SOLOPOS Documentation

Complete user guide for SOLOPOS — the all-in-one POS and inventory management system built for small businesses. This documentation covers every feature and module in the system.

Initial Setup

After installation, follow these steps to configure SOLOPOS for your business:

Business Types

SOLOPOS supports four business modes. The mode you choose determines which modules and features are visible in the sidebar.

Dashboard

The dashboard provides a real-time snapshot of your business performance. It is the first page you see after logging in.

Financial Metrics

• Monthly Revenue — Total sales revenue for the current month
• Monthly Expenses — Total expenses recorded this month
• Total Products — Number of products in your catalog
• Low Stock Alerts — Count of products below their minimum stock threshold

Charts & Visualizations

• Sales Trend — Line chart showing daily sales over the last 30 days
• Inventory Activity — Stock movement chart (stock-ins vs stock-outs)

Data Tables

• Recent Activities — Latest sales and expenses with amounts, dates, and type indicators
• Best Sellers — Top-performing products ranked by units sold and revenue generated

Point of Sale (POS)

The POS terminal is where sales happen. It adapts its interface based on your business type.

Adding Items to Cart

Cart Operations

Barcode Scanning Supermarket

In supermarket mode, use a USB or Bluetooth barcode scanner to instantly look up products. The system matches against auto-generated internal barcodes (EAN format with 200 prefix) or manually entered barcodes.

Checkout

• Select payment method: Cash or Mobile Money
• For mobile money, enter the transaction reference ID
• Enter the amount paid and the system calculates change automatically
• Optionally assign the sale to a Customer for loyalty tracking
• Optionally assign to a Staff member and Table (restaurant mode)
• A receipt is generated with a unique receipt number

Orders Management

The Orders page shows all open (unpaid) orders. You can edit an order to add or remove items, then check out when the customer is ready to pay. This is especially useful for restaurant table service where orders may span multiple rounds.

Sales History

View all completed sales with date filtering. Each sale record includes items sold, quantities, unit prices, discount amounts, cost prices (COGS), payment method, and the staff who processed the sale.

Sale Returns

Process returns against existing sales. For each return you can:

• Select which items and quantities to return
• Enter a reason for the return
• Choose whether to automatically restock returned items
• Track the total refund amount

Products

The product catalog is the backbone of SOLOPOS. Every item you sell starts here.

Product Fields

Product Variants Retail

For retail shops, products can have variants to track different versions:

• Name — Variant description (e.g., "Red / Large")
• SKU — Unique SKU per variant
• Price Adjustment — Additional cost added to or subtracted from the base price
• Stock Quantity — Independent stock tracking per variant
• Weight — Weight of this specific variant

Product Gallery Retail

Upload multiple images per product for gallery display. Mark one as the primary image and set sort order for others. Especially useful for furniture and interior décor businesses.

Room Categories Retail

Organize products by room category: Living Room, Bedroom, Kitchen, Bathroom, Dining Room, Office/Study, Outdoor, or Other. Also track product dimensions (length, width, height) and weight.

Promotions Supermarket

Create time-limited promotional discounts:

• Percentage Off — e.g., 20% discount
• Fixed Amount Off — e.g., $5 off
• Buy X Get Y Free — e.g., buy 2 get 1 free

Set start/end dates and minimum purchase quantities. The system automatically checks if promotions are active.

Auto-Generated Identifiers

Stock Management

Stock In

Record incoming stock with the following details:

• Product — Which product is being received
• Quantity — Number of units received
• Unit Cost — Purchase cost per unit
• Batch Number — Lot/batch identifier for traceability
• Manufacture Date — When the batch was manufactured
• Expiry Date — When the batch expires (used for alerts)
• Supplier — Which supplier provided the stock
• Received By — Staff member who received the delivery
• Purchase Date — Date of purchase

The system automatically calculates total cost and can flag expired batches.

Stock Out

Record outgoing stock (non-sale movements like transfers, wastage, etc.):

• Product and Quantity Out
• Given By / Received By — Staff involved in the transfer
• Estimated Portions — Portion equivalents (restaurant mode)
• Date — When the stock was issued

Low Stock Alerts

Products with stock below their minimum_stock threshold automatically appear in the dashboard's low-stock alert widget and in the Low Stock Report.

Purchase Orders

Manage procurement with a structured multi-step approval workflow.

