Intuit Inc. — QuickBooks Point of Sale

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From the Nov. 2007 Review of Point-of-Sale Software

Like all QuickBooks products, QuickBooks Point of Sale is designed with the small business owner in mind. Ideal for small, independent retailers, QuickBooks Point of Sale is an affordable, easy-to-use retail management software product for tracking inventory, sales and customer information.

EASE OF USE -- 5 Stars
QuickBooks POS is easily installed with a QuickStart Guide that assists with installation and setup. This includes a Hardware Setup Wizard that allows users to select hardware peripherals such as barcode scanners, receipt printers or cash drawers that can be used with the QuickBooks Point of Sale software. The Setup Interview takes users through the initial company setup, offering the ability to customize the product by choosing the desired features. Users can also set up Sales Tax and Merchant Service information for accepting debit and credit cards, as well as set up a gift card service. If desired, there is also an option to integrate the system with QuickBooks Financial products. The welcome screen provides a learning center with various tutorials such as understanding basics, inventory, customer and sales, and purchasing and vendors.

The main QuickBooks POS screen is similar to all QuickBooks interface screens, with a drop-down menu at the top that lists various program features and a menu bar that contains frequently used functions. The Navigator contains flowcharts that highlight point-of-sale transactions, inventory, purchasing, and Help and support. The Sales Receipt screen is easily navigated with lookup options throughout. The sales total is highlighted at the bottom of the screen for easy viewing, and the sales history of each customer can be easily viewed while making a sale.

MODULES/SCALABILITY -- 4 Stars
QuickBooks Point of Sale comes with complete POS functionality, including sales history, customer tracking, inventory, purchasing and vendor tracking. For more in-depth functionality, the program can be used with QuickBooks financial software. QuickBooks POS is currently available in three versions: Basic, Pro and Multi-Store (which can maintain up to 10 different locations).

FEATURES/FUNCTIONALITY -- 4.5 Stars
A customizable dashboard allows users to view vital information such as best selling items, department sales totals for the year, and best selling departments. Users can also display individual employee sales, various payment methods and display links to designated web pages. Numerous improvements can be found in Version 6.0, including the new Ratings and Trends feature that ranks customers and items by performance. An enhanced Purchasing and Receiving feature allows users to receive multiple orders on a single voucher, update system pricing from vouchers, and be notified when backorders are received. Multiple tax rates can also be tracked and utilized, making it easy to track city, county, state and other local taxes. The Lists screen has also been updated with a split-view screen that provides additional information. Items can have up to five assorted pricing levels, and multiple tenders can be used for a single transaction. Unnecessary faxing can be eliminated by e-mailing purchase orders directly to vendors from the screen.

INTEGRATION -- 4.5 Stars
QuickBooks Point of Sale easily integrates with QuickBooks financial software products using the Financial Exchange feature. This function will allow users to easily transfer their customer and inventory information directly to the point-of-sale software without time-consuming re-entry. The Data Import Wizard allows for the import of Excel documents or comma-delimited text. QuickBooks Point of Sale can handle up to 10 workstations in one store, utilizing one server and nine workstations. The Multi-Store version can handle up to 10 separate locations from one centralized location, considered ‘headquarters,’ with the other stores considered remote locations.

TRACKING/REPORTING -- 4.5 Stars
The Sales History report allows users to review sales data utilizing a variety of criteria including sales totals, the receipt type, cashier, sales associate and receipt number. Numerous reports are available, including Best or Worst Sellers, Most Common Returns, Vendor and Department summaries, and various graphs of merchandise sold, sales over time, customer demographics, and employee sales comparisons. The Report Center makes running reports easier than ever, with an area to save reports and an option to run multiple reports. Various payment reconciliation reports are also provided, including payment summaries, gift certificate lists and a list of checks. Users can also run decent inventory reports, including an adjustment history. The ‘QuickZoom’ feature offers drilldown for more detailed information for either customers or system transactions.