Documentation for Administrators

Point of Sale

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The Point of Sale (POS) system is used to implement local purchases for items such as books, tuition, and other school merchandise. It allows the cashier to select products for purchase and apply payments using cash, check, and/or credit (depending on district settings). POS also supports deferred payments to third party payees (such as grants and scholarships). The Point of Sale module houses the Transaction History report, which is key for voiding and refunding transactions as well as reviewing all completed transactions.

Adding a New Item (Sales)

1. In the Accounts Receivable menu, click Point of Sale.

Point of Sale

2. The Point of Sale screen defaults to the Sales tab.

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The tabs displayed on this screen depend on the profile permissions granted via Setup > Profiles.

3. To perform a sale, select the correct facility from the Facility pull-down. Note: The facilities displayed here depend on your Accounting Strips.

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4. Selecting the facility will pull the available drawers into the Drawer pull-down. Select the correct one needed to make your sale.

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5. Select the Customer from the pull-down.

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Some districts may have the option to create a new customer that is not listed in the Customer pull-down or not registered in Focus in Vendors/Customers.

a. If your district has enabled the add a customer shortcut, click the green plus sign displayed next to the Customer pull-down and complete the information required in the Create New Customer window.

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b. Enter the customer's Name and address in the corresponding fields: Address Line 1, Address Line 2, City, and Zipcode. Select the State from the pull-down.

c. Click Save.

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If your district doesn’t support the add a customer shortcut, you will either need to get the student registered or add the customer via Purchasing/Accounts Payable > Vendors/Customers.

6. Before reviewing any listed items and/or adding a new item, you have the option to Hide Paid/Deferred Invoices if you do not wish to see these while making a new sale. Select the check box to hide the invoices. If you want these paid or deferred invoices displayed, leave the check box cleared.

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For more information on this feature, see the section on Reviewing Paid/Deferred Invoices.

7. Select the Hide Future Payment Plan Invoices check box to hide all payment plan invoices except ones that are past due. Invoices where the next upcoming installment is due also display.

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If the check box is not selected, you will see all payment plans, as shown below.

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This functionality has also been applied to how installments are displayed on the Purchase & Pay screen via the Parent/Student Portal.

See Creating Payment Plans and Existing Payment Plans for more information on payment plans.

8. In the Items section, select the product from the Item pull-down.

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The products listed in the Item pull-down populate from the Internal Account Product List and/or the Product List (depending on settings). Both of these screens can be found from the Accounts Receivable menu.

9. When an item is selected, the description tied to that item will populate in the Notes text box. To add additional notes, click in the Notes text box to begin typing.

Point of Sale

All invoices generated using SIS Fee Templates include the Item number in the fee allocation Notes field. For example, if a student is invoiced from the student schedule, an Billing Fee Template is used. The Fee Template screens include: Manage Fee Templates, Manage District Fee Templates, Manage Individual Fees, and Manage Limited Fees.

10. The Due Date will default to the current date. To change it, click in the text field and enter the correct date. Note: Tuition items created from the student’s schedule will default to the start date set on the student’s schedule.

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11. The Price will automatically pull in from the product list with the amount tied to the item. With the applicable permission, the Price can be changed by clicking the field.

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The Price can be edited when you have Allow Price Changes permission set via Setup > Profiles.

If the line of data has been saved, the Price displays in a small box. You can click the Price to edit the data.

a. With permission to edit the price of an item, click the Price.

b. Enter the New Price as well as the Reason for Price Change.

c. Click Save.

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12. If the customer is purchasing more than one of the listed items, click the Quantity text field and change it. The Amount updates automatically based on the Price and the Quantity entered.

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13. Whether or not an item has been marked as Taxable will also pull in with the item from the product list. However, if need be, you may have the option to clear the selection by clicking on the check box. Doing so will change the Amount listed for the items being purchased (this change is dependent on taxes set up by the district).

Tax settings are established by the district and can be edited or reviewed from Accounts Receivable tab (Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable).

There are also profile specific permissions, such as Allow Changes to Taxable, which allows users to select and clear the Taxable check box, set via Setup > Profiles > Accounts Receivable tab.

Settings

14. The Amount will auto-populate based on the Price, the Quantity entered, and whether or not an item has been taxed.

15. To add the item and save the data, click in any of the text fields and press Enter. You will know the line item has saved because the line will turn blue and a delete button displays.

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Notice, if an item has a set amount in inventory and all of the items have been purchased, you will get a warning stating that the Product can not be invoiced: 0 quantity remaining. Click OK and delete the line item by clicking on the delete button (red minus sign).

