POS Agent – offline mode support in ERP system

Pursuing market requirements, the operation of ERP systems using Comarch POS Agent Broker for communication with POS Agent has been streamlined in case no Internet connection is available.

With the previous solution, it was necessary to maintain fixed online connection with the POS Agent service, which made it possible to eliminate certain errors during synchronization of documents issued at a point of sale. However, that solution required the machine on which the POS Agent service was running to be permanently operational to be able to issue documents for POS warehouses in the ERP system.

To make it possible to issue warehouse documents in the ERP system even when the POS Agent/POS Agent Broker service is unavailable, an alternative approach has been introduced. Users may now still generate and process warehouse documents in the ERP system, regardless of the availability status of the POS Agent/POS Agent Broker service.

From now on, if the POS Agent/POS Agent Broker service is unavailable due to the shutdown of computers in stores or network instability, it is possible to continue processing the warehouse documents in the system. The system queues the warehouse operations that will automatically be transferred to the POS Agent for further processing as soon as the connection is restored. This way, despite the technical inconveniences, the operation of the ERP system is continued and  warehouse operations can be managed effectively.

The following is now handled as regards the new functionality:

• negative stock levels in the POS Agent service
• reservations of resources/reservations of quantitative resources in case they exceed the stock levels
• modification of the current mechanisms for stock level validation

The above changes have been introduced in order to avoid problems in case some information (documents) reaches the Comarch ERP Standard system with a delay. With the properly working environement, after uploading all the data, there will be no negative stock levels or reservations of insufficient stock levels in the database.

The POS Agent service has been parametrized in Comarch ERP Standard system. To be able to execute processes in the warehouse assigned to the POS Agent when the POS Agent/POS Agent Broker is disabled/unavailable, the parameter POS Agent – support offline mode must be activated. The parameter can be found in Comarch ERP Standard system under System → Configuration → POS tab.

Changes to reservation process

The reservation mechanism has changed with the POS Agent – support offline mode parameter activated. When activated, warehouse documents can be generated in the ERP system and make subsequent reservations. The reservation process mechanism has been adapted for this purpose, so that the POS Agent can increase resource reservations even when the available quantities are insufficient. This approach is to prevent the loss of reservation information when data on all deliveries from the ERP system has not yet reached the POS Agent.

Changes to item availability verification mechanism

When the stock level in the POS Agent is temporarily below zero, negative values will not be presented in the Comarch POS UI, which should not confuse users. If this being the case, the POS Agents returns the quantity 0 instead of a negative quantity.

Changes to item list and item form

The list of items and item form contain columns related to item quantities. After changes regarding POS agent have been introduced, the columns of quantities present:

• Available Quantity – quantity of warehouse resources available for the Comarch POS workstation, if:
  • Quantity > Resource reservations, the difference between the quantity and resource reservations is presented
  • Quantity ≤ Resource reservations, 0 value is presented
• Total Quantity (hidden by default) – total quantity, it can present negative values, if such values exist

Changes to inventory process

Due to the POS Agent-related changes, item quantities in the POS Agent database can be negative. Negative stock levels cannot be counted during inventory count for the time being. The expected item quantity is retrieved in this process from the POS Agent database. If the quantity of an item is negative in the POS Agent database, its expected quantity is always updated to the value 0 in the inventory count process.