POS System Means Smooth Sailing For U.S. Navy

Integrating the point of sale (POS) functions of a United States naval base is similar to wiring a small city, according to POS VAR Jonathan Price. Price is president of Cache Box (Arlington, VA). His company manufactures POS terminals under the brand name Ferrara. "We had done POS installations for the Air Force," explains Price. "To win the Navy contract, we had to outperform larger vendors who were selling direct, including NCR and IBM." What gave Cache Box a competitive edge in a deal involving thousands of terminals for more than 125 naval bases? "Our Ciao software is designed for use in both hospitality and retail applications," says Price. "The Navy wanted to integrate its retail operations and its hospitality operations, including fast food and fine dining restaurants, into one system. One stipulation was that the solution could not use any proprietary POS software or hardware that uses proprietary components, such as motherboards."

Integrating Retail And Hospitality Operations
Integrating the naval bases presented Price with an interesting challenge. Each base houses many different stores, restaurants, and entertainment facilities like bowling alleys and movie theaters. The restaurants range from casual, concept restaurants to pizza delivery and fine dining, such as the officers' club. "The Navy had two requirements: the POS systems had to use touch screens, and they had to integrate into the Navy's existing SAP accounting software," notes Price. Cache Box provided the Navy with Ferrara all-in-one POS terminals featuring MicroTouch touch screen components. Other components included Ciao POS software, TouchTrak inventory control software, and APC power protection devices. The Navy chose touch screens because of their graphical user interface (GUI). "Training is less of an issue with the on-screen icons," says Price. The inventory control software works for both retail inventory, using bar-coded items, and bulk restaurant inventory, such as lettuce. "The software uses recipe management to subtract items on a cheeseburger, such as tomato and mayonnaise, from inventory. When deliveries are made to the restaurant, an employee can put items into inventory and check purchase orders using the touch screen terminal at the front of the house," says Price.

Depending on the options chosen, terminals cost between $5,000 and $10,000 — including cabling and end user training. Cache Box installers need approximately one week to set up 10 terminals and train end users. Cabling is usually completed prior to system installation.

Cache Box also designs and sells six-foot-tall rolling rack-mount stands for stacking POS components. The racks are used to store POS systems, including servers, into a space as small as 2-feet by 2-feet. "The rack-mount stands are used mainly for back office systems," notes Price. "A store manager can roll out the system at the end of the night, download information, and then roll the system back into a closet or small hallway."

To date, Price says the rollout has met the Navy's requirements. One benefit the new system offers is the ability to manage store or restaurant setups from one terminal. "For example, adding a new employee to the system can be done from any terminal. In the past, that type of function was done in the back office." Nightly polling of sales information to the SAP accounting system has also been simplified. "We have a program called Connector that queries each terminal at the end of the day," says Price. "The POS system, through the Internet, creates a nightly report of all activity on the base. Connector makes sure information from each terminal is collected. If a terminal is missed or somehow fails, Cache Box is contacted via pager. A similar message is e-mailed to appropriate Navy personnel." Cache Box also provides 24/7 support for all hardware and software.

Rollout Continues, Incorporates Internet
Because of the number of terminals involved, the Navy base rollout will continue for the next several years. During that time, Price plans to add Internet ordering capabilities to the system. Other technologies to be added to the Navy's POS system include self-ordering/informational kiosks and smart cards for cash and loyalty programs.

Lisa Kerner