Alto’s offers 2 methods to pay for your subscription.

In-app purchase

This method enables you to pay for your subscription inside the app using available payment options offered by Google Play (for Android devices) and Apple App Store (for Apple devices). Note that available payment methods may vary by country.

1. Inside the app, go to Back Office > Settings > Billing.
2. By default, the system will display your current pricing plan and its expiration date. Choose a different plan if the current one doesn’t suit you;
3. Click on the Pay button. From the available payment options, select the most suitable one for you and complete the payment.

Payment through the Alto’s web app

You can also choose to pay through the Alto’s web app:

1. Open Alto’s web app in your browser (https://app.altospos.com/);
2. Go to Back Office > Settings > Billing;
3. By default, the system will display your current pricing plan and its expiration date. Choose a different plan if the current one doesn’t suit you;
4. Click on the Pay button and select the appropriate payment option on the pop-up window.The most preferred payment type among our users is the Bank card option, which allows you to pay with your Visa/MasterCard/UnionPay card.
5.  Complete the payment.

Note: Paying through the Alto’s web app saves you money.

How? Only through the Alto’s web app, you can choose to pay annually for your plan and get 2 months free every year.

Furthermore, if your credit or debit card is not a USD card, then paying through the Alto’s web app will cost you less currency conversion fees than using the in-app purchase method.

Service charge is an additional charge collected to pay for services related to the primary product or service being purchased — called also service fee. Typically in the restaurant business, it is a percentage of the total bill, often instead of a tip.

How to set up a service charge

1. Go to Back Office > Settings > Service charge.
   

2. Tap Service charge to open the form. Fill in the name field.
   

3. Choose the service charge type (percentage or fixed amount) and enter the value.
   

4. If you would like certain products to be exempt from service charges, you can do so by selecting them from the Do not apply to… list.
   

5. Next, under the Auto apply section you can
   1. set a threshold amount above which a service charge will be automatically applied;
      

5. select dining option(s) for which the service charge will be automatically applied.
   

6. Alternatively, you can deactivate the Auto apply toggle to manually apply service charges only when needed.
7. Lastly, leave the toggle Access to all locations activated so that you can apply service charge at all of your available locations. Or you can turn it off to select only certain locations.
   

8. Save your changes once you’re done.

How to apply a service charge on a sale

9. Go to Point of Sale > Sales.
10. Service charge is calculated and applied automatically to the subtotal of the products, provided that the Auto apply option (see step 5) is enabled.
    

11. If you change your mind and don’t want to apply a service charge to an order, you can remove it by tapping the Service fee line in the ticket area and unchecking the box.
    

12. The same action can be performed by tapping the vertical ellipsis (⋮) at the upper right corner of the ticket area and selecting Service charge.
    

13. If you have a service charge set up but Auto apply is disabled, to manually add a service charge to ordered products, do the same action as in the step 12 above after creating a ticket. Then check the Service charge box.
    

14. Now in the ticket area you will see the line Service fee with the amount of the service charge.
15. Proceed to checkout as usual.

Service charges report

This report allows you to view information about the amount of service charges applied by your employees. To view the report:

16. Go to Back Office > Reports > Service charge.
17. You can apply filters by date, location and/or employee to narrow down the data if needed.
18. The report displays following data for each employee:
    1. gross sales affected by service charges;
    2. total number of receipts affected by service charges;
    3. distribution of service fees according to pre-set percentages;
    4. total amount of service charge applied.
       

1. Service fee distribution percentages can be configured by tapping the gear icon in the upper right corner of the report.
   

In Alto’s, employees with the right to manage POS devices (see User Access Management > Permissions – Back Office) can be granted access to screens via their email and password.

Below is how it can be done:

1. First, check and make sure that the user you are granting this access to has the right to manage POS devices as part of his/her role:
   1. go to Back Office > Users > Access rights;
   2. choose the role assigned to the user;
   3. make sure that the Manage POS devices checkbox is checked under the Back Office block. If it’s empty, check it and tap Save.

2. Now, go to Users > User list and tap/click on the user.

3. Tap the ✉️Send invitation to … link at the bottom of the screen. Please note that the link is displayed if and only if the Email field in the user information is filled.

4. An email with an invitation to create an account is sent to the user.

5. Now, by tapping Registration the user is redirected to the registration form, where he/she can create an account to access the Back Office and Point of Sale screens.

6. Once the user enters password and taps Sign Up, he/she will enter the Back Office screen.

7. The user can switch to the Point of Sale screen, if he/she is eligible, by tapping the vertical ellipsis button in the top right corner of the menu bar.

The Time clock feature allows you to accurately track your employees’ working hours and attendance.

Follow the steps below to start using the Time clock. But, before that, make sure that you have assigned PIN numbers for your employees as PIN authentication is required to start using the Time clock feature.

