Multi-Store

Essential Points

• Each location of a multi-store chain has a central, server-powered database
• Each database communicates with other locations defined in the Multi-Store Setup panel using static external IP addresses
• Other locations are added in the Multi-Store Setup panel
• Stores can look up inventory levels of like Products in other locations from either the POS or the Browser
• Stores can transfer stock to and from other locations on Transfers, whose behavior is similar to that of a Purchase Order
• The “sending” store creates a Transfer Out to send the stock, and the receiving store creates a Transfer In to bring it in
• Stock that is “in transit” can be accounted for on a GL account when using LightSpeed’s Accounting Exports feature
• Products must exist in each location for lookups and transfers to work, and match Product Code

Introduction

Setting up LightSpeed’s Multi-Store features is a fast, easy process. For Multi-Store to work, Xsilva highly recommends a static external IP for each location.  In a typical Multi-Store setting where “Replication” is in use, there is one Master Store that is used to “pull” Products from, as well as any Suppliers that don’t exist in the “target” store. There can only be one Master database across your multi-store chain. It is not advisable to change which store is your Master once it has been set.

Note: It is essential that you give each store a unique Store Code - a short identifier used when linking stores - and that you do not change this Store Code once you have linked any other locations to your own. Doing so will interrupt Multi-Store’s features. 

• You should be on the newest version of LightSpeed 3 prior to enabling Multi-Store
• Back up both Master and Target databases prior to using the Replication feature
• You must first open the specific port LightSpeed uses for remote login. Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > LightSpeed Server to find this port.  Open this port on your router.  Contact Xsilva Support if you have questions. 

Initial Setup For Each Store

Tools > Setup > Advanced > Multi-Store > Setup

1. Select Enable Multi-Store to enable Multi-Store
2. Give your store a unique Store Code (eg. BKN or AUST) and click Save. You must complete this step for each Store before adding any Store to another. 
3. If you want your Store Codes to appear on your Document IDs, check Use Store Codes on Document IDs.
4. (For one store only) Choose which one among your locations will be your Master Store. The Master Store is used for Replication, and is the database used to create or update Products in the other locations.  THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE MASTER STORE.  To enable a store as the Master Store, check "Master Store".  Click Save. 
5. Choose which fields you wish to match on. Product Code will be fine if your Product Codes are all unique; if not, choose a combination that will be unique to one Product. 
6. Click the Stores tab. Click Add Store. 
7. Enter Store name, the static Server IP of the store you’re adding (eg. 204.543.23.87:9632, where "9632" is the port which allows access to the database on the server - for more information, see the Installation & Networking article), and the Username and Password to log in. Click Save.
8. Select the features you want enabled:

Active Store - allows a Store to be recognized

Inventory Look Up - allows you to see the Store’s inventory levels

Gift Card Look Up - allows you to check/modify balances of Gift Cards sold at other Store

Returns - allows you to return merchandise sold at the other Store

Features

The Multi-Store features of LightSpeed are divided into two groupings; the basic set, which include Inventory Lookups and Cross-store Transfers, are available to all LightSpeed users. The extended “Multi-Store Pro” set includes Product Replication, Cross-store Gift Cards, Returns, and Reporting. 

Inventory Lookups

To look up a Product in another store, click the This Store bubble that is revealed when the Inventory statuses are disclosed upon clicking the main Inventory bubble, either in the POS screen or the Preview Pane of the Browser. Click the location you wish to search, and the statuses that are displayed will be those of the other store. 

If the Product does not match with one in the location you’re searching, based on what you’ve selected in the Multi-Store Setup panel, you will receive a dialog that says the Product could not be found in that location.  

Cross-Store Transfers

Managing your company’s multiple stores is simple with Multi-Store Transfers, allowing you to quickly transfer stock into and out of separate databases, and streamlining the movement of inventory from one store to another.  Transfers are recorded in the inventory tab of Product cards once they are completed. You can consult the Reporting module for a list of Transfer reports that can be run to update you of the status of Transfers that are incoming, outgoing, and in transit. 

