Use the Customer Information tab to determine how the system searches and maintains customer and house account information.

Customer Information tab

Group Bar: Customer information

The following options determine how the system responds to customer searches:

Populate new customer first name — Assumes the first string entered in the search bar is the first name of a customer, for new customer record creation. ATO uses this text to add the first name when you touch Add Guest.

Display last name first — Displays customer names in order of last name first in the search results panel.

Check for duplicates — Enables the system to check for potential duplicate customer records when adding new customers to ATO. The system compares the exact first and last name of the new customer to existing customers in the database. If a duplicate record exists, the system displays a prompt asking if you want to continue with the creation of the customer record.

Require customer for walk-in — Requires the selection of a customer when starting a walk-in order. When cleared, this option accepts the name typed in the search as the tab name and does not associate a customer record with the tab. This speeds up service times, but does not provide customer reporting or repeat order functionality.

Enable express customer entry — Enables rapid entry of customer records with a limited set of customer information. You may enter additional customer information at a later time, using the Edit Guest button. Recommended Configuration: Selected.

Require customer first name — Forces the entry of the customer first name into a guest record. Related Options: To provide the ability to override the required entry for the customer first name, select 'Can override 'Require customer first name' in Maintenance > Labor > Pos Access Levels.

Require customer last name — Requires the entry of at least one character in the last name for each new customer record. This assists in uniquely identifying customers and with searches or mailing labels. Selecting this option impacts customer entry speed; however, a site can elect to enter only the first initial or an entire last name, depending on speed and reporting needs.

Require customer address — Forces the entry of the customer address into a guest record. Related Options: To provide the ability to override the required entry for the customer address, select 'Can override 'Require customer address' in Maintenance > Labor > Pos Access Levels.

Require state for address — Forces the entry of the state in which the customer resides into a guest record. Related Options: To provide the ability to override the required entry for the customer state, select 'Can override 'Require customer state for address' in Maintenance > Labor > Pos Access Levels.

Require zip code for address — Forces the entry of the zip code in which the customer resides into a guest record. Related Options: To provide the ability to override the required entry for the customer zip code, select 'Can override 'Require customer zip for address' in Maintenance > Labor > Pos Access Levels.

Require company name for office address — Forces the entry of the address of the company for which the customer works into a guest record. Related Options: To provide the ability to override the required entry for the customer name for office address, select 'Can override 'Require customer name for office address' in Maintenance > Labor > Pos Access Levels.

Require Aloha Loyalty member ID for new guests — Forces the entry of the Aloha Loyalty member number when you enter a new guest.

Mask loyalty ID — Replaces the loyalty identification number in the front-of-house (FOH) with asterisks to protect the data and prevent fraud.

Enable customer fiscal ID — Allows you to enter the fiscal ID in the front-of-house (FOH) for a guest. Required Options: You must select 'Display Aloha Loyalty' on the Corporate Owner tab in maintenance > Business > Additional Features to enable this option.

Mask fiscal ID — Replaces the fiscal identification number in the front-of-house (FOH) with asterisks to protect the data and prevent fraud. Required Options: You must select 'Enable customer fiscal ID' to enable this option.

Mask tax ID — Replaces the tax identification number in the front-of-house (FOH) with asterisks to protect the data and prevent fraud.

Minimum Aloha Loyalty member ID length — Specifies the minimum number of digits for an Aloha loyalty card number entry.

Maximum Aloha Loyalty member ID length — Specifies the maximum number of digits for an Aloha loyalty card number entry.

Require e-mail for new guests — Prompts you to ask the customer for an e-mail address when creating a new customer record. Related Options: To allow an employee to override the entry of an e-mail address, select 'Can override require e-mail for new guests' in Maintenance > Labor > Pos Access Levels > 'Aloha Takeout' group bar and then assign the access level to the employee.

Prompt for customer address when customer has multiple addresses — Prompts the employee to ask the customer for the delivery address for the current order, if they have more than one address (home and office) on record. Recommended Configuration: Selected.

Default address type — Designates whether Home or Business is the default address type when you create a new customer record. Recommended Configuration: Similar to 'Default Phone Type.' This option depends on the site location in a residential or corporate area.