If students have been invoiced from the Student Schedule, the invoice displays in the Items section.

Student Schedule

16. If you are not adding any kind of deferral, you can continue to printing the invoice for the customer. If there is more than one invoice number listed, you can either print one invoice with all items for every invoice listed on one by clicking Print Combined Invoice or you can print a separate invoice for each invoice number listed by clicking Print Invoices.

a. To print, click the printer icon located in the upper right corner of the screen.

b. Click the down arrow to download the invoice to your computer.

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Creating New Deferrals

1. If any of the purchased items are eligible for deferral, click on the 0.00 button in the Deferrals column.

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Deferrals can also be added from the Payments section; see Payment Types: Deferral (Funding Source) for more information.

Clicking the 0.00 button opens a Manage Deferrals window where you will have the ability to add a new deferral for the selected item. Notice the item name and description are displayed at the top: CTET - CTE Tuition.

2. To begin adding a new deferral, first select the Funding Source from the pull-down. This states where the money will be coming from in order to pay the deferred amount, such as grants, vouchers, etc.

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3. The next column shows a button with the total amount for the item selected. In this example, to defer the entire amount, click the 2610.00 button to apply the total to the Amount text field.

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4. You also have the option to type the amount being deferred directly into the Amount text field. This can be utilized when the amount being deferred differs from the total owed.

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5. If you have an Authorization Code, enter it in the text field provided. If not, you can leave this field blank.

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6. To save the deferral, click in any text field and press Enter. You will know the deferral has saved when the line turns blue and the delete button (red minus sign) displays.

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Notice that the total button has now changed to reflect the amount that has already been deferred. Because $800 has been deferred out of $2610.00, the button has now changed to 1810.00 (the remaining cost).

7. When finished adding all deferrals for the item selected, click the Save button. This will close the Manage Deferral window and bring you back to Point of Sale.

The Deferrals button in the Items section now displays as 800.00 because that is the total amount entered for deferral.

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Reviewing Paid/Deferred Invoices

1. If the Hide Paid/Deferred Invoices check box is selected, invoices where 100% of the amount has been deferred will be hidden.

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2. Clear the selected Hide Paid/Deferred Invoices check box to view all invoices including those that have been deferred.

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3. Edit the necessary columns, as needed. The editable columns depend on profile permissions and district settings set via Setup > Profiles and Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable.

Here you can edit the Notes, Course Title, Due Date, and Quantity fields.

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4. Click the Price button to change the amount.

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a. Enter the New Price and the Reason for Price Change in the provided text boxes.

b. Click Save.

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5. Click the amount button in the Deferrals column to Manage Deferrals in a new window.

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Editing existing deferrals may or may not be an option depending on your profile and permissions set via Setup > Profiles. Most likely, if you did not apply the original deferral, you will not be able to edit it. Note: Regardless of permissions given, you will not have the ability to edit a deferral that has already been invoiced unless you have permission to Modify Finalized Deferrals, which would allow you to access outstanding balances to clear or reduce deferrals via Point of Sale after they have been finalized via Accounts Receivable > Funding Sources.

a. If you added the deferral and the deferral has not been invoiced, you can edit all fields, as shown in the image below. Click Save to apply changes.

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You can also add any additional deferrals by selected the Funding Source, Amount, and Authorization Code. For more information on how to add a new deferral, see the previous section, Creating New Deferrals.

Applying Payments

1. When it comes to making payments, the Amount Remaining will be affected by any deferrals applied. For the outstanding balance, see the Items section to understand how it is being calculated.

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2. To apply payments scroll to the Payments section.

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3. Start by choosing the payment Type from the pull-down. There are several different options to choose from, including: Cash, Check, Credit card, Customer credit, Deferral (Funding Source), EMV/Chip, Money order, and Other. Note: The options listed here will vary from district to district.

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Payment types can be edited or reviewed from Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable.

4. If the customer/student is paying the full outstanding amount, instead of typing it in the Amount text field, you can click on the amount button; in this case, the 1810.00 button.

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Clicking the button will automatically pull the total into the Amount text field. It will also complete the rest of the required fields and save the data (as shown in the image below).

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5. If the customer/student only wants to pay a portion of their outstanding balance, type the number directly into the Amount text field.

6. Select the invoice or invoices that the payment is to be applied from the Apply To pull-down.

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If the Show Course Title setting is enabled via Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable tab, the Course Title also displays in the Apply To pull-down. The Course Title displays only when Course, Section, or Schedule is used to invoice students from the Bill By pull-down on the Student Schedule screen.

