Introduction
Configuration of LightSpeed is, in fact, a 2-step process. There are a group of settings that must be configured for the software to function - the creation of Products and the addition of your company information are two examples. The second group of settings are intended to help you maximize the software, to streamline your workflows and add functionality and flexibility over and above what a standard configuration can achieve. This article outlines the required configurations; Configuration II outlines that second group of settings.
A solid setup is vital.
It will allow you to keep your inventory and costs clear and untangled, it will provide you with an accurate portrait of your store and its assets, and, most importantly, it will save you the time of the extra work involved in "repairing" a mis-configured system. Please follow the instructions here closely, and in the order in which they appear. It is recommended that once your configurations are complete, you spend time testing a typical day in your store with LightSpeed, perhaps with dummy Products and Customers, to ensure your expectations are met. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact our Support department.
Tools > Setup > Utilities > Backup Database > Schedule
Before any other configuration of LightSpeed, it is essential that you set and understand the options related to LightSpeed backups. There are two methods of backing up LightSpeed - manual and scheduled. For an optimal backup schedule, Xsilva recommends you select "Every Day" at a time when no one is logged into the database. Your database will initially only take seconds to back up, but as the number of your Customers, Products, and transactions increase, so, too, will the length of time required for a backup.
IMPORTANT!
You must set your Energy Saver System Preference (Apple Menu > System Preferences) "Computer Sleep" setting to Never, on both your server and client computers. Allowing your computer to sleep at anytime will disrupt communication between the client and server computers, and could prevent your database from being backed up at all. A full set of backup instructions can be found here.
Please verify that your database is being backed up regularly at Macintosh HD > Users > Shared > LightSpeed > Backups.
Select Every Day, choose the time for the backup to occur (example: 2 hours after close of business). Click Save.
Tools > Setup > Basics > Company
Company, Addresses and Contact Info, Fine Print Sections
To start, enter your Company name, along with your Billing and Shipping Addresses, Phone Numbers, Email Addresses, and Web Site Addresses in the available fields. The Fine Print section allows you to enter the fine print that prints at the bottom of Quotes, SROs, Invoices, Orders, Purchase Orders, Supplier Invoices, and AR statements.
Logo
LightSpeed can store a 192 x 192 pixel JPEG logo for your Company. Drag a JPEG file to the Logo section, and the image will be scaled and saved to the database. This logo will show up on all your printed sales documents. To remove the logo, click the ‘X’ button.
General Preferences
The bottom of the Company panel is dedicated to preferences for various functions of LightSpeed. The Enable Inventory Reservations feature should be pre-defined as enabled, allowing you to reserve inventory on Orders. If you do not reserve Products for Customers, disabling this feature will make it impossible to reserve stock on Orders. This is also where you set your Date Format and Time Format as they will appear in the software and on printed documents.
Searching Preferences
The Search Current Products Only checkbox will, when enabled, disregard Products with their “current” status deselected in the Product card when searched in the Browser, the POS, or in sales documents, as long as they have no inventory quantities. Deselecting the Search Only After User Types ‘Return’ checkbox will enable the “Search as you type” feature, resulting in search results that narrow as you continue to type. Leaving this box checked will require hitting the Return key after you’ve entered your search term. The Combine Scanned Quantities for Documents/POS checkboxes will tally quantities of the same Product Code scanned into sales documents or the POS – deselecting them will create multiple line items for the same Product Code when it is scanned or typed in. Disable Cover Flow will remove the Cover Flow layout from both the POS and Browser (Cover Flow is a layout which will allow you to browse your Customers, Products, and Suppliers by their images).
Status Preferences
The checkboxes listed here will allow you to automatically mark sales documents as “invoiced” when they’ve been converted into an Invoice. This status is used in Trackers and Smart Finds and simple searches in the Browser.
Tools > Setup > Basics > Privileges
The Privileges setup panel allows an Administrator to determine which groups of Users can access which privileges in LightSpeed. Click a Privilege Group to display the associated privileges. By default, LightSpeed has four Privilege Groups: ‘Administrator’, ‘Manager’, ‘Salesperson’ and ‘Technician’. These can be modified so that their Privilege set suits the business’s requirements and can be duplicated to create variations on their Privilege set.
Click on an Access setting to select a new Access setting from a popup menu. Each Privilege within a Privilege Group can have one of five Access settings:
Each Privilege has the ability to be recorded in a log each time it is performed, or attempted and refused, by checking a checkbox in the Log column. When a checkbox is selected, the Log feature (Tools > Utilities > Log) will keep a record of all Users who attempt or perform this Privilege, as well as when it happens, and, when applicable, to which document ID. This feature will allow you to review the deletion of records, the editing of documents, and much more, months or years after the fact.
