Chapter 31. Centrals

Prism 1.14.7 User's Guide Chapter 31. Centrals PDF

Prism 2.3 User's Guide Chapter 31. Centrals PDF

Prism's Centrals feature enables retailers to designate a single server in the subsidiary as the validation point for any or all of the following POS tasks:

• Customer lookup
• Returns
• Gift Cards
• Store Credit

Using a dedicated Centrals Server for these tasks reduces risk of fraudulent transactions caused by communication lag time and helps to ensure a smooth customer experience. At POS, when needed, the Prism database will call out to the centrals server and request the information needed for the transaction. Centrals provides a direct line of communication that bypasses the normal requirement of going through an intermediate POA. This ensures the most up-to-date information (e.g., Central Credit Balance) is returned.
Any Prism server can act as the Centrals Server. Other Prism servers that need Centrals services, will connect to the selected server as the Centrals server using the standard Prism API's. Keep in mind however, that when acting as the Centrals server, the data Centrals can return to any request is limited by the data it has in its local database. For example, if the data from other stores is not being replicated to the Centrals server, it may not be able to find the data it needs to fulfill the request. For this reason, we recommend that the Root Authority be selected as the Centrals server. Alternatively, you can have all data that will be needed by Centrals, replicated to the server of your choice and use that server as the Centrals server.
Centrals Authentication and Prism 2.3 Licensing
For Centrals authentication, the PRISM_CUSTOM user will not consume a seat when performing Centrals functions (any other user will). Assign the PRISM_CUSTOM user to a group with the needed Centrals permissions. 

Setup/Configuration
Basic Steps for Configuring Centrals
1.    Make sure Port 80 of the store web server is open; otherwise, the store server will be unable to establish a REST connection to the Centrals server.
2.    On all machines (including the Centrals Server), enter the Centrals Server information in Admin Console > Installation Defaults.
3.    Enable Centrals and configure desired centrals features (returns, lookup, gift cards, credit) in Admin Console > Node Preferences > Transactions > Centrals.
4.    (if using central gift cards) Enable the central gift card tender in Node Preferences > Transactions > Tenders > Requirements. 
5.    Configure security permissions for centrals.
6.    Add centrals-related fields to grid formats.
7.    Add centrals-related fields to document designs.
Requirements

• The Centrals server settings (Admin Console > Installation Defaults) must be configured on all machines, including the machine functioning as Centrals Server. 
• Port 80 of the store web server must be open to connect to the Centrals Server. Prism establishes connectivity through a REST connection.

Installation Defaults > Centrals Address
All machines using Prism Centrals must enter the FQDN, hostname, or IP Address of the Centrals server in Admin Console > Installation Defaults. The Centrals server settings in Installation Defaults are not replicated, so be sure to enter the correct Centrals server settings, including Timeout and Interval at each machine (including the Centrals Server itself). There is not a separate ‘Centrals' service in Prism. Instead, the PrismPOSV1Service at the designated Centrals server handles centrals requests (for each centrals type enabled in preferences). The Interval is the interval at which the Resiliency service will run to check if the connection to the Centrals server has been restored (when in offline mode).
Sample Prism Installation Defaults:

Centrals Server Settings in Installation Defaults

Setting	Description
Central Address	The FQDN, hostname or IP address of the machine that will be the Centrals server. This setting must be entered on each workstation that will participate in Centrals.
Timeout	The number of seconds to attempt to reach the Centrals server before timing out. Default is 30 seconds. Note: When centrals is enabled, one transaction may cause several Centrals calls. This would cause major delays during a transaction. It is therefore advisable to start with a timeout of something like 5 seconds and increase/decrease from there.
Interval	When Centrals is enabled, the PrismResiliencyService runs automatically in the background according to the Interval defined in Installation Defaults. You can run the service outside of the interval by clicking the "Run Resiliency" button. The Interval is the frequency (in minutes) when PrismResiliencyService tries to re-connect to the Centrals server  For example, entering a value of 5 means that if the Centrals server is offline, the PrismResiliencyService will check every five minutes until the connection is restored.
Test	Click the Test button to verify connectivity with the Centrals server. You will be required to enter a username/password to connect. There are four possible responses: "Successful" indicates the machine is able to connect to the Centrals server "Offline" indicates the Centrals server is reachable but the Centrals service is not running. "Cannot Connect to Host" indicates the hostname/IP address cannot be found. "HTTP/1.1 401" error indicates the username or password is incorrect. Note: The Central username/password used during the Test is the user who will be used to request all Centrals information. This user can be any user in the Centrals Server's database who has sufficient permissions to access the data requested. A Best Practice is to create a specific ‘centrals-only' user whose password does not expire and who has sufficient permissions for any type of Centrals information requested. It might be advisable to create a user with a login but without First/Last name, as a sign that this is a ‘special' user. If this user should become inactivated or deleted, ALL installations that have this user specified will lose their Centrals connections.

