Release notes for the Aloha Cloud Back Office restaurant and hospitality software product.

Requires POS version: — Indicates the feature has a dependency on a specific POS version.

Version 23.12

December 12, 2023

New features

• ACP-1745: Aloha Cloud now supports a new security control to limit the refund amount an employee can process in a shift, or within a transaction, or both; however, a new user role permission allows a supervisor to override the restriction and process the additional refund. Requires POS version: v6.9+. For more information, refer to "Limiting maximum refund amount," "Understanding POS levels of access," and "Performing a refund."

• ACP-1052: Aloha Cloud now supports limiting tip adjustments to assist in controlling fraudulent tip entries, such as increasing the tip amount. A new user role permission allows a supervisor to override the limit for tip adjustments. Requires POS version: v6.9+. For more information, refer to "Setting up payments," "Understanding POS levels of access," and "Adjusting tips."

• ACP-413: Aloha Cloud now supports assigning color codes to items, categories, modifiers, and modifier groups on the kitchen display system (KDS). Requires POS version: v6.9+. For more information, refer to "Creating items," and "Using the kitchen display system."

• ACP-110: Aloha Cloud now supports the configuration of advanced breaks, allowing for more robust break configurations. When enabled, employees can take breaks by choosing the appropriate break option. Requires POS version: v6.9+. For more information, refer to "Configuring breaks," "Working with employees,"the "Labor Shifts," report, and "Starting and ending a break."

Version 23.10

November 07, 2023

New features

• ACP-2774: Aloha Cloud now supports printing the kitchen chit after the ticket/items are bumped from the KDS, instead of printing once sent to the kitchen; however, the Expo station only prints the kitchen chit once the entire order is bumped from the Expo. Requires POS version: v6.9+. For more information, refer to "Adding kitchen devices," and "Using the kitchen display system."

• ACP-554: Aloha Cloud now supports a new security control to limit the number of checks an employee can have open at one time; however, a new user role permission allows a supervisor to override the restriction and open an additional check, when needed. Requires POS version: v6.8+. For more information, refer to "Limiting open checks," "Understanding POS levels of access," and "Overriding the open check limit."

• PGCI-5: Aloha Cloud now supports swiping Paytronix gift cards on the mag card reader attached to the POS terminal rather than on the payment terminal. You can also enter the gift card details manually. Requires POS version: v6.8+. For more information, refer to the "Setting up payments," and "Working with gift cards." You can perform the following types of gift card transactions:

  • Gift Card Activation
  • Bulk Activation
  • Bulk Activation Reversal
  • Reload Gift Card
  • Redeem Gift Card
  • Exchange Card
  • Timeout Reversal
  • Verify Gift Card Balance

• ACP-296: Aloha Cloud now supports auto gratuity. When auto gratuity is enabled, it automatically adds the tip percentage based on the guest count method (configured by seat/by item). Requires POS version: v6.8+. For more information, refer to the "Configuring gratuity," and "Working with gratuity."

• ACP-550: Aloha Cloud now supports printing a modifier item designated as an 'Independent Modifier' at the kitchen station to which it is routed. Requires POS version: v6.8+. For more information, refer to "Editing a modifier item."

Version 23.8

October 03, 2023

New features

• ACP-457: Aloha Cloud now supports force end-of-day and auto close shifts. When enabled, the store automatically forces end-of-day to the preferred/configured date and time. When a store is forced to close, all open shifts and orders are closed at the same time. You can enable 'Auto Close Print Receipt' in the Back Office, which provides the option to choose and to print the Shift End Report. You can track the details of the auto closed shifts along with manually closed shifts in the Financial Shifts report. Requires POS version: v6.7+. For more information, refer to the "Defining business dates," "Financial Shifts" report, and "Using Auto Close Shifts."

• ACP-690: With this enhancement, we introduced the following new feature:

  • ACP-280: Aloha Cloud now supports showing 'Credit Tips' details in the Hourly Sales report. For more information, refer to the "Hourly Sales" report.