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Notice that this pull-down allows you to choose one, multiple, all, or none. You can also utilize the Check all visible and Clear selected links.

7. If you have more than one invoice selected, select a Payment Order from the pull-down to tell the system how to distribute the money to invoices selected. From the pull-down, you can select to Apply Evenly, to pay the Oldest First, the Newest First, the Smallest Amount First, or the Largest Amount First.

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8. If enabled, you can enter a Sales Ref # in the provided text box.

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If the "Use Sales Ref #" settings is enabled via Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable tab, the Sales Ref # field displays in the Payments section as well as in the Transaction History report.

9. Once all information has been entered, click into any text field and press Enter to save the data. You will know the payment has saved because the line will turn yellow and the delete button displays.

Multiple payments can be made from different payment types in order to fulfill the invoices that are due.

Notice that the Amount Applied and the Amount Remaining in the Items section updates as payments are applied.

10. In the Payments section, the Unapplied Amount displays a credit if a payment was made that is more than the outstanding balance. For more information on the Unapplied Amount and/or Customer Credit, see the sections: Payment Types: Deferral (Funding Source) and/or Payment Types: Customer Credit.

11. Click Finalize.

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To apply payments, you must click Finalize. Otherwise, any payments entered will be discarded upon leaving the screen. If payments are not finalized upon trying to switch customers, you will get a pop-up message (as shown in the image).

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12. Enter the Payment Date and click Yes.

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Once payments have been finalized, a receipt/ledger will generate for the customer/student, along with the student's schedule.

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When a schedule record is deleted, but an invoice is still linked to the schedule, printing or reprinting the receipt does not include the schedule record.

a. To print, click the printer icon.

b. Click the down arrow to download the receipt to your computer.

Payment Types
Cash, Check, Credit Card, Money Order, and Other

1. To see the process for a Cash payment, see the previous section on Applying Payments. Nothing will change the process when using cash.

2. Selecting Check from the Type pull-down will generate a new window, Check Information.

a. Enter the Routing Number, Account Number, Check Number, Bank Name, and the Name on Account. When finished, click Save.

b. Enter the Amount and continue following steps 4-10 in Applying Payments.

3. If using Authorize.net with Focus for the credit and debit card software, you can select Credit card as a payment Type for a customer.

Focus also allows integration with Stripe for chip cards. However, the school/district will need to have a merchant account set up. The option for a credit card payment must also be enabled in Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable.

a. A pop-up window will generate upon selecting credit card. Select the Card Type, enter the Card Number, the CVC number, and the expiration Month and Year in the Credit Card Information window. When finished, click Save.

Depending on the type of account established with Authorize.net, completing the Credit Card Information shown above may not be necessary. Some accounts will require the card to be present and will allow you to click the Card Number field and swipe the card. If the software successfully computes the number, the rest of the information will populate automatically and close the Credit Card Information window.

Credit Card Convenience Fees are automatically added when generating receipts if enabled via Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable.

b. Enter the Amount and continue following steps 4-10 in Applying Payments.

4. To see the process for a Money order payment, see the previous section on Applying Payments. Nothing will change the process when using a money order.

5. Select Other as a payment type if you are using a different credit/debit card software. Run the customer’s credit/debit card through your software then enter the paid amount as Other in the Payments section.

a. Enter the Amount and continue following steps 4-10 in Applying Payments.

Deferral (Funding Source)

1. To apply a Deferral (Funding Source) payment, select it from the Type pull-down.

2. Selecting deferral will open a new window, Select a Funding Source. Select the correct Funding Source from the pull-down.

3. Select the Educational Credit check box to flag the unapplied amount in order to display as a separate product line in the Items section. Once created, the Educational Credit displays via Accounts Receivable > Funding Sources > Create Invoice tab and Receive Payment tab. Once the educational credit amount has been invoiced and received, an Invoice is automatically generated via Purchasing/Accounts Payable > Internal Account Invoices.

4. Select the Funding Source Credit check box to ensure that any overage or "unapplied amount" from what is listed in the Amount field is included in the amount that is sent to the Funding Sources screen when payment is Finalized. Once the payment is received from the funding source, that unapplied amount (if paid in full) will create a Funding Source Credit on the student’s account visible from the Point of Sale screen.

The Funding Source Credit check box displays when the Funding Source Credits settings are enabled via Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable > Customer Credit. See Payment Types: Funding Source Credit for more information.

5. Enter the Overage Amount to indicate the unapplied amount.

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6. Click Save.

7. Enter the Amount paid by the funding source in total (regardless of the balance). For example, the outstanding balance shown is 787.58, but Pell paid $900 for this student. Enter 900.00 in the Amount text field.