Tools > Setup > Basics > Users
Administrators should create all Users that need access to the system in the Users setup panel. When creating a new User, you can enter their First Name, Last Name, Email, and Phone Number, and the Login Username and Password that they will log in with. The Login Username and Password are case-sensitive.
It is recommended that you create a new Administrator account upon first login, following the steps and guidelines for passwords outlined below. PCI compliance also requires users to change the existing Administrator username and password upon first login. Do not forget this information.
The Privilege Group popup menu allows you to set which Privilege Group each User belongs. Please see Configuration II for more information on configuring Privilege Groups. Can Connect to LightSpeed Server allows you to determine whether the User is currently allowed to log in, useful after an employee is no longer employed with the company.
Advanced
The Job Product field allows you to associate a Product you’ve created to represent any labor fees you want to charge for this User’s time when used in conjunction with the Timesheets/Jobs features. The GSX Tech ID field is used in the Carry-In Repair function of LightSpeed's integration with Apple's GSX parts ordering database. Launch Point of Sale after login will log a User directly into the POS screen, and may be used in conjunction with Privileges to prevent a User from leaving the POS and entering the Browser. Can connect with On-Target Reports allows a User to access LightSpeed's add-on report building, On-Target Reports.
PCI Data Security Standards and User Information
In compliance with PCI Data Security Standards, LightSpeed requires Users to create, modify, and change passwords according to guidelines set out in Xsilva's Guide to the PCI Data Security Standard for LightSpeed Users. These requirements are outlined here, and are effective in LightSpeed as of LightSpeed 3.3.
User passwords in LightSpeed must:
In accordance with PCI Data Security Standards, LightSpeed will disable accounts that have not been accessed for 90 days until an administrator "unlocks" the account in the User setup panel. LightSpeed will also disable user accounts that have had the incorrect password entered five times in succession at login. In this case, the account is only locked for 30 minutes, at which point the User may again try to log in. A LightSpeed adminstrator can, however, unlock the account during this 30 minutes in the User setup panel.
For more information, please see the entire Guide to the PCI Data Security Standard for LightSpeed Users posted here.
Creating Users and Passwords in LightSpeed
Changing Passwords in LightSpeed
The first time a User logs in, LightSpeed will prompt them to change their password from the Admin-assigned one they were given to one that adheres to the guidelines outlined above.
LightSpeed users can also change their own password at any time. The LightSpeed Administrator can also change any employee’s pass- word by editing their employee record. After initial setup, PCI compliance requires that users change the Administrator username and password upon first login.
To change their LightSpeed password, users simply:
Editing or deleting Users will not remove them from any sales documents that they have been associated with.
Tools > Setup > Basics > ID Numbers
Administrators can set the starting ID numbers for Quotes, SROs, Orders, Invoices, PO’s, Jobs, Timesheets, Supplier Invoices, Products, Customers, Suppliers, and Gift Cards by selecting the type and entering the ‘Next ID’ number. You cannot set the ‘Next ID’ number to lower than the ‘Last ID’ number used.
It is recommended that you set your first Invoice ID to the value following the sequence of your previous invoicing system (if applicable). For example, if the last value of your previous system was "5692", you should set your LightSpeed Invoice ID to begin at 5693.
Tools > Setup > Advanced > Currencies
LightSpeed can handle multiple Currencies, which are set up in the Currency Setup panel. The primary Currency used in your business must be set as the Default Currency with a Currency rate of ‘1’ and the Currency Rates of all other Currency Rates must be set correctly in reference to the Default Currency.
To set the rates of your non-default currencies, calculate how much default currency that 1 unit of your non-default currency would buy. For example, if your default currency is US (at a rate of 1), and you want to add Canadian currency, click New and set the Canadian currency to the current rate of 1 CDN dollar to US currency.
Tools > Setup > Basics > Taxes
The Taxes Section of the Taxes Setup panel is where an Administrator will enter the names of up to five taxes and set their GL Accounts. For a detailed outline on configuring your taxes, please see the Taxes article.
Tax Codes specify which taxes and which rates are charged in a particular jurisdiction or circumstance. The default Tax Code is the Tax Code that is used when creating a new sales document, and is set in the Station Setup panel. You can create additional Tax Codes for charging out-of-state taxes. An unlimited number of Tax Codes can be created. Tax Codes affect the taxes charged on a per-document basis.
Tax Statuses are used for particular tax exemptions. If a Customer is entitled to certain tax exemptions, or a Product is exempt from certain taxes, one can apply the corresponding Tax Status.
Taxes also have the ability to be configured according the local specifications, accessible only by checking the Show Specialized Tax Features checkbox. In the column marked (1), you can indicate a maximum dollar value for the tax collected. In (2), the checkbox indicates the tax is compounded on the sum of the subtotal plus the taxes. In (3), the checkbox indicates a tax that is Paid and must be assigned a GL Account for the export to the accounting package.