1. Once all the employees have Go to Back Office > Settings > Features.
2. Turn on the Time clock toggle switch. Save your changes and you’re all set to start tracking your employees’ working hours.

How to Clock in and Clock out (For Employees)

3. Go to the Point of Sale. On the PIN entry screen, tap the drop-down arrow, choose Clock in and enter your PIN.

4. A pop-up window with clock-in information appears. As soon as you confirm, your working hours begin.

5. As soon as you’re done, tap the vertical ellipses on the upper right corner of the menu bar and tap Clock out.

6. Enter your PIN.

7. Tap Confirm on the pop-up screen to clock out.

Worked Hours and Timecards

8. Go to Back Office > Users.
9. Tap Total worked hours to view summary data for each employee for a specified timeframe.

10. Tap Timecards to view the list of timecards for a specified timeframe.

11. Should a timecard be subject to correction, tap on it, enter the correct clock in and clock out data, then save it.

12. Similarly, new timecards can be created if necessary. To create one, tap the Add timecard (+) button, enter all the required data (employee, location, clock in and clock out data).

13. The app automatically calculates the total hours data. Save the timecard.

Check Inventory history that allows you to view a record of all changes made to your inventory (i.e. purchase orders, transfers, adjustments, production, manual stock entrances, sales, refunds, etc.). It is a part of our fully integrated inventory management module.

1. Go to Back Office > Inventory > History.
2. Enter the data range if you want to view records for a specific period.

3. You can now see inventory changes by date and time, item, location, employee and reason. You can also see the change quantity and the stock quantity remaining after the change.
4. At the upper right side of the window there is a “search” line where you can enter a specific product or ingredient (product for retail business, ingredients for restaurant business). The entries in the history will only show you the data for the position you are looking for.

NOTE: Only users with right access rights can view and perform actions on receipts. Check here to learn more about managing access rights.

To view receipts collected from all the available points of sale (POS) in a store:

1. Go to Point of Sale > Receipts.
2. The system will automatically display receipts for the last 7 days. You can expand or narrow the list by specifying a date range using the calendar at the upper right corner.

3. Now, if you want to perform any action on a specific receipt, tap it to open it and then tap the vertical ellipsis (⋮) in the top right corner. Depending on the access rights granted to you, you can do one of the following at a time:
   1. issue a sales refund (check here to learn more about how to issue a refund);
   2. send it by email;
   3. print it out;
   4. download its PDF version.

NOTE: Receipts sent by email when the device is offline are delivered when the connection is restored.

How to set up Alto’s Customer Display System (CDS)

Here are the steps to set up a customer display system in Alto’s and start using it:

1. First, go to Back Office > Settings > Features. Toggle the Customer displays switch on and tap Save.

2. Then go to Back Office > Locations & Devices > CDS devices. Tap the Add CDS Device + button to add a new customer display device.

3. Enter a device name and select the POS with which the display will be paired. Tap Save.

4. Now download and open Alto’s POS & Inventory on the device that will serve as a CDS display.
5. On the Sign in screen, select Customer Display, then enter your email address and password to log in.

6. On the next screen, choose the added customer display from the dropdown list and tap Select.

7. All set.

8. Now all the details of orders accepted at the paired POS will be instantly displayed on this screen.

How Customer Display System (CDS) works in Alto’s

1. The left side of the customer display screen (Ticket area) instantly displays details of the order accepted at the POS.

2. The right side of the screen displays the name of the store (location) and the name of the employee serving the customer. Below is a field in which the customer can enter an email address to receive the e-version of the receipt.

3. If the sale is made to a customer who is already in the database, his email address will automatically show up in the email field.

4. As soon as the cashier completes the order, the customer will see the total amount, the amount of change and the number of points earned on the left side of the screen.

5. When the transaction is complete, the customer can simply tap the Send Receipt button to receive the e-version of the receipt in his/her email.

Here are the steps on how you can set up and start using Alto’s KDS in your restaurant.

1. How to set up Alto’s Kitchen Display System (KDS)

1. First, go to Back Office > Settings > Features. Toggle the Kitchen printers switch on and tap Save.

2. Then go to Back Office > Locations & Devices > KDS devices. Tap the Add KDS Device + button to add a new kitchen display device.

3. Enter a device name, select the location and the right station to which the display will be connected. Tap Save.

4. Now download and open Alto’s POS & Inventory on the device that will serve as a KDS display.
5. On the Sign in screen, select Kitchen Display, then enter your email address and password to log in.

6. On the next screen, choose the added kitchen display from the dropdown list and tap Select.

7. From now on, orders are instantly displayed on the screen as tickets, provided that the correct station has been selected for the ordered items (i.e. the same as that selected for the current KDS).

