Review this glossary to find definitions for common terms you’ll find in Artisan, the Knowledge Base, and working with our Support Team.
Terms
Artisan – A point of sale program by CerTek Software.
Audit Log – Every record in Artisan, from Customer Records to User Records, has an Audit Log. This is a record of any actions that involve the record, such as when it was accessed or edited, by who, where, and at what time.
Automatic Billing – Recurring charges on account (A/R), or on a customer’s credit card. Useful for Loyalty Clubs or other memberships provided to customers. Can be charged monthly, annually, semi-annually, or at other intervals.
Backup – The process of making a copy of your Artisan data. We recommend backing up your data once a day, usually to a Cloud solution like DropBox, in case of theft, floods, fire, or other disasters.
Customer Pricing Levels – This is used to give different prices based on a customer’s qualification. For example, if they belong to a certain “Customer Type” or earned enough points in a “Loyalty Club,” they can get a predetermined discount on their purchases.
Customer Type – A way to classify your customers. This is especially helpful if you have customers with distinct criteria, like those who buy in bulk (wholesalers), regular customers (retail), or unique groups, like suppliers or farmers. See “Customer Pricing Levels” for more information.
DataCap –The software company that created NETePay, DC Direct, TranCloud, and other payment services that Artisan is compatible with.
Day End – By default, Artisan allows you to close out your entire store at the end of the day (for whatever period you choose) in one simple process. In some cases, you may want to break it down by time slots or by stations. See “Shift Closing” for more details.
Inventory Kit – A useful way to group similar items together, such as gift baskets.
Keyboard Emulation – With this enabled, scanned data is inputted into Artisan, like product barcodes, as if the information was typed into the program.
Layaway – An option on the Sales Screen. This is a method of creating a sale that holds the item(s) for the customer. The customer can put a deposit down and/or pay for the item(s) later.
License Key – A special code from our Sales Team. Once inputted into Artisan, license keys are used to access certain features, activate stations, and other tasks.
Loyalty Club – Special “groups” you can create for your customers. Customers can earn rewards, like discounts, on a points-based system.
NETePay – A program that allows credit card, debit, and other transactions to process in Artisan and communicate with your payment processor.
PDT – Acronym for “Portable Data Terminal.”
Point of Sale – Where transactions occur. Also refers to programs, like Artisan, that track sales, inventory, and other tasks.
POS – Acronym for Point of Sale.
Portable Data Terminal – A PDT is a handheld device, like CerTek’s ScannerPal, that allows you to collect and update information around the store. Common uses are inventory counts and price checks, but ScannerPal does much more.
Price Check – A quick process in Artisan that pulls the product’s price from its item record. Type or scan the item code to view the price.
Product Variants – Grouping similar items together by size, style, and other factors, like a t-shirt that comes in sizes S-XL in different colors. Product Variant Templates can then be created to help save time when creating future products.
Purchase Order – A request sent to your vendor or manufacturer for buying products/services.
Quantity on Hand – The amount (number) of a product that you have at a certain store location. For example, five medium red t-shirts.
Quick Pick – A menu on the Sales Screen that allows you to quickly access products. Easily add pictures and change color schemes to make them more identifiable.
QOH – Acronym for “Quantity on Hand.”
Real Data – Your actual store/business information, instead of “Sample Data.”
Receiving – The act of scanning or “submitting” items into Artisan, usually from a purchase order. This updates your records, such as your quantity on hand.
Remote Operation – Used to communicate Artisan data across multiple stations or locations, and/or when you’re away from the store, like a home office, or at a location without Internet, like a pop-up shop.
Restore – In a “Restore from Backup,” your Artisan data is “rewound” to an earlier state. This is usually done if someone made a mistake with inventory counting, for example, and wants to start their data over before that mistake occurred. That’s another reason why we strongly encourage making backups often.
Sales Order – An option on the Sales Screen. This is used when you need to order something for a customer, and they’d like to pick up another item (that you have in stock already) on the same day.
Sample Data – Premade data in Artisan to practice with. Choose from multiple industries and go through different scenarios, such as entering sales, editing records, and more. Since this is Sample Data, it is fake. It is not connected to your real store information at all.
ScannerPal – A portable data terminal (PDT) by CerTek Software. Use ScannerPal for a variety of tasks around the store, like scanning counts for physical inventory, and uploading them to Artisan.
Server – This is where your Artisan data is stored locally, and may also be used as a station depending on your store’s situation and requirements. If you’re using Remote Operation, your other stations will communicate with this server to access Artisan’s data.
Shift Closing – Allows you to close each register station independently, possibly multiple times throughout the day. Useful for stores with multiple employees or stations.
Shopify – A webstore solution supported by Artisan POS. Product listings including images, details, SEO, and other information can easily be uploaded from the program to Shopify. As changes are made in Artisan or online, they are synced between the two every few minutes, ensuring accurate information like correct QOH. Online orders are downloaded into Artisan, keeping track of payment details and customer information. If there is a matching customer already, Artisan will find that record.
Soft Key – A special key from our Sales Team. If this is your first time using Artisan or the computer you’re using has never had Artisan installed on it before, it will require a Soft Key.
Special Order – An option on the Sales Screen. This is used when a customer wants to order something that you need to custom order for them, like a personalized item or an item not regularly in stock.
Station – Another word for register.
Task Manager – A program tied with Artisan POS that manages webstore and multi-store connections (Remote Operation).
TeamSupport – Where support tickets are submitted and tracked.
TeamViewer – A program the CerTek Technical Staff uses to remotely connect to your computer to test fixes and diagnose issues.
Tracking – The process of monitoring a product’s QOH.
TranCloud – A device by DataCap that securely stores payment information as they are processed in Artisan POS.
User – A profile that an employee uses Artisan as. Each employee should have their own User profile. This stores the employee’s name, password (if applicable), title (ex. Supervisor, Manager, etc), time clock data (if applicable), and much more. Each User record has its own “Audit Log.” See that term for more details.
Variant Template – A group of variant item presets, like size, shape, and color, that can be applied to a Product Variant to save time while creating records.
Vendor Invoice – An expected amount you must pay for goods purchased from your vendor. You can easily create vendor invoices in Artisan from purchase orders.
WooCommerce – A webstore solution supported by Artisan POS. Product listings, including images, details, SEO, and other information can easily be uploaded from the program to Shopify. As changes are made in Artisan or online, they are synced between the two every few minutes, ensuring accurate information like correct QOH. Online orders are downloaded into Artisan, keeping track of payment details and customer information. If there is a matching customer already, Artisan will find that record.