Messages

POSitouch now allows users to receive messages at the front of the house and reply to those messages with an OK, Yes or No, or multiple choice answers.

Requirements :

• SPCWIN version 5.34 dated 7/16/08 or later;
• BOSETUPW.EXE, Version 5.3x dated 9/8/08

The data file consisting of questions for the users can be created with different questions for different staff members. For instance, there may be set questions for servers, with different questions for bartenders and still others for bussers.

The data file for questions can be created then downloaded to the site(s). For instance, if all servers were to be asked the same question, the file would contain several lines of the same question, with the just the serial number and user number changing on each line. See page 9 for a sample data file.

Currently, questions should be based on user number, in that each user number would have an entry in the data file ( USERMES2.DAT ).

The serial number in the response file ( MESTRAN2.DAT ) connects the response from the user to the question in the data file ( USERMES2.DAT ).

Setup

In Backoffice Setup > Restaurant Misc Data > System > System 3 > set the option “Use Extended Messages To People”

Once the “Use Extended Messages to People” is active, users may access the extended messages interface in the backoffice under Setup > Messages > Messages to People > Add…
  

• User Type or Number – enter the type of user or user number to receive this message. If choosing to display the message by user number, enter the user number in the “User Number” field.
• Count – the number of times to display the message.
• Expiration Date – the date at which to stop displaying the message. When a “Count” and “Expiration Date” are used, it is possible that the count will not be met before the expiration date.
• Purge After ( days ) – the number of days to keep the responses, from 7 days ( minimum ) to the maximum ( 99 ) days.
• When To Display – the point when to display the message, for instance, at Punch In, Punch Out, Log in…
• Message – the actual text to display.
• Response Type – how the user will respond, a simple acknowledgement ( OK ), with a YES or NO response or by multiple choice answers.
• Responses – Used when the “response Type” is multiple choice. Users can enter up to 5 preset responses to which the end user can choose from. The responses are stored as values 1 – 5 in the file.

NOTE : All Messages and Responses are limited to 60 characters for each message and each possible response, including spaces.
Example 2

In the following example, assume that Management wants to know when an employee will be asking for vacation time.

 Management can setup a question to ask the employee one time, when they punch in. Once the question is answered, the user will no longer see the question.

 In the example below, we see that management has asked the following question :

 “What month do you expect to ask for vacation time ?”

 Possible responses are “May”, “June”, “July”, “August” or “Sometime in September or later”. 
 

In the front of the house, when the user punches in, they will be presented with the question and a list of responses.  The user may then choose one of the responses.

Example 3

In the following example, Management will be asking users when is the best Sunday for a Bar Staff meeting. Below is an example of what a bartender would see upon punching in at the POS terminal. 

Extended Questionnaire/Messages Features

As of version 6.40, the questionnaire feature has been extended as follows:

• For option 3, the      questionnaire option, placing a ~ in the first position of an answer      configuration means “if this answer is selected, do not move      forward”.  This can be used  to block a punch in or punch out if a      person answers a question in a particular way.
• For all message types,      one can reference an external text file on either the message/question or      response lines.   so an entry such      as “&answer.txt” would put the contents of that file up on the screen      as the message/question or answer.        configuring the text file to fit and look good is a matter of trial      and error.

Example:

This is an example of a punchout message with a text question and two answers contained in external text files.   The second answer is a negative one that will block punchout.

Here is how this would look at the touch screen.   The answers come from the text files.

 Data File and Response File Formats :

USERMES2.DAT contains the data for messages to people, while the MESTRAN2.DAT contains the responses to the messages. 

USERMES2.DAT fields :

Field             Type  Definition

Serial Number     N     A unique identifier that provides

the link to the responses.

User Type         N     Defines if the message is for an

individual or group. Values are :

                        0 = Single User,

                        1 to N = User Type ( Server, Cook,

etc. ). The user type number can be found by looking in Backoffice Setup > User Priv. Codes > User Types.

User Number       N     The user number, if USER TYPE = 0, else zero.

                        Three digit user numbers only.

Message Count     N     The number of times to display the message.

                        Users may enter a –1 to have a message NOT

                        Display or a zero ( 0 ) to expire a message.

Expiration Date   T     Last day to display the message(s). Format of

                        The date is mm/dd/yy and in quotes. For example

To end displaying a

message after June 30, 2008, “06/30/08” ( including the quotes ). Enter “00/00/00” to never expire.

Response Type     N     Determine the type of response a user can give.

                        0 = Display only the OK button;

                        1 = User can choose Yes or No

2 = Multiple choice answers ( See responses below )

Message Flag      N     When should the message be displayed.

                        Acceptable values include :

                        1 = Punch In

                        2 = Punch Out

                        3 = At First Login

                        4 = At Self Cashout

Message           T     The actual message to display,

surrounded in quotes.

Responses         T     If Response Type = 2, then there can be up to 5

                        Multiple choice response options. Each possible

                        Response, should be in quotes and separated by

                        A comma. Unused fields should be included.

Number of Days    N     Optional. The number of days to keep the 

Till Purged             response.