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8. Select the invoice(s) that the money should Apply To, and select a Payment Order. Press Enter to save the payment.

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The $900 payment updated the Items section columns Amount Applied and Amount Remaining. You will also notice an Unapplied Amount in the Payments section of 112.42.

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9. Click Finalize.

10. Enter the Payment Date and click Yes.

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11. The unapplied amount is dealt with differently by each district upon finalizing the payments. However, the option to apply the unapplied amount as Credit will not be an option for Funding Sources though the option may still show (as shown in the image). See Payment Types: Customer Credit for more information on applying credit.

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12. Once payments have been finalized, a receipt/ledger will generate for the customer/student. See Applying Payments for more information on receipts and printing.

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Waived

The Waiver payments feature allows  districts to record waivers as payments on customer accounts, functioning similarly to funding source deferrals. Applying this Waiver Payment type will reverse the journals to offset the original invoice amount, aligning with the process for funding source deferral. The Receipt Report is updated to include Waivers in the Payment type search criteria, enhancing the tracking and management of waiver transactions.

The Waived payment type is enabled via Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable: Allow Waiver Payment Type and Setup > Profiles > Accounts Receivables tab: Process Waiver Payments.

1. Select Waived from the Type pull-down.

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2. Enter the waived Amount in the provided text box (such as 10.00) or click the amount owed that displays next to the Amount text box to populate with that amount (20.00).

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3. Select which invoice to which the waiver will be applied from the Apply To pull-down.

4. Press the Enter/Return key to save the line of data, then click Finalize to submit the payment.

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5. Edit the Payment Date, as needed, then click Yes.

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6. Click Finalize in the confirmation window.

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Customer Credit

1. If the student/customer has a credit, the credited amount will appear in the Payments section at the top in green. As shown in the image, it appears as Amount Credit: 400.00.

2. Click the Account Credit link to open a Customer Credit Transaction History pop-up window.

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The Customer Credit Transaction History window displays the Transaction Number, Invoice Number, Receipt Number, Type of transaction, Created By user, Created Date, Voided By (if applicable), Voided Date, and the Amount.

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a. Click the Transaction Number link to view the transaction information on the Transaction History tab.

3. If the student/customer has credit and would like to use it as a method of payment, select Customer credit from the Type pull-down.

4. Enter the Amount the student/customer would like to use towards payments, and follow steps 4-10 in Applying Payments.

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5. Notice that when you come back to the customer/student, the Amount Credit has updated. In the image shown, the student/customer only wanted to use a portion of the credit for payment; therefore, there is still a credit of 250.00.

The student/customer can only use less than or the full amount of credit. If trying to enter more than the Account Credit amount, an Error message will appear.

Funding Source Credit

The “Funding Source Credit” amount displays below where “Account Credit” would display if applicable in the Payments sections of Accounts Receivable > Point of Sale, which displays the total amount of credit held on account from all the funding sources for that student. Funding Source Credit will not display until the money has been received from the funding source via Accounts Recevable > Funding Sources > Receive Payment. If the Funding Source does not end up providing the full amount that was originally indicated, then depending on how much was received, the Funding Source Credit amount should be adjusted.

You will not see Funding Source Credit displayed as a payment Type if you do not have the "Process Funding Source Credit" profile permission set via Setup > Profiles > Accounts Receivable.

1. If the student/funding source has a credit, the credited amount will appear in the Payments section at the top in green. As shown in the image, it appears as Funding Source Credit: 495.64.

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2. Click the Funding Source Credit link to open a Customer Credit Transaction History pop-up window.

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The Customer Credit Transaction History window displays the Transaction Number, Invoice Number, Receipt Number, Type of transaction, Funding Source (if aplicable), Created By user, Created Date, Voided By (if applicable), Voided Date, and the Amount.

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The Funding Source column identifies what agency provided the credit. The Amount column shows the amount that was credited to the student (from the Funding Source for that transaction once funds have been received from the Funding Source).

a. Click the Transaction Number link to view the transaction information on the Transaction History tab.

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3. If the student/customer has credit and would like to use it as a method of payment, select Funding source credit from the Type pull-down.

4. Enter the Amount the student/customer would like to use towards payments, and follow steps 4-10 in Applying Payments.

Notice that when you come back to the customer/student, the Funding Source Credit has updated.

The student/customer can only use less than or the full amount of credit. If trying to enter more than the Funding Source Credit amount, an Error message will appear.