The basic process for transferring stock from one location to another is (detailed instructions follow): 

1. Create a Transfer Out in the store of origin (Store A).
2. Enter quantities in the Sending tab to remove stock from Store A’s inventory.  The status will be In Transit. 
3. Receive the Transfer In at the receiving store (Store B).
4. Enter the quantities you’re receiving to bring the stock into Store B’s inventory. The Transfer Out in Store A should now have a Sent status.

Transfers Out

1. To create a pending Transfer Out, choose Send Transfer Out from the File menu, and populate the Transfer with the Store and Product information. All Product quantities must be negative in order for the Products to be removed from your inventory when the Transfer is completed.
2. Go to File > Send Transfer Out. Choose the location where you are transferring stock.
3. Add Products to the Transfer as you would add Products to a Purchase Order. As you add a Product to the Transfer, notice that the default quantity is negative 1. If you modify the quantity, you must retain negative values in order to remove the Product from your inventory and for the Transfer to work properly.
4. Click Save.
5. Click the Sending tab to confirm the quantities once you are physically sending them out the door. Enter the appropriate quantities in the Qty Sent column. If you are sending a serialized Product, you must then click the Product line and add the serial number(s). Note: You must transfer out ALL quantities on the Transfer. You cannot process a partial Transfer Out.
6. Once you have entered the Qty Sent values for all your Products, click Send. The Product quantities have now been removed from your stock levels, and the Transfer is now "In Transit" until the receiving location receives the Transfer In at their location, at which point the status of the Transfer Out will automatically switch to "Sent".

You can view all of your Transfers Out in the Browser by clicking the Transfers Out source.

Transfers In

1. To update the list of your pending incoming transfers, click the Transfers In icon in your Source list, and then click the Receive Transfer In icon at the bottom of the Browser. Receiving the Transfer In will bring the stock into your available inventory.
2. Go to File > Receive Transfer In, or click the Receive Transfer In button at the bottom of the Browser. In the resulting window, click the pop-up menu to choose the location from where you are expecting a Transfer In. (see image)
3. Select the Transfer you wish to receive, and click the Create Transfer In button. LightSpeed will create a new Transfer In which you can then bring into your inventory.
4. Click the Receiving tab. Enter the quantities of stock that you are receiving. If you are receiving a serialized Product, enter the serial number(s) you are receiving. Click Save. The quantities have now been added to your inventory, and taken out of the inventory of the sending store. Once a transfer is received, its status will automatically reflect the change., as will the status of the Transfer Out from the sending store.

You can view all of your Transfers In in the Browser by clicking the Transfers In source.

Cancelling

You can cancel transfers that are in the In Transit status by changing the status to Cancelled. This will bring the Products back into your inventory.

GL Account

In the Supplier card of the other stores, you can set an asset GL account that will be included in the export file of transfers when you export transactions to QuickBooks or MYOB. This GL account may be the same for each of your stores, if you are using one GL account to track all your chain's inventory, or unique per store, if you are tracking inventory value per locaiton. For more information, see the Accounting Exports help document on the Training User Guide page of our website. 

Replication

Replication can be used to duplicate the products and suppliers created in the database of your Master Store to simplify the creation of these products in your other locations ("Child" stores), as well as to replicate any modifications made to existing products in the Master Store to the Child stores, ensuring data is kept consistent. Replication can only reproduce products and suppliers from the Master Store to the Child stores, not the other way around.

Important for Multi-Store users of LightSpeed 3.x 

LightSpeed changes the way Replications operate beginning with version 3.2.  Please see the section appropriate to your version below for instructions on Replication. However, it is recommended that you upgrade to LightSpeed 3.2 or higher and follow the Replication instructions for this verison. 

