CerTek Software Designs, Inc.

Artisan POS Software replaces your cash register or hand-written receipts while managing your inventory and customer relationships. Artisan helps you keep a complete customer profile including purchase history. Filter mailing lists with simple or complex criteria based on location, history, and other fields. Buy smarter with sophisticated sales reports and tools. Print customizable inventory tags on dedicated labels printers or on sheets of labels while quickly & reliably ringing up sales.

Expand your sales by selling online with the “Artisan Online” feature upgrade. Works in conjunction with web services purchased from Vision Technologies. Internet Store database is automatically synchronized updating inventory counts on your web store, automatically download sales from your web store. Artisan Online is highly customizable.

Artisan’s sophisticated inventory features include FIFO, LIFO, or Average Costing, Consignment Inventory, Inventory Kits & Assemblies, Tracking by Location and more.

Artisan supports a plethora of hardware including cash drawers, bar code readers/printers, portable data terminals, and many other POS devices from many manufacturers. Artisan works for multiple or single stores, for one or more registers, with multiple simultaneous sales per register. You can quickly and easily suspend the current sale if it gets interrupted.

Artisan’s legendary interface with QuickBooks and Peachtree make it not only easy, but truly convenient to keep your existing QuickBooks or Peachtree books and keep you from having to learn a whole new accounting package. Are you new to QuickBooks and Peachtree? These packages are easy to use and with a large install base there is an army of support available. The interface works with all the Artisan functions such as Inventory Assets, COGS, Sales Income, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Consignment payout statements and more. Artisan even has a unique vendor invoice reconciliation feature to help insure that you are only paying for goods you actually received.

Artisan’s insightful design makes it easy to use while providing all the fast reliable power you need to run your business.

• Accounting
• QuickBooks or Peachtree: Optionally export Daily Sales, Inventory Summaries, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, COGS, to accounting programs, such as QuickBooks®, Peachtree®.
• QIF: Also works with most programs that support import from QIF format files (including Quicken 2004 or older).
• Flexible Control: Configure Artisan to match your Chart of Accounts, with flexible control over level of detail.
• Daily or In Batch: Once configured, export at the touch of a button, automatically during Day-End Processing, or for any range of dates. Date ranges or in 1 file, broken down daily.
• Accounts Payable:
  • Vendor Invoices: Reconcile Vendor Invoices with Receiving to make sure what you are paying for is what you received.
  • Multiple configuration modes for handling Accounts Payable:
    • Export vendor invoices & consignment statements as bills due.
    • Export consignment statements only – as bills due.
    • Immediate A/P transactions for receiving & consignment sold.
    • Choose to Opt Out and turn off exports for A/P or receiving (Enter bills & statements yourself).
• Deposit Transactions: Optionally have Artisan automatically create deposit transactions, too, to save even more steps.
• Accounts Receivable
• Optionally works with QuickBooks or Peachtree.
• Open Accounts: Full support for Open Accounts with aging.
• Payment Terms: Create multiple payment terms, each with their own # of days due, grace days, and finance charge rate.
  • You can even use multiple payment terms with different due dates on the same sale, to schedule installment payments.
• Statements: Print customer account statements on standard or custom forms, or get a quick summary with the A/R Aging Report.
  • Choose “Open Item” or “Balance Forward” statement style. Optionally include invoice line item details, too.
  • Open Item style lists all unpaid or recently-paid invoices, credits, and finance charges, with associated payments.
  • Formatted for window envelopes, or use option to automatically print mailing labels.
• Aging: Configurable aging intervals and headings, or use “Revolving Credit” with Minimum Payment Due, etc.
• Messages: Configurable dunning messages let you get more insistent as payments become increasingly overdue.
• Third-Party Billing: Optional support for Third-Party Billing: charge one customer’s bill to another customer’s account.


• Automatic Billing
• Automatic Transactions: Enter any transaction to re-occur on a specific date automatically or on a periodic basis.
• Payment Interval: Set a specific number of payments, or perpetual billing, at intervals of any number of months.
• A/R: Charge on account (A/R)
• Credit Cards: Charge to credit cards on file (with Integrated Payment Processing option and “Card on File” feature, both sold separately).
• Summary Report: Lists failed credit card charges and orders that need further processing.
• Card Expiration Report: Run a report on credit cards that are soon to expire.
• Barcodes
• Efficient: Increase speed and accuracy by use of inexpensive hand held or fixed mount scanners.
  • Most Models Supported: Supports all popular keyboard-wedge and USB and some serial bar code scanners, including fixed mount scanners with scales.
  • Beyond the Register: Many Artisan program screens are optimized for entering items by scanning.
• UPC: You can use existing UPC codes (or other bar codes) if your merchandise comes with bar codes already on it.
  • Just scan this code into your Item Record as an Alternate Code for looking up the item.
  • Program up to 5 codes per item. Useful when alternate suppliers use different UPC codes.
• Print your own bar code labels (created automatically from your own Item Codes) for products without UPC codes.