EMV/Chip

Focus EMV Desktop allows you to process cards equipped with computer chips and the technology used to authenticate chip-card transactions.

1. Install Focus EMV Desktop by adding “Finance/Desktop/Focus_EMV_Desktop_Setup.exe” to the Focus URL. For example, www.focusschoolsoftware.com/owldistrict/Finance/Desktop/Focus_EMV_Desktop_Setup.exe.

Portal

2. Click the file to open and complete the installation.

3. Click Login to Focus to sign in and complete transactions.

4. While Focus EMV Desktop is open, log into Focus in another window.

5. From Point of Sale, upon applying a payment, select EMV/Chip from the Type pull-down.

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6. Insert the customer's card into the card reader, and click Finalize.

7. A pop-up window displays: EMV Transaction Status: Invoice data sent to EMV application. Please follow application prompts.

8. Click the Focus EMV Desktop program where the transaction will be processing.

9. The transaction is finalized and a receipt is generated.

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10. Click Logout on the Focus EMV Desktop program.

Files and Comments

At any point while using Point of Sale, you can attach Files and/or add Comments.

1. As indicated in the Files section, drag files directly into the box to attach documents or click the Select button to browse for files.

Click the Scan File button for direct scanning; this will prompt you to download Dynamsoft. This is a one-time download that allows you to attach files directly from your scanner. In doing so, you will bypass saving the file to your computer first.

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2. To add a comment, type the comment in the provided text box. Then, click the Post button. The comments left here are for internal use only, meaning only other staff members will have access. Comments will not print on the invoice or receipt or be viewable by the customer in any way.

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Once a comment is posted, it cannot be deleted or edited.

Transaction History

1. Click the Transaction History tab from the Point of Sale screen to look up specific transaction information.

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2. In the Search Criteria section, enter all desired information for running your report. Note: None of the fields shown are required to run this report.

You have the option to click Run Report with all fields blank. However, the system will take longer to display results due to the higher level of data being pulled. It is recommended that you use the fields provided to help filter the report for more relevant data.

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3. Select a Facility from the pull-down if wanting information for one specific facility.

4. Select a Customer from the pull-down if wanting information for one specific customer.

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5. You also have the option to search for receipts over a specific period of time. Enter a starting date in the From field and an ending date in to To field for Receipt Date.

6. You also have the option to search for invoices over a specific period of time. Enter a starting date in the From field and an ending date in to To field for Invoice Date.

7. You have the option to search based on a time frame of Payment Date(s). Enter a starting date in the From field and an ending date in to To field.

8. If looking for specific information on refunds, use the Refund Date section and enter the period of time in question. Enter a starting date in the From field and an ending date in to To field.

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9. If looking for information based on a specific Reference Number, Transaction Number, or Invoice Number, enter the number in the corresponding field provided.

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Notice the Note at the bottom of the Search Criteria section as shown in the image provided.

10. When all search criteria has been entered, click Run Report to yield search results.

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The first four columns display the Trx # (transaction number), Facility, Rcpt # (Receipt number), and Trx Type (Transaction Type).

Click the Trx # to open the original transaction record.

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Clicking the Trx # will open a window with the Transaction # listed at the top.

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From here you can review the transaction, issue refunds, add/view Files and/or Comments, as well as Void the transaction, and Reprint Receipt. For more information on how to issue refunds and void a transaction, see the section Transaction Report: Refunds and Voids.

The Touchnet Transaction ID and Touchnet Gateway ID columns display and/or are populated when a parent or student purchases items via Parent/Student Portal > Purchase & Pay using uPay.

The next two columns display the Sales Ref # (populated when transaction is processed from the Sales tab in the Payments section) and the Refund Ref # (populated when the transaction is refunded and a reference number is included).

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See Applying Payments for information about the Sales Ref # and see Transaction Report: Refunds and Voids for more information about Refund Ref #.  The following setting must be enabled for these two columns to display "Use Sales Ref #” and “Use Refund Ref #" enabled via Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable tab.

The next four columns display the Item # (number), Description (if enabled), Course title (if enabled), cash Drawer used, the Cashier, and Student ID of the customer.

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If you keep scrolling to the right, you will see the next five columns: Invoiced To, Paid By, Date, Payment Type, and the Amount paid.

If your district uses taxes, you will also see the Local Tax Amt and the State Tax Amt columns.

Transaction Report: Refunds and Voids

If a payment is made on an invoice and the allocation is changed, printing a receipt will pull the first available invoice allocation change record after the receipt’s created date to determine the original amounts on the invoice allocation. Note: If the receipt does not contain a created date (old receipts), this will not work. I.e. if an invoice is processed via POS and the transaction is voided or refunded via Transaction History, users can change the original price and/or quantity via POS; however, upon reviewing the original transaction via Transaction History, the items and total should be the original total; it should not reflect the new total after reprocessing.