These specialized tax features are particular to a few geographic regions, such as Australia, Alaska, and Quebec, and should NOT be used unless absolutely required.
At the bottom of the main Tax window, there is a checkbox that enables LightSpeed to calculate its taxes differently. The Tax Inclusive Prices feature is designed for regions with particular tax calculation involving a requirement for tax-in totals. It is recommended that unless you are in such a region, you do not use this option.
Tools > Setup > Places > (City, State/Province, Country)
Pre-defined lists of commonly-used Cities, States/Provinces and Countries can be set up in these Setup panels. Select arrows on the City, State/Province, and Country fields of the Customer window allow Users to select an item from these pre-defined lists. You can add to these lists by clicking New, entering the name, and clicking Save. You can also choose the default city by clicking the checkbox.
Non-Administrator Users can add to the lists by clicking the “+” icon on the Select window in sales documents. A new Customer box will come up and if the city is not in the list, the “+” icon can be clicked in the drop down menu to add it.
Toolbar > Supplier Icon
Before any costing, ordering, or purchasing functions are possible, it is necessary to create your Suppliers. Click the Supplier icon in the toolbar to create a new Supplier card.
Enter the contact and address information for each Supplier. This list of Suppliers will be used to indicate where you buy a particular Product in its Product card, which is necessary for cost information and the assembly of your Purchase Orders.
The Tax Status associated with each Supplier dictates which taxes, if any, apply to the Purchase Orders for that Supplier.
Suppliers may be imported in a batch - see the Importing article in this section of for more information.
Tools > Setup > Products > (Classes, Families)
Classes and Families are how you categorize your Products, necessary for sales reporting, batch price changes, and searches. Classes are normally set as the Product categories you wish to set for your Products – speakers, accessories, dresses, chairs, etc. Families are normally set as the name of the manufacturer – Apple, Sony, Honda, Nike, etc. However, it is entirely up to you how you define them. Classes and Families are set in the Product card from these pre-defined lists. For more information, please see the Products Overview article.
When importing Products, the Classes and Families you’re importing must already be in the pre-defined lists for Classes and Families, exactly as they appear in the source data, for the import to work properly.
Tools > Setup > Basics > Payment Methods
LightSpeed allows Administrators to set up fifteen Payment Methods that can be selected on the Invoice to record Payments from Customers. Payment Methods can be assigned a type that determines whether extra information is collected on the Payment screen. For example, a Credit Card Type displays a field where the User can enter the Authorization Number of the transaction. Payment Method types are also used for various reports, including the End of Day report, and Payment reports.
Specifying a Payment Method as Credit Card also sets it up to process internally through an authorized internal credit card processor if one is specified in the Credit Card Processing setup. The following is a list of LightSpeed's payment partners. Please contact LightSpeed Sales for more information.
If you are going to be using LightSpeed’s Gift Card feature, you must create a Payment Method for gift cards, and assign the type Gift Card to it. GL Accounts can also be set for Payment Methods if exporting to accounting software is required.
Opening Cash Drawer Based on Payment Method
Beginning in 3.6. users can set their cash drawer to kick open based on the Payment Method used to pay an Invoice. To do this, go to Tools > Setup > Basics > Payment Methods. Double-click any Payment Method, and in the resulting slide-out window, check the Open Cash Drawer setting. This will open the cash drawer when this Payment Method is used, regardless of connection (USB, via receipt printer, or via serial adapter).
Setting Printed Copies Based on Payment Method
Beginning in 3.6, users can set a specific number of printed copies for Invoices based on the Payment Method. For example, if a customer pays by cash, a retailer may choose to have only one copy of the Invoice printed, but set LightSpeed to print two copies if the payment method is credit card. To set the number of copies printed per Payment Method, go to Tools > Setup > Basics > Payment Methods. Double-click any Payment Method, and in the resulting slide-out window, set the desired number of printed copies when this Payment Method is used. To set whether to display the OS X Print Dialog box, go to Tools > Station Setup. This setting affects all Payment Methods.
File > Station Setup
The window for establishing the settings for the POS screen can be found in the File menu, under the menu item Station Setup. This is the window where an administrator will choose settings for a particular station’s POS hardware, printing configuration, and various defaults for POS screen, including tax configuration, search settings, and customer type.
If the receipt printer is chosen, it will only be accessed when printing Invoices. All other documents – Quotes, SROs, and Orders – will be printed in Full-Page format.
You may also choose to disable the print dialog box when printing. By entering a positive value in the Print Copies field, that number of invoices will be printed without a dialog box. Again, this is only applicable to Invoices – a print dialog will appear for other documents. If the value is set to zero, a dialog box will appear for Invoices, as well.
You must initially set up your printers using Printer Setup, to select your full-page, receipt, and label printers.
For more information, please see the Printing article of the User Guide.