  • Enter quantities to print, or automatically print as needed for quantities of merchandise received.
• Print Labels: Two ways to print labels (with or w/o bar codes):
  • Print individual labels, using specialized label printers (recommended).
  • Print full sheets of labels using a laser or ink jet printer.
• Random Weight: Support for Random Weight UPC Codes printed from electronic scales. Back-computes quantities for inventory tracking. Also works with miscellaneous unit pricing.
• Portable Data Terminals with built-in bar code scanners let you walk around the store or stock room and scan a whole list of items before uploading into the computer. Use for inventory counts, receiving, sales orders, POs, and gift registries.
  • Use Product Lookup Tables (w/selected PDT models) downloaded from your Artisan data to validate items as you scan them and show Description, Retail Price and optionally Qty On Hand on the PDT screen. Also use for price checks.
    • Use Lookups even w/very large inventory data, by downloading & scanning in groups by Category, Vendor, etc.
  • Supports Measuring Table Labeler – Prints item & quantity measurement bar codes without requiring a PC at cutting table. (PDT and Label Printer w/Special Software sold separately.)
• Consignment
• Specify Individually: Mark items as consignment items; specify consignee/consignor splits instead of price markup formulas or specify specific costs; specify splits at item or vendor level. Vendors can have a mix of consignment and owned (“wholesale”) items.
• Consignor Payout Statements show items sold and amount due to each vendor.
  • Optionally include a list of remaining items in stock. Optionally list sold items by date sold or by customer.
  • Formatted for window envelopes, or use option to automatically print mailing labels.
  • Option to automatically export consignment statements to your accounting program as Bills Due.
• Consignment Items in Stock Report searchable by item code, description, etc.
• Consignment Share: For each consignor, choose whether split is based on standard retail price or on actual sale price.
  • List either price, or both, on Consignment Payout Statement.
  • Optionally deduct estimated credit card processing fees and/or monthly space rental fee from consignor’s split.
• Consignment Fill-In Price Model, ideal for craft malls, allows you to create generic consignment items (typically one per vendor) that automatically move you to the description and then price fields in the Cash Register.
• Customer Management
• Drivers License:  Capture customer Name, Address, DOB, etc. by swiping Driver’s License with a magnetic stripe or scanning 2D bar code. Supported in most, but not all states.
• 23 Lookup Fields: Quick lookup of customers by first name, last name, business name, street address, last 4 digits of phone number, Customer ID, or 16 other search options. Sound-alike option lets you find names even if you don’t know the exact spelling.
• Results Narrow as You Type: Type only as many characters as needed to find customer in list, or swipe name from credit card.
• ID Cards: Optionally use bar-coded customer cards & some types of magnetic stripe customer cards to quickly identify customers.
  • You can set “club” discounts to apply only when customer card used (or Customer ID keyed in manually).
  • Use multiple customer cards (with different IDs) for the same (family) Customer Record.
• On the Fly: Add or modify customer records on the fly from any customer selection screen.
• No practical limit on number of customers.
• Purchase History: Track customers’ purchases and maintain sales data for many years.
• Store Credits: Track outstanding merchandise credit slips by customer.
• History: View customer purchase and payment history by totals or by individual transactions.
  • “YTD” (Year To Date) sales as well as total sales directly in Customer Record.
• Edit/Add in Cash Register: View and edit detailed customer information from point of sale.
• Pop-Up Note: Tag special or problem customers with a Pop-Up Note that displays on the Cash Register screen.
• Notes:  Multi-line memo field lets you keep additional notes about the customer. Five searchable custom fields for your own use.
• Two Birthday fields and an Anniversary date. Per-customer shipping methods, account terms, and discounts.
• Pictures:  Store customer pictures for display from the Cash Register or while viewing a Customer Record.
• Mailing List:  Create specialized customer mailing lists and labels. (See MAILING LIST MANAGEMENT.)
• Employee Time Clock
• Keep track of the times that your employees are working.
• Employee’s clock in and out using a simple keyboard function and their existing Artisan user names and passwords.
• Managers can view In/Out Board showing each employee’s status and most recent time in/out.
• Managers can view/edit/add/delete from list of all time clock entries for all employees.
• Report time worked in Employee Time Clock Detail by Date Range, or summarize in Day-End and/or Month-End Report.
• Option to round time worked to nearest 15 minutes, or other number of minutes.
• Gift Registry
• Beyond Bridal: Keep track of Bridal Registries, general Wish Lists, or Registries for other events. Lookup by name, number or date.
• Registry Items: Register desired products and quantities. Registry items can be entered by keyboard, scanner, or Portable Data Terminal.
• Print List: Print out registry item list for gift givers when they come into the store. Items & quantities sold are marked as received.
• “Gift Due” Feature: Sell item directly out of inventory, or mark as a “Gift Due”, with credit to registrant. Registry printout can optionally include list of customers who purchased each item. Sort by Category, Price or Description.
