Categories and Menus

Items are grouped into categories for display on the iQ-POS Terminal screen. To create and modify categories, go to Maintenance > Items and Inventory > Categories and Menus.

General

Category - Enter a category number for this category. Valid values are AA - ZZ (ie AB, AC, CH, etc...). It is recommended to use a naming convention such as all your Drink categories would be Ax, Food categories would be Bx, Desserts would be Cx, Dx would be Gift Shop Items, etc. Use blank categories to create spaces between categories. Click here for more information.

Description - Enter the internal description of the items that will be in this category.

Pick list Description - This is the text that will display in the iQ-POS Terminal. Use a back slash () to create a new line. Any text entered after the backslash will appear on the second line.

Index this category selection alphabetically when selected - Checking this box will automatically sub-menu all the items with an alphabetically index prior to selection. Example: If you have 100 Liquor Drinks and you have created a category called "Liquor". Checking this box will further prompt the user to select either A, B, C, D, etc. - Once the user selects the letter, only Liquor items which begin with that letter will appear on the buttons to be selected. It is suggested to use this on all menus which many items, and categories such as Wines and Liquors.

Roll all modifiers up when printing receipt (Package Printing) - If you wish to have all modifiers (priced and non-priced) not appear on the guest/printed receipt, check this box. Any amounts in the modifiers will roll-up into the one line indicating the main description of the item. This is common for "package printing" where the modifiers are the detail items (and prices) but you only want to show the guest one amount of the charge.

POS Outlets - If you hold license to run iQ-POS in multiple iQ-POS Outlets (i.e. Restaurant, Gift Shop, and Marina), you can specify the different Outlets the items in a category can be sold. POS Outlets are assigned to every workstation that runs iQ-POS in the Outlet Configuration tab under Maintenance > Configuration and Settings > Workstation Settings.

Category Display Font - Specify the font and color to represent different categories. All items in this category will display with this font and color as well. It is recommended to use a Tahoma Bold (Size 9) Color White font.

Printer Options

Kitchen/Bar Printing - Available with the extended iQ-POS module, this specifies the remote printer all items in this category should print to. If there are exceptions, they can be overridden on the item level. These printers are defined in the Print Manager (psprint.exe) program.

Secondary/Runner Printer - Available with the extended iQ-POS module, this specifies the remote printer all items in this category should print to as a combined ticket for runners and expediters.

Availability Time Table

Special Category Availability Times - Available in the extended iQ-POS module, this feature allows you to only show the category at specific times (designated in the Time Table). This allows you to offer separate menus at different times (i.e. lunch and dinner). You can either Hide or Show the category during the selected time tables.

Item Maintenance

Delete All Items Attached to this Category - This option will delete all items in attached to this category. Use this when changing menus and you are eliminating the current items.

Change the Price of All Items in this Category - This allows you to change the List Price (First Price Level) on all items which have this particular category attached.

Zero out Inventory for All Items in Category - This will change the ONHAND and INSTOCK inventory values to zero (0) on all items which have this particular category attached.

Assign all Items in this Category to the same Classification - This allows you to change the change the classification of all the items attached to the category.

Override all items for this Category to Assigned Printer - This option will change any override printer assigned for each item attached to the category to the Kitchen/Bar printer assigned for the category.

Import Items into/Export Items from this Category - For companies or owners with multiple properties using iQ-POS, menu items can be exported from one property and imported into iQ-POS at another property. The user must have Manager level access in roomMaster to access the Import and Export options.

Export Items Select Export Items from this Category to save the items from the current category to a file. The file type is RMXML, a file type unique to InnQuest Software and iQ-POS. Only this file type can be used to import information into iQ-POS.

The file is saved to the roomMaster directory by default as POSInventory_xx.RMXML where xx is the category. You can save the file to an external device to make it easier to transport to the other property.

Import Items To import the inventory items into the new property, use the following steps:

1. Create a new category using the same two digit code as the category of the items to be imported. So, if the items to be imported were from category AB at the old property, create a category AB at the new property.

2. Select Import Items into this Category.

3. Navigate to and select the RMXML file created at the original property.

The inventory items will appear in iQ-POS and have the exact same configuration as they had when they were exported, including any inventory, purchases, and modifiers. Review each added item and update this information as needed.

Notes:

• Only inventory items different from what already exist in the category in iQ-POS at the new property will be added. For example, if item number ENT01 is included in the import file and the same item number has already been entered at the new property, ENT01 will not be added.

• No changes to existing items will be made. From the previous example, if the description entered for ENT01 from the old property is different from ENT01 at the new property, no changes will be made to the existing information for ENT01 at the new property.

Display as Chart

Select this option to display items in the category as a chart. To see the top 10 Entrees sold This Month, from the Entrees Category, press Display as Chart. Select This Month and in Top Most enter 10. Press OK. The chart will display the top 10 items sold from this category. In the Chart Data section, use the drop down box to select other charts such as the least popular 10 Entrees sold. You can also choose to chart this information by revenue instead of quantity.

For more information on viewing different data on a chart, see the Displaying Data section in the roomMaster online help under Charts and Graphs.

Speed Keys

Speed Keys appear when the video monitor is set to work in 1024 x 768 mode or higher. If the video monitor for the workstation is set to 800 x 600, you will not be able to see or use the Speed Keys.

Speed Keys are designed to assign common used items for all times of the day, such as maybe Coffee, Tea, Coke. In a bar environment, you may want to use it for the most common drinks or beers.

If the workstation is set for no (zero) outlet, the speed keys setup on this screen will appear.

Setting up different Speed Keys by Outlets:

If the workstation is set for an outlet identifier (Maintenance > Configuration & Settings > Workstation Settings > Outlet Configuration > POS Outlet) then the Speed Keys must be setup on the Outlet Level. You can do this by selecting Maintenance > Items and Inventory > Outlet Identification and selecting each outlet in the list and pressing Terminal Speed Keys (Outlet Level).

Spacing Categories on the Terminal Screen

Setting up categories with blank descriptions allows you to create blank buttons within the Terminal screen. This way you can group drink, food, and specialty item categories together, making it easier for servers to enter orders. For example, if you want your drink categories to be on the first row of the terminal screen, the second row to be blank, and your food categories on the third row you could do the following:

Category	Description
AA	Sodas
AB	Beers
AC	Liquors
AM	(leave blank)
AN	(leave blank)
AO	(leave blank)
BA	Appetizers
BB	Soups and Salads
BC	Entree's

Categories AM, AN, and AO that are entered without a description will create three blank buttons on the terminal row. Notice "letters" were skipped to allow more drink categories to be added in the future. A Martini category could be added as AD and appear as the first button on the second row. All other buttons would then shift one to the right, so you might want to add more blank categories to get the screen how you want it.