Product Overview

The purpose of this document is to provide information about the functionality of LS Central as well as
providing guidelines on how to license LS Central.

Version: 18

Previous versions:

LS Central (17) Product Overview

LS Central (16) Product Overview

LS Central (15) Product Overview

LS Central (14) Product overview and Licensing guidelines

LS Nav 2018 (11.04) product overview and Licensing guidelines

LS Central
LS Central is available with the following options:

l LS Central Base
l ERP Users
l Essentials User
l Premium User
l Team Members
l Retail Devices
l Retail Device CAL for Retail & Hospitality
l Retail Device CAL for Mobile POS App
l Retail Device CAL for Mobile Inventory App
l Retail Device CAL for Kitchen Display Server
l Retail Device CAL for Back Office
l Stores
l Perpetual Licenses
l Store/Commerce Pack - Includes Retail Device
CAL
l StorePack - Includes POS
l SaaS/Subscription License
l Online Store
l Offline Store
l LS Central Modules
l LS Insight
l LS Activity
l LS Staff Management
l LS Hotels
l LS Pharmacy
l LS Pay
l LS eCommerce
l LS Forecourt
More information about the different options is in the following chapters.

LS Central Base
The LS Central Base includes the following functionality:

l Back Office functionality

l Product Design
l Variant Framework - Color and Sizes

l Barcodes

l Sales and Marketing

l Retail Customers

l Price Management

l Offers and Coupons

l Campaign Management

l Store Management
l Cash and Safe Management

l Staff and Sales Person

l End-of-Day Procedures

l Sales History

l Reports and Analysis

l Point of Sale Support

l Support for POS client

l Support for Mobile POS

l POS Design (POS Setup data)

l Inventory Management
l Support for Mobile Inventory
l Member Management
l Member Campaign

l Member Offers

l Mobile Loyalty Support

l Loyalty Portal Support

l Sales Commission

l Item Import

l Customer Orders

l eCommerce Support
l Content Management

l Order Processing

l Scheduler
l Batch Posting

l Data Communication

l Data Director

l Hospitality
l Back Office Functionality

l Support for Kitchen Display System (KDS)

l Meal Planning

l Recipe Management

l Delivery System

l Online Call Center

l Table Allocation and reservation

 l Replenishment
l Automatic Replenishment

l Manual Replenishment

l Open-to-Buy

l Franchise Management

l Offline Call Center

The LS Central gives the ability to configure system functionality and maintain master data to be used in
the system.
Back Office functionality
The Back Office functionality includes the general setup for LS Central.

In Product Design, data needed for retail products is set up. Retail Items is an advanced version of Items
where some extra information for the items can be configured. This includes information needed in the
retail business, for example Variant Framework, which makes it possible to sell one item, number in dif-
ferent colors, sizes and styles.

Sales & Marketing includes the setup of data for sales operations. Here, the Promotions, Offers and
Coupons are configured. The system has options for many different types of offers that can be set for
items, line and total discounts, tender discounts and member offers. Each offer type has its own triggers,
settings, lines and benefit setup.

Store Management includes the setup and maintenance of Stores, Terminals, and Sales Staff. The sys-
tem gives the possibility to have staff with different permission levels on the POS. Tasks such as Store
Statements and different Cash and Safe Management methods are parts of Store Management. With
Store Statements, the POS sales data is collected and then the data is posted to Inventory, Customer and
General Ledger.
Point of Sale Support
The Point of Sale includes the POS client and the POS setup.

The POS layout, look and functionality are configured mainly in five different types of POS Profiles: Inter-
face, Menu, Functionality, Style and Hardware. The Profiles are then linked to Stores, Terminals and/or
Retail Users. The POS Profiles and their default concept make the setup quick and easy.

LS Central registers all POS transactions into the Transaction Register where it is easy to make enquiries
for every detail of the POS sale.

The POS client can be started in the LS Central menu or directly with the LS Central AppShell that is avail-
able for Windows, Android and iOS.

The LS Central Appshell allows the retailers to use a mobile device as tablet and phone to run the LS Cen-
tral POS. With the retailes can mobilize their sales associates, providing personalized service to the cus-
tomers from the first greeting to finalizing the transaction on the shop floor.

