FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Can you run the Coffee Shop Manager without a touchscreen?
The software will operate with a mouse identically as it would with a touchscreen. This is typically used in the back office, where it may not be cost effective to have an additional touchscreen, and the touch is not used as much during maintenance, pricing and reporting operations.

Can you ring up other products in Coffee Shop Manager besides coffee?
Coffee Shop Manager fully supports bar coding, offering an almost unlimited number of products to be looked up by simply scanning them. We have customers with over 30,000 products in their database! We have shops that are half Wine Bar, Cigar Store, Pharmacy, Gift Store, Book Store, etc.

Can you mail me some more information or brochures?
We make use of our website to provide you with the most current and up to date information you need to make a decision about our products. We can also mail you a color brochure that recaps the information from the website, however it is just a summary of the same information you can view here on the site.

What programming language is used for the Coffee Shop manager?
The Coffee Shop Manager is designed with Microsoft Visual Basic, one of the most widespread and popular languages available today. Used by millions of programmers around the world, VB allows for RAD (Rapid Application Development). This allows CSM to provide enhancements to our products in a fraction of the time needed to develop in "low level" languages more suited for applications such as Windows itself. Suggest a feature today and you may well be downloading it tomorrow using our easy self-upgrading functionality!

The database for the system is designed in Microsoft Access, which provides additional capabilities for users familiar with Access to view and manipulate the sales data on their own. No expensive or confusing servers, additional database license requirements or limits on the number of users in the database . Access is well suited for a small environment such as a coffee shop, and you will not need a full time corporate network technician to manage it.

We are located in another state. How will you provide support if we run into trouble with the software?
Coffee Shop Manager is used in hundreds of locations in the United States and around the world. It is a mature product, in our 6th year as software designed specifically for Coffee Shops. This means a stable product with few problems.

If problems do occur, we have a full team of technical support engineers available seven days a week to assist you in troubleshooting or general operation of CSM. Our technical support team also knows and understands POS hardware, credit card processing, operating systems and networking environments. We even have a fully trained barista on staff! Our Technical Support Page includes a complete description of our remote support capabilities.

Does your software have bugs?
Unfortunately, all software ever sold has issues that are uncovered after delivery to the customer. As software is used by a wider number of users on more and more diverse hardware, typically small problems arise that must be corrected. For instance users of Windows XP(TM) long awaited the release of Service Pack 2 to correct security flaws as well as any other issues that cropped up after Windows(TM), and later SP1, was initially released.

Additionally, all responsible software developers are looking for ways to improve processes, transaction flow, etc., to limit the risk of user error and make general improvements as they are identified. This is in addition to any feature development that occurs.

Our software is designed in a way that allows software fixes, minor improvements and feature changes/additions to be delivered immediately over the Internet in a simple "Check for Updates" procedure. With just a few clicks the new version of CSM is downloaded and installed on the register. Often, within a few days of an issue or opportunity for a minor improvement being reported, the update is released.

As many of these items affect only a few users in a very specific situation, we maintain a Developer Log on our site which you can review as to fully understand the nature of the occasional update.

How long has Coffee Shop Manager been in business?
CSM is a merging of two leading software development and networking support companies in the Pacific Northwest. Our lead software designer has over 20 years experience in developm ent of POS, accounting and custom software solutions to small business. Our network specialist has similar experience in setup and configuration of computer and network systems for countless businesses in our region. We have highly skilled network technicians on staff in addition to our technical support team. We are located in Redmond, WA, the heart of the software and coffee industries.

Will the Coffee Shop Manager software work with my existing POS equipment?
The software works well with many industry standard POS devices. However, many devices are quirky, require high maintenance or are not cost effective. Click here for important information on hardware support for POS devices not purchased from POS Core Technologies.

CSM is going to setup my menu for me. Is it really that hard?
Of course not! Setting up menus in Coffee Shop Manager is a breeze. Touch NEW, fill in a couple blanks for product ID, description, price and screen to put it on. Additional optional settings allow you to tailor the inventory functionality for your stores methods.

We setup your CSM menus for you for the sole purpose of providing a turnkey package, ready for you to turn on and start selling (let us do the bulk of the work and then we will train you on how to make minor changes as your business grows). No "wizards" are needed, because the process is simple and wizards actually make a process take longer, as bits and pieces of the screens are shown little by little in a questionnaire format.