The shop network in PointLit: a hub till for when the internet drops
When the internet drops, each device keeps working on its own, and with a Windows till set as the shop's hub, the tills also share their checks and print over the shop's own network.
The hub is one of your tills running the PointLit Windows app, chosen in Manage, and it keeps selling as usual. A second till can stand by to take over. When the internet comes back, the hub sends everything on to PointLit's server, which stays the record.
What the hub does
- Tills with the PointLit Windows app share checks through the hub while the internet is down, so a table opened on one till shows on the others.
- Kitchen tickets print through the hub, including on printers installed in Windows on the hub's own computer.
- With the internet on, the hub also prints the kitchen tickets of phones and browser tabs, which cannot reach a printer themselves.
- Every change keeps the name of the member of staff who made it, and the server checks that person's permissions when the change reaches it.
Set up the hub
- Open each till in an up-to-date PointLit Windows app while the internet is on, signed in, with Restaurant and café switched on. The till joins the shop network by itself, once.
- In Manage, open Shop network (Restaurant settings links to it) and choose the shop.
- Under The hub till, choose the Hub and, if you want, a Standby, then press Save the hub.
- On the hub till, open Shop network to see how it is doing: whether the hub is Running, the devices connected, the tickets waiting and the kitchen printers.
If Windows blocks the hub
If the hub till's Shop network screen says Windows calls this network Public, or that Windows Firewall may block devices, an administrator of that computer runs the lines the screen shows in PowerShell. If another till cannot find the hub, type the hub's address under Hub address on that till, such as 192.168.1.20, and press Save the address.
The standby till
A standby takes over 45 seconds after the hub stops answering. You can also make a till take over at once with Take over as hub on its own Shop network screen. The hub and the standby must be two different tills.
What the hub keeps on its computer
The hub keeps the changes the devices give it in a file on the hub computer, until PointLit's server has stored them. A check's changes leave that file 24 hours after the check closes, or after 24 hours with nothing new on it, and a delivery's customer details leave with them. The file is not encrypted, so keep the hub computer behind a Windows password. Switching the till to another business stops the hub and forgets its file.
Paired devices
Shop network lists every device paired with the shop, with its kind, when it was last seen and its state. Remove takes a device off the shop network; it can be paired again, with a new key. A shop can have up to 200 paired devices.
Questions and answers
- Can a phone or a browser tab use the hub?
- Not yet. A plain browser tab cannot join the shop network, and the PointLit Android app cannot join it yet either. While the internet is down they keep their own changes and send them when the connection is back.
- Do I need a hub?
- You need one if you want the tills to stay in step and keep printing while the internet is down, if a kitchen printer is installed in Windows, or if phones and browser tabs send items to kitchen printers, because their tickets print through the hub.
- Does the hub need a computer of its own?
- No. It is one of your tills running the PointLit Windows app, and it keeps working as a till. Choose one that stays on during service.