This is only the POS support functionality. The Retail Device CAL for Retail & Hospitality module needs to
be purchased separately for each device.
Inventory Management
When an employee works on the store back office system, he or she only sees data that is relevant for
them and the store to which they are assigned. For example, they only see items that are in the store’s
product range and purchase orders that belong to their store.

All processes for worksheets and documents are simplified and controlled for that user and store.

Inventory management also supports mobile devices to simplify all inventory processes performed in the
store to increase productivity and the quality of the store processes. This is only the functionality; the
Retail Device CAL for Mobile Inventory module needs to be purchased separately for the Mobile device to
work properly.
Member Management
The Member Management functionality gives the possibility to handle multiple Member Clubs in a com-
pany with different rules and setups suitable for loyalty or staff clubs.

Each club can have one to many Member Schemes such as Standard, Silver and Gold. Members are
registered in the clubs either directly in the BackOffice system or via the Loyalty pack.

Members of the club are linked to a scheme but can move between schemes based on calculation rules
for issued member points. Each Member can be registered with defined Member Attributes that make it
possible to gather information about the member.

Members collect Member Points from either POS Sales, Sales Orders or Member Point Journals. The
issued points are based on point setup rules that can be different between clubs and items.

On top of this, Retail Offers and Coupons can be made valid for specific Member Clubs, Member
Schemes and/or Member Attributes.

Member Campaign gives the ability to identify members through dynamic queries that analyze data and
create a campaign that can be connected to offer/benefits for the members.

A member can have a discount budget assigned to him that limits the discount amount he or she can earn
within a given timeframe.

Member Management is fundamental for eCommerce and Loyalty apps.

Sales Commission
Sales Commission is a functionality that calculates a sales person’s commission for sold items.

The system supports two types of sales commission rules:

l Transaction:Sales Commission is calculated as a percentage or a fixed amount of a specific item or if an offer

is triggered.

l Sales Target:Sales Commission is based on a percentage or a fixed amount based on the total sales amount
over the selected Commission Sales period
Each Sales Commission rule can be set up for a predefined period, selected items or group of items where
each line has its percentage value or fixed amount. Sales Commission can be calculated for the individual
sales person or group of sales persons.

Sales Commission works for POS Sales and Retail Sales Orders.

The system registers all sales commission transactions to commission periods. Transactions within the
commission period can be transferred to a general journal and from there posted to General Ledger.
eCommerce Supported
In LS Central Base, you have the ability to create content for items, offers and notifications to be presen-
ted on eCommerce platforms and mobile devices. The content can contain single or multiple pictures.

The system receives orders from eCommerce platforms and mobile devices, creating sales orders and
customer orders that are processed and delivered to the customer.

Note that this is only the functionality; the eCommerce module must be purchased separately
Scheduler
The Scheduler is a functionality to set up tasks, which can be run on a pre-set date and time. The tasks
can be different kinds of LS Central system jobs.

The Scheduler plays a role in the replication setup where data is replicated between databases, primarily
from the Head Office database, where the basic data is maintained, to databases in the stores.

The Scheduler combines all scheduler jobs in the system, regardless of whether they are replication jobs
or miscellaneous.
Hospitality
Hospitality supports fine dining and casual dining restaurants including catering, cafeterias, pubs, bars
and cafés. The system supports Table Management by list or/and graphical layout showing relevant
status and further information. The system offers possibility to plan your restaurant capacity in the future
by managing sections that can be open/closed in different periods of a day or week. Table Reservations
can be made by using LS Activity and then these can be allocated either manually or automatically (based
on table ranking) in the Table Allocation module.

The system includes support for Kitchen Display System that works with the LS Kitchen Service. This sys-
tem includes a flexible setup of Kitchen Displays and full control of Kitchen Orders. This makes it easier
for the kitchen staff and waiters to monitor orders prepared in the kitchen. This is only the functionality;
Retail Device CAL for Kitchen Display Server module needs to be purchased separately

Delivery and Takeout, with or without an online call center, is also included with delivery or takeout, within
the restaurant or centralized. Driver management is part of the restaurant functionality

The Meal Plan gives the ability to plan future menus, including the materials required. The solution auto-
matically updates the POS system with the correct menus for each day. Central item and recipe man-
agement with cost calculation, ingredient exclusion, item modifiers and recipe versions. There are
extended pricing possibilities including an offers system with the option of including loyalty.
Item Import
The functionality of Item Import is to import files from vendors, and to create and update the company item
master. The files from vendors typically contain vendor item no., barcodes, description, item group, size
and color information, purchase price and sales price. The Item Import functionality imports the data into
an import data pool from where it can be selected into an import journal and there the user can correct and
finalize the information before the items are updated.
Customer Orders
With Customer Orders, it is possible to service the customers so they can order items through all cus-
tomer touchpoints. Items that can be on customer order can be from all the stock in retailer’s stores and
warehouses or items that are not in stock and can be sourced from the retailer’s vendors.