• Import/Export
• Import/export inventory and customer records from/to the following file formats:
  • CSV (comma-separated text) – opens easily in any spreadsheet program
  • TXT (tab-delimited text)
  • TTX (tagged text, similar to QuickBooks IIF format)
  • DBF (native FoxPro or dBase database format)
• Reusable Import Templates let you easily control how import file fields are mapped into Artisan fields.
  • The import filename and all mapping options are saved in the Template for easy re-use later.
    • Particularly useful for importing catalog updates from vendors.
• See “Accounting” for info on exports to Accounting Programs like QuickBooks & Peachtree Accounting.
• Export Sales Counts to Nielsen SoundScan. (Requires Deluxe Feature Pack & account w/Nielsen.)
  • Export Sales Data to Management One for Open-To-Buy. (Requires Deluxe Feature Pack & account w/Management One.)
• Inventory Control
• Track Inventory from end to end with purchase requests, purchase orders, receiving, sales, layaways, and returns. View the entire history of stock changes for any inventory item code. Inventory quantities always available in real-time.
• “True Costing”: Calculates Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) by FIFO (First In, First Out), LIFO (Last In, First Out), or Average Cost Method.
• Vendor Invoices: Associate received inventory with Vendor Invoices and include shipping costs, for accurate costing.
• Shipping Costs: Automatically distributed across all items on a Vendor Invoice.
• Associate each inventory item code (SKU) with an inventory category and a (preferred) vendor. Optionally also associate an item with a manufacturer/publisher and an artist.
• Department/Category Structure: Define your own multi-level category scheme, with up to 9 levels of sub-categories. Reports can summarize sales by category, with roll-ups to a specific level.
• “Work on the Fly”: Add or modify inventory items, categories, and vendors on the fly from any item selection screen.
• No practical limit on number of inventory items, categories, vendors, or manufacturer/publishers.
• “Advanced” Inventory Features – (Included with the Deluxe Edition)
  • “Multi-Vendor” – Keep track of separate part numbers & standard costs for the same product. Designate one vendor as the “Preferred Vendor” from who you normally order. View average shipping cost per vendor for each product. Receiving and sales reports are based on actual vendor for each received unit (w/option to use Preferred Vendor in some cases).
  • “Product Variants” (a.k.a. Color/Size Grid) – Lets you easily manage collections of similar products. Multiple templates with up to 9 attributes (Size, Color, etc.) each. No limit on the number of choices per attribute. Choices appear in pop-up menus when base product code selected (or scanned) in Register. Any base product can use any template. Price, cost, etc. can be set individually for each variant, or can be set to automatically track changes in the base product.
  • “Inventory Kits” – Define inventory items as collections of other items; component inventory quantities automatically updated. Optionally list components on customer invoice and/or packing slips. Automatically computes kit Cost & List Price as sum of component Costs & Retail Prices. Supports nested “kits of kits”.
  • You can even have Variants of Kits, with kit components either specified manually or constructed from the template.
  • Track inventory by location (e.g. multiple warehouses), for selected items. Keeps track of quantities at each location.
  • You can also have non-inventory locations, for “virtual” locations like an Internet Store or a Sidewalk Sale. Requires Multi-Store.
  • Transfer inventory between locations or between stores using independent copies of Artisan. (See also MULTI-STORE.)
  • Track individual serial numbers or limited edition numbers for selected items.
• Alphanumeric item codes, category codes, vendor codes, and manufacturer/publisher codes.
• Numbering: Choose new codes manually or let the program pick the next available number (or other style code) for you.
  • 10 automatic item coding schemes available. 2 vendor coding schemes (including Vendor Initials).
  • Optional per-vendor or per-manufacturer UPC code prefix saves typing when entering new items.
• Inventory defaults settings allow for quick entry of new inventory. Copy function lets you make similar records even faster.
• Item Lookup: Inventory retrieval by bar code, item code, description, category, or vendor enables fast and easy lookup.
• Store product pictures for use with an online store or for display from the Cash Register or while viewing an Item Record.
• Case Quantities lets you order merchandise by the case (or box, roll, etc.) but sell individual pieces.
  • Piece cost is automatically computed from the case cost and case size (accurate to 3 decimal places).
• Place a Pop-Up Note on an inventory item, for up sell or other reminders. Appears in the Register when item is rung up.
• Merchandise Tags: Print merchandise labels with or without bar codes and/or graphics. Print labels for a single item, selected items from a list, groups of items matching certain patterns, all items in stock, or when merchandise is received.
• Item location field can be used to locate the storage bin or stock shelf for each type of stock item.
• Up to 5 custom fields in each item record can be given any name you want.
• Multi-line memo fields in item and vendor records let you keep notes for later reference.
• Searchable Keywords fields in item and vendor records give you another way to organize your inventory.
• Inventory Summary Report by item, category, vendor or location, as of a specified date.
• Physical Counting: Full support for physical inventory counting w/Portable Data Terminals (see BAR CODES) or by printing Tally Sheets.
• Tracking Options: Turn inventory tracking on or off for individual items.
