Associates
Associate is the term used to refer to an employee who is on the sales floor assisting customers. By default, the current logged-in user is entered as the Associate for new transactions. RP Prism includes separate fields for a single Cashier and as many as five Associates. The Cashier is the person who rings up the sale at the cash register, by default the current logged-in user. The Associates are the employees who participate in the sale by helping the customer on the sales floor, on the phone, etc. The Cashier field is a document-level field. Associate fields are available at both the document-level and item-level.
Store Assignments Required
To create a transaction in Prism, an employee must be assigned to the store where the transaction is being created. You can assign employees to stores in the Store Operations > Employess > Employee Mgmt area. If you try to create a new transaction and get an error that the employee does not have the required store assignments, go back into the employee's record and assign the necessary store(s) to the employee.
Document-Level Associates
At the document level, the currently logged in user is automatically entered as the Cashier and Associate on new transactions and for each listed item. Users with the required security permission can edit the Associate.
Item-Level Associates
Using the Item Details dialog, you can define up to five separate Associates for each item. The document-level Associate is considered Associate 1. For each Associate, you can define an Activity Percentage. The Activity Percentage represents the percentage of the sale assigned to the associate for commission purposes.
Security Permissions for Associates
Refer to the list of POS Permissions for the full list of security permissions that can impact Associates. A few of the specific permissions directly related to Associates are:
- POS - Change Associate
- POS - Edit Former Associate
Preferences for Associates
The following preferences are related to Associates:
| Preference | Description |
|---|---|
| Node Preferences - Transactions - General: Force Logout After Completing Transaction | If this option is enabled, Prism will automatically log out the current user immediately when a transaction is updated. This feature is especially useful for businesses where multiple employees share the same workstation. This feature helps ensure the correct Associate is entered on each transaction. Using this feature helps prevent situations in which User A logs in, walks away from the workstation, and user B then finishes the transaction or creates a new transaction while still logged in as User A. This creates inaccuracies in Associate information with the potential to impact commissions. If Force logout is selected, the current user will be logged out when any of the following actions occur: updates a transaction, cancels a transaction, Holds a transaction, a document is automatically generated (e.g. when using the "Purchase Store Credit" feature for customers). (Default = disabled) |
| Node Preferences - Employee - General: Require user to select an associate on new transactions | If the "Require user to select an associate on new transactions" check box is selected, users must make a selection in the Associate field when creating a new transaction. If the user tries to tender/update the transaction without selecting an Associate, an error message is displayed. |
| Node Preferences - Employee - General: Use Simple Time Clock | Prism includes a built-in time clock feature that enables easy check in at start of shift and easy check out at end of shift as well as the ability for managers to create or edit check in/out records that are missing or need correction. The time clock comes in two versions:
|
| Node Preferences - Employee - General: Automatically Lock Workstation | If selected, workstations for the store will be locked after the specified number of minutes without activity. By default, the lockout period is set to 15, meaning that if there is no activity on a workstation for 15 minutes, the workstation will be locked. When the lockout time is reached, a prompt is displayed in the Retail Pro screen. To unlock the workstation, a user must log in with a valid Prism username/password combination. You must refresh (reload) your browser for the change to take effect. If the same user logs in to the prompt, the user will be in the same location as when the lockout took effect. If a different user logs in, the user will be returned to the POS menu. |
| Node Preferences - Employee - General: Display Associate as: | Enables retailers to customize how Associate names are displayed in the RP Prism UI: First, Last Name; Last, First Name; User Name. |