With this, the retailer has the options to sell to customers items from all locations and items that are
stocked by vendors. With the vendor, sourcing feature retailers get the opportunity to increase their range
of available products without having to increase the floor space.

Customer order can handle orders from all available channels that is POS, eCommerce and mobile.

The process is that the customer can place orders in the store, with mobile loyalty app or in e-commerce
and decide to either collect the order at selected store/warehouse or have it delivered to his address.

With integrations to the eCommerce and POS systems, the fulfillment process, i.e. inventory transfers,
payment and shipping processes are done in a uniform way. This allows the customer to return/exchange
goods in any store no matter if the customer made the purchase online, in the Loyalty app or in the store,
creating a seamless experience for the customer.
Replenishment
The Replenishment module is a tool to assist the purchasing department in creating purchase orders,
which are order suggestions for items with quantity volume. These suggestions are based on pre-set
data, which details for example minimum and maximum quantity that is supposed to be available in store.
The system is based on either automatic or manual replenishment rules.

Automatic replenishment supports four methods of calculating reorder quantity for store and/or ware-
houses. Manual replenishment methods are also offered where the buyer decides how to push stock to
stores or franchise partners.

Utilizing the Replenishment module simplifies item distribution and planning, lowers item stock cost and
provides a higher level of item availability in warehouses and store.

Part of the functionality is that it:

l Supports cross-docking a single purchase order, pushing existing stock from warehouses and then recalling
stock from the stores back to warehouse or to an outlet store at end of season.

l Ability to create campaigns with special offering and replenishing process to support the campaign.

l Includes an effective workbench for the buyer to get a good overview of all relevant information and doc-
ument within their domain.

l Includes vendor performance discrepancy reports with detail logging to show ordered, delivered and then
invoiced quantity and prices.

They cover features such as Average Usage, Manual Estimate, Stock Levels and Like for Like. Average
Usage analyses sales history to predict future stock needs for the store/warehouse. Sales History Adjust-
ment allows to correct a biased sales history and to simulate a sales history for new items and stores.
Planned Demand Events are used to plan the changes of demand quantity for future discounts, pro-
motions or ad-hoc events.
Store Stock Redistribution helps to reduce markdowns and increase sales. The feature calculates the
actual stock and demand for seasonal items and proposes Transfer Orders to balance the stock across
the store network to maximize sales - considering transportation cost, distance and transportation time.

The LS Central Allocation Plan is a powerful tool to prepare a season, preplan purchasing and how to dis-
tribute retail items. It supports the buyer in:

l Planning the buying process

l Allocating to stores and customers

l Planning buffer quantity

Two different methods are used for allocation. Firstly, distribute is a top-down method where the total
quantity is decided and calculated down to each store. Secondly, in Defined, the user defines pattern
quantities for each distribution group, for instance size and color combinations. Allocation Plan can then
create Purchase, Transfer and Sales Orders according to the plan. Buyer’s Push and Cross Docking sup-
port the same user interface and process as the Allocation Plan.
Open-to-Buy
Open-to-Buy (OTB) is used to show the difference between how much inventory is needed and how much
is available. This includes inventory on hand, in transit and any outstanding orders. This can also be
thought of to control that the value of the inventory is within some given limits at any given time - not too
little and not too much.
Franchise Management
Basic document communication between the franchiser and franchisee is supported where either party
can initiate the document. Both parties need to run LS Central. The Data Director manages the com-
munication between the franchiser and franchisee. Automation is used in error checking and in the cre-
ation of documents and matching is configurable as well. Purchase and sales order documents are used
where a purchase order is created at the franchisee and sent. The system checks the document for errors
and possibly then automatically creates a sales order document in the database of the franchises. Manual
replenishment processes support the franchise business by the ability to create sales orders and define
customers to receive goods.
Call Center
There are two ways to set up a Call Center in LS Central

Single database environment

All restaurants (stores) are in the same database – the Call Center is set up as a separate store, which
can take orders for other stores in the database.

