Everything you do revolves around the Artisan cash register. It’s the center of sales activity. From here, you’ll record sales, returns, add customers, create layaways, accept payments, apply credits, and more.
There are several sections to look at on this screen.
Upon opening the Sales & Order Entry screen, you will see that it automatically makes the Cashier the person logged into Artisan. In this example, “Owner” is logged into Artisan and is the “Cashier.” You can change the cashier and/or Sales Rep(s) by clicking on either the boxes or using the quick keys (i.e., Ctrl-F5 for Cashier; Ctrl-S for Sales Rep).
The Sales screen automatically propagates as a Normal Sale with a Retail Customer and sets the Sale Date/Time. You can immediately proceed to enter item numbers or scan bar codes when the Sales Screen opens.
Artisan allows you to customize this screen. You can drag and drop a line header to move the order, or right click on the table to “configure columns” and add other fields. Remember that if you utilize a bar code scanner, you will need to leave “Item Code” as the first field.
Normal Sale
A sale in Artisan is very customizable. You have the ability to add as little or as much information to the sale as you want. For example, you can attach a customer to a sale. You can do this in a variety of ways. You can either have Artisan prompt you to attach a customer to a sale before it even begins, wait and attach the customer later, or never attach a customer at all.
Artisan has a section dedicated to controlling how the program behaves during a sale. To access these settings, under “Tools,” visit “Program Options,” and navigate to the “Miscellaneous Program Options…” section.
If you want to attach a customer to a sale before the sale begins, do the following:
Under “Sales Screen Options,” look at “Cashier Prompting Options.” In this section, you’ll see a field labeled “Auto-Prompt for Customer?” To the right of this label, you can select whether you want it to never prompt for a customer, prompt for a customer at the beginning of the sale, prompt for a customer at the end of the sale, or prompt for a customer at both the beginning and end of the sale.
You can also attach a customer to a sale right from the sales screen itself. If you look at the screenshot below, at the top-left of the screen you’ll see two buttons labeled “Select Customer,” Ctrl-C, and “Add Customer,” F3. These two buttons were created for two specific scenarios: one being an existing customer, and the other being a completely new customer. If at the time of the sale you need to attach an existing customer to a sale, click on the “Select Customer” button at the top-left of the sales screen. If the customer is new and doesn’t exist in your Artisan POS system yet, use the “Add Customer” button to the right. When selecting a customer, it will open a screen which utilizes Artisan’s Power Search Features. For more information on using Power Search, visit this article.
Customer Types
Another important note when selecting a customer is the “Customer Type.” This field is definable via a dropdown box at the top-right of the sales screen. This field is customizable, meaning you can add, edit, and delete customer types (this is done on a different screen; more on this in a different section). Simply click the drop down and select your customer type.
Selecting a Cashier
Just like adding a customer to a sale, two buttons exist for assigning cashiers to a sale. To select a cashier, press Ctrl-F5 or click the button where the cashier’s name is listed. To select one or multiple sales representatives, select the button where the representative’s name is listed or press Ctrl-S.
When adding multiple sales representatives to a sale, another screen exists where you are able to select a button labeled: “Add Another Sales Rep.”
To further customize a sale, you can set default values for new sales and orders. To do this, click on “Go” and “Program Options.” Scroll down to “Defaults for New Records & Sales.” Click on “Sales and Order Defaults.” Here you have the options to set the default sales tax type, default entire-sale discount type, and the promise date.
Special Orders
There are several scenarios in which you should create a special order over a normal sale/order. Does the customer want to reserve a specific quantity of an item from your inventory? Does the item have zero quantity on hand? Do they want to order an item that isn’t kept in stock?
If the customer wants to reserve a specific quantity of an item, create a layaway sale. Do this by clicking the drop-down box centered at the top of the sales screen and selecting “Layaway.” Now this sale will be recorded as a layaway sale.
If you have a customer that wants to a purchase an item you don’t currently have inventory for, create a “Sales Order.”
And finally, if there is an item that you don’t keep inventory for, but still sell, select “Special Order.”
For special orders, sales orders, and layaways, you can change the minimum deposit required by the customer by navigating to “Tools,” then “Program Options.” Click on “Business & Financial,” “General Business Settings,” and “Customer Deposits.” Below is a screenshot with this section containing these fields.
Artisan offers its users a more intuitive way to put a sale “On Hold.” It has the ability to have multiple screens, of any type, open at once. With this functionality, you can place a sale on hold simply by opening up another screen. To toggle between screens, all you have to do is click the screen entry on the left-hand side.
For more information on special orders, visit this article.
Completing a Sale
With your Sales Screen’s settings set to the values that you want, you can finally complete a sale. Once you are ready to accept payment for items on a sale, select the green button labeled “Finalize,” at the bottom-right of the screen, or press F10.
This button will take you to the payment screen. Here is where you will choose the payment type and process the sale.
Processing a Sale without Split Tenders
Processing a sale with a single tender is easy and straight forward. Click on the “Amount” field and type in the amount you would like for the first payment type. Then, select the payment type to the right. If the amount has been paid in full, you can now select “Save” to complete the sale. If the customer has a balance due, visit the section “Processing a Sale with Split Tenders.”
Processing a Sale with Split Tenders
With the first payment taken, it is now time to enter the second payment type. Enter the amount paid with your first tender type, then select your tender type. Enter the amount paid by the second tender type, and then select the tender type. If you have more than two tender types, just repeat the process described above.
Once the balance has been paid in full, select “Save.” REMEMBER, if using cash as one of the payment types, use it as last payment type so Artisan can calculate change due if any.
Voiding
From the sales screen, you have the option to void a sale item or an entire sale. To void an item, select the red button at the bottom of the screen labeled: “Void.”
This button will ask if you if you want to void a specific item on the sale or the entire sale. If you select a “Void Item,” the item you have highlighted in the item record table on the sales screen will be voided from the sale.
Returns
Along the bottom menu of the Sales & Order Entry screen, there is a Return (CTRL-R) button that can be selected once the item is highlighted in the transaction. The Return function will not work unless an Item has been selected or highlighted on the transaction. Once the item is selected, selecting the Return function will adjust the item Qty down by Negative One (-1). Hitting the function multiple times will adjust the Qty down by the amount of times the function has been selected.
For more information on returns, read these this article. Find additional information here.
Recalling a Sale
If you need to a view a previous sale, recalling a sale is what you’ll need to do. Do this by selecting the “Operations” button, Ctrl-O, and selecting “Recall Sale.”
This will open a new screen containing a record table with a list of previous sales. Highlight the sale you want to view and select “View Details” (F4). For more information on using Artisan’s Power Search Features, visit this article.