• Out-Of-Stock Warnings: Automatic Out-Of-Stock checks warn you when you try to sell an item with zero quantity (and inventory tracking turned on), offers options such as correcting incorrect counts, marking merchandise as received, or reserving against future orders.
• Item Status: Mark items as Discontinued, Temporarily Unavailable, or Non-Stock, to force an extra confirmation before use.
  • Discontinued items can be hidden from search lists.
• Item Pricing
• Flexible Pricing: Pricing can be driven from several points:
  • Set manually in each item record, or pick a specific price chart to use for that item, or
  • Inherit a pricing markup/down formula or price chart from the associated Category, Vendor, or Manufacturer record, or
  • Create special “Fill-In Price” items that prompt the clerk to fill in the price at the time of sale.
• Flexible Discounts: Set discount levels at the Category or individual Item record level, or use a Quantity Discount chart.
• Discount by Amount or Percent: Items may be discounted by a percentage or by a fixed amount, specified by Item or Category, or by using a coupon.
  • Coupons can discount by a fixed amount or by a percentage of the entire sale.
• Overrides: Price and discount overrides can be performed at the time of a sale. Discount individual items or the entire sale.
• Sale Dates: Schedule Sale Dates by date range for discounts at the register for Categories of items or Individual items.
• Price by Vendor or Category: Automatically update costs and prices for all items in a specific category or from a specific vendor. Each item can “Opt-In” or “Opt-Out”.
• Price Levels: Supports up to 6 price levels, or “customer types,” (e.g. Retail, Wholesale, and Frequent Buyer Club).
  • You pick the names for each customer type, and assign one of these types to each customer.
  • For price levels 2-6 for each Item, set price manually or using percentage markdown from Retail or from another price level. Use overall default percentage or override per Category.
  • Price levels can show on sale as discounts or as alternate prices (with option to show the Retail Price, too).
  • Set default price level per site, so each location can have different prices.
  • Each Customer can have an additional individual percentage discount off of their price level.
  • Monthly sales reports include breakdown by Customer Type (gross sales & total markdown).
• Sales Tax in Price: Option to have price include sales tax.
• BOGO: Buy One Get One Free & other Buy Some Get Some Specials (“BOGO”).
  • Set up an unlimited number of BOGO “Charts”:
    • Indicate how many they have to buy at regular price & how many more they can get at a percentage discount (up to 100%) or at a fixed special price.
    • BOGO quantities can be combined across multiple items (or not, as you configure it).
• Loyalty Clubs
• 3 Separate Clubs: Create up to three loyalty clubs to track customer purchases for automatic rewards.
• Control: You control which types of customers are included in each club, how “points” are earned (by amount purchased, number of items purchased, or number of sales), and when and how they are rewarded.
• Rewards can include automatically printed coupons and/or discounts or special pricing (by changing Customer Type).
• Quickly Check Point Values: View accumulated points from Customer Record More Info or Cash Register Shift-F4.
• Mailing List Management
• Export: Export customer information to other applications or print mailing labels directly from Artisan.
• Interfaces with stamps.com^™ to print postage and addresses directly on envelopes.
• Print: Print mailing labels on standard page printers with Avery-compatible labels, or on supported label printers.
• Eliminate duplicate mailings by automatically finding and merging records with similar addresses.
• Fix Addresses: Locate customer records with missing or incomplete addresses.
• Target specific customer profiles using advanced search features. Select a list of customers by any or all of the following:
  • Customer type (e.g. Retail, Wholesale, etc, or Any).
  • Birthdays or anniversary date.
  • Purchase history for any range of dates, based on number of items, or average, max, or total purchase price.
    • Optionally narrow down to a specific item, category (including sub-categories), vendor or artist.
  • City, state/province, full or partial ZIP/postal code, or country.
  • Include or exclude customers based on Keywords found in the keyword list in the customer record.
  • Date customer was added to the program.
• Merchandising Reports
• Incredibly useful Merchandise Performance Report that gives you detail or summary information.
• Buy Smarter: Powerful tools that help you buy smarter:
  • Inventory Turns, Gross Margin Return on Investment (GMROI), Initial and Maintained Markups
  • Average prices, On Order, Mark Downs, Beginning and Ending Inventory, Sales, Net Received, Gross Profit
• Discriminate: Filter on particular categories, vendors, items, and manufacturers.
• Powerful Summing Options: Summarize & group reports by item, category, category tree, vendor, or base product, with 3 levels of grouping.
• Customizable Merchandising Reports with advanced analysis built in.
• Multiple Stations
• (Registers & Other Computers) (requires additional licenses)
• Up to 99 stations per site can share data over a network or operating remotely.
  • Connect to data using UNC network paths (\\computer\share\...) or mapped network drives (R:\).
  • Artisan automatically re-connects to its data after a network failure.
• You can also use individual stations remotely, e.g. at a show or customer site, then sync up with main or site data on return.
• Remote merge & prepare operations (for stations or sites) can be started manually or using automated scripts.
  • Connect directly to network to go remote & merge back, or send data by floppy, zip or flash disk, Internet or modem.