Distributed environment
Restaurants can be in different databases – the Call Center is in a separate store in a separate database.
The Call Center communicates with other restaurants through Web Services so data is only looked up
and used when needed. Communication is confirmed directly with the user who initiates the com-
munication, for example, when staff at the call center sends an order to a restaurant. The system will con-
nect to the restaurant database where a success message is returned if the task was successful.
The LS Central Modules
A prerequisite for the Modules is LS Central Base.

LS Central Add-on Modules are:

l LS Insight

l LS Activity

l LS Staff Management

l LS Hotels

l LS Pharmacy

l LS Pay

l LS eCommerce

l LS Forecourt

Consulting Modules

l LS Duty Free

l LS Cruise

SaaS Services

l LS Forecast

l LS Recommend
LS Insight
LS Insight is a Business Intelligence solution for LS Central that gives you access to all the data analysis
power and reporting options you need – with none of the complications attached to building your own data
warehouse.

You can download it free of charge, and use as is, or as a base for your data warehouse and Business
Intelligence environment.

LS Insight – Data Warehouse contains metadata tables, staging tables, the dimensional model, con-
sisting of dimension and fact tables organized into a star schema, and stored procedures.

LS Insight – Analytics is a collection of Power BI reports that analyze and visualize data from the data
warehouse. Currently we offer Power BI templates for Sales and Inventory, each with a collection of
reports.

LS Insight offers an extension for the LS Central for Hotels extension including a special report template
for Hotels.

LS Insight is available for LS Nav and LS Central on-premises from version 8.4 to the latest version and
for LS Central in Cloud (SaaS) on latest version from version 17.0.

The following setup scenarios are supported for the different LS Central platforms:

LS Central Azure Data Factory LS Insight Data Warehouse

On-Premises Azure Azure

On-Premises Azure On-Premises

SaaS Azure Azure

Any scenario where Azure Data Factory is not used is not supported.
LS Activity
The LS Activity module allows you to manage reservations and appointments, both details facing the cli-
ent and reservation of the resources needed to perform the services, such as specialists or facilities. The
functions are available both in the back-end of LS Central and on the POS

The appointments or reservations can reserve multiple resources if needed, both automatically and manu-
ally assigned by the user. It is defined what the resources can do, and priority settings can also be
assigned, which are then followed when being automatically assigned for specific services.

The services are defined as products, which are assigned pricing and dates, when they are available for
selling. The availability of the product depends on the availability of the resources required by the product
definition.

You can also manage events with LS Activity with scenarios where you need to manage the reservation of
dining- / meeting rooms, associated equipment and have food and beverage (or any retail item) registered
prior to the event, to be finalized and invoiced at the POS after the event has been concluded. Events can
also be quoted through standard quote, and as well finalized using standard invoice. The point of sale fea-
tures can be used to select food and beverage products for the event, then pushed to the event reser-
vation, and added to the additional charges section.

It is possible to handle courses, which have a specific starting date, limited seat availability and reserving
resources according to a predefined schedule. Then each participant can be registered and payments
finalized through the point of sale.

Any activity, for example reservations or appointments, can trigger the issuing of tasks, which according
to pre-set templates can be assigned to dates and time prior to arrival, during stay or after the activity is
completed.

These tasks can be assigned to specific employees and the manager can keep track of their status on the
role center.
The reservation features can also handle classes where you have a fixed schedule of individual sessions
going on for a set timeframe, and keep track of the necessary resources to perform the classes.

LS Staff Management
The Staff Management module suits both the retail and hospitality market segments. Staff members are
assigned to roles and shifts according to who is available for the job and their skill level. Salary cost is cal-
culated at planning and compared to either finance budgets or role budgets. Roster planning is supported,
with the ability to automatically schedule shifts according to fixed shifts or shift patterns, and the estim-
ated cost is compared to budgets and actual figures as they come. The system can provide the managers
with resource adjustment suggestions based on logic, which can fetch information from any data stored
within the solution, or from external sources. For example, a weather forecast integration is provided as
standard option in the solution and can affect the resource needs based on the forecasted results.

