Point of Sale System for Northern Luzon Adventist College Cafeteria

Chapter I

Introduction

“Most businesses today use cutting-edge technology to streamline transactions and

elevate business processes to new heights. They are now using a computerized system to handle

their transactions per their requirements. One of the most common systems used by businesses is

the point of sale system. It aids in the improvement of the process and the speed with which the

customer's transaction is completed.” (StudyMoose, 2016).

A Point of Sale (POS) System is a software-based business system where your customer

makes a payment for products or services at your store or cafeteria. In simple terms every time a

customer makes a purchase they’re completing a point of sale transaction. It also serves as the

central component for your business; it’s the hub where everything like sales, inventory

management, payment processing, and customer management merges. (Stubbs & Conrad, 2021).

It is a tool used by business establishments to streamline business transactions.

Point of Sale System is also a powerful tool when integrated with other system. This is

emphasize further by Chloe Henderson is his work by saying:

“The system also acts as a centralized database for other business operations when

integrated with additional software. Processes such as inventory control,

marketing, and sales can be tracked and analyzed within the system to generate

detailed reports. These insights allow companies to understand what products

have high turnover rates and where discounts should be added to clear out

underselling stock. Additionally, marketing directors can plan effective

 campaigns using data to drive sales that target their demographic”. (Handerson,

2020)

The benefits of a Point of Sale System can be instantaneous. For example, the system

could provide advance reports in a short amount of time, which is time-saving, has fewer errors,

increases efficiency, helps in inventory management, makes quick payments, helps in employee

management, and finally, better purchasing or supplier order management, to name a few.

A. Project Context

According to encyclopedia.adventist.org, “Northern Luzon Adventist College (NLAC) is

a Seventh-Day Adventist boarding institution of Tertiary Education located along National

highway, Artacho, Sison, Pangasinan. The college started as a church school in 1923, became an

academy in 1931, and expanded into a senior college in 1992.” Currently, the college offers

education from Kindergarten through the Graduate School under the leadership of Pastor

Nepthali J. Mañez assisted by the college officers and administrators.

Like any other colleges and universities, NLAC also offers food services to its clients

through its canteens and cafeterias. The cafeteria started during the existence of the college,

headed by Mrs. Medina, but at present, it is managed by the livelihood coordinator, Mrs. Regie

Jongkolnee Balbas, assisted by Mrs. Jesusa Gunong, the cafeteria clerk, and a working student.

The cafeteria offers services such as cafeteria orientation, manages and coordinates the

dining service, provides customers with balanced nutrition, and serves large numbers of people,

like students, visitors, and faculty.

 The cafeteria is selling meals to its customers including other products like bread,

drinks, vegetables, etc. The primary customers of the cafeteria are student and workers of the

school but they are also accepting walk-in customers who wish to purchase products from them.

The cafeteria is open during the following schedule:

 Monday – Thursday

7:00 AM - 12:30 PM

3:00 PM – 6:15 PM

 Friday

7:00 AM - 1:00 PM

 Saturday

7:00 AM – 8:00 AM

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM

 Sunday

9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Cafeteria boarders, who are mostly students, pay for their food with meal cards provided

by the business office, which cost about 2,000.00 pesos per card. Each boarder has a credit limit

of 16,000.00 per semester, which is automatically charged to their accounts when they enroll.

Other customers who used the cafeteria's food service could pay in cash.

The cashier is in charge of filling out the record book and charge slip. When a customer

makes a purchase in the cafeteria, the cashier writes down the necessary information in the

record book, such as the item and the price of the item purchased.
 Faculty and faculty children, on the other hand has an option to pay in cash or charge to

the faculty’s account. The credit limit for faculty is 5,000.00 pesos per month. The cashier writes

the necessary information on the charge slip. After recording in the record book and charge slip

in the cafeteria, the cashier must submit the report to the Business Office. The sales report must

be reported every day, while the summary of charges for faculty is submitted every end of the

month.

Faculty don’t have any idea how much they are getting once they charged because just

only those faculty who ask on how much the price is charged on them that is only the time that

the cashier will tell how much they got. That’s why during the time of payroll, they are shock

because they didn’t expect such price.

Faculty are sometimes have no idea how much they are getting once they are charged

because only those faculty who ask how much the price is charged to them at the time the cashier

will tell them how much they are getting. That's why, when it came to payroll, they were taken

aback because they hadn't expected such prices.

Using a meal card possess several problems, one of which is that it could be easily lost or

accidentally washed by the owner. It is being a problem because they don’t sometimes notice

that their meal card is in their laundry clothes. It can also easily be destroyed because it was

made from papers.

Using a meal card has several problems, one of which is that it can easily be lost or worn

out and some owners are accidentally washed because they don’t sometimes notice that their

meal card is in their laundry clothes. Because it is made of paper, it is also easily destroyed.

The process of recording the sales and charges are done manually. The person in charge

or the cashier is using a pen and notebook in writing the item and price. Additionally, there is a
possibility that their penmanship cannot be understood because sometimes they are in a hurry to

write their sales when a lot of customers are waiting in line.

Another problem that is being imposed for the record book is that sometimes forgot to

write in the record book the products that customer purchased, but the money they sold is in

there. At the end of the month, they will scan and check all the data from the record book, and

after checking it they will submit it to the Business Office.

Everyday, the person in charge or admin needs to scan or check the sales and charges

written in the notebook before they are transferred into the record book or charge slip.

Unfortunately, there are times when the computed sales or charges are over the amount because

the person in charge or cashier forgot to write the item and price in the notebook. As a result, the

administration is solely based on the money that has been sold.

Every end of the month, Mrs. Regie Jongkolnee Balbas and a working student are

assigned to count the products manually for the inventory of the cafeteria. As a result, they can’t

count the products as accurate as possible. After the counting, the number of products that have

been counted will be written in a notebook and they will encode the data from the notebook to

MS Excel. The encoded data must be printed on paper, and the printed data is referred to as a

goods inventory.  The goods inventory will be reported to the Business Office once it has been

completed.

By using technology through a Point of Sale system, such problems are solved by using

this system. When a customer purchases a product, the system will automate the saving of

records and deduct the number of purchased products from the inventory. Also, needed reports

can be easily produced because the needed data is already electronically stored. This may help

cashiers to record information quicker and in a more organized way. Furthermore, the use of
paper, notebooks, record books, and charge slips has been eliminated, since the data will now be

gathered electronically.