  • Internet and modem communications require special software and/or Internet services or equipment.
• Multi-Store
• Multi-Store features Requires the Purchase of Multi-Store Licensing
• You can have non-inventory locations, for “virtual” locations like an Internet Store or a Sidewalk Sale.
• Share Data: Share the same data across multiple sites (stores, warehouses, or departments), directly connected or remotely.
• Per Site Settings: Each site can have their own store name & address, default sales tax type, and selected other settings.
• Per Site Day-End: Day-End closings are kept independently for each site and deposits can be made into separate checking accounts.
• Combined or Individual Sales Reports: Sales and inventory reports can show totals and/or breakdowns by site (or individual register station).
• Each Site has a “File Server”: Stations at remote sites share data within site, over a local network (LAN).
• Reduced Data Transfer: Remote site data is periodically synchronized with main data (in one piece, no matter how many stations).
• Site Recovery: Even if synchronization is incomplete (due to Internet outages), you can reactivate your data & continue operation.
• Optional Per-Location Purchasing & Receiving with per site re-order levels (or make them all the same).
  • Reorders, Special Orders, and other Purchase Requests are associated with their original locations.
  • Combine requests from all locations on a single PO and automatically distribute or redistribute as necessary.
  • Option to transfer inventory immediately or create a pending transfer both with a printed Transfer Manifest.
• Online Store
• Synchronize Inventory with Vision Technology’s Online Shopping Cart. (www.visiontm.com)
  • Manage product prices, descriptions, etc., all from within Artisan and then easily publish to website.
• Sales are transferred from Online Store into Artisan POS for processing. (Requires Deluxe Feature Pack.)
• Import/Export Functions may work with other shopping cart solutions. Sales Import requires Deluxe Feature Pack.
• Store product pictures for use with an online store or for display from the Cash Register or while viewing an Item Record.
• Payment Processing
• Integrated: Optional integrated payment process lets you authorize credit cards (and other payment types) directly through Artisan w/o a separate bank terminal. (Requires purchase of additional software/service, and a magnetic card swipe reader. MSR not required for manual card # entry, e.g. phone orders.)
• Secure:Artisan version 3.5 is fully compliant with PA-DSS Credit Card Industry Standards.
  • Credit card numbers are always masked to show only allowed digits.
  • Sensitive card data (swipe data, security codes, and full card numbers) are never stored on disk.
  • Separately-purchased Card on File feature stores card info on external secure server for re-use.
  • Optional encrypted card reader for additional security.
  • All payment transactions logged in Artisan (as well as external software).
• Comprehensive: Process Voids and Voice Authorizations directly in Artisan. Address Verification (AVS) and Security Code (CVV) for card-not-present cases, with zero-dollar pre-auth check (ZDA) for supported Processors.
• Debit: Also supports debit card transactions using a PIN Pad, with optional Cash Back amount.
  (For debit cards with the Visa or MasterCard logo, a PIN Pad is not required, but will probably save you money because you get a transaction fee instead of paying a percentage.)
• EBT: Support for Electronic Benefits Transfer.
  • Automatically restricts EBT SNAP (Food Stamps) to allowed merchandise categories.
  • Also supports EBT Cash Benefits, with optional Cash Back amount.
• Check Processing: Supports check processing, with selected Processors & Processing Methods:
  • Check Verification – Simply lets you know if customer has a history of bad checks.
  • Check Guarantee – If customer doesn’t have bad history and check bounces, you get reimbursed.
  • Check Conversion (“Truncation”) – Check amount is immediately transferred from customer’s bank account to yours.
• Point-of Sale (POS)
• Sales Entry: Sales can be rung up easily using a bar code scanner, or by typing the item code (SKU) on the keyboard. Item descriptions, prices, discounts, and tax rates are retrieved automatically. Any of these fields can be overridden once they are retrieved.
• Item Lookup: Lost the tag? Easily search for items using partial descriptions, UPC codes, partial item codes, or other searches.
• “Power Search” allows an extra level of searching. Filter by selecting criteria, such as items from a particular vendor, then search those by description, for example.
• “Quick Pick” lets you quickly ring up common items by choosing from a “button” menu, with optional product pictures.
• Abbreviations can be created for frequently used items that convert into real item codes.
• “Touch-Screen Buttons”: Supports hierarchical menus by including (selected) categories as well as products. Great for touch screen, but also works without.
• Shortcut keys let you quickly adjust quantities or perform other special functions.
• “Waiting Sales”: When a customer decides to look at some additional merchandise, simply suspend their sale with a single keystroke while you ring up other customers, resuming waiting sales when customers are ready. You can have up to 99 sales waiting!
• “Special Sales”: Full support for layaways, special orders & custom orders. Configure minimum deposit by percentage or specific amount (authorized user can override). Cash Register screen lists customer’s outstanding layaways & orders, for easy payment.
• Gift Certificates: Print or use pre-printed. Track by number, issue date & amount. Generate numbers automatically, or enter manually at time of sale.
