New Features in Aloha Version 6.4

Highlights

Printing Auto-Calculated Suggested Gratuities
In the restaurant industry, the guest is often confronted with the dilemma of not knowing the appropriate amount of gratuity to leave for the server. They are either not proficient in mathematics or unaware of what is sufficient for good service. In v6.4 and higher, you can configure the system to automatically calculate and print suggested gratuity amounts on the bottom of the guest check for the guest to use as a guideline
when leaving a gratuity for the server.

Auditing Petty Cash Transactions
Petty cash accounts allow you to define a tracking system for such things as paid in and paid out transactions. In v6.4, you can now run an audit report on these transactions.

Disallowing Repeat with Weighed Items
In accordance with the National Conference on Weights and Measures, the use of the Repeat and Quantity button functions for an item ordered by weight is no longer allowed. This is partly driven by the fact that two weighed items seldom carry the same weight and adding the exact copy of an item to the guest check would not be accurate most of the time. When you touch the Repeat or Quantity button for an item entered by weight, the error message “You cannot repeat weighed items” appears.

Suppressing Voucher Printing When Under Required Ceilings
In Aloha v5.3.26e or Aloha v6.0 and higher, we introduced the ability to configure a signature ceiling, so that a customer only has to sign the voucher when a credit card transaction is over a specified amount, thus increasing the speed of service for credit card transactions. In Aloha v6.4, you can suppress the printing of the credit card voucher altogether, when the credit card transaction is less than the specified ceiling.

Using Common Terminology Between Aloha Manager and MenuLink
Customers who use the Aloha and MenuLink products together must enter the same data into each program to maintain matching system configurations. This can cause confusion for customers, as the labels for some options do not coincide between the two products. In an effort to integrate the two products, we have relabeled some existing Aloha Manager options to coincide with the terminology used in the MenuLink product. The functionality for each option remains the same.

Enhancing the Create Diagnostic File Utility
During normal operation of the Aloha system, the program interacts with the operating system to create debout files, and to make entries in those files to record events as they happen in the system. These files are seldom needed, so the information recorded in them is periodically replaced. However, when problems occur, the information in these files may be invaluable in identifying the causes. Occasionally, it is necessary to obtain more information than the set of files normally available through the View Debugging File feature. When more information is needed, the Create Diagnostic Files feature is invaluable in diagnosing problems experienced in the system.

Updating Aloha Fingerprint Scanner Software
We have updated the fingerprint scanner software and drivers to version 2.0, incorporating multiple benefits for sites using Radiant P1220 and P1520 terminals with integrated fingerprint scanners. The new software incorporates the following improvements:
» Faster search and response times.
» Enhanced communication between the BOH file server and the FOH terminals, for more
   efficient communication.
» The appearance of a small, white hand, the standard Windows ‘link select’ pointer, while the
   fingerprint scanner software is busy identifying an employee or registering a new employee.
   A user knows the terminal is busy, if the pointer is visible.
» Support for using Authentec and UPEK fingerprint scanners together in the same network.
   This version automatically detects the type of scanner in use on each terminal, and loads
   the appropriate drivers on that terminal.

Expanding Debugging Capabilities in AlohaManager
Debug information aides you and Aloha customer support in troubleshooting problems within the Aloha system and communication passed to and from Aloha EDC and PMS. When an issue occurs, the site enables debugging and reproduces the problem to write to the debout for the terminal. This process can cause a significant delay in correcting the problem for the site.

Supporting PAR Vigo Pole Display
In an effort to support language localization on pole displays for the Aloha POS system, we now support the Vigo pole display manufactured by PAR. The system uses the existing OPOS Line Display interface type and a new option to select an available code page. A code page is the traditional IBM term used for a specific character encoding table. A mapping in which a sequence of bits, usually a single octet representing integer values 0 to 255, is associated with a specific character. In this case, the code page tells the operating system the language to use and the characters to display the PAR Vigo pole display, using a OPOS
Line Display type.

