A software solution that automates the manual input of inventory codes and the formal recording of sales/cash taken/VAT levied against stock sold thereby saving SME retailers significant costs in labour and time, has been developed as a result of co-operation between three local companies.
Accounting software developer Softline Pastel, third-party software development house Keldata and iNathi Technology Holdings, which distributes the Uniwell range of electronic cash registers (ECRs) in SA, co-operated to facilitate the development of the software interface by Keldata.
Keldata, a Pastel VAR focused on the development of third-party products compatible with Pastel accounting software, calls the interface solution "Unipas".
A distribution agreement between Keldata and iNathi gives iNathi exclusive worldwide rights to distribute the Unipas software link between Uniwell`s Lx5600 ECR and Pastel Accounting V6 software. "Other Uniwell models will soon also be linked," says iNathi sales and support manager Julie Wilson. " The technology is advanced and we see great potential for it."
Keldata`s Daniel Denyssen, who wrote the software interface, says Unipas functions through a networked link from the Uniwell ECR directly into the back-office Pastel Accounting V6 software program.
He adds that the Unipas software was developed with the aid of Pastel`s SDK (software development kit). "It allows all the detail of both running totals and grand totals, known as X01 reports and X40 reports in the retail trade, to be quickly and accurately downloaded directly from the Uniwell ECR into Pastel."
Until now, the only option for retailers was to print out the reports at the cash register, manually check the balances and give the printouts to the bookkeeper for manual capture into the accounting software inventory and invoice fields.
"This process was tedious, very time-consuming and prone to human error and misinterpretation. Unipas enables the data to be captured directly and with complete accuracy into Pastel in just a few minutes," says Denyssen. "The strong functionality and report writing capabilities of the Pastel program then allow the store owner to keep completely in touch with the status of critical aspects of the business such as over- or under-stocking and pricing."
Another difficult and lengthy task for retailers is the programming of PLU codes into the cash register. A typical bottle store will carry some 2 500 items of stock, each with a PLU code that requires five separate actions - entering the product code, product description, the price, the group linkage and the tax status.
"Doing this manually would therefore require 12 500 actions, and imagine the problem this poses for a hardware store where typically as many as 10 000 stock items are carried," says Denyssen.
"Unipas solves this problem by allowing the Pastel inventory masterfile standard fields to interface to the Uniwell cash register and directly program the PLU codes into the till, a process taking about 15 minutes as opposed to many hours of manual input. Product price changes are also a mission, but Unipas enables these to be programmed directly to the till from Pastel."
Denyssen is also working on the creation of lists of typical product line items in retail vertical markets as a database add-on in Pastel. This would also include links to the major suppliers of those items. "The ultimate goal is to be able to provide a start-up retailer with a complete, fully operational electronic system for the efficient running of the business."
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Softline Pastel is SA`s largest accounting and payroll software developer. A company in the JSE-listed Softline group, Softline Pastel has for more than a decade exported products to Africa, Europe, UK, the US, Australia and Asia. Pastel accounting software is used by more than 150 000 companies, operating in 42 countries.
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