If you have Multi-Store enabled and are a running a version of LightSpeed earlier than 3.2, please refer to this KnowledgeBase article for detailed instructions on on updating your Multi-Store Replication once you have upgraded to 3.2 or higher. 

LightSpeed 3.2

LightSpeed uses a "pull" method for Replication, where each store pulls Product information from the Master Store. 

To use the Replication feature of LightSpeed, you must indicate which of your stores is your Master. The Master Store is the database from which all "target" Stores will receive all their Product Replications. It is recommended that you ensure Product Codes are unique before replicating your database.

Prior to replicating, you must ensure that the following fields are identical in both your Master and Target Stores: Families, Classes, Terms, Currencies, Custom Fields, Colors, Sizes. If you replicate a Product where one of these fields that does not match with the target database, Replication will notify you. Please see the section Export/Import of Replication Settings for more information. 

You may only have one Master Store, and it is not recommended to change this status once it is set. The Master Store is indicated by the letter "M" in your list of Stores in the Multi-Store panel (Tools > Setup > Advanced > Multi-Store). 

To replicate the Products from the Master Store to a "target" Store; 

1. Go to Tools > Multi-Store in the store database you wish to pull to (ie. NOT the Master Store).
2. Click Start - this will replicate ALL existing Products and/or Suppliers in the Master Store to the target Store. 

Your target Store(s) should now have in its database all Products in the Master Store, as well as any Suppliers that existed in the Master Store but did not yet exist in the target.  

Exemptions

There may be some Products you do not wish to have replicated in their entirety. For example, a Product that is set to sell on a Web Store connected to non-Master Store, but isn't set to sell on Web Store in the Master Store database. In addition to the "Do Not Replicate" checkbox that will "cloak" a Product entirely from being replicated, the following exemptions are possible to set for the entire Product database of the target Stores:

"Replicate" vs "Update" - exempting Replication will prevent the population of any Products created through Replication from being having, for example, the "sell on Web Store" attribute set; exempting the update of replicated Products will prevent any modification to existing Products and their settings if the setting has been changed in the Master Store. 

Sell on LightSpeed Web Store - exempts Replication from either replicating or updating the "Sell on Web Store" checkbox found in the Web tab of the Product card

Reorder Points and Amounts - exempts either the replication or updating of the Reorder Points/Amounts found in the Inventory tab of the Product card

GL Account Mappings - exempts either the replication or updating of the GL Accounts found in the GL tab of the Product card

Export/Import of Replication Settings

Because Replication relies on identical settings for the fields mentioned above (Families, Classes, etc) between the Master and Target Stores, you are able to export these settings and more from the Master Store, and import them into the target Store prior to Replication. Go to Tools > Setup > Advanced > Multi-Store, and click Import/Export. Click the Export button to select the elements you wish to export, dragging them from column 1 to column 2, and then clicking Export. LightSpeed will save a text-file to your hard drive that can then be opened in the target Store using the same procedure by choosing the Import button. The elements will be imported into your target Store. 

LightSpeed 3.0 - 3.1.1 

LightSpeed 3.0 - 3.1.1 uses a "push" method for Replication, where the Master Store pushes out Product info to the target Stores. It is strongly recommended that you upgrade to version 3.2 and use the Replication method outlined above. However, you must use the Refresh Store Codes feature as described in the note bubble above after upgrading for Replication to adopt the "pull" methodology. 

To use the Replication feature of LightSpeed, you must indicate which of your stores is your Master. The Master Store is the database from which all "target" Stores will receive all their Product Replications. It is recommended that you ensure Product Codes are unique before replicating your database. 

Prior to replicating, you must ensure that the following fields are identical in both your Master and Target Stores: Families, Classes, Terms, Currencies, Custom Fields, Colors, Sizes, Web Categories, Web Keywords. If you replicate a Product where one of these fields that does not match with the target database, Replication will notify you. 