Refunds

1. To issue a refund, click on the Trx # from the Search Results as shown in the previous section, Transaction History: Search Results.

2. Clicking the Trx # will open the transaction in a new window. Review the transaction to be sure you want to issue a refund.

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3. To issue a quick refund, click on the Receipt Amount in blue; this will auto-populate the Refund amount. Then, select the Refund Type from the pull-down (the options here will vary between districts). Enter a Refund Ref # for your records.

4. Some of the options for Refund Type may be:

Cash Refund: Refunds cash directly from the cash drawer back to the student/customer.

Other Refund: Use this option if using a third party software to issue either a check or credit back to the student/customer.

Other Refund  Check: Use this option if using a third party check software to issue a check back to the student/customer.

Other Refund  Credit: Use this option if using a third party credit card software to refund the money directly to the customer’s card. This option creates a refund journal to reduce cash in Focus.

Focus Check Refund: Use this option to automatically create an invoice in Accounts Receivable to a cut a check (Note: A Focus Check can be issued only if the district is using Internal Accounts).

Credit Card Refund: Automatically refunds the amount back to the credit card used for payment (Note: A Credit Card Refund can only be issued if a merchant account has been set up). Credit Card Refund is a Profile permission, which displays when the school has an Authorize.net account setup in Focus. This will automatically send the transaction code to a.net to refund to the customer's credit card and create the journal to reduce cash by the refunded amount.

Funding Source Refund: Refunds the money back to the funding source.

Other: Other refunds can be selected from the pull-down to record when a student receives a check directly from the funding source refund.

When a payment is made from a Deferral (Funding Source) via the Sales tab, the only available Refund Type for that payment is Funding Source Refund.

When you process a refund for Funding Source Credit, the refund is issued to the student not the Funding Source.

The following permissions must be enabled for the corresponding  refunds via Setup > Profiles > Accounts Receivable tab:

Cash Refund type: Allow Cash Refund permission

Other Refund type: Allow Other Refund permission

Other Refund Check type: Allow Other (Check) Refund permission

Credit Card Refund type: Credit Card Refund permission displays when the school has an Authorize.net account setup in Focus

Focus Check Refund type: Revenue Refund permission

Funding Source Refund type: Refund Transactions permission

Other refund type: Allow "Other" Funding Source Refund setting enabled via Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable

5. If you select a Cash Refund, a pop-up window will appear asking for a selection of the Facility and Drawer. Once selected, click Yes.

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6. Before issuing a refund, it is required that you post a comment explaining the reason for your actions. Enter the reason for the refund in the text box and click Post.

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7. Click Refund.

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8a. You will then receive a pop-up window listing the Total refund amount. The options listed here will vary between districts. If your district allows customer credit, you will have the option to Apply as Credit. The other option will be to ‘Reinvoice’ amount.

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The option to reinvoice the refunded amount is a system preference that can be found from Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable.

8b. Select the applicable radio button to refund the amount to a customer or to a parent of the customer.

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You can select to refund the amount in the form of a check to the customer or parent of the customer, if the Focus check refunds can be written to contact(s) setting is enabled via Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable > Point of Sale section.

When refunding customer credit, the options to Apply as Credit and ‘Reinvoice’ amount do not display.

To issue a refund in cash, check, etc. directly to the customer, do not select Apply as Credit or 'Reinvoice' amount radio buttons.

9. Click Yes or Cancel.

10. If you choose to ‘Reinvoice’ amount, you will get a message indicating that you need to write the customer/student a check in the amount refunded.

Reinvoicing the amount will reissue the charge to the student/customer account for a payment or deferral to be made on the item.

11. A new receipt will automatically generate listing the refund issued.

When a funding source refund is processed on an item that is taxed, the associated tax funds come out of the tax project and displays as AR Refund Local Tax Uncollected or AR Refund State Tax Uncollected journals on the Journal Report.

12. If you did not select to Apply as Credit or 'Reinvoice' amount, you will be prompted to write the customer a check or the selected form of payment, such as cash. Close the pop-up window by clicking the X to generate a receipt.

Voids

1. To void a transaction, click on the Trx # from the Search Results as shown in the previous section, Transaction History: Search Results.

Clicking the Trx # will open the transaction in a new window. Review the transaction to be sure you want to void it.