Default city, state, and zip code — Determines the default values to use for automatically populating the appropriate text boxes when an employee begins entering the address in a new customer record. All of these values are available for edit, when you create a new customer record. Recommended Configuration: Leave blank, if using delivery area functionality; else, specify default values for 'City' and 'State.' It may be helpful to specify a value for 'Zip Code,' if the site area is densely populated.

Prompt for new guest creation on name change — Displays a prompt when you attempt to change the name of a guest from the FOH, providing a choice between changing the name of the guest or creating a new guest record based on the original guest record. Related Options: To provide an employee the ability to change the name of a guest, select Maintenance > Labor > Pos Access Levels and select 'Can edit guest name.'

Group Bar: House Accounts

POS and ATO house account functionality provide sites a way to tender checks to a designated tender and periodically bill a customer for activity.

Smaller operations typically use 'Enable Aloha Integration' with accounts defined at each site. This allows each site to create, manage, and report on house account activity through the Aloha POS. In this configuration, collecting on house accounts is generally the role of a site.

Large operations, with house accounts managed centrally through their accounting systems, can leverage NCR - Hospitality - Hosted Solutions tools to distribute house accounts. This requires:

• A robust accounting package with the ability to export a LegacyMember.csv file in the defined format.
• Hosted Solutions assistance to configure the distribution of the 'LegacyMember.csv' file to sites.
• An Insight export file to import house account activity back into the accounting package.

Enable house accounts — Enables the House Accounts feature. When selected, other house accounts options appear. Related Options: Select 'Enable Aloha integration' to import the house accounts defined in Maintenance > Payments > House Accounts. To display a prompt to ask a customer for a purchase order when accepting a house account payment, you must select 'Prompt for purchase order number.'

Enable Aloha integration — Imports house accounts defined in Maintenance > Payments > House Accounts into ATO. This import process happens during ATO EOD or whenever the 'Radiant Takeout and Delivery' service is restarted. Imported house accounts may be associated with one or more ATO customers. Orders closed using a 'House Account' Pos tender post to the POS for adjustment and reporting. Required Options: You must select 'Enable house accounts' to access this option.

Region name — Defines the region from which the store imports house accounts, if the 'LegacyMember.csv' contains multiple regions. ATO imports house accounts from the 'LegacyMember.csv' file at EOD. Related Options: Clear 'Enable Aloha integration' for this option to appear.

Enterprise host — Specifies the IP address of the enterprise host, as communicated by a member of the NCR - Hospitality - Hosted Solutions team. This option is only applicable if you are using a third-party package, such as Great Plains, to centrally manage house accounts, and NCR Enterprise to distribute house account 'LegacyMember.csv' files to each site. The host address is used for transmitting the house account file to a site. Related Options: Clear 'Enable Aloha integration' for this option to appear.

Enterprise port — Specifies the port number through which the local system communicates with the enterprise host, as communicated by a member of the NCR -Hospitality - Hosted Solutions team. Related Options: Clear 'Enable Aloha integration' for this option to appear.

Prompt for purchase order number — Enables a 'purchase order number' prompt to appear when creating a new order for a house account customer. This allows you to enter a reference number provided by a house account customer for tracking. This is in addition to the system generated invoice number. Required Options: You must select 'Enable house accounts' for this option to appear.

Prompt for house account payment — Displays a prompt in the FOH that allows you to choose whether to close the order to the associated house account payment type or allow the guest to pay with an alternate payment type. Required Options: You must select 'Enable house accounts' to enable this option.

Group Bar: Customer Purge

Enable purge of inactive customers — Enables the removal of inactive customers from the ATO database based on the 'Max days of inactivity' option. This optimizes the SQL Express database for efficient access and searches. Related Options: You can define the number of days of customer inactivity before the program removes the record from the database in 'Max days of inactivity.'

Max days of inactivity — Specifies the number of days of inactivity permitted for a customer record before the program removes it from the database. Set this value based on average customer turnover in the service area for the site or normal customer attrition. The minimum value is 1 and the max value is 65535 days. If you set the value to 30 days or less, a message appears confirming you want to purge customers from the database using this frequency. Required Options: You must select ‘Enable purge of inactive customers’ for this option to appear. Documented Version: ATO v20.1.