Creating a Purchase Order

• Select a Supplier
• Add line items: product, quantity, and unit price
• Set delivery deadline (deliver_by) and payment deadline (pay_by)
• Add additional costs: transport, tax, and other expenses

Three-Step Approval Workflow

Suppliers

Maintain a supplier directory with contact details:

• Name — Supplier / company name
• Phone Number — Contact number (validated format)
• Location — Physical address or region
• Description — Notes about the supplier, products they provide, terms, etc.

Suppliers are linked to both Stock In records and Purchase Orders for end-to-end traceability.

Customers

Track your customers and build loyalty:

• Name, Phone, Email, and Address
• Loyalty Points — Accumulate points on purchases (configurable)
• Total Purchases — Auto-calculated sum of all their sales

When processing a sale, optionally assign it to a customer. Their purchase history and loyalty points are automatically updated.

Menu Management Restaurant

Build and manage your restaurant's menu catalog.

Menu Items

• Title — Dish or drink name
• Price per Portion — Selling price
• Available Portions — How many servings are available
• Category — Group items (e.g., Starters, Main Course, Beverages)
• Image — Photo of the dish
• Contents — Link to products and how many portions of each product are used

Menu Categories

Organize your menu into categories like Appetizers, Main Course, Desserts, Drinks, etc. Each category has a title and optional description.

Menu Item Contents

Define which products (ingredients) make up a menu item and how many portions of each product are consumed per serving. When a menu item is sold, the associated product quantities are automatically decremented.

Tables & Orders Restaurant

Manage your restaurant's table layout and assign orders to tables.

• Table Name — e.g., "Table 1", "Patio A"
• Capacity — Number of seats
• Description — Location or notes

During checkout, assign a sale to a specific table. The Orders page shows all open orders grouped by table for easy tracking.

Portions Restaurant

Define how many portions each unit of a product yields. For example, 1 kg of rice might produce 10 portions. This is used to:

• Calculate available servings from current stock
• Automatically decrement stock when menu items are sold
• Track consumption against stock-out records

Staff & Roles

Roles

Define roles to control access and organize your team:

• Name — Role title (e.g., Manager, Cashier, Waiter)
• Description — What this role is responsible for

Staff Members

Audit Trail

Every record in the system tracks added_by and modified_by, creating a full audit trail of who created and last modified each entry.

Expenses & Cash Management

Expense Items

First define expense categories (e.g., Rent, Utilities, Transport, Supplies) with their associated measurement unit.

Recording Expenses

• Select the expense item
• Enter quantity, cost per unit, and notes
• Optionally attach a receipt/document
• Set the date of the expense
• Total is automatically calculated as quantity × cost

Cash In

Record non-sale income (e.g., investments, loans received, other income):

• Amount — Cash received
• Source — Where the cash came from
• Narration — Description of the transaction
• Date — When it was received

Defects & Returns

Recording Defects

Track defective or damaged products:

• Select the product and enter the quantity of defective units
• Add a description of the defect
• Set the estimated price per unit for loss valuation
• Assign the staff member who received or reported the defect
• The system automatically sets in_stock status based on remaining quantity

Issuing Defects

When defective items are disposed, returned to supplier, or otherwise issued out:

• Record the quantity issued
• Track given by and received by staff
• Total loss amount is auto-calculated as quantity × estimated_price
• Set the issued date

Assets

Track business assets (non-inventory items like equipment, furniture, vehicles):

• Name — Asset description
• Quantity — How many units
• Description — Detailed notes, condition, location, etc.

Reports & Analytics

SOLOPOS includes a comprehensive reporting suite with Excel export capabilities.

System Settings

SOLOPOS uses a singleton configuration model — one global settings record for the entire system.

Business Information

System Branding

• System Name — Title shown in the application header
• Powered By Text — Credit text shown in the footer
• Logo — Upload your business logo (displayed on receipts)

Currency

• Currency Symbol — Displayed next to prices (e.g., Ugx, $, €)
• Currency Code — ISO 4217 code (e.g., UGX, USD)

Receipt Customization

Customize how your printed receipts look:

• Logo — Upload an image or provide a URL for your business logo
• Receipt Header — Custom text displayed at the top of every receipt
• Receipt Footer — Custom text at the bottom (default: "Thank you for your business!")
• QR Code — Toggle QR code display on receipts

Receipts automatically include: business info, itemized sale, quantities, prices, discounts, subtotal, tax (if enabled), total, payment method, change due, receipt number, date/time, and cashier name.

Tax Configuration

Enable and configure tax settings for your business:

When enabled, tax is automatically calculated on checkout and displayed on receipts. The system provides helper methods to compute tax amounts and totals including tax.