Supporting FACTA Requirements for US Upgrades
The provisions of the U.S. Federal law known as FACTA (Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act) contain two requirements that impact the configuration of an Aloha site. One provision requires that a payment card expiration date must not appear in print on receipts, vouchers, or other printed chits in the restaurant. The other requirement specifies that no more than the last five digits of a payment card number may be exposed in print.

Although we recommend suppressing the expiration date and masking all but the last four digits of the payment card, we felt it would be very helpful to the Aloha POS community to make these changes occur automatically, whenever possible. Beginning with versions of Aloha that become available after November, 2007, the affected settings change automatically to the PCI-compliant state any time you upgrade the Aloha database for a U.S. installation.

Suppressing Pipe Characters on Customer Survey
The Customer Survey feature provides restaurants the ability to prompt randomly selected guests for feedback about their dining experience. The prompts print on the guest check, along with a phone number for the customer to call and take a customer survey, or poll, in exchange for a reward or discount. You can define the times the survey is valid, the frequency the survey prints for a specific day part, the text to appear in the survey, and can print up to a 16-digit code for reference information. On the printed receipt, the survey code is framed by a beginning and ending pipe character. This is sometimes perceived as the number ‘one’ and reflects an incorrect survey code. In v6.1.15, v6.2.8, v6.3.4, v6.4.0, and all versions higher, you can now suppress the pipe characters from printing.

Adding the Time Items Appear on the Guest Check Window in GndItem.dbf
To generate correct information from the Aloha POS system for the Speed of Service (SOS) report in the MenuLink product, you can now track the time an item is placed on the FOH guest check window.

Recipes in QuickService
A recipe is a list of ingredients with directions for making or preparing an item. For the Aloha POS system, recipes can be used for a wide range of purposes, from empowering employees with the ability to answer ingredient questions for the guest, to providing the bartender instructions on how to prepare a drink. They are not to be confused with recipes created in Inventory Control for inventory tracking. Most of the time, you access recipes on demand, but you can configure the system to display or print a recipe each time, or for a defined number of times, you order the item. You can also optionally provide an image of the item and an instructional movie for how to prepare the item.

FOH Quick Lookup for Promotions
For sites that use a large number of promotions, you must select a promotion from continuing pages from the FOH Promo Lookup screen. In Aloha QuickService v6.4, you can now enable the Aloha ‘quick lookup’ functionality that enables you to select a promotion from the FOH by entering search criteria until you find the one you want.

QS Quick Combo Functionality and Design
In v6.4, there were multiple enhancements implemented for Aloha QuickService quick combos. These enhancements include:
» Redesigning of the Quick Combo Dialog Box. To ease Increasing the Number of Items per
   Quick Combo Component. This new feature increases the number of items that you can
   assign to quick combo components from 15 to 45, thus reducing the number of duplicate
   quick combos you must maintain. Additionally, you can now view all components and items
   in a single tree-view display in the Quick Combo Promotion Maintenance dialog box.
» Configuring Item Surcharges for all Quick Combo Levels. This enhancement allows you to
   define item surcharges for Regular, Upsell #1, and Upsell #2 levels separately.
» Automatically Calculating Size Surcharges for Quick Combos. This new option automatically
   calculates
» Quick Combo size surcharges based on the item price difference between quick combo
   levels.
» Supporting Mixed Level Quick Combos. When working with quick combos, you are able to
   order a mixture of items from different pricing levels and have the system price the combo
   accordingly.

Requiring Manager Approval for Cash Drops
The ‘Prompt for Cash Drop’ feature in Aloha QuickService displays FOH prompts to make a cash drop when the drawer has reached a defined threshold. You can define a threshold for the initial prompt, for every following subsequent prompt, and for when you are required to make a cash drop. In v6.4 and higher, you can now configure the system to require manager approval for performing a cash drop.

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  Version 6.4 Highlighted Features

  Version 6.4 Release Content

  Version 6.4 TableService Release Content

  Version 6.4 QuickService Release Content

  Aloha POS Enhancement Release v6.4