You may only have one Master Store, and it is not recommended to change this status once it is set. 

To replicate the Products from the Master Store to a "target" Store in LightSpeed 3.0 - 3.1.1; 

1. Go to Tools > Multi-Store
2. Select the Store you wish to "push" your Products and/or Suppliers to. Click Start - this will replicate ALL existing Products and/or Suppliers in the Master Store to the target Store. 

Your target Store(s) should now have in its database all Products in the Master Store, as well as any Suppliers that existed in the Master Store but did not yet exist in the target. 

NOTE: Most modifications made to Products in the Master Store will be updated to the replicated Product(s) in the target Store, including Cost or Price changes, if you run the Replication process again. 

Multi-Store Gift Cards

To redeem Gift Cards sold at your other locations, you need only choose the Gift Card payment method as you normally would, and enter/swipe the serial number of the Gift Card. If the serial number of the Gift Card is unique, you will be able to redeem it and modify its balance whether it originated in your location, or in another. 

If the serial number of the Gift Card being redeemed is a duplicate of any other active Gift Cards sold in any stores you have linked to your location, a dialog will display asking you to select the store of origin. Once you select the store where the Gift Card was originally sold, it will be that balance that is affected by the purchase. The other Gift Card's balance will remain untouched.

Multi-Store Returns

To verify the sale of Product in other locations for the purpose of returning them in your store, go to Tools > Multi-Store Returns. Enter the original Invoice ID, and select the store of origin (where the Products were originally purchased). In the event that you have Store Code-prefixed IDs enabled, you do not have to enter the Store Code here. Click Return. 

If the original sale is verified, you will be able to complete the return. If the original sale cannot be verified, you will not be able to complete the return. Multi-Store Returns can only be processed in the Browser; they cannot be processed in the POS screen. 

Product(s) must exist in both databases for Multi-Store Returns to work. 

Multi-Store Reporting

The ability to aggregate valuable sales and inventory information across multi-store environments is easy with the Multi-Store Reporting features of LightSpeed. 

To access Multi-Store Reporting, go to Tools > Multi-Store, and click the Reports tab. You will have the choice of pulling reports from the categories of Sales, Inventory, or Returns .

Sales - The Multi-Store sales reports aggregate sales totals across multiple locations, breaking them down by store and providing summarized grand totals. 

Inventory - Inventory reports show you the value of your inventory of each store, as well as the grand totals of all stores (that you have linked) together. 

Returns - These reports show you all returns processed in each location, and also allow you to summarize reports based on GL accounts.

Labeling

If your Products have a UPC barcode, you are most likely using it to scan your Products when invoicing. Because a UPC code is universal, you may transfer a Product between locations and be able to scan its UPC for lookups and Invoices without interruption. However, if you are generating barcodes based on Product ID or Product Code, you will need to use LightSpeed's Multi-Store Labeling to create a barcode that can be scanned at any location. Please see the Labeling article for instructions on creating multi-store labels. 

Passwords

Because of LightSpeed's adherence to PCI Standard guidelines, User passwords must be changed every 90 days, which affects the username password that has been entered when you add Stores in the Multi-Store setup panel. Once a User password is changed in a Store, that change must be updated in the Supplier card representing that Store in the other locations that have added that Store. For example, Dallas is your location, and Las Vegas is another Store you have added. "Multi-Store" is the username and "password1" is the password you're using to log in to the Dallas location from Las Vegas, which means "Multi-Store" the user is set up in the Dallas database. 90 days after the password was created or last modified, you must change it both in the Dallas User setup panel, and the Las Vegas Supplier profile. To do this, follow these steps: 

1. Update the password in the User setup panel for the User you are using to connect through Multi-Store. Follow the password guidelines outlined here. 
2. In each location's database that connects to the Store referred to in Step 1, open the Supplier card that represents this Store and click the Transfers tab. 
3. Enter the same password you had set in Step 1. Click Save.