The module also covers time registration, using either designated clock terminals, or at the point of sale.
Time registration is automatically compared to roster assignments, and only passed on to managers for
inspection when not according to the schedule.

The time entries are converted to salary hours and cost according to very flexible conversion mechanism,
which can also provide warnings according to defined comparison values, for example if overtime is
passing certain limit or sick days are exceeding the monthly allowance.

For employee-facing functionality, LS Staff management includes an employee portal, where employees
can view their shift assignments, receive shift requests, request shifts and vacation, and look at their
planned or worked hours in various ways. The employee portal can run smart device, mobile phone, using
the standard mobile client.

On the analysis front, managers can view planned or actual figures (both hours and amounts) based on
days, weeks, months and location comparison, along with sales results and cost of goods sold from the
LS Retail POS, and cost figures from the General Ledger. The final estimated profit/loss figures are one
click away at the end of the day.
Finally, the hours can be exported to any salary solution, both within the Business Central environment or
externally for processing the final pay slip results.

LS Hotels
With LS Retail, you can run your hotel, hospitality, retail, and event business within just one platform. You
get all the in-depth industry functionality you need without ever having to switch systems. And since all
your information is within one database, you get total visibility over your whole enterprise and your gues

With LS Hotels you have property management system (PMS) where you can get all the information you
need about your property and your guests. Manage guests, groups and corporate bookings. Get a real-
time overview of maintenance, housekeeping and reservation status, and maximize room occupancy.
Recognize returning guests, and delight them with personalized offers and special touches

LS Pharmacy
LS Central for pharmacy is a complete software solution built on LS Central and Microsoft Dynamics 365
Business Central ERP. You can manage various types of prescriptions, handle drugs effectively and keep
track of the levels of pharmaceutical stock across all stores. At the same time, you can also handle retail
items (including pricing, replenishment, campaigns/promotions, loyalty, etc.), manage appointments and
reservations and finalize sales at the POS.

This means pharmacies can use just one software solution to manage all their product sales, from phar-
maceuticals to health to beauty, as well as bookings within the same software solution. Also, thanks to the
automations, you can standardize internal processes and increase efficiency.

LS Central for pharmacy is an international, modular solution which can be used in multiple countries.
LS Pay
LS Pay is an integrated Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) solution for retail and hospitality platforms, which
allow you to accept payments regardless of the solution you are running, LS Central, LS One or LS Omni.

Through the years, card payments have been fragmented and difficult to work with especially in a multi-
regional context. With LS Pay, we are unifying the payment landscape, offering integrations to multiple
payment service providers, leveraging the latest technology available in the payment space.

Supporting Omni-channel payments is a key focus for LS Pay, allowing businesses to have the same pay-
ment service provider for all their channels. This means that transactions, regardless of their origin can be
handled by the same PSP, whether on a stationary POS, on a mobile POS on the shop floor, or on-line on
your eCommerce platform. This cross-channel tokenization supported by LS Pay enables you to return
Items easily between channels.

Please see our Portal for a list of supported Payment Service Providers & countries: https://-
portal.lsretail.com/Products/LS-Pay

LS eCommerce
The LS Retail eCommerce solution is an addition to LS Central and meets the increasing demand for
online shopping. This solution makes it possible to run a web store based on LS Central. The web store
can be accessed from computers, tablets and mobile phones. The LS eCommerce solution is composed
of two parts, the standard LS Central and LS eCommerce. The latter solution supports the storefront pres-
ence, but LS Central handles all retail configuration and Back Office functionality of the store.

The eCommerce functionality offers the management of in-store, mobile commerce and online store sys-
tems. Offers can be presented online and in-store alike. LS Central master data such as items, cat-
egories, contacts, discount offers and more are replicated and updated into the eCommerce database.
Basket and pricing calculation is done by web services along with the order creation where sales orders
and customer orders are created in LS Central.
The LS Central eCommerce solution is integrated with LS Central (Version 11.x and upwards) providing
an online retail platform for LS Central. It leverages the LS Central Member Management solution and
member contacts available discounts.

LS Central eCommerce supports multiple front-end eCommerce platforms such as Magento, Avensia
Storefront and Dynamicweb, all supporting various plugins, templates and themes.

The eCommerce API is made available via the Omni Server.

