business date is shown in the Current Business Day field of the form.
If the incorrect date is shown – for example, if you are transmitting a prior business day – click the white circle beside “Previous Day” and enter the correct date.
5. Click the Go! button. ROSnet will now retrieve sales transaction data from your POS system.
6. After a few seconds the Trial Balance screen will be displayed.
7. Type your name in the box provided.
8. Click the Send button.
ROSnet will now prepare your data for transmittal, initiate a connection to the internet and transmit your data to the ROSnet Network Operations Center. Once that has happened, you will be presented with a screen prompting you to either go to the Homepage or Close. If you do nothing, the program will disconnect in 30 seconds.
Once your data has reached the ROSnet Network Operations Center, checks are performed to ensure the integrity of the data. The data is then loaded into the ROSnet system, and you can view reports. This verification and loading process usually completes in around 5 minutes… but obviously, the more sales data you send to ROSnet, the longer it will take to load this data.
· On busy days such as weekends and holidays, your data will take a little longer to load.
· On slow business days, your data will load in LESS than 5 minutes.
View/Print Your Location’s Daily Summary Report
While dozens of reports are available in ROSnet PowerCenter, the Daily Summary report provides an excellent consolidation of sales, labor, discounts, voids, payments, and cash balancing information into a single report. ROSnet recommends viewing (and printing, if a print copy is desired) this report on a daily basis, after you transmit your data to ROSnet.
ROSnet Safeguards to Prevent Inaccurate Reports
It’s rare… but on occasion, ROSnet may not be able to load your sales data. ROSnet employs safeguards preventing incomplete or incorrect information from getting loaded into your reporting system. If ROSnet detects a problem with your POS data that might cause a reporting issue, your data will NOT be loaded. Instead, a message will appear on your ROSnet home page, describing the issue and the steps that you, or ROSnet, will need to take to resolve this issue.
For example, if a new payment media key or new sales category is added into your POS system’s configuration, then your company’s ROSnet administrator will need to provide ROSnet with guidance on how this new data needs to be integrated into your ROSnet reporting.
Quick Reference
This Getting Started Guide gives you all of the details – and lots of pictures – for using ROSnet Forms & Transmit… but many managers have asked for a quick reference page, listing each step as a single sentence, and with no pictures. The next page provides a quick daily outline in this format.
ROSnet Forms & Transmit
Quick Instructions
ROSnet Daily Outline
Note: If your company does not manage Paid Outs and Paid Ins through ROSnet, ignore the steps below that refer to Paid Outs/Paid Ins.
During the Course of the Day:
· Enter Cash Drops throughout the course of the day as required.
· Enter Paid Outs and Paid Ins if required.
Closing Procedures:
1. Complete all closing procedures on the POS system.
2. Check employee timekeeping and make adjustments on the POS system if needed.
3. Enter your closing deposit amount in the ROSnet Forms & Transmit – Deposit/Drop Log.
4. Enter any Paid Outs and Paid Ins that were not entered during the course of the day, using the appropriate forms in ROSnet Forms & Transmit.
5. Perform the ROSnet Full Transmittal.
6. Access your restaurant’s ROSnet PowerCenter home page and print the Daily Summary.
ROSnet Login
ROSnet Food Management
Purchasing
Purchase Entry
· Invoices are uploaded from major purveyors (City Produce, COI, Sygma Restaurant Technologies (RTI)…)
· The system allows the entry of invoices for those vendors unable to send the information to ROSnet.
· Paid outs can be entered using the “General Vendor”.
Use Food Management > Purchasing > Purchase Entry screen.
1) Select the vendor that the invoice is for from the drop-down list.
2) Select the transaction type.
3) Enter the transaction number, date and total.
(If a transaction type is not available that is needed you will need to contact your office to have the vendor updated.)
4) If the transaction was paid with a manual check, verify the check number, date and total check amount.
(The check number will pre-populate based on the last check entered in ROSnet)
5) Enter transaction detail and press [Apply] to save changes.
Transfers
· Only the transferring out location enters detail.
· Select the location that you are transferring to and then enter detail.
(Use the blue calculator to quickly calculate broken cases.)
· Accepting Transfer
o The location receiving goods must approve or “Accept” the transfer using the Food Management > Purchasing > Transfer Summary report.
o If everything is correct, check “Accept” and push [Apply.]
(Once a transfer has been accepted the status will display as “Approved”.)
ROSnet Food Management
Inventory
Generate Count Sheet
Food Management > Inventory > Generate Count Sheet
· This screen offers some alerts to the user.
Price changes greater than 25% (percent is configurable):
Drill Down to find how prices are calculated.
New item alert:
Unused inventory items:
(Allows location to remove items that have been inventoried at zero for 3 weeks.)
Web Inventory Entry
Food Management > Inventory > Inventory Entry
Enter inventory counts and press [Apply] to save changes.
(Allows entry by case and smaller unit and brings attention to possible keying errors.)
ROSnet Food Management
Handheld Inventory
· Hardware – Components pictured below are required to utilize the handheld system
Handheld - The handheld computer device replaces the clipboard and paper when taking inventory. As you move about, the restaurant counts will be recorded in boxes that are provided. The device should be equipped with the Windows Mobile operating system and have the ROSnet Handheld Inventory program loaded on it. /Cradle – The cradle serves two purposes. When the device is “cradled” (seated in the cradle), the batteries of the device are recharged. More importantly, the computer must be cradled for it to communicate with ROSnet in order to download updated inventory sheets and upload your inventory counts.
/
· Downloading Count Sheets
Start the inventory process with the device cradled and displaying following screen: