Aloha POS: FAQs

Audience

Operators, Technical Teams, Account Managers, Engineers, & Product Teams

Description

This article is iterative and lists the most common FAQs we get from brands that are using Olo with integration to Aloha POS.

FAQs 

1. Do my guests get charged tax from Olo or from Aloha?

• Aloha is the final authority on charging tax thru a function called "Tax Validation". The tax that shows in Olo during the process of building a basket is called an "Estimation". Once moving on to Checkout, Aloha POS responds with the correct tax according to the rules in Aloha.
  
  
  • Special Taxing Scenario on Table Service Guide
  • Special Taxing Scenario on Quick Service Guide
• Aloha Surcharges are returned to Olo in the Validation response back to Olo, but they are combined with the tax amount. Therefore, if the tax=.50 and the surcharge=.05, then Aloha validates that tax as .55 to Olo. We cannot see them separated.
  • (Please be aware, we've recently found that this behavior has changed and we are receiving the surcharge back from the POS wrapped into the subtotal, not the tax)
• Aloha GST (Goods and Services Tax) are returned to Olo in the Validation response back to Olo, but they are combined with the price of the item. Therefore, if the GST=.25 and the price of the item=5.00, then Aloha validates that item price as 5.25 to Olo. We cannot see them separated and GST does not get apportioned to the tax validated amount that is separate from the price.

2. Where does pricing in Olo come from?

• If the automatic updater is on, Olo pulls prices from the POS that are initially shown to the guest while building their basket.
• There are multiple places in the database that are considered that include: item price (for item mapping), modifier button price (for modifier mapping), price change, quick combo pricing.
• If for some reason, the price reflected while building the basket is not the desired price, POS will send the correct price back to the guest on Checkout similar to the tax validation mentioned in Question #1.
• We do take into account the references in %iberdir%\data\events.cfg for Price Change Activations. We read the last event up until 11:00 AM (local time). Any price change activations after that are ignored. If there are more than one at the same latest time, we use the latest one we find. 

3. What do I need to configure in Aloha to support Discounts from Olo?

• Olo supports the use of Open Dollar Comps for our discounts. They are to be mapped in Olo using the Comp record ID with "c" as a prefix. For example, if you are using Comp 123, the reference would be c123.
  • These are used for either $ off Discounts in Olo or % off Discounts in Olo (where Olo calculates the percentage and then sends that value down to POS to the open dollar Comp).
    
    
• Olo supports the use of Promo Type "Check reduction" for our discounts. They are to be mapped in Olo using the Record ID with no prefix. For example, if you are using  Promo 123, the reference would be 123.
  • These are to be used only with specified/predefined $ off Discounts and the items on the check must be eligible in POS within the definitions of that Check Reduction Promo.
    
    

4. How do I control printing or KDS routing in Aloha POS?

• All print routing rules in Aloha are followed by the interface employee, interface terminal, applied order mode and tender, just as they would for any other employee, terminal or order mode in POS.  This applies to Kitchen Chit Printing and Guest Check printing. If an item is not printing where you want it to, your item routing is likely the root cause. For KDS, you will need to adjust the configuration of the applicable routing rules for that system.
• Olo sends one command to print when an order is committed to POS. This does not change the routing, which is controlled by the configuration of the interface terminal and/or revenue center. 
• What about the 0.00 on your guest checks for the memo items Olo sends to POS for order information? 
  • Olo does not send a price with memo items, rather Olo only sends the item and text (satisfies the "Ask For Description" flag). Aloha POS inherently assigns this 0.00 to the item and NCR's position is that this is working as designed. There is no way to remove the 0.00s; however, they have no impact to operations or accounting. The flagin Aloha to ‘Hide price when zero’ under the ‘Chit printing’ group bar in the configuration of the item will have no impact on this as the 0.00s are on the guest check not the prep chit. 

5. What is an interface terminal?

• An interface terminal is a terminal in Aloha that is not visible like a physical terminal in the FOH. It is a terminal that runs virtually in the background and is dependent on the proper function of the FOH with a running master terminal.
  
  

6. What is an interface employee?

• An interface employee is an employee that acts as a regular FOH employee in Aloha but isn't visible like a real person. It is an employee that logs in and performs action on the interface terminal for order entry. 
  
  

7. What does POS Order Ready with a red dot mean on the Aloha Dashboard?

• It means that the interface terminal (Iber/Iberqs) is not fully booted to a "floating terminal" status (identified in the Olo log as "AlohaPOS Controller Ready"). You will need to troubleshoot why Aloha's interface server is not able to successfully boot Iber(qs). Please review your debouts and/or contact your reseller/support team for assistance troubleshooting Aloha. If you are not able to achieve results, please open a ticket with support and have your steps taken prepared.
  
  

8. What does Connected mean in the Dashboard?

• Connected means that the OloAlohaService was able to properly reach our server in the cloud and authenticate the account for that specific location. 
  
  

9. Why did my store get disabled automatically? 

• Stores will get disabled automatically if an error is received back from POS 5 times consecutively without any successful requests.
  
  

10. How do I troubleshoot failed orders?

• Use the Order ID to research the order in the Olo logs via the Dashboard.

11. the Aloha error "Cannot validate orders when POS controller is not ready" ?

• Find the relevant date and time in which the error occurred within the appropriate Olo log. Look at the error or series of errors prior to the error in the log. This will generally point you to the local issue (typically it is database related) that caused Iber(qs) to have to be restarted. This is usually what puts Iber(qs) in an unready state. Think of this in the same way you would as a terminal in your FOH that does not have Iber(qs) booted up.

12. Why do I need to set up multiple Order Modes setup in Aloha?

• Olo in its simplest form only needs one Order Mode to get orders committed to POS for Online Ordering. However, if your business requires use of the features Aloha associates with Order Modes (like Revenue Center Reporting, Service Charges, Print Routing, etc.), then there are usually reasons to use a different Order Mode for Delivery or Curbside (for example). 

13. Can credit cards be separated into individual tenders?

• Olo in its simplest form only needs one Tender to submit prepaid orders to Aloha (via a "general" tender type). However, if your business requires that prepaid order tenders are split up by Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express, then an additional "general" tender will be required for each.
• The difference with these above store payments is that they are processed above store and are, therefore, not part of your credit card batch through EDC, but they will be on your Payment Detail Report in Aloha.
  
  

14. Where will I see tips from guests on my checks once they are in POS?

• If tips will are allowed by the Aloha general tender type described in Question #13 (must be configured in POS this way), the tip will be part of the tender on the check in POS just like a credit card that is processed in POS would.
• For Delivery Orders, tips may be sent into the body of the check as an open item and would then not be part of the tender.

15. When I refund an order in Olo, will Aloha POS be updated automatically to reflect that refund?  

• No. All cards are processed above store and are mapped to Aloha's generic tender type that has no credit card data associated with it. Therefore, POS cannot refund back to the credit card that was processed above store. As such, these are the refund options:
  
  
  • Option 1 (2 steps)
    • Refund in Olo which communicates directly with the processor, but not POS.
    • Refund in POS and close the refund check to a generic Olo tender (only purpose is reporting parity and is restricted to same day refunds to accomplish that)
      
      
  • Option 2 (1 step)
    • Refund in POS and give cash back to the customer. In this case, no need to process in Olo as that would credit back the customer's credit card. This will not assure reporting parity.

16. Does Olo integrate to Aloha Stored Value gift cards?

• Olo does have an integration to Aloha Stored Value (ASV). Please reach out to your CSM or TAM for assistance if you wish to implement this integration.
  
  

17. Can I accept payment in-store with Olo or do all orders have to be pre-paid?

• Yes, you can accept unpaid orders that will be paid in-store. When your guest arrives, you will find the check in the following places:
  • Table Service: in your Working Wth Tables (WWT) Screen.
  • Quick Service: in the Olo Order Entry Queue accessed by Recall Order/Check function in the FOH.
    
    

18. Can Olo run in the same environment with ATO?

• Yes, Olo and ATO can run in the same environment. There are typically adjustments to local configuration that need to be made so they can coexist. Your TAM will work with you on that based on your environment during your deployment.
  
  

19. Why will my interface terminal not come up since I upgraded Aloha POS?

• If you upgrade POS beyond 6.7.64 or 12.3.31 or any version of 14.1/15.1, you will need to rename (to save) the existing radacctl.lic file in %iberdir%\bin and copy in the new radacctl.lic file (provided by NCR) so that Iber recognizes Olo's service as an SDK partner service. 

20. What do I need to know about the Olo integration to Aloha 15.1?

• In our experience, to date, there are not many nuances for the Olo integration to work in this environment; however, the ones we have encountered are referenced in this article.

21. Does Olo support Quick Combos?

Yes, a QS brand can build and map Quick Combos on the Olo side. This will pull pricing that is built into the Quick Combo and validation will receive a response from POS that auto-applies the Quick Combo price upon checkout. 

• Requirement - Quick Combo must be set to auto-apply.
• Recommendation - set up a marker item as a component in the Quick Combo that can be mapped on the Olo side to avoid unwanted auto-application in-store.