Node Preferences > Transactions > Centrals
This area of preferences has settings for enabling and configuring Central Customer Lookup, Central Returns, Central Gift Cards and Central Credit. It is up to the customer to decide at which level these settings are configured (Corp, Subsidiary, Store).  

Sample Node Preferences > Transactions > Centrals:

The following table has information about the available options in Node Preferences > Transactions > Centrals.

Preference	Description
Central Customers
Enabled	Click the Enabled checkbox to enable central customer lookup. No other settings are available.
Central Returns
Enabled	Click the Enabled checkbox to enable central returns. No other settings are available.
Central Gift Card
Enabled	Click the Enabled checkbox to enable central gift cards. If selected, the other central gift card options become editable. Note: You must also enable the central gift card tender in Node Preferences > Transactions > Tenders > Tender Requirements.
Use entire balance if projected balance less than	This preference enables you to zero out a central gift card if the projected balance is less than the amount entered here. For example, if the transaction will result in a balance of less than 0.25, the entire central gift card balance will be used, rather than issuing a new credit for such a small amount
When tendering by Central Gift Card, restrict given tender to	This preference enables you to require change to be given in a specific tender. When tendering by central gift card, users must use the tender selected here when giving change.
Mask card numbers in dialogs	If selected, when a card number is scanned, the card number will be masked (using asterisks).
Generate central ID	If selected, then when adding/activating a new gift card, the Centrals Server will generate the Gift Card ID. This enables customers to redeem central credits by ID.
Allow card information to be keyed in	If selected, central gift card information can be typed. If not selected, the card information must be entered by scanning or swiping the card.
Set expiration date upon activation (days from activation)	When enabled, activating a Central Gift Card will set an expiration date for that card, based on 'days' designation. Inherited (Corp, SBS, Store, WS). Inherited (Corp, SBS, Store, WS) Default = Disabled
Purchase Limit	Enter the maximum amount for a new gift card activation or when adding value to an existing gift card.
Manage IDs by	This setting determines the stores at which a Central ID can be redeemed. Subsidiary: If selected, then each Central ID can only be used at stores in the same subsidiary as the store where the Central Credit ID was created. Store: If selected, then each Central ID can only be used at the same store where it was created. All: If selected, then each Central ID can be used at all stores at all subsidiaries in the company.
Set maximum value upon activation	When enabled, activating a Central Gift Card will set a maximum value for that card, equal to the activation amount. Inherited (Corp, SBS, Store, WS) Default = Disabled
Central Credit
Enabled	If selected, then central credit will be available as a tender at POS. Selecting this option enables the other central credit preferences
Use entire balance if projected balance less than	This preference enables you to zero out a central credit if the projected balance is less than the amount entered here. For example, if the transaction will result in a balance of less than 0.25, the entire central credit balance will be used, rather than issuing a new credit for such a small amount.
When tendering by Central Credit restrict given tender to	Requires change to be given in a specific tender. When tendering by central credit, users must give change using the tender selected here.
Suggest Central Credit as a tender when available	If this preference is selected, then when tendering a transaction that has a customer who has a positive central credit balance, a prompt will be displayed, asking if the customer wants to use available credit.
Total negative balance permitted	This preference enables you to limit the amount by which a customer's central credit balance can go negative. If the transaction results in a negative balance that exceeds the value entered here, a prompt is displayed.
Offline Take Limit	Enter the upper limit for central credit transactions performed offline. Transactions with a Total above the entered Offline Limit are not allowed. The default value is zero, which means no offline transactions are permitted.
Purchase Limit	Enter the maximum amount of store credit that can be purchased.

Enable Central Gift Card Tender in Tender Requirements
To use central gift cards as a tender at POS, you must enable the tender in Admin Console > Node Preferences > Transactions > Tenders > Requirements.
Click the "Take", "Give' and "Return" check boxes for Central Gift Cards.
Save the changes.

Node Preferences > Grid Formats
You can add a "From Centrals" column to Customer Lookup grid formats. When looking up a customer, the From Centrals column will have a check mark if the customer information came from the Centrals database.