Version 23.6

July 11, 2023

New features

• ACBO-1982: Aloha Cloud can support local charities by hosting donation campaigns. The customer can donate pocket change by rounding up their purchases to the nearest dollar, a pre-defined amount, or an open amount suggested by the guest. Donation campaigns are activated by an event and only one campaign can be active at a time. You can track the donation amount details in a new "Donations" report. We also updated the 'POS Transactions' and 'Store Summary' reports for this feature. Requires POS version: v6.6+. For more information, refer to the "Working with donations," "Understanding POS levels of access," "Adding donations," and "Viewing the POS Scoreboard."

• ACBO-2258: Aloha Cloud is now optimized to calculate accurate ticket completion time for multiple items on a ticket to assist the kitchen in identifying the total time taken to complete the cooking for each item. You specify the cook time for each item/modifier using the 'Cook Time' option in Categories & Items. You can also edit the 'Cook Time' option when editing a modifier item in Modifier Groups. The maximum cook time allowed for an item is 9999 seconds. Requires POS version: v6.6+. For more information, refer to "Creating items," "Working with modifiers," and "Using the kitchen display system."

• ACBO-3272: With this enhancement, we introduced the following new features:

  • ACBO-3277: Aloha Cloud now supports the preview of receipts with order details in the POS transaction report. The preview now includes the order payment status, order source, and delivery instructions. For more information, refer to the "POS Transactions" report.

  • ACBO-3276: Aloha Cloud now prints delivery instructions on the customer receipt for online orders. 'Order API' is updated to include the 'Delivery Instructions' field. For online orders, customer can use this field to provide delivery instructions. Requires POS version: v6.6+. For more information, refer to "Working with online orders."

  • ACBO-3251: Aloha Cloud now supports showing the 'Order Name' details in the POS Transaction report. For more information, refer to the "POS Transactions" report.

    Note: If no name is assigned to the order, a blank/no value appears.

• ACBO-3985: Aloha Cloud now supports limiting the maximum length for void reason code name to 20 characters. For more information, refer to "Adding void reason codes."

• ACBO-1098: Aloha Cloud now supports configuring modifier settings at store level. You can use modifier settings to:

  • Automatically sort and move the required modifiers to the top.
  • Change the view of optional modifiers groups as collapsible.
  • Automatically close the minimum required groups after selection. Requires POS version: v6.6+. For more information, refer to "Configuring modifier settings," and "Working with items."

Version 23.4

May 30, 2023

New features

• ACBO-3998: With this enhancement, we introduced the following new features:

  • ACBO-1695: Aloha Cloud now supports showing the customer loyalty balance in the Customer List report. For more information, refer to the "Customer List" report.
  • ACBO-3006: Aloha Cloud allows you to filter the tickets in the POS Transaction report with the 'Search by' option and view just the list of specific tickets and their details. For more information, refer to the "POS Transactions" report.
  • ACBO-3478: Aloha Cloud no longer supports the integration with 'PayPal' for payments. For more information, refer to "Setting up payments."

Version 23.3

March 28, 2023

New features

• ACBO-277: Aloha Cloud introduced a new Item Availability function that supports enabling items by ordering source in Back Office. You have the option to sell an item: in-store only, online only, both in-store and online. Item Availability aso supports '86ing items' from Back Office, which allows you to communicate to POS devices and online ordering websites when an item is out of stock. Requires POS version: v6.5+. For more information, refer to "Working with store options," "Working with item availability," "Using item availability," and "Using the kitchen display system."

  Disclaimer: This feature may not be available to everyone at the time of this release.

  📝 This feature supports only regular menu items. Items sold by weight, items with variations, and modifier items are not supported.

• ACBO-2027: Aloha Cloud now supports the configuration of void reason codes in Back Office. Once configured, the void reason codes are available for selection when voiding a ticket/item in POS and you can track the details in the Void Audit Report. Requires POS version: v6.5+. For more information, refer to "Voiding an item," "Voiding a guest check," "Void Audit report," and "Defining store information."