LS Forecourt
LS Forecourt adds functionality to LS Central POS to interact with fuel pumps in a petrol station, show
status of pumps in a graphical way and finalize fuel sales.

With the LS Forecourt comes the Forecourt Manager, a GUI program that runs on top of the POS and com-
municates seamlessly to the pumps and LS Central POS and thus allows POS user to have real time over-
view of pump status and transactions on a pump. The Forecourt Manager also provides some pump
control from POS like stop and start pumps and authorize pumps. Number of types of fuel sales are sup-
ported like Post-pay were a fuel transaction is finalized after pumping and Pre-pay were the fuel sale is
paid in advanced and the pump is pre-set to an amount or volume. The Forecourt Manager also supports
scenario like Drive-off.

The Forecourt Manager interacts with the fuel pumps thru a forecourt controller that is a connection hub to
all the hardware (pumps, tanks, price signs) in a petrol station. The POS needs a driver to be able to con-
nect to the forecourt controller. LS Retail has developed drivers for a few types of forecourt controllers but
if a driver does not exist for a specific forecourt controller type, the POS cannot connect to the pumps.
LS Central Consulting Modules
l LS Duty Free

l LS Cruise

LS Duty Free
The module is designed to provide system functionality to Duty Free stores that require flexible handling
of tax, pricing and custom rules based the travelling route and/or nationality of the customer.

The solution includes all the key functions a duty free store needs such as capture boarding card and
passport data by scanner or manually. Based on flight information and nationality setup, the system will
pick up the rules for:

• Tax free, tax refunds, final prices and discounts

• Product allowances and limitations, by quantity or amount

• Security tamper-evident bag

• The system also handles multi-leg boarding cards for in-transit passengers. In this case, rules can be set
basing on final destination instead of next-leg destination.

LS Cruise
The module is an extension on the LS Activity reservation modules that supports the common needs of
companies in the ferry and cruise operations industry.

The purpose of the extension is to enable cruise and ferry companies and their on-board staff members to
easily manage reservations and pre-paid services. It helps to create a smooth and easy process to book
and redeem reservations, with or without prepayments on the POS for the benefits of both customers and
staff members
Functionality such as:

• Reservations linked to passenger identifications/boarding cards.

• Table Reservations with specific items reserved from online platform.

• Table Reservation seated and redeemed of passenger identification fast and seamlessly.

• Allowing payment for a reservation to be used for other service if operation needs.

• Value Coupons for on-board use, specific to items/item groups at specific/group of outlets.

The cruise and ferry industry system architecture setup is often limited to the fact that the network is fra-
gile on open sea and therefore the standard online functionality offered in LS Activity has been extended
to work in a distributed environment with replication and web services.

Integration tools and web service calls to communicate with web booking process and external booking
system have been added to extend the standard LS Activity API.

LS Cruise solves many of the common needs of cruise/ferry companies that relate to reservations, pre-
payments, and pre-paid services (PPS) by enhancing standard functionality offered in LS Activity, LS Cen-
tral and BC.
SaaS Services
l LS Recommend

l LS Forecast
LS Recommend
LS Recommend is a new tool in LS Central developed by LS Retail so that companies can recommend
products to their consumers based on their purchase history.

LS Recommend provides item and user based recommendation that can be displayed in the LS Central
POS or printed on the slip. LS Recommend provides an interface on the Azure Cognitive Services Recom-
mendations API with addition of LS Central specifications.

The recommendation engine is based on items and sales history. The sales history can be user based
where the user would be a member or a customer.

Recommendation can be given based on an item or a user, or both. There are three options available:

l Item to basket: recommends items based on items in a shopping basket. Note that the basket can only con-
tain one item.

l Item to member or customer: recommends items based on a member’s or customer’s purchase history.

l Item to Basket with member or customer: recommends items based on items in a shopping basket, and on a
member’s/customer’s purchase history.

If there is no sales history available for the user, the recommendation is based on the items in his basket.

LS Forecast

LS Forecast is developed by LS Retail and consists of a cloud-based demand forecasting engine and addi-
tional functionality in LS Central for setup, data upload/download and to utilize the downloaded forecast in
Replenishment. LS Insight is used as data hub to store the uploaded sales history.