Node Preferences > Transactions > General
An additional preference related to gift cards in general (including Central Gift Cards) is found in Node Preferences > Transactions > General. The "Activate Gift Cards for Original Amount" preference controls whether gift cards can be activated for an amount other than the original amount.

• If the "Activate Gift Cards for Original Amount" preference is enabled, gift cards can only be activated for the original amount at which the card was sold.
• If the preference is disabled, then gift cards can be activated for an amount different than the original amount.

Centrals Permissions
Note: This table only lists permissions directly related to centrals. Additional permissions that pertain to both centrals and non-centrals customer lookup and returns are available.

Permission	Description
POS - Add Central Gift Card	Controls the ability to sell and activate a new central gift card.
POS - Allow Negative Central Credit Balance	Controls the ability to update a transaction that results in a negative balance on a central gift card.
POS - Change Central Gift Card Expirations	Controls the ability to change the Expiration Date for central gift cards.
POS - Check Central Credit Balance	Controls the ability to check central credit balance.
POS - Check Central Gift Card Balance	Controls the ability to check a customer's central gift card balance.
Tenders - Give Central Gift Card	Controls the ability to give a central gift card as change.
Tenders - Return Central Gift Card	Controls the ability to select central gift card as a tender on an item return.
Tenders - Take Central Gift Card	Controls the ability to take a central gift card as payment.

SSL Certificates for Centrals
To use Centrals using SSL, a Centrals server's current SSL Certificate and Private Key need to be loaded in the SSL tab of Web TTK on the Centrals server. After restarting Apache on the Centrals server, to access Web TTK again, the URL must include the FQDN (hostname + Domain extension) of the Centrals server. Do not forget to clear the browser cache, as it remembers the unsecured connection and will interfere with secure access.
On each Prism server from which the Centrals server is accessed (including the Centrals server itself), the Centrals server name in Admin Console > Installation Defaults, should be entered as the Centrals server's FQDN. Additionally, each machine accessing the Centrals server must have loaded the Centrals server's Certification Authority's certificate IF that CA is not one of the common CAs for which the certificate is already available in Windows.

Central Customer Lookup
When Central Customer Lookup is enabled, and the user enters lookup information:

• When the connection to the Centrals Server is online, all centrals customer lookups ONLY go to the Centrals Server. Customer records looked up via centrals and selected are copied to the local database.
• When the connection to the Centrals Server is online, and a customer lookup returns no results, lookup will NOT switch to searching the local database. In other words, if the customer record exists only in the local DB, it will not be returned.
• When the connection the Centrals server is Offline, customers are first looked up in centrals. After the Centrals timeout expires (because the server is offline), customers are looked up in the local DB. This ‘lookup-failover' behavior ONLY happens when Centrals is offline. A toast message on screen will inform the user that Centrals is Offline and that local results are displayed.

Which Customers will be included in Centrals Lookup?

• All Customers in the same subsidiary where the lookup is being performed
• Global Customers from any subsidiary matching the search criteria
• Local/Not Shared Customers matching search criteria from the local SBS only

Logic Used for Customer Lookups in POS > Customer Lookup
In the Customer Lookup filter (POS > Customer Lookup), the following logic is used: (works identical to non-centrals lookup)
Lookup mode = ‘CONTAINS'. Lookup strings are: case insensitive, include partial matches, and wildcards are allowed. Note: Partial customer lookups at POS require a wildcard at the end. This is different than the ‘CONTAINS' lookups in the Customer module, which do not require a wildcard.
The same ‘Search By' fields are available in the customer module for centrals and non-centrals. These are determined by Grid format settings.
For customer lookup (in customer module), ALL regular customer lookup modifiers are available (EQUALS, CONTAINS, IS EMPTY etc.), and function the same way as when Centrals is not enabled/configured.
How Share Type field affects Search
Prism uses the "Share Type" field to control how customer records are shared among locations. Centrals Customer lookup will include Global customer from any Subsidiary matching search criteria, but will only return Local/Not Shared customers matching search criteria from default Subsidiary only.

New Customers when Central Customer Lookup is enabled
When set up for Centrals Customers, a new customer is created both locally and on the Centrals server (whether the customer is created in POS or Customer module).
Edits to Existing Customers when Central Customer Lookup is enabled
Edits to existing customers are made both locally and on the Centrals server.
Central Returns
There are two paths a user can take for a central return:

• Change the transaction type to "Return" and select the "Search for Receipt" option
• Change an individual item's type to "Return" and select the "Yes" option when prompted to search for the original transaction

Whichever path is taken, the transaction is searched for both in the Centrals server database and the local database.
Only transactions from the user's subsidiary are displayed in the results.

