The Maitre’D Application
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Maitre'D POS
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Maitre’D is a Point of Sale Software Suite with an integrated Back-Office application that allows restaurants to manage their operations from front-end sales to inventory control and employee management. Maitre’D helps restaurant owners and managers streamline and centralize operations, track the status of the restaurant in real time, analyze data and follow trends from past periods, and plan for the future.
A fully integrated electronic funds transfer (EFT) module allows Point of Sale transactions information to be sent to debit and credit card processors, speeding up transaction processing time. This ensures accuracy throughout the transaction by limiting keypunch errors.
Using a generic EFT interface, Maitre’D is compatible with a wide variety of industry standard processors. Internet Processing support allows credit card transactions to be completed within 2 or 3 seconds through a completely secure Internet channel.
The Maitre’D Back-Office Server is the central control unit for the entire network. It holds the database containing all the information on transactions, employees, items and configuration data. No data is stored on POS workstations, so a workstation can go down or new workstations can be added or removed without affecting the network.
The Maitre’D Back-Office Suite is installed on the Maitre’D Back-Office Server and allows the restaurant owner or manager to perform all management tasks and customize Maitre’D. Typically, a Maitre’D Server will have a local reports printer attached to it, allowing reports to be generated using the Report Center module. It is recommended to keep the computer hosting the Maitre’D Server in a safe location.
For businesses that operate in a constrained environment and are limited by space, or simply want a more cost-effective solution, Maitre’D can be configured to offer every function using a single workstation computer. The Maitre’D Back-Office Server can be installed on a stand-alone workstation and function as the Back-Office Server and the Point of Sale workstation at the same time.
The Point of Sale (POS) workstation is a computer used by servers, bartenders, hostesses and other staff employees to enter customer transactions. POS workstations run the Maitre’D Point of Sale software, and users can access customized screens depending on their roles. Typically, POS workstations also have a local printer connected to them that generates a cash receipt and may also have an additional device such as a scale, a magnetic card reader, a scanner, or a biometric reader.
Maitre’D Back-Office includes an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) module which allows Maitre’D to communicate with third party applications that are responsible for contacting a financial institution and authorizing credit card transactions. By processing transactions using the Maitre’D EFT module instead of a separate EFT system, typing errors are reduced to a minimum by eliminating double entry.
The Back Office manages all authorization requests for the restaurant and because it interfaces to a third party application, such as Datacap - DSIClientX™, and Datacap’s XML ActiveX client control, a single line for communication is required.
The following are some of the advantages of using the Maitre’D EFT module.
Maitre’D supports most industry standard EFT devices. Using a secure Internet connection, transactions can be processed and approved in about 2 or 3 seconds, ensuring that guests do not have to wait a long time to pay for their checks.
All EFT transactions are recorded and stored as batches. Batches can be closed at any time of the day and a multiple number of batches can be closed in one day. Maitre’D opens new batches when required.
Transactions can be entered manually without having to go through the workstation. This allows users to enter adjustment transactions and return transactions which are refunds given to guests on their credit cards. Maitre’D will keep track of all manual transactions and will generate reports to show all the manual transactions.
A number of EFT reports allow restaurants to analyze EFT transactions such as sales per media type and per terminal, the number of returns and much more. It is important to specify that the Maitre’D Back-Office does not store any credit card’s track 2 information in its databases. For operational purposes, Maitre’D keeps an encrypted copy of the card number and expiration date. This data is encrypted using the highly sophisticated AES (Rijndael) encryption algorithm. End users with access levels lower than the system owner and distributor can only get a truncated version of the credit card account information if his Maitre’D access level allows the user to get to that data. To troubleshoot a credit card processing problem, a credit card account number can only be found on a report by using the system owner or distributor access level.
The Maitre’D employee management system offers a multi-level password system, allowing one password to be created for employees when they want to access regular POS functions, and another if they want to access management level functions. This adds an extra layer of protection by separating management functions and prevents non-authorized users from accessing sensitive information. Although login validation can be done by entering the employee number and password on a POS workstation, Maitre’D can also validate users using magnetic cards or biometric devices. A biometric device requires users to use their fingerprints to validate their identity. The device is connected to the Maitre’D POS workstation and automatically validates users by matching fingerprints contained in the device’s database.
Multiple pre-configured reports are available to employees to view their performance and other sales information. Generic reports such as the Division sales report and the Categories sales report can be assigned to employee roles so that every employee configured with that role has access to those reports. Other reports such as the Open Table report and Activity report can be assigned to specific employees so that only those employees have access to the reports. Once again, by combining reports from roles and employee files, restaurants can customize each employee to only have access to the reports he or she needs.