The cloud-based part of LS Forecast is built on Microsoft´s Cortana Intelligence Suite and uses
advanced statistical forecasting techniques such as ARIMA, Seasonal ARIMA, Additive and Multiplicative
models to predict future sales demand from sales history with a best-fit approach.
In LS Central, LS Forecast is also used as a Replenishment Calculation Type. The forecast results allow
to anticipate demand better in Replenishment, so that users can accurately determine what items to order
and when to order them.

LS Forecast allows to calculate forecasts on daily or weekly granularity for different item groups. While
the user might want to utilize the highest precision for her/his priority one items, a forecast on weekly level
can be sufficient for spare parts and lower priority items.

It’s possible to calculate Safety Stock quantities based on volatility in the sales data and the system com-
putes a forecast quality KPI and rates each forecast within three quality categories (good, medium, or
poor), so you can quickly evaluate its reliability.
Other Functionality
• Hardware Station

• "Kitchen Display System" on page 38

• Data Director

• Update Service

• Commerce Service

• Hybrid Components Server – HCS

Hardware Station
Hardware station is a hardware device service for OPOS and other retail related devices.

The LS Hardware station enables the POS to connect to the devices that POS uses as printer, scanner,
cash drawer, line display, EFT device, scale, serial device.

The devices are configurable through a Management Portal and their functionality can be tested there.

The server that hosts Hardware Station is also configurable through the Management Portal.
Kitchen Display System
The LS Central Kitchen Display System, KDS, is an advanced kitchen production system. It is designed
for use in a hospitality environment and is well suited for bars, cafes, quick service restaurants, casual din-
ing and fine dining; in short, wherever orders need to be prepared at a production station.

System highlights:

l While orders are being processed in the kitchen, the Hospitality POS is updated with process information

l Users in the preparation area have a good overview what is in the line

l Waiters and users at the POS can monitor the process at all times

l Setup of stations is configurable in LS Central back office

l The Kitchen Service works with Display Stations and Printers

l Possibility to activate different configuration depending on the restaurant’s load

Data Director
Data Director is the service that transfers data between databases, remotely or locally.

The Data Director process:

l Extract data from the source database as is defined by the scheduler job that starts it

l Compresses that data

l Sends it to a destinations as the job instructors

l Uncompressing the data

l Inserts the data into the destination database

The Data Director can distribute a package to one or many destinations.

With the Data Director is a Job Monitor that monitors all work done by the Data Director and can send noti-
fication of processed jobs.
Update Service
Update Service is a solution to simplify the process of installing LS Retail’s products in stores and res-
taurants and keeping them up-to-date. A deployment manager can define one or more setups with dif-
ferent software components required for installation. The setup is then easily accessible through an
installation tool that will install all the components selected for the setup including an update service that
checks on a regular interval if a new version is available and updates the software. New versions of the
components are then easily deployable from a central location.

The benefits of using Update Service is that you can easily install LS Central out-of-the-box and use exist-
ing tools to include your customizations, database backup, apps, objects and license

The system is modular, you can pick and choose different packages for different setup.

By using Update Service you can have easier, simpler and faster implementations for LS Central.
Commerce Service
Commerce Service (previously known as the Omni Server) is a Windows service hosting various APIs for
our solutions.

Commerce Service for eCommerce provides access to our eCommerce API, consumed by LS eCom-
merce, Scan Pay Go and other 3rd party apps/solutions.

Commerce Service for Mobile Inventory provides access to the API consumed by the Mobile Inventory
handheld devices.
Hybrid Components Server – HCS
The Hybrid option gives customers the ability to utilize both the benefits of cloud hosting and the resi-
lience of an offline POS. Offline device architecture is achieved using a Hybrid Component server.

The Hybrid Component server replicates data from the cloud based head office to the companies based
POS master database which then ensures that everything the POS needs, data and application, is rep-
licated to the offline POSs.

It is up to each retailer where he wants to install the HCS, it can be in Azure or in an in-house server.

By using HCS with LS Central makes it possible for companies to benefit with what the cloud has to offer,
that is always be up to date with newest releases and the benefits of a POS that is running offline and at
the same time the system ensures that all poses are as well running the latest version.

The LS Hybrid option ensures that companies are always using the latest version of the LS Central soft-
ware, both for head office and the poses, no more need for manual updates.