USERMES2.DAT SAMPLE

The follow sample entry shows :

a serial number of 55556, displaying a message to a single user (0), whose user number is 10, to be shown twice, expiring after 6/25/08, displaying multiple choice answers (2), at first login (3), asking How many weeks off would you like, and display 2,3 or 4 as possible responses.  

55556,0,10,2,"06/25/08",2,3,"How many weeks off would you like?","2","3","4","",""

The following sample entries from the Usermes2.dat file reflect data for Example 2 and Example 3 on previous pages.

Example 2 :

1,0,14,1,"00/00/00",2,1,"What month do you expect to ask for vacation time ?","May","June","July","August","Sometime in September or later",7

Reflects the following data :

Serial number (1), the User Type (0-single user), User number (14), Display message once (1), no expiration date, response type ( 2 = multiple choice ), when to display ( 1 = punchin ), the question, possible choices 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, and finally the number of days till responses are purged ( 7 ).

Example 3 :

2,0,10,1,"00/00/00",2,1,"What Sunday is best for a bar meeting ?","First Sunday of the Month","Second Sunday of the Month","Third Sunday of the Month","Fourth Sunday of the Month","",7

Reflects the following data :

Serial number (2), User Type (0=Single user), User Number (10), Expiration date, Message type, When to display, The actual question, Possible responses 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 ( which currently is not used ), the number of days till responses are purged. 

Note that the message count and the expiration date are both active. It is possible that the expiration date will be met before the message count is reached.

Sample USERMES2.DAT with several entries

( Line breaks have been added for clarity )

1,0,10,1,"00/00/00",2,1,"What month do you expect to ask for vacation time ?","May","June","July","August","Sometime in September or later",7

2,0,11,1,"00/00/00",2,1,"What month do you expect to ask for vacation time ?","May","June","July","August","Sometime in September or later",7

3,0,12,1,"00/00/00",2,1,"What month do you expect to ask for vacation time ?","May","June","July","August","Sometime in September or later",7

4,0,13,1,"00/00/00",2,1,"What month do you expect to ask for vacation time ?","May","June","July","August","Sometime in September or later",7

5,0,14,1,"00/00/00",2,1,"What month do you expect to ask for vacation time ?","May","June","July","August","Sometime in September or later",7

6,0,15,1,"00/00/00",2,1,"What month do you expect to ask for vacation time ?","May","June","July","August","Sometime in September or later",7

7,0,16,1,"00/00/00",2,1,"What month do you expect to ask for vacation time ?","May","June","July","August","Sometime in September or later",7

8,0,18,1,"00/00/00",2,1,"What month do you expect to ask for vacation time ?","May","June","July","August","Sometime in September or later",7

9,0,25,1,"00/00/00",2,1,"What month do you expect to ask for vacation time ?","May","June","July","August","Sometime in September or later",7

10,0,26,1,"00/00/00",2,1,"What month do you expect to ask for vacation time ?","May","June","July","August","Sometime in September or later",7

11,0,35,1,"00/00/00",2,1,"What Sunday is best for a bar meeting ?","First Sunday of the Month","Second Sunday of the Month","Third Sunday of the Month","Fourth Sunday of the Month","",7

12,0,36,1,"00/00/00",2,1,"What Sunday is best for a bar meeting ?","First Sunday of the Month","Second Sunday of the Month","Third Sunday of the Month","Fourth Sunday of the Month","",7

13,0,37,1,"00/00/00",2,1,"What Sunday is best for a bar meeting ?","First Sunday of the Month","Second Sunday of the Month","Third Sunday of the Month","Fourth Sunday of the Month","",7
 

User responses are recorded in a comma separated value file file named MESTRAN2.DAT, and stored in the \SC folder of the POSdriver.

The file format is :

Field             Type  Definition

Serial Number     N     This field mates the responses to the messages.

There may be multiple serial numbers that are the same.

Date              T     Matches check file date. Format : “MM/DD/YY”

Time              T     HHMM format

User Type         N     0 = Single User, 1 – N = User Type

User Number       N     User number if User Type = 0

Message Count     N     Decremented each time a message is displayed.

                        Usually displayed once per day, in most cases.

                        When Message count = 0, the message is no

                        Longer displayed.

Response Type     N     0 = OK, 1 = Yes or No, 2 = Multiple Choice

Response          N     Response is based on Response Type.

                        If Response Type = 0

                              Then Response = 0 = OK touched

                        If Response Type = 1

                              Then Response 1 = YES touched

                                   Response 2 = NO touched

                        If Response Type = 2

                              Then 1 – 5 is saved as a multiple choice

Users should establish a period to purge the response file. The response file is used for decrementing the counters. If the response file is deleted, all counters are reset for all messages in the USERMES2.DAT file.

Samples :

1,"04/09/10",1235,0,10,0,2,2

2,"04/09/10",0115,0,11,0,2,4

3,"04/09/10",1535,0,12,0,2,2

4,"04/09/10",1535,0,13,0,2,1

5,"04/09/10",1535,0,14,0,2,5

9,"04/09/10",1536,0,25,0,2,2

10,"04/09/10",1536,0,26,0,2,4