Cloud Fulfillment Printing | Setup Guide

This guide will cover the steps needed to fully set up Cloud Chit Printing for a single Revenue Center. Cloud Chit only works on the [POS] Tabs and [POS] Order Pay Fulfill menu models. For more information on POS Menu Models please follow this guide.

Important Note: Cloud Fulfillment or Chit Printing only works on Network Enabled printers. Please make sure you’re using a Network Printer and that you have statically set the IP Address in the device and reserved that IP Address from your POS network's DHCP Range. Otherwise, if the IP Address that you have statically set in your printer is not statically reserved on your POS network it then has the potential to be picked up by another device on the network causing the device not to receive print requests. 

Access: This setup requires access to the Devices App in Canopy 2.0, navigate to your instance-devices.ordernext.com to confirm this page loads. If it does not load then your user does not have the necessary permissions to complete this setup. Please contact your Account Manager or venuesupport@shift4.com for assistance. 

Explanation of Cloud Chit Printing:

• Cloud Fulfillment(Chit) Printing is used to enable [POS] Tabs and [POS] Order Pay Fulfill menu models to send orders to the kitchen, bar, expo, or any type of fulfillment printer you’re using in your setup.
  
  
  • You may be using PAX A800 Handhelds to carry out In-Seat orders and you require those orders to print to specific kitchens or bars. For example,
    
    
    • An order is processed or a tab is opened on the In-Seat Menu, that order would then print to its assigned Chit Printers throughout the venue depending on the setup. You can utilize Production Lines and Routing Groups to differentiate where you want parts of your order to print for Fulfillment.
      
      
  • For example, you have a concession stand that has made-to-order items that require a Kitchen Chit to be printed to the BOH(Back of House) for Fulfillment. You would utilize Cloud Printing in this instance to accomplish your goal of printing Chits to the kitchen.

• You can have as many Production Lines & Routing Groups as you want for a single RVC/Menu to accomplish your printing goals.
  
  
  • In this case, you may use several of both if you have multiple Chit Printers for an RVC/Menu. Such as a Hot, Cold, Food, or Beverage line.
    
    

Important Note: You should only use a PAX L1400 or PAX E700 Belly-Up terminal to act as the Print Controller that sends the requests to your printer(s). It’s also Gold Standard that this terminal is on a LAN Connection over Wi-Fi for network stability. 

• Additional Note: When using Network Printers and having varying connection types amongst your workstations in a single stand location it’s important to make sure that you have your LAN Network and WiFi Network setup for “Bridging.”
  
  
  • “Bridging” sometimes referred to as “Crosstalk” when enabled allows your POS LAN devices to successfully communicate with POS WLAN(WiFi) devices on your network.
    
    
  • If this feature is not set on your network and your devices are on varying connection types you may run into issues with Print Requests sending from all devices or prints not working altogether.

Identifying a Print Controller:

• We must first identify which workstation(L1400 or E700) in a stand we would like to be the Print Controller that sends the requests to your Chit Printer(s). When a workstation is made a Print Controller it can still be used as a POS device with no change in operation. 

Note: You should choose a workstation that is closest to your printer(s) or at an easily accessible location.

• • Once we have identified a workstation we would like to use, log in to the SkyTab Venue App and navigate to Debug Info following the next steps. 

1. Begin by selecting the “Hamburger Menu” in the top left corner of the STV App. Then select Debug Info from the list.
   
   
2. Under Debug Info, record the first 5 digits of your workstation's Device ID as we will use this to identify the device in Canopy 2.0 > Devices. 

Naming our Print Controller:

1. Next, navigate to your instance-devices.ordernext.com.
   
   

• By default, this page brings you to Configurations under the Devices dropdown. This is where we want to be.
  
  
  • Begin by entering those first 5 digits of the Device ID that you recorded earlier into the top right search bar. 

2. After searching we should see our device populate in the list, proceed with selecting your device to pull up the ‘Edit Configuration’ window.

• Under the edit panel, we will focus on renaming our terminal to something easily identifiable. This is important for future maintenance and identification of the device.
  
  
  • The name of your terminal should include the following information,
    
    
    • The name of the location the device is at.
    • The last 4 digits of the device serial number. (This is the actual SN from within the device's Android Settings or printed under the base of the terminal.)
    • The words ‘Print Controller’ or ‘PC’ for an abbreviation. 
    • Any additional unique identifiers that you feel are necessary to add to the device’s name.
      