Point of Sale

2. Before voiding a transaction, it is required that you post a comment explaining the reason for your actions. Enter the reason for the void and click Post.

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3. Click Void.

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4. Select the applicable Facility and cash Drawer from the corresponding pull-downs.

5. If you have permission for "Manual Void Date" set via Setup > Profiles, a Void Date pop-up displays where you can edit the void date as needed.

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a. Click Yes to apply the void date.

You can also click Cancel to cancel the void and return to the transaction pop-up window.

You will know the transaction was voided successfully when you see a pop-up confirming the void.

6. Once the void is complete, return the collected amount back to the customer/student.

The invoice attached to the voided transaction will be marked as Pending for the student/customer on the Point of Sale screen allowing payments and deferrals to be processed as normal for this specific invoice.

7. Notice that the payment will now show in your report as a Voided Payment and will appear in yellow.

Point of Sale

Voided refunds are not removed from the receipt; the refund displays as voided.

You have the ability to void payments made online by parents/students including prior transactions as long as the Void Only Same-Day Transactions profile permission isn’t enabled via Setup > Profiles. If enabled, you can only void current day transactions.

AR Receipt Collected journals recollect monies onto the funding source accounting strip when a funding source internal transfer payment (Funding Sources > Receive Payment) is voided from Transaction History, which can then be viewed from the Journal Report. When a Funding Source payment is made and the type is Internal Transfer, a set of AR Receipt Collected Journals will be created when the payment is voided. The journal(s) collect the monies back onto the funding source accounting strip. The debit and credit accounts inverse the AR Receipt Voided journal.

Creating Payment Plans

The ability to create and access Payment Plans is based on permissions set via Setup > Profiles.

Focus supports payment plans from partially-paid invoice allocations as per the following process:

1. Create payment plan allocations for the customers outstanding balance on the original allocation (i.e. non-deferred outstanding balance).

2. Create a new allocation on the original invoice for the total deferred amount on the original allocation (quantity: 1, price: deferred amount).

3. Move all deferrals and deferral payments to the allocation created.

a. This results in an allocation that represents the total deferred amount less any deferral payments. In other words, it is identical to the outstanding deferral balance from before the payment plan process was initiated.

4. Cancel the original allocation and unaccrue the outstanding customer balance plus the total deferred amount.

a. The deferral allocation created represents the full deferral amount, which will be accrued, so you need to unaccrue the full deferral amount in this cancelation in order for this to have a net-zero impact on the ledger.

b. Notably, the accrual happens as of the original allocations journal date, but the unaccrual when canceling the allocations happens as of the date the payment plan is being made.

1. From the Accounts Receivable menu, click Point of Sale.

2. Click the Payment Plans tab.

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3. Click the Create Payment Plan tab.

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4. Select the applicable Facility from the pull-down.

5. Select the Customer from the pull-down.

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Review all invoices generated against the selected customer in the Invoice Allocations section.

6. Select the frequency of which payments will be required to be made from the Payment Frequency pull-down, such as Weekly, Bi-weekly, Semi-Monthly, etc.

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7. Enter the First Payment Date to establish when payments should start being made.

8. Enter the number of payment periods to establish the length of the payment plan in the # of Payment Periods text box. For example, if you select Weekly and payments start on 10/17 and enter 4 payment periods, all payments must be made by the customer by the week of 11/07.

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9. Click View Payment Schedule to view the amount due by the customer and the date payment is due.

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a. Click the white X to close the pop-up window.

Click Mass Update to update a column on Invoice Allocations for all entries. For example, if all payments are going to be made weekly, you can select to mass update the Payment Frequency column, then select Weekly.

a. From the pop-up window, select the Column that needs to be mass updated, then select or enter the Value.

b. Click Update.

c. All updated fields highlight in yellow. To apply changes, click Save.

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10. When payment plans have been created for all applicable invoices, click Finalize Payment Plans to print a customer receipt. When Finalize Payment Plans is clicked, the created payment plan generates the invoices where they will now display in the Point of Sale screen. Every installment of the plan is generated.

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a. To print, click the printer icon located in the upper right corner of the screen.

b. Click the down arrow to download the image as a PDF file.

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Once finalized, changes cannot be made.

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If the customer hasn't made any payments towards a payment plan, the payment plan can be deleted from the Existing Payment Plans tab.

11. As indicated in the Files section, drag files directly into the box to attach documents or click the Select button to browse for files. There is also a Scan File button next to the Select button for direct scanning. Click the Scan File button; this will prompt you to download Dynamsoft. This is a one-time download that allows you to attach files directly from your scanner. In doing so, you will bypass saving the file to your computer first.

