Dedicated Micros APOS User guide

Brand: Dedicated Micros

Model: APOS

Category: POS terminals

Type: User guide

APOS Interface

User Guide

APOS

Whilst every