Starting Out Right For Your Restaurant POS System!

Start out the year right for your restaurant POS systems. Let’s point out some of the most common and crucial mistakes that are made in regard to some very simple configuration aspects of the computer system. Some of these mistakes can cost restaurant owners hundreds or thousands of dollars of wasted time and money. Worse than that… it can frustrate your customers and employees.

Whether you’re the one who’s going to configure your restaurant’s computer system or not, or hiring somebody else to do it for you — it’s important for you to make sure everything is done accordingly.

Please don’t let me give you the wrong message. I do not always recommend configuring your own computer system! I recommend letting a computer professional do it for you. But I know some of you will do it yourself no matter what I say. So this is for those of you that insist on doing your own computer installations and for everyone else to double check and make sure everything was done properly. This could help you avoid some major problems and save hours of precious time.

So here are some simple retail POS system configuration checklist for a Windows network you could follow:

1) Install a Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
The number one cause of electronic component failure is from fluctuations in electricity (up and down). A good UPS can solve this problem by providing clean power. I would recommedn getting a good UPS for your server. And it’s a good idea to use them on all your workstations too.

2) Plugging All Cables Into the UPS
Check if all cables that power your computer and network are plugged into your UPS. You also need to check if the cables that are plugged into a surge protector or UPS are carrying the right amount of power. For example, the phone line for your modem can heat up and fry your computer if you do not plug it into a surge protector. So make sure your modem line, network cables, and power cords are all plugged in properly.

3) Passwords and Security
It is advisable that you lock your server with a hard-to-decode password on all Windows accounts so that no one will be able to access it especially hackers who will intently damage your server.

4) Install Anti-virus and Anti-Spyware Software and Configure For Automatic Updates
Make sure that all your secirity tools are configured to automatically update every day, so you don’t forget.

5) Limit Your Employees’ Internet Access
Employees that surf the internet can cause more problems than anything. Anti-virus and anti-spyware software does help but if an employee unintentionally downloads the wrong program or accepts the wrong message, it can shut down your system down. You can avoid this by disabling internet browsing on your computers. Or another option is to protect internet access with a password.

For restaurant owners, this is very important! In order to protect secured files from the hands of the dirty minds, limiting employee internet access is a must. A retail business owner has to enforce rules to protect his business as well as his profit. Otherwise, what good will a restaurant POS system do if it’s run by a misbahaved or ignorant personnel.

6) Configuring Your Back Up To Run Regularly
In many situations, it’s best to configure your back up to run after hours automatically. Don’t forget you still need to remember to change your back up device (like tapes) every day.

7) Testing Your Back Up At Least Once A Month
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked with several restaurant owners that have hard drive failure and think they have a good back up plan to restore. But when they try to restore they find it hasn’t been working. That’s why it is very important to test your back up at least once a month by restoring files so you would know that it your back up is working as it’s supposed to be. By the way, you should also remember o restore to an alternate file location so you don’t mess up your existing software.

Avoid having regrest by forgetting to do these simple checklist. It’s not a waste of time and it’s not just for your business, employees and customers but for your own sake as well.

With over 20 years of restaruant experience, the author and Vice President of Customer Relations at POS-for-Restaurants.com, helps you use your technology to be more efficient and more profitable.