Document Lookups by SID when using Centrals
If Lookup Options are set to allow lookup by document SID, be aware that lookups by SID will work for the local database but not for the centrals database.

From Centrals checkbox on item returns, customer lookup
In the screenshot below, the "From Centrals" checkbox (read-only) is shown on an item return screen. The From Centrals checkbox will be selected when using central returns and/or central customer lookup.

Central Gift Cards
Central Gift Cards enable you to track and update gift card balances in real-time. Without centrals, gift cards are susceptible to "double-dipping" and other frauds due to time lags in communication of data. When using centrals, each time a customer redeems a gift card, the system verifies the card's current balance at the Centrals Server.
If preferences have been configured correctly (including enabling Central Gift Card tender in Tender Requirements preferences), when tendering a transaction, the Central Gift Card tender button will be available. Users can swipe the card using a non-encrypting card swipe or type the card number. For Centrals Gift card balance checks/transactions, currency conversion is applied, depending on the Base currency of the Subsidiary and exchange rates set in Admin Console > Global Preferences.
This rest of this section has information about working with Central Gift Cards:

• Central Gift Card Items
• Selling (activating) a Central Gift Card
• Redeeming a Central Gift Card
• Checking Balance of a Central Gift Card
• Adding Value to a Central Gift Card

Central Gift Card Items
Central Gift Cards can be sold as a line item or as a tender. 
Selling central gift cards as a line item requires defining one or more items in Inventory that have the Inventory Type field set to "Gift Card - Centrals." If the central gift cards are "prepaid," then define an Inventory item for each denomination of gift card. If the central gift cards are "stored value," define a single Inventory item.

• Predefined Amount: An inventory item is defined as a Central Gift Card.  A price/amount is defined in inventory.  When the central gift card is sold at POS, the price/amount cannot be changed.  The transaction is paid for and the card is activated by Centrals for the amount specified.
• Undefined Amount: An inventory item is defined as a Central Gift Card.  A price/amount is not defined in inventory.  When the central gift card is sold at POS, the Associate will be prompted to enter the gift card amount.  The transaction is paid for and the card is activated by Centrals for the amount specified.

Sample Central Gift Card Item (Inventory Type = Gift Card - Centrals):
 
Using Zero-Price Item for Selling Gift Cards of any Amount
Sometimes, retailers sell gift cards that can be any amount within a defined range (e.g., from 20 to 100 dollars). In such a case, you can create a "Zero-Price Item" and then enter the desired amount at POS when activating the card.
Entering Price for Central Gift Card Item at POS:

Taxable Central Gift Cards in VAT Environment
You can configure your system so that central gift card items are taxable. In some locales, law requires the retailer to charge VAT on the sale of gift cards. In such a VAT environment, make sure the Tax Code field is set to TAXABLE. This will ensure that tax is charged when the gift card item is sold. In a VAT environment, the sale of a gift card is a merchandise purchase and therefore subject to VAT. While it is true that the merchant in a sense "loses" the tax amount on the sale of the gift card; however, the amount is made up when the card is redeemed because using a gift card is considered an exchange and therefore is not taxed.

Central Gift Cards at POS
When using central gift cards, there are four possible transaction types:

• Purchase/Activate: When a customer buys a gift card, the gift card is activated and charged with value. The value on the card cannot be used until the card is activated.
• Redeem: When a customer uses a central gift card to pay for a transaction, the Associate selects "Central Gift Card" as the tender type.
• Check Balance: Associates can check the current balance of a gift card.
• Add Value: Add value recharges a gift card with additional funds.

Sell/Activate Central Gift Card
On a transaction, list the central gift card item.
Click the Tender Transaction button. The Gift Card Activation modal is displayed.

Click the card icon.
 
Scan the Gift Card Number.
Click OK to exit the modal.
Select the payment type and click the Take button. Tender and update the transaction. The Gift Card is pre-authorized for the amount specified.

Activating Gift Cards for Original Amount preference
An additional preference related to gift cards (including Central Gift Cards) is found in Node Preferences > Transactions > General, the "Activate Gift Cards for Original Amount" preference controls whether gift cards can be activated for an amount other than the original amount.

• If the "Activate Gift Cards for Original Amount" preference is enabled, gift cards can only be activated for the original amount at which the card was sold.
• If the preference is disabled, then gift cards can be activated for an amount different than the original amount.