• In-House Gift Cards: Treated like Gift Certificates or Customer IDs, use pre-printed gift cards with barcodes or magnetic stripes. (Specifications available on request.)
• “Smart Returns”: Entering a Merchandise Return in the Cash Register gives you a menu of past sales of the returned item, so you can pick the right sale and get the exact sale price, discount, and cost.
• “Store Credit”: Issue Store Credit to customers for returned merchandise when cash refunds are not desired. Remaining Balance & Expiration Date print on credit slip. Partially consumed credit slips reprinted with new balance.
• Custom Forms: Receipts, sales slips (invoices), and price tags can be customized to suit the theme of your store.
• Add Sales Notes: Insert extra notes, or “description lines”, anywhere in the invoice, or rearrange existing lines.
• Pictures: View product & customer pictures right from the Cash Register screen, with a single keystroke.
• Shipping Address: Optional shipping address defaults to customer’s shipping address, but can be changed per sale.
• Back-Order function moves selected items from one order to a new pending order & lists B/O items on original invoice.
• Item Count: Cash Register displays count of total units & returns in the upper-right corner of the screen and can print them on receipts.
• Recall & Reprint completed sales. Recalled sales can be modified or voided at any time (with authorization).
• On Hold: Put sales “on hold” to create quotes and estimates. Copy previous sales & modify as necessary to make a similar sale again.
• Driver’s License Capture: Capture customer Name, Address, DOB, etc. by swiping Driver’s License with a magnetic stripe or scanning 2D bar code.
• Internal Use “Sales” & Donations and other special inventory adjustments are categorized in reports for your accountant.
• View customer purchase history directly from Register screen, and even copy previous items onto new sale.
• Option to view total cost & profit margin for current sale. (Helpful when negotiating discounts.)
• Add new customers, inventory items, inventory categories, and vendors directly from the point of sale.
• No limit on the number of different tender types (cash, check, etc.) that can be configured. Use up to 6 on the same sale.
• Custom payment types can prompt for extra info, like “Room #”.
• Optional cash drawer automatically opens at end of sale (for selected payment types) and at day-end closeout.
  • Quick-open option lets you open the drawer with a single key press at any time, if enabled.
• Pole Displays (“Customer Displays”) allow customer to see items as they are rung up, as well as total due and change.
• Price Check feature allows you to lookup prices without affecting or starting a sale. Eliminates the excuse for voiding sales.
• Option to re-sort lines on sale by Item Code, Vendor Part Number, Description, or your own Catalog Order.
• You can also enter sales with a portable data terminal (PDT) or perform price & quantity checks without using a computer.
  • Helps reduce register lines during peak hours, scan the items into the PDT, and quickly transfer to the register.
  • Also great for Gift Registry, Trade Shows, Crop Sessions, or other special events.
• Donation feature allows you to round up the total to the next dollar for a donation to your organization or charity.
• Up to 99,999 lines per sale!
• REGISTER CLOSE-OUT & SALES SUMMARY REPORTS
  • Special tools make end of day processing easy and efficient.
    • Cash Counter™ helps you quickly determine cash totals at end of day. Simply enter the number of each denomination of coin and bill. Currently supports US and Canadian denominations.
    • The Tender Summary screen shows expected totals for each tender type. Easily make adjustments for over/underage.
    • Automatically prints Day-End sales summary report with optional detailed transaction journal, w/optional preview.
    • Supports either simple day-end closing or multiple shifts, with separate subtotal reports per shift.
    • Full Day-End shows total for all registers with optional per-register breakdown.
    • Report lists voided sales (so you can check that all slip #s are accounted for) and “no-sales” (drawer opened w/o sale).
    • Option to automatically deduct estimated credit card processing fees from bank deposit amounts.
  • Day-End & Month-End reports can include breakdowns by inventory item, category, vendor, sales rep, customer and more.
    • Sub-category numbers are rolled up into higher-level categories. You pick how many levels deep to show.
    • Optionally include a breakdown of sales by hour to determine optimal staff allocation.
  • Optionally export daily sales and inventory summaries to accounting programs, such as QuickBooks®, Peachtree®, and most programs that support import from QIF files. Export automatically during Day-End closing, or for any range of dates.
• Printing
• Six Printers: Handles up to six printers per station. Associate specific printers with particular reports or receipts.
• Receipt Printing: Configurable Sales Slip Styles give you comprehensive control over the number and styles of sales slips to print, either by automatic rules or by presenting a menu at the Point of Sale.
• Multiple Copies: Can be set to print an extra receipt for signature when credit card payment selected or print on different forms and/or printers based on payment type (e.g. On Account), customer type (e.g. Wholesale) or other criteria.
• Gift Receipts: Includes options for gift receipts (for single items or entire sale) and packing slips.
• Use an auto-cutter between copies, or have the program pause while you tear off each copy.
• Quick Reprint function automatically recalls and reprints last receipt.