Terminals
If you are using a payment terminal to process credit and debit payments, please see the POS Hardware article on configuration.
Cash Drawer and Pole Display
If you are configuring a cash drawer or pole display, select the method of connection in the pop-up menu, and the port you’re using. For more information, see the POS Hardware chapter.
Defaults
VOIP
LightSpeed integrates with webFones PBX and Skype to call Customers directly from the Customer card. To integrate with Skype, simply select Skype and click Save. When you click the Call icon in a Customer card, Skype will automatically launch and dial the main number listed. To integrate with webFones, you must enter the Passcode provided to you when arranging your account.
Scheduling
LightSpeed integrates with iCal and Now-Up-To-Date for appointment scheduling. Select which calendar application you are using. Then, in the Customer card, click the appropriate icon in the lower left-hand corner. A pop-up calendar will appear that allows you to create an appointment for the Customer.
File > Station Setup
The Printer Setup panel is where you select the printers you wish to use for your full-page, receipt, and label layouts. You should see your available printers in the pop-up menus.
Full-Page Printer
You must define a Full-Page printer, even if your station is only printing Invoices to a receipt printer. If you do not have a full-page printer accessible, you can create a "fake" printer in OS X Print & Fax System Preferences, using the following steps.
1. Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > Print & Fax.
2. Click the + icon to add a new printer.
3. In the Add Printer window, click the IP icon, then enter "127.0.0.1" in the Address field, and tab out of the field.
4. Click Add when the button is accessible.
5. Go back to LightSpeed's Printer Setup window, and select "127.0.0.1" as your Full Page printer.
Full page printers are used for printing reports, Quotes, Orders, SROs, Purchase Orders, and can be used for printing End of Day reports and Invoices. A receipt printer can be used for printing End of Day reports and Invoices. A label printer can be used to print Product pricing labels, or Customer address labels.
Tools > Setup > Point of Sale > POS Setup
The POS Setup window allows you to add your logo to the POS screen, enable Cover Flow for browsing Customers and Products by their image, and more.
Products can be created two ways. The first is to click the New Product icon in the tool bar at the top of the screen, and fill the information in manually, including Product Code, Description, Costs, and Price. If you have a text file of a group of Products, these can be imported as a batch using Import Tools. This text file could be one your Supplier provides, or it could be a file you’d exported from your previous software.
The most essential fields to set when creating Products are Family and Class, since much of your pricing and searching will be based on these criteria, and the Cost/Supplier grid, where you indicate where you buy this Product and for how much.
One of the Suppliers in this grid will be known as your Default Supplier, and this status is how outstanding Order Requests are sorted into Purchase Orders, in the Actions tab.
If the Product is a Parent Product of a set of Size-Color combination Child Products, you can create the combination Products using the Size-Color Matrix. (see below)
Products can be changed or updated in batches using Import Tools, Set Selling Prices, or Set Product Info.
It is advisable to make the Product’s attributes and categories as accurate as possible before adding it to sales documents or Purchase Orders, particularly if it’s serialized, as these attributes fuse with a document once the Product is added. In other words, changing an attribute of a Product won’t necessarily update that Product on the document it’s been added to previously.
More information can be found in the Products section of the User Guide, or the Importing article.
Customers can also be created two ways – manually, and by an import. Customer cards can also be known as profiles or accounts, and they make it possible to store information about a particular Customer, their discount levels, groups they belong to, contacts within the organization, and any credits or outstanding balances they’ve incurred.
Customer Categories as outlined above are set in the Customer card, and will prompt discounts being applied to sales documents. Customer Groups and Custom Fields are displayed in the Options tab, allowing you to group your Customers in endless ways, send them email blasts, and to collect and search data that is unique to your business.
Like Products, Customers can be updated in the database using Import Tools, without having to recreate the Customers, to edit one or more fields in a batch of records.
More information can be found in the Customers section of the User Guide, or the Importing article.
Inventoried Products that have been created in the system should have their quantities set to reflect what you physically have in your store. There are several ways to set your inventory levels in LightSpeed:
Please see the Count Inventory and Inventory and Purchasing sections for more information. Xsilva recommends that you carefully consider the method with which you choose to set your inventory levels. Purchase Orders are recommended for Products that have been ordered from Suppliers, and Count Inventory is recommended for setting initial stock levels when setting up LightSpeed, or for processing periodic counts. Manual adjustments are recommended only for occasional and infrequent additions of low additions of stock owing to unusual circumstances. Xsilva does not recommend Import Tools or Set Product Info to be used for setting inventory levels.
Serialized Products can have their serial numbers entered manually, on a Purchase Order, or using Count Inventory. It is advisable to have the number of serial numbers you’re adding dictate the quantity that is set for that item, but if you have a discrepancy, it can be found and fixed in Tools > Utilities > Troubleshooting > SNs Do Not Match Inventory.