2. How to work with Alto’s Kitchen Display System (KDS)

8. As indicated in step 7, orders are routed to the back-of-house via stations in Alto’s KDS. Hence, before starting to work with KDS, make sure that a correct station is selected for each product.
9. Below is an example of a KDS screen with orders on it:
   1. each ticket is displayed as a separate column;
   2. if a ticket is too long, items which do not fit on the screen can be viewed by scrolling down;
   3. if there are too many tickets, those that don’t fit on the screen can be viewed by scrolling to the right;
   4. an illustrative structure of all orders with their statuses can be viewed by tapping the left arrow button (<) in the lower left corner of the screen, where each horizontal bar represents one order item.

10. The system displays each ticket with its name, the time it was created, and the note entered.

11. Modifiers are displayed under product names.

12. The cook can start preparing the order by tapping the orange Start button, then tap the green Ready button as soon as the order is ready for serving.

13. When the cook taps Start on the kitchen display, a fire icon appears next to the order item at the Point of Sale, indicating that the order is being prepared. Likewise, when cooking is finished and the cook taps Ready on the KDS screen, the button changes to a green double tick. So does the fire icon at the Point of Sale.

14. If any order items are voided in a saved open ticket, the status of those items will be displayed as Canceled on the KDS screen.

15. Similarly, a new item added to an open ticket at the Point of Sale instantly appears with a new Start button under the same ticket on the KDS screen.

16. Fully completed tickets disappear from the screen.
17. Should there be a need to recall an already closed ticket, the cook can open the Recall window by tapping the history icon in the upper right corner of the screen and tap the necessary one from the list.
18. Tapping the Clear button will clear the history of completed tickets.

A product label contains basic information about the product, such as name, SKU, unit price and barcode.

Use the following steps to generate and print product labels.

1. Make sure that your label printer is connected and set up properly in advance.
2. Go to Back Office > Products. Tap the (⋮) icon and select Print labels.

• On the Create labels screen, enter the label size (unit, width and height);

• Select the location to which the products belong;

• Select the source of the product information to be displayed on the label: barcode or SKU. You can choose the Barcode or SKU option to automatically display the one that is available, with the barcode taking precedence.

• You can check the Print name and Print price checkboxes to display the name and price of the product at the selected location respectively on the label.

• Now, tap (+) to make a list of the products for which you want to print labels. You can:
  • add products one by one under the Products tab;
  • add an entire category (Category) under the Categories tab;
  • or products assigned to a certain supplier (or suppliers) under the Suppliers tab.

• Enter the quantity of labels you would like to print for each product and tap Create.

• Check out the preview of your label.

1. Here is how the printed version of a label looks like:

NOTES:

• The parameters entered on the Create Label screen are remembered and offered by the system by default the next time you open this screen to print new labels. They can be changed if necessary.
• Labels for ingredients can be created in much the same way.
• Besides, product or ingredient labels can be printed when there is stock movement, such as purchasing, inventory transfer or stock adjustment. In such a case:
  • find and open the inventory document (purchase order, transfer order or inventory adjustment);
  • tap the (⋮) icon and select Print labels;

• the Create label screen opens with the items and the number of labels to print based on the data specified in the document;

• quantity can be changed depending on the number of labels actually needed for printing.
• Code 128 is used to generate barcodes.

Follow the steps below to start using Shifts.

1. Go to Back Office > Settings > Features and enable the Shifts toggle and tap Save.

2. Now, go to Point of Sale > Shift. Tap Open Shift.

3. In the popup window enter the starting amount that the cash drawer contains and tap Open Shift.

4. The details of the shift (location, POS, shift opening date and time, cash summary & sales summary, etc.) will appear on the next screen.

5. Pay-ins and payouts during the shift can be recorded by using the Pay In and Pay Out buttons on the shift page.
6. For instance, if you want to add $30 cash into your cash drawer which came for a reason other than a sale, then go to the shift page and tap Pay In.
7. Enter the amount and your comment, if necessary, and tap Pay In.

8. The amount instantly shows up in the shift details as Paid in.

9. Similarly, if you want to withdraw some cash (for example, $35) from the drawer, then go to the shift page and tap the Pay Out button.
10. Enter the amount and your comment, if necessary, and tap Pay Out.

11. The amount paid out instantly shows up in the shift details.

12. At the end of the day, tap the Close Shift button to close the shift.

13. A Close Shift window will pop up where you can see the expected cash automatically calculated by the system and an empty field where you must enter the actual amount of cash in the drawer. The system will display the difference (overage or shortage) as soon as you enter the actual cash.

Should you want to restrict your employees (eg. your cashiers) from viewing shift details:

14. Go to the Back Office > Users > Acces rights.
15. Simply tap the user role (in this case, the Cashier) to open the Edit Role screen, uncheck the View shift report checkbox and save your changes.

16. Now your employees who are assigned the Cashier role cannot view shift details, but can and should only enter the actual cash amount when closing a shift.