• Completely customizable forms, which can be configured to your specific needs: sales slips (invoices), purchase orders, receipts, order forms, customer forms, labels, reports and statements with reminders. Use plain text or Rich Text Format (RTF) templates. RTF forms can be printed directly or opened on screen for saving or emailing. Some RTF forms require Microsoft Word or similar word-processor program.
• Standard forms for purchase orders and statements are laid out to work with single or double left window envelopes.
• Mailing lists and customer & vendor labels are easy to create and print.
• Most forms and reports can be previewed on the screen before printing.
• Variable column width register receipts including 40 column receipts from small receipt printers.
• Supports most printers including dot matrix for use with duplicate forms.
• LABEL PRINTERS (optional)
  • Supports selected bar code label printers. Avoids wasting partly used label sheets.
    • You can even have two label printers loaded with different kinds of labels.
  • Print merchandise item labels in a variety of shapes, sizes, layouts, and colors, including jewelry & clothing tags.
    • Optionally include “cost codes”, printing costs in code (letters), so salesperson can have a basis for price negotiation.
• Purchasing & Receiving
• Purchase Requests: Create Purchase Requests to remind you to reorder items, or use automatic reorder levels to create them automatically.
• PO from Requests: Combine all purchase requests for a vendor into a Purchase Order automatically and then manually adjust as necessary.
• PO Dates: PO starting & cancellation dates help you to better control seasonal inventory better.
• Reorders: Quickly and easily reorder items using the vendor name or item code, with or without Purchase Requests.
• PO screen shows quantity already available (unreserved on-hand plus on-order) to help you decide how many to order.
• Easy access to full item details to make further decisions.
• Easy Receiving: Receiving screen shows outstanding items. Simply enter actual received quantities or receive all items for a PO.
• Inventory Quantity Updates: Received quantities automatically added to inventory.
• Print Labels: Automatically print merchandise labels for a whole receiving batch.
• Receive Without PO: You can also receive items without Purchase Orders, in a batch or from individual Item Records.
• Shipping Costs: Optionally track shipping costs in Artisan, at time of Receiving, or when Vendor Invoice received.
• Vendor Invoices: Match Vendor Invoices to received inventory; include Terms & Due Date for export to accounting programs as Bills Due.
• Item Costs: Update product costs directly from Purchase Order & Receiving screens.
• Re-Sort PO: Option to re-sort lines on PO by Item Code, Vendor Part Number, Description, or your own Catalog Order.
• Upload from PDT: Option to fill in a Purchase Order by uploading from a Portable Data Terminal (PDT).
• Large PO’s: Up to 99,999 lines per Purchase Order. No practical limit on number of Purchase Orders.
• Rentals
• Rental Items: Support for Rental Items, including Due Date calculations and Late Fees and Reservations.
• Rental Report: Report rentals past due, outstanding, or reserved for future events, by customer or by item.
• Overbooked Items: Check for overbooked rental reservations as they are entered, or review later.
• Rental History: Get history & current counts of rental items in stock or rented out.
• Rental Pricing: Set up prices for different rental periods, or set per-diem price (price per day) & prompt for number of days.
• Rental Options: Optionally establish price multipliers for rental periods in addition to rental templates. Option to always make rental reservations instead of all rentals being assumed for immediate pickup.
• Reporting
• Artisan provides three options for reports, which can all be viewed or printed from within Artisan:
  1. Use one of the many built-in native reports, many of which have numerous options.
  2. View pre-made “custom” reports from the Artisan Reports menu that were created using Crystal Reports using the included Crystal Reports viewer. Artisan comes with a few of these extra reports. You can contract CerTek to create a custom report for you or you can hire a third party. You can even share reports with your colleagues who are also using the same version of Artisan.
  3. Create your own custom reports using Crystal Reports Designer (available separately).
• Real-time data with unlimited tracking history, item history reports and product list reports.
  • Many reports have options to subtotal and/or group by vendor, category, etc, and to limit to specific groups.
  • Sub-category numbers are rolled up into higher-level categories. You pick how many levels deep to show.
  • “Category Tree” option for summarize & group by.
    • Use “Super-Group” in addition to summarize & group by for a 3^rd level.
    • Inventory Change Summary shows qty sold, received & adjusted for each item in a given time period.
    • Inventory Summary shows on-hand inventory asset totals, with optional subtotals.
    • Inventory Adjustment Detail lists or summarizes shrinkage, breakage & other special adjustments to inventory counts.
    • Print Best or Worst Sellers Report by vendor, category, item, or customer.
    • List outstanding gift certificates, layaways, special orders, store credits, on-hold sales/orders, voided sales, and more.
    • List open vs. closed purchase orders and outstanding or past receiving.
• Security
• Assign passwords and security levels to each user. Advanced security algorithms prevent unauthorized tampering.
• Assign security levels to sensitive tasks or use Quick Security Settings to use a standard profile (Minimum, Medium, High).
• Ability to hide costs from employees.
• All credit card information and passwords are encrypted when stored in the database.
• Sales Commissions
• Optionally track sales commissions, with up to four (4) Sales Reps per sale. Include or exempt specific product categories.