  Disclaimer: This feature may not be available to everyone at the time of this release.

• ACBO-2679: Aloha Cloud now supports printing a disclaimer at the bottom of the check to indicate surcharges were added for the purpose of offsetting the cost of credit card processing fees.

  Disclaimer message: “A restaurant surcharge has been added to all guest checks. If you would like this to be removed, please inform the staff.” The surcharge feature is only supported for the Connected Payments gateway processor. Requires POS version: v6.5+. For more information, refer to "Setting up payments."

• ACBO-2426: With this enhancement, we introduced the following new features:

  • ACBO-2427: Aloha Cloud now allows you to view the Hide on POS status on custom tenders. Requires POS version: v6.5+. For more information, refer to "Creating custom tenders."
  • ACBO-2250: Aloha Cloud now supports managing the availability of discounts on the POS across stores. This allows multi-store users to perform the required changes without navigating to each individual store. Requires POS version: v6.5+. For more information, refer to "Working with discounts."

• ACBO-1607: Store-level company reporting is here — Aloha Cloud now allows multi-store customers to view/hide data broken down by store in the Item Sales, Modifier Sales, and Sales Summary reports. For more information, refer to the "Item Sales," "Sales Summary," and "Modifier Sales" reports.

• ACBO-894: Aloha Cloud now supports uploading an image for an item in Extended Item Setup. You can preview the image, and, if required, replace or delete a previously uploaded image. Requires POS version: v6.5+. For more information, refer to "Creating items."

Version 23.1

February 20, 2023

New features

• ACBO-763: Aloha Cloud now supports 'nested modifiers,' which is the ability to modify a modifier. With nested modifiers, you can configure menu items with up to two levels of modifiers. The first level modifies the item. The second level modifies the first level modifier. For example, a dinner entree that offers a dinner salad (first level modifier) with dressing choices (second level modifier). Requires POS version: POS v6.4+. For more information, refer to "Working with nested modifiers" and "Using company options."

• ACBO-1805: Aloha Cloud now supports applying surcharges for the purpose of offsetting the cost of credit card processing fees. Currently, the surcharge feature is only supported for the Connected Payments gateway processor. When a customer chooses to pay using a credit card tender type, a percentage of the total check is calculated and added to the total ticket sale. Requires POS version: v6.4+. For more information, refer to "Closing a check to a credit card" and "Setting up payments."

• ACBO-1221: Aloha Cloud now supports associating up to four bar codes to the same item. This is helpful when you purchase an item from more than one vendor under a different bar code. Scanning any one of the bar codes through a scanner connected to the POS adds the item to the guest check. Requires POS version: v6.4+. For more information, refer to "Working with items" and "Creating items."

• ACBO-1987: With the enhancement, we introduced the following new features:

  • ACBO-2397: Aloha Cloud now supports a 'Hide on POS' feature for showing or hiding a tender on the POS. Requires POS version: v6.4+. For more information, refer to "Creating custom tenders."
  • ACBO-2401: Aloha Cloud also allows you to filter the tickets in the POS transaction report with the 'Deleted Tickets' option and view just the list of deleted tickets and their details. For more information, refer to "POS Transactions report."

• ACBO-1963: Aloha Cloud now supports the 'Get Check' functionality and allows an employee to access and make changes to a check owned by another employee without transferring financial ownership. You can track the changes in the Sales report and Tip Sale report. To enable this functionality, we introduced the Modify Team Checks and Return Financial Ownership user roles. Requires POS version: v6.5+. For more information, refer to “Understanding POS levels of access.”

  Disclaimer: This feature may not be available to everyone at the time of this release.

• ACBO-2227: Aloha Cloud now allows you to take a break with active tabs/tables. When enabled, other employees may assist with an order without taking financial ownership of the ticket. To enable this functionality, we introduced the Break with Active Tables user role. Requires POS version: v6.5+. For more information, refer to "Starting and ending a break," and "Understanding POS levels of access."

  Disclaimer: This feature may not be available to everyone at the time of this release.