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12. To add a comment, type the comment in the text box. Then, click the Post button.

Existing Payment Plans

1. From the Accounts Receivable menu, click Point of Sale.

2. Click the Payment Plans tab.

3. Click the Existing Payment Plans tab.

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The Existing Payment Plans tab displays the Customer, Item, First Payment Date, Last Payment Date, Date Created, and Date Finalized.

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4. For a list of payment plans for a specific facility, select the Facility from the corresponding pull-down. Note: The facilities listed depend on your accounting strip permissions.

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5. Select the Include Inactive check box to include completed payment plans.

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6. Click View to view the customer's receipt in a print preview, which includes customer information and payment plan details such as the amount due and the due date.

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a. To print, click the printer icon located in the upper right corner of the screen. Click the down arrow to download the image as a PDF file.

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7. Click Files & Comments to view files and comments added when the payment plan was created.

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a. From the pop-up window, you can view, add, and downloaded files. Click the file link to download the file and view it.

You can also drag files directly into the box to attach documents or click the Select button to browse for files. There is also a Scan File button next to the Select button for direct scanning. Click the Scan File button; this will prompt you to download Dynamsoft. This is a one-time download that allows you to attach files directly from your scanner. In doing so, you will bypass saving the file to your computer first.

b. You can view comments added, as well as the time stamp. To add a comment, type the comment in the text box. Then, click the Post button.

c. Click the white X to close the pop-up window.

8. Click the delete button (red minus sign) to delete a payment plan. You can delete payment plans that haven't had any payments applied already by the customer.

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Migrate Transactions

The Migrate Transactions tab allows users to transfer invoices and/or non-POS receipts from one customer to another.

1. From the Accounts Receivable menu, click Point of Sale.

2. Click the Migrate Transactions tab.

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3. Select the Original Customer from the pull-down.

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4. Select the New Customer from the pull-down.

5. Select the Invoices or the Non-POS Receipts from the corresponding pull-downs.

6. Click Submit to complete the transfer of invoices or receipts.

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Additional Features

Click the Price Lookup button to look up the price of a specific item.

Point of Sale

a. Select the item from the Price Lookup pull-down. Once an item is selected, the Price displays underneath.

Sort data by columns by clicking on any of the column headers with the double black arrows.

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To navigate through the listed pages, click the Prev and Next buttons. To jump to a specific numbered page, type the number in the page text box and press Enter.

Click the Excel icon in the Export section to export the report to an Excel spreadsheet.

To print the report, click the Print icon in the Export section as shown in the image above.

Click Filters to further breakdown data.

a. To add more than one filter to a column, click the green plus sign.

b. To delete an additional filter, click the red minus sign.

c. For additional filtering options, click the gray arrow for a filter pull-down.

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d. Click Clear All Filters to remove all applied filters.

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For a quick search, use the Filter text box to begin typing the name or number of the needed data. Note: This feature is available on most pull-downs.

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You have the ability to save your report before or after running the report.

  1. Click the floppy disk Save icon to name and save your report.
  2. You can also click the Trash Can icon to delete saved reports.
  3. To edit a Report Name after saving, select the report, then click the Blue Arrow next to the Trash Can.
  4. In order to generate a saved report, from the Point of Sale screen, click the Transaction History tab, and select the saved report from the pull-down.
  5. Click Run Report.
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Did You Know?

The setting View All Invoices (ERP > Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable tab > Point of Sale section) can be enabled to ensure users can view all invoices across the district regardless of their assigned accounting strip permissions via Point of Sale and/or SIS > Billing > Student Billing.

If the Show Course Title setting is enabled via Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable tab, you will see the Course Title column in the Items sections. The column displays only when Course, Section, or Schedule is used to invoice students from the Bill By pull-down on the Student Schedule screen.

If the Show Course Title setting is enabled via Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable tab, you will see the Course column in the Trx # pop-up window via Transaction History. The column displays only when Course, Section, or Schedule is used to invoice students from the Bill By pull-down on the Student Schedule screen.

If the Show Item Description setting is enabled via Setup > Settings > Accounts Receivable tab, the Description information from POS and Trx # screens displays via Transaction History.

Users with permissions to view the Customer Ledger screen and the Transaction History screen in ERP can also view these screens in SIS via Billing > Student Billing.

When a student's schedule is flagged with 371 (RTI) or 372 (OJT)  in Cost Reporting Codes, the Adult Status Fee on the student schedule will remain K (Fee Exempt) even if a voucher is set to something other than K in Accounts Receivable > Funding Sources > Funding Sources tab.

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