by Kelly McElligott on Nov 17, 2020
Exciting functionality coming in Koha 20.05. Libraries will be able to take payments outside of patron accounts to track sales. A lot of libraries sell merchandise in the library such as used books, book bags, and more. This new Point of Sale system will allow libraries to track and use cash registers in Koha.
Set Up
There is a new system preference called, EnablePointOfSale, which will need to be enabled to allow this feature to be used. In addition to this point of sale system preference, a library will also need to use the Cash Register feature. If the library doesn’t already have cash registers defined, the system preference, UseCashRegister, will also have to be turned on. For more information about Cash Registers, see this helpful blog post.
Once these two system preferences are set up and the library has a cash register set up, the next step would be to create Debit Types for the items the library will be selling. Adding debit types can be found in the Administration area under Accounting. The library will already have Debit Types for the use of Manual Invoices, such as Copier Fees. Creating a new debit type will involve a Debit Code, Default price, Description, Option to Manually Invoice, Option to Sell, and Branch Limitation.
If an item can only be sold through the Point of Sale module, this new debit code would be marked with “Option to Sell”, however, if a library would like the ability to either manually invoice a patron’s account or sell this item through the Point of Sale, both options can be chosen.
Using the Point of Sale Feature
From the main page of the Staff Interface, there is a new button for Point of Sale.
Here is where you can add any items that have been set up as Debit Types (Option to Sell). There are convenient Add buttons to tally up what the sale will include, so if the sale contained a few book sale books, a book bag, and a set of earbuds- all this could be included in the sale.
There will be a total of the sale area on the right-hand side of the page and below that the Collect Payment option.
Once a transaction has been completed and paid, a popup yellow box will appear and allow the library to print a receipt for the transaction. This is a new receipt in Notices and Slips called, RECEIPT.
By default, the receipt will include the description, cost and payment type.
This functionality is very exciting and hopefully useful to many libraries! For more 20.05 features and enhancements, see our Upgrade Page:
Read more by Kelly McElligott