Quick Service POS Offline Syncing FAQ

WHAT IS AN OFFLINE ORDER / TRANSACTION?

The VenueNext Quick Service (QS) POS can accept orders and payment transactions offline and store them for submission to VN and to the payment processor.

A POS order can be placed in the following scenarios:

•  ONLINE  The POS is online and the card reader is in online mode
  • Order is immediately submitted to VN on placement
  • Payment transaction is immediately submitted to the processor on placement

•  OFFLINE ONLY: The POS is online and the card reader is in offline mode
  A POS can be manually placed into Offline Only mode manually via the Payment Processing Mode toggle in the Hardware Debug screen or will be automatically placed in this mode under poor network conditions or in the case of a gateway or processor outage
  • Order is immediately submitted to VN on placement
  • Payment transaction is stored on the card reader to be sent to the processor at a later time

•  OFFLINE: The POS is offline and the card reader is in offline mode
  • Order is stored on the POS to be submitted to VN once back online
  • Payment transaction is stored on the card reader to be sent to the processor at a later time

HOW DO I KNOW IF A DEVICE HAS OFFLINE ORDERS / TRANSACTIONS TO SYNC?

• On the POS, when viewing the orders list (Hamburger icon > Orders), if the device summary icon is yellow, then there are offline orders and/or transactions that need to be synced. Tap the button to view the device summary

• On the POS, when viewing the device summary, if the Offline Card Transactions count and/or the Unsynced Order Details Data count is greater than 0, then you have orders to be synced.

• Access DataNow and navigate to Reports > Device Monitoring. In this section, you can view details of all 'Approved Offline' orders awaiting sync. This includes comprehensive information such as the specific device holding these orders, the originating revenue center, the quantity of orders per device, and the total approved amount for the offline orders. This report defaults to orders created within the last 24 hours.

HOW DO I SYNC OFFLINE ORDERS / TRANSACTIONS?

VERIFY DEVICE READINESS

First, you will want to ensure that your device has a stable connection to the internet and is either connected to power or that the battery is sufficiently charged, as the sync process can be time consuming.

• Although there is a network indicator in the header of the app and a wifi indicator in the Android header bar, this does not necessarily indicate whether your internet connection is sufficient to successfully perform a sync. Additionally, ethernet connected devices do not inherently have a “good” internet connection sufficient for syncing.
• To verify that a device is capable of syncing offline transactions, navigate to the POS Network troubleshooting section (Hamburger icon > Debug Info > Network). Here you can
  • Test all necessary domains/IP addresses and whether they are reachable (see Network Whitelist). Please contact your network administrator if a domain/IP in the list is noted as "FAILED"
  • Test the device’s signal strength to the access point and internet connection speed using Fast.com. Tap the Fast.com link to test the upload and download speed for the device. 10 Mbps upload and 5 Mbps download speeds are the minimum required
• If the device meets speed and network firewall requirements and still cannot sync offline transactions, please contact VenueNext support for deeper troubleshooting. Please be prepared to show photos/videos of the Network troubleshooting section for that device.

ONCE YOUR DEVICE IS READY TO SYNC

1. Navigate to the device summary (Hamburger icon > Orders > Device Summary icon)
2. Tap Sync Orders > Tap Continue on confirmation modal
   • First, orders not yet submitted to VN (if any) will be synced. If the device was running in  OFFLINE ONLY: mode, then the orders are likely already submitted to VN and are appearing in DataNow as Approved Offline
   • Next, offline payment transactions will be synced to the processor
   • Once the Offline Card Transactions and the Unsynced Order Details Data counts have reached 0, your job is done! You will also receive a notification on the POS when the entire sync process is complete.

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN A SYNC IS COMPLETE?

• When both the 'Offline Card Transactions' and 'Unsynced Order Details Data' figures on the POS system read 0, no further action is required from your end. This holds true even if DataNow shows orders as 'Approved Offline.'

I JUST SYNCED MY DEVICE. WHY DOES DATANOW SHOW THAT IT STILL HAS APPROVED OFFLINE ORDERS?

• An automated process runs each night, comparing 'Approved Offline' orders against invoices in the Lighthouse Transaction Manager (LTM). It then updates order statuses to either 'Completed' (for approved transactions) or 'Authorization Failed' (for declined ones). Due to this nightly schedule, orders that synced with LTM on the same day may still appear as 'Approved Offline' in DataNow temporarily.
• Should any disruptions or errors occur while batch-syncing offline transactions, orders will be temporarily classified as 'Approved Offline,' even post-payment processing. Consequently, DataNow may display an incorrect count of orders awaiting sync until the following morning when the automated job runs.

IT'S THE DAY AFTER AN EVENT. WHY DO SOME DEVICES STILL HAVE APPROVED OFFLINE ORDERS IN DATANOW?

If the transactions are not in LTM...

• Then the offline payment transactions have likely not yet been synced to the the processor. Follow the steps in the How Do I Sync Offline Orders / Transactions section above to get the transactions uploaded from the card reader and into LTM.

If the transactions are in LTM...

• Then the merchant token on the payment device is likely pointing to a different MID than the merchant token on the POS menu from which the order was taken. The MID on the payment device and the MID on the menu must match in order for us to get the correct invoice status and update orders to the correct state. See Mapping Merchant Tokens in Canopy to get the correct merchant configured for the POS menu.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Explore the VenueNext Support website for comprehensive articles about transaction syncing. These resources include essential information, step-by-step guides, and troubleshooting tips:

• Offline Syncing Best Practices
• Syncing Troubleshooting
• Approved Offline Syncing Guide
• Syncing After Running a Device In Offline Only Mode
• How Do I Know If I Have Orders In the Approved Offline State

In case of advanced issues, when contacting VenueNext support, ensure you have photos or videos of the Network troubleshooting section from the affected device at hand for a more efficient resolution process