Redeem a Central Gift Card
Click Tender Transaction. The tender screen shows the Amount Due.
Click the Tender Type button and click Central Gift Card.
Click the icon and then swipe the card number. Click Take. The amount redeemed as well as the card number are displayed on the tender screen.
Take additional tenders, if needed, and then print/update.

Check a Central Gift Card's Balance
You can check a card's balance outside of a transaction, or during a transaction.
To check the card balance outside of a transaction, on the transaction form, click the Options button and select Central Gift Card Details.

A modal is displayed for entering the card number. Swipe the card and click OK. Alternatively, if the barcode is damaged you can type the number. The balance of the card and its expiration date are displayed. Click OK to close.
 
To check the card balance on a transaction in progress, click Tender Type and select Central Gift Card.
Swipe the card and click the Balance button.
The Balance is displayed on the form under the Central Gift Card No.

Selling a Gift Card that exceeds the maximum value set in preferences
If the requested amount exceeds the allowed maximum, a prompt is displayed: "The requested amount exceeds the allowed maximum. Would you like to add the maximum value to this Central Gift Card?" If you click Yes, the requested amount will be added to the central gift card. If you click No, only the amount that will bring the central gift card up to its maximum balance is added to the card.

Duplicate Card Numbers
Users are not allowed to enter the same gift card number for multiple central gift card items on the same document. If they do they will be greeted with the red toasty listed below. User will have to select the tender button again to get prompted to enter a different gift card.

Central Store Credit
About Central Credit IDs
When a customer initially buys Centrals Credit (or credit is given as change), a unique Credit code/ID is issued for that customer. Any subsequent Centrals Credit transaction by that customer will use the same unique centrals Credit ID. This code is tied to the original customer but can be used for redemption or adding value to it by anybody who has that code (e.g., family members). The balance of the Credit ID is updated after each transaction.
This code that is displayed in the Prism UI on the Tender screen is a Base36 representation of the much longer SID for that transaction. In the Prism GUI, the SID is converted to Base36, which is shorter and alphanumeric. For example, SID 581930977000226807 would be converted to 4F5XBC85CYRB
A customer's central credit (updated) balance is replicated as part of the customer record to any other station set up for replication. However, even though central credit balance is visible when looking up a customer in the Customer module (in the ‘Payments' tab), that balance is not useable for transactions if the Prism server is not set up to use Centrals functionality.
Central Credit is only available when the Prism server that the user is currently logged into is configured to use Centrals.
Currency Conversion for Central Credit
Prism Centrals performs currency conversion when calculating Customer Central Credit or Central Gift Card balances, based on the Base currency of the Subsidiary and current exchange rates as set in Admin Console > Global Preferences > Currency > Exchange Rates. For example, Global Customer X in Subsidiary 1 (e.g. in US, $) buys $50 in Centrals Credit. If Customer X visits a store in Subsidiary 2 (e.g., in Paris, €), his Centrals Credit would show something like €38. Another example: A customer buys a Centrals Gift Card in Sub1 for $50. In Sub2 (in €), his balance would be something like €19, depending on exchange rates.

Issue New Central Credit as Change
Create a new transaction using normal procedures.
Touch or click the Tender Transaction button
Take payment using the desired tender. If the taken amount exceeds the Amount Due, there will be a Give amount. This is the amount of change to give back to the customer.
Select Store Credit as the Tender Type. Click Give.
 
The Change section shows the Central Credit issued.

Redeem Central Credit
Start a new transaction. Enter the customer and list the items being purchased. The customer's central credit balance is shown. In addition, the server status (online or offline) is shown.
 
Touch or click the Tender Transaction button. If the customer has central credit available, a prompt is displayed.
Select Yes to use the central credit
 
The Take Store Credit modal is displayed, showing the Tender Type set to Central Credit. Click the Take button. 
The tenders section lists the Central Credit as redeemed.

Offline Mode
About Prism Centrals Resiliency
Even the most reliable Internet connections may occasionally suffer a loss of connectivity. For merchants, even a brief interruption in the connection with the server can result in significant losses. RP Prism Centrals includes an offline mode to gracefully handle situations in which the connection to the Centrals server is lost.
When the connection to the Centrals server is lost, RP Prism will continue to allow you to make transactions. In the case of Central Credit, you can define an Offline Take Limit that places a ceiling on the amount for any single offline transaction. When the connection is restored, transactions completed when the centrals server was offline are sent to the Centrals Server.
Offline mode' is defined as ‘Centrals Service not available'. This could be caused by  a variety of problems, including:

• The Centrals hostname/IP address was entered incorrectly and cannot be found
• The Centrals server is down
• The Centrals Server is up, but the PrismPOSV1 service on the Centrals server is not running.