      
  • After identifying a name for your Print Controlling device, select SAVE when done.
    
    

Important Note: We should label our Print Controlling devices with a similar label that includes information from the name we gave it in Canopy 2.0. Especially a label explicitly stating “PRINT CONTROLLER - DO NOT TURN OFF” on the device. 

Creating our Cloud Chit Printer:

1. Begin by selecting Printers under the Devices dropdown.
   
   

• Select the Blue + in the top right corner to populate the ‘Add Printer’ panel.
  
  

• We should edit the following options,
  
  
  • Name: Similar to how we named our Print Controller, we should include the following when naming our printer to make it easily identifiable.
    
    
    • The name of the location the device is at.
    • The last 4 digits of the Print Controlling device’s serial number.
    • Any additional unique identifiers that you feel are necessary to add to the device’s name. Such as where the device is located in the stand(Kitchen, Bar, Left, Right, Center, and so on.)
      
      
  • Printer Type: This should either be, Epson Thermal or Star Micronics Thermal depending on what brand of printer you are using.
    
    
  • Printer Model: This can either be left blank or we can select the only available option of TM-T88VI. Either way, this is not a required selection for either printer type. Do not be concerned if your printer model is not an available selection.
    
    
  • Receipt Printer Slider: Keep in the OFF position.
    
    
  • Connection: Can only be selected as IP for Cloud Chit Printing.
    
    
  • IP Address: This field will only populate if IP is selected as the Connection method. Enter the IP that you statically assigned to your printer.
    
    
  • Print Controller: This is the device we chose and renamed under the ‘Naming our Print Controller’ section. Locate your device and select it from the list.
    
    
  • Backup Printer: An optional selection where we can select a backup printer from our existing list of printers that print requests will be sent to if this printer were to be taken offline.
    
    

2. Select SAVE when done.
   
   

• Upon saving your new printer will populate in the list at the very top.
  
  
  • Now that we have created a printer and assigned a Print Controller to it, that then turns that workstation into a Print Controlling device. Follow the next steps to refresh the device so that it reflects the change.

Refreshing our Print Controller:

• After making a device a Print Controller by assigning it to a printer, we are required to refresh the terminal so that it reflects the change and sends future print requests successfully.
  
  

1. Log in to the STV App and select the "Hamburger Menu" from the top left. Select ‘Refresh Config’ under the menu.
   
   

• Once we have received a successful refresh message, we should see a “Print Icon” appear in the top right of the screen indicating our device has received the changes successfully making it a Print Controller.
  
  

2. Next, proceed with navigating to Canopy Classic through the top left dropdown in Canopy 2.0.
   
   

Creating Production Lines & Routing Groups:

• When using Cloud Chit Printing we are required to set up both Production Lines & Routing Groups so that we can assign Routing to each item under the RVC/Menu.

1. We want to start with creating a Production Line, so navigate to F&B → Xpedite Devices.
   

• From here select Production Lines at the top of the page.

2. Proceed with the steps in the "Production Lines" guide to complete the setup. 

• After completing the setup of your Production Lines, proceed with setting up your Routing Groups.
  
  
  • Follow the "Routing Groups" guide to execute this portion of the setup.
    
    
• Finally, navigate to F&B → Locations in Canopy Classic to begin routing your items for the RVC you set Production Lines and Routing Groups for. Then select the location menu that you would like to route items on.
  
  

• Follow the "Item Routing" guide to complete the setup. 

Once you have completed all the above steps and guides you should proceed with processing your first set of test sales/prints to verify that the items you routed are printing correctly on the Chits to all their specified locations. 

If you run into any issues throughout the process or your Chits are not printing accordingly then please follow this guide for troubleshooting steps. You may also contact venuesupport@shift4.com for assistance.

Reminder: We should make sure that all Print Controlling workstations we create are always powered on, have a network connection, and that the STV POS App is launched to prevent any future printing mishaps. 

Need Help? We’re Here for You!

For assistance with SkyTab Venue, reach out to our support team:

• 📞 Phone: 877.559.4225
• 📧 Email: venuesupport@shift4.com

Our support team is available to help with any questions or issues you may have.

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