This solution has been designed so that both data and application flows smoothly between the databases,
from Head Office database in the cloud to POS Master, from POS Master to the POSs and vice versa.
AppShell for LS Central
There are few apps available for LS Central. LS Central Apps can be downloaded from Play Store
(Android) and LS Retail site: https://portal.lsretail.com/app-center/

LS Central AppShell
The LS Central AppShell is developed to run the LS Central POS on mobile devices. The app eases the
use of the POS on mobile devices. The Android version allows the POS to use peripherals like printer,
scanner or PED that are connected to the mobile device via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

Three versions are available:

l Version for Android operating system with full functionality

l Version for iOS with a limited functionality that can only run the POS and has not the support of connecting
the POS to peripherals

l Version for Windows that can run the POS. Device connection is through the LS Hardware Station

Mobile POS
Mobile POS is an app for sales personnel in the store to create and finish a sale.

With the app, the user can for example:

l search for items

l sell items by scanning the barcode, use lookup and find them in predefined menus

l give discounts

l suspend /retrieve transactions

l finish the sale with different tender types

l void line / void transaction

Each retail business can have the app customized for their own style, with their color and logos.

This work is done by LS Retail consulting services.

Mobile POS connects with LS Central via the LS Commerce Service

Mobile Inventory
Mobile Inventory is an app for staff to perform inventory processes.

Each retail business can have the app customized for their own style, with their color and logos.

This work is done by LS Retail consulting services.

Mobile Inventory connects with LS Central via the LS Commerce Service

Master data lookup

The ability to look up and show data on the mobile device from item, customer and vendor master

l Item master has 3 views:

l General

l Show quantity on hand in all colors of an item

l Show quantity on hand in all sizes for an item

l The views are all developed within LS Central therefore the partner can change them as he wants or create
new views

Worksheets
The mobile device can give you the ability to enter data into any worksheet that has been defined for the
user:
 l Process is that you select the worksheet

l If it is counting worksheet with areas, then it will ask you for the area

l Now the user selects the item (item number, scans or search with a list)

l Enter the quantity

The whole worksheet process is offline with an item master on the mobile device

When finished, the user sends the worksheet to the central database for posting

Processes supported:

l Purchasing

l negative stock adjustment

l positive stock adjustment

l order SEL or item labels

l pre-pack explosion

l stock counting with or without areas

Receiving documents
The user needs to select the document he wants to receive by vendor, list of all, by scanning an item. The
document is downloaded to the mobile device for receiving. The mobile device needs to be online to
select and download the document.

The actual receiving process can be offline. There are two methods from which to choose.

l Blind receiving
l The user scans all items he is receiving and enters quantity. The Mobile device will let the user
know if it does not find the item master or if the item is not in the document
 l When the user has entered all the items, he closes the process and the system will compare the
entered items and quantity to the document and ask him to re-scan and enter the quantity of the
item with differences, without telling him what the document quantity is. It is possible to define how
many recounts are done

l The result is then sent to the central database for posting

l Receiving by list
l The user sees a list of all items and quantity in the document

l User selects or scans an item to be received and enters the quantity

l The mobile can show the list with filtering showing all records, only records with difference, only
records that have not been received

l Then the result is then sent to the central database for posting

The types of document that can be received are:

l Purchase Order

l Transfer Order (in)

l Sales Return Order

Picking documents
The types of documents that can be picked are:

l Transfer Order (out)

l Purchase Return Order

l Sales Order

All document types can be picked as create. Staff can walk around with a mobile device and scan items
per order from a customer on a piece of paper. The Sales Order is then created when posted.
Otherwise, the process is like Receiving documents, where you can pick blind or by list as mentioned
above.

ScanPayGo
ScanPayGo is an loalty customer app that retailers provide to their customers. Retailers can have the app
branded, their logo and their two main colors, to represent their business. With the ScanPayGo app the
shoppers can walk around the store and at the same time they insert items into their basket they can scan
the item‘s barcode so it is in their ScanPayGo basket as well. When the shopper has done his shopping
he can do a quick checkout in the app or at a speedy POS station, all depending how the retailer wants it
done.

Additionally shoppers can view:

l Store‘s offers

l Store list with location and opening hours information

l Previous purchases

l Most importantly create their own shopping lists that they can share with family and friends.

The ScanPayGo app is available for Android and iOS operational systems.

ScanPayGo connects with LS Central via the LS Commerce Service.