The frequency with which resiliency tries to re-connect to the Centrals server is the ‘Interval' value (in minutes) defined in Admin Console > Installation Defaults. Enter the number of minutes Prism should wait before checking again to see if the connection to the Centrals server has been restored. For example, entering a value of 5 means that a check will be done every five minutes until the connection is restored.
PrismResiliencyServer.exe
The Prism Server Installer adds the PrismResiliencyServer.exe to the file system and installs the PrismResiliencyService in the "C:\Program Files (x86)\RetailPro\Resiliency" folder. The PrismResiliencyService.exe facilitates the ability to create Central Credit and Central Gift Card transactions while offline. The Resiliency service will run automatically according to the Interval defined in Installation Defaults. You can run the service outside of the interval by clicking the "Run Resiliency" button.

Prism Centrals Resiliency Settings
In Admin Console > Node Preferences > Transactions > Centrals, the Central Server Settings area has a button to start the Resiliency Service. The interface includes various read-only fields that display status and other resiliency-related information.

Preference	Description
Service State	The current state of the service: Active or Sleeping.
Last Cycle	Displays the date/time of the last connection and the status of the connection.
Status of Last Cycle	Displays the number of offline transactions or the message "No Offline Transactions Found".
Next Cycle	Displays the date/time of the next scheduled check of the resiliency connection.
Run Resiliency	Click the Run Resiliency button to immediately start the Resiliency connection process (otherwise, the Resiliency service runs automatically according to the Interval defined in Installation Defaults).

Basic Steps for Centrals Resiliency
1.    If using Central Credit, define an Offline Take Limit in Node Preferences > Transactions > Centrals.
2.    Perform transactions as usual. 
3.    When your connection is restored, Prism will send the transactions performed while offline to the Centrals server.
Central Customer Lookup in Offline Mode
When the connection to the centrals server is offline, Central customer lookup will call out to the centrals server to retrieve the customer. When the timeout expires, a prompt is displayed asking if the local database should be checked.
Central Returns in Offline Mode
When the connection to the centrals server is offline, if a user does a central return, Prism will first check the Centrals server for the original transaction. After the number of seconds specified in the Timeout setting, a prompt is displayed. The user has three options:

• Retry: Click the Retry button to search the Centrals server again
• Local: Click the Local button to search the local database.
• Cancel: Click the Cancel button to cancel the search

If the transaction is found on either the Centrals server or the local database, the return can proceed.
Central Credit in Offline Mode
When the connection to the centrals server is offline and a customer is entered on a transaction, Prism will first check the Centrals server. After the number of seconds defined in the Timeout setting, Prism will pull the last-known Centrals Credit balance for the customer in the local database. Under the customer's name on the transaction form will be an indication that Central Credit is offline. The user can do an Add Value or Redeem transaction up to the "Max Amount" defined in Node Preferences > Transaction > Centrals.
Important! Centrals Credit lookup by Credit ID is not functional in Offline mode, only lookup by customer.
Central Gift Cards in Offline Mode
Only activation of central gift cards is allowed in offline mode. Redemption and balance check is not allowed.
Offline Messages

• During Central Customer Lookup, if the Centrals server cannot be reached, when the number of seconds specified in the Timeout value have elapsed, a message is displayed: "Centrals Server is Offline: Local results will be displayed"
• If the Centrals server cannot be reached, or the entered username or password is incorrect, a message is displayed: "Centrals Server not Connected"
• In POS, when ‘offline', the line underneath the listed customer that indicates the Centrals Credit balance will show ‘(Offline)'
• In the Tender screen, when Offline, the Centrals Credit Tender chosen will show ‘(Offline)'.

Replication and Centrals
Replication of Centrals Preferences
The preference defined in Node Preferences > Transactions > Centrals are replicated throughout the enterprise. Care must be taken to set these preferences at the desired level and then avoid overwriting the settings at lower-level nodes.
The Centrals server settings defined in Installation Defaults are not replicated; they must be entered on each machine running centrals.
Replication of Central Credit Balances
A customer's central credit (updated) balance is replicated as part of the customer record to any other station set up for replication. However, even though central credit balance is visible when looking up a customer in the Customer module (in the ‘Payments' tab), that balance is not useable for transactions if the Prism server is not set up to use Centrals functionality.