• Each Rep can be set up with a different commission percentage, based on either Net Sales (after discounts) or Gross Profit.
• Commission totals included in “Month-End” Sales by Sales Rep report section.
• Sales Tax
• Configure up to ten (10) sales tax types, each with its own rate (with up to 3 decimal places).
  • Options for jurisdictions with more advanced rules, such as minimum thresholds and rounding up, down or nearest.
  • Option to have prices include sales tax. (“Real” sales price is back-computed by subtracting tax from visible price.)
  • Handles special cases for Canadian dual taxes and Hawaii excise tax.
• Each inventory category can be set to one of the tax types, to non-taxable, or to non-sales (non-sales income w/no tax).
  • By default, sub-categories inherit this setting from their parent categories.
  • Mark specific customers as tax exempt or to use a specific tax type, or individually override tax type at point of sale.
  • Tax amount computed by applying rate to subtotals for each tax type, avoiding round-off errors.
• Tax amount summaries included in Day-End and Month-End reports, includes breakdown by tax type of total taxable sales amount, total tax-exempt amount, and total tax collected (for each month).
• System Requirements & Supported Devices
• Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 2003 Server.
  Integrated Credit Card Processing requires “Business”, “Pro” or “Server” editions of Windows.
• Minimum 100 MB available hard disk space, 512 MB RAM, 1GHz Processor, or better.
• File Server: Put your data on any Windows user station or on a separate file server running Windows Server, Linux, Unix, etc.
• Sheet Printers: Most USB, parallel, and serial printers are supported, including:
• Sheet printers: Most ink jet, dot matrix, laser, and LED page printers.
• Receipt Printers: Most receipt printers, including many models from Samsung, Partner-Tech, Epson, Star, Ithaca & more.
• Label printers: Blaster Advantage, most Zebra & Eltron models, SATO CX Series, and Datamax E-Class printers.
• Supports many other peripheral devices (such as bar code scanners, cash drawers or pole displays), including:
• Portable Data Terminals (PDTs): Metrologic Optimus S, Scanpal 2; Unitech PT-500, PT-600 & PT-630.
  • Product Lookup Table support requires Metrologic Optimus S or Scanpal 2.
• Pole Displays: Partner Tech & Logic Controls; other makes & models require you to provide custom control strings.
• Cash Drawers: Most electronic drawers are supported, especially those that connect through a receipt printer (“RJ”).
• Bar Code Scanners & Credit Card Readers (MSRs): Most any “keyboard-wedge” or USB model or many Serial (RS-232) scanners.
  • Driver’s License swiping requires a 3-Track MSR in order to read zip code, and/or a 2D scanner to read bar code.
• Check Readers: MagTek 2252 PIN Pads: Verifone 101, 1000.
• Scales: Generic Serial (RS-232) scales including Datalogic Magellan 8x00
  or Weightronix 6720 using MR4KB decoder.
• Support, Customizations & Miscellaneous
• TRAINING & SUPPORT:
  • Training/Support is available from your Authorized Dealer or Direct from CerTek. Start off with web training from one of our top-notch specialists. We bring the training session onto your computer via the Internet, live, while you talk over the phone. Very reasonable rates! Or if you prefer, teach yourself through guided tutorials, manuals, and knowledge base articles.
• Full-featured context-sensitive help with searchable index of topics.
• Automated tutorials step through common tasks.
• Training mode lets you practice with sample data. Copy your own real data to sample data and practice at any time.
• User's Manual, Hardware Installation Guide & Quick Reference Chart are available in Print or in a PDF that you can open from your computer.
• CUSTOMIZATIONS:
• Numerous program options allow you to tailor Artisan to meet your individual needs.
  • Control various aspects of program behavior and screen layouts. Select default search options for different tasks.
  • Pick from eight different color schemes, three menu styles, and two sets of screen fonts.
    • Menu style options include the ability to draw all menus as large “buttons” – well suited for Touch Screens.
• Most printed forms can be completely customized.
• Add return policies & other messages right from the Artisan configuration screens.
• Create custom reports with optional Crystal Reports Designer (see OTHER REPORTS).
• MISCELLANEOUS
• Integrated data backup and restore functions. Optional automatic backup reminder daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.
  • Backup data directly to USB flash disks, local hard drives, network drives, or via FTP to centralized servers.
  • Schedule backups to run automatically during the night – this works well for CerTek’s FTP backup service and more. Even unattended stations, accidentally left open, can be automatically closed down to facilitate the backup process.
• Supports both US and non-US addresses and phone numbers.
• Can be used completely without a Mouse (for space & efficiency), but all Mouse functions supported as well.
• “Go” menu & “Reports” menu allow quick navigation to key areas of the program.
• DATA CONVERSION & OTHER SERVICES
  • Get started more quickly by converting your customer and/or inventory data from your old program(s). You, Your Dealer, or CerTek can perform various data import functions.
    • If you prefer, convert your data yourself, using the Import features of Artisan.