Software Review – Copper POS software from NCH Software

This is the 3rd in our series of software for business use, and this week I’ve been reviewing the latest version of Copper Point of Sale software. I’ve used this software before in testing it out for clients and I must say I can’t see any difference between this version and the previous version.

The product itself it quite simple to set up and install, and let’s not forget, this is a FREE product. You can download the product from http://www.nchsoftware.com/point-of-sale/index.html.

To set up

The installation of the program is quite simple, simply follow the wizard to install to your preferred directory on your computer. As this was a test install, I just followed the defaults and installed to the C drive of my test machine.


This first screen simply asks for some basic information about your business such as:
•    Business name
•    Address
•    Contact
This information is going to be used for generating reports. Simply type in the information and click next.

The next step is to set up the Administrators account. Simply type in their names and give a password if desired. The password is not required for setup, and can be skipped by leaving the fields empty. Simply click NEXT to go on.

You will now receive a message that you have completed the setup and are ready to add the details of your sales team.

Don’t worry too much about the information you put in here, if you need to change it later at any time you can through the Configure options.

Add sales team info

The sales team info is again quite simple and straight forward, simply type the relevant details into the boxes.
Note: You also have the ability to set the users permissions whether to grant them ADMINISTRATOR privileges or salesperson’s privileges at this point.

To Do List

The program then gives you a TO DO LIST. This is virtually just an outline of the menu items down the left hand side of the screen. These options include:

• Create Items
• Add Salespersons
• Configure options

Create Items
This is where you list your inventory that you are going to have for sale. More on this later in the review.
Add Salespersons
Same as above, simply just allows you to add another sales person.
Configure options
This allows you to change any of the settings used in the initial set up of the program.

Create New Item

The system works like a database that stores information about your products and/or services that you have for sale. To ADD an item to the database, use the CREATE NEW ITEM  menu text link on the left side of screen. 

This will give you yet another simple form to complete, add an item code for the item, and a description. The program will also require you to give a unit value and to define the tax amount. This rate and definition can also be changed in the OPTIONS. Simply click on OK to add the item to the database.

 

The Items List

The ITEMS LIST will allow you to view all the products and/or services you have in the database and edit, delete or add other items as required.

Gift or Discount Coupons

From here you can also create new coupons, such as gift cards. Simply click the ADD COUPON button. The program provides and easy date picker to select the expiry date of the coupon. You have the option to either create a dollar value coupon or a percentage. This may be useful for marketing or group discounts, or loyalty cards.

Recording a sale

To record a sale, click the SELECT ITEM button  , this will bring up the ITEMS LIST. Simply double click on the item you wish to bring up as the sale. Click on the item to display the additional options such as ADJUST QUANTITY, or ADJUST DISCOUNT.

Adjust quantity
To adjust the quantity of the item being sold, click on the ADJUST QUANTITY button, and an options screen will appear.

This screen allows you to input directly the new quantity, or you can choose to show an on screen keyboard that will allow you to select the number required. The amount owing will now be automatically updated.

To add a discount
To add a discount to the item, click the ADJUST ITEM DISCOUNT button and apply the relevant discount, this can again be in a dollar amount or it can be a percentage amount. Click OK to return to the main screen and the discount is automatically applied to the new total.

Take Payments

To settle the account, click the PAY BUTTON, and the SETTLEMENT screen appears. You can also use the keyboard shortcut key of F4 to access this screen. Select one of three payment options:

• Cash
• Credit
• Cheque

Input a reference and click the ADD PAYMENT button, then the RECORD BUTTON.

You should now have a section on the bottom of the screen appearing that will allow you to view or print the receipt.


Preview Receipt
You can preview the receipt by pressing the VIEW RECEIPT button.

Print receipt
Print the receipt to the required printer


Complete the sale
Press the NEW TRANSACTION button to finalise the sale and clear the screen.

Refunding Items

Should you need to refund an item, you can do that simply using the REFUND button at the TOP of the screen.

This will allow you to

• Browse transactions
• Enter a transaction code

Either way works fine. Now, you can either:

• Adjust the quantity
• Adjust the discount
• Reverse the sale

To refund entirely, select the transaction required and click the PROCESS REFUND button.


Ensure you give a reference code and click the ADD REFUND button. Then click RECORD. You can now print the refund notice for the customer.

Note: Although this refund notice will also say RECIPT, for the refund number it will have the reference of RFD indicating it is a refund.

Reports

The program will allow you to create a number of reports such as:

• Sales
• Refunds
• Salesperson

This will allow you to create reports for a specific time period using the date picker.

Summary

In summary this appears to be quite a useful free program. It’s easy to set up and use. The devleopers have offered it for free in the hope that you will purchase the Suite of programs such as Inventory that will build more robust and complete system for your business.

The system does not appear to integrate with other POS equipment such as bar code scanners or cash drawers. There also does not seem to be a way to get a total report such as combined records of sales and refunds to show how much cash remains in the business or whether money has been diverted to other funds such as the business chequing account.

This may be useful for small micro business systems that work from home and just need something simple to produce reports such as receipts for their customers if they have a book keeper to assist with the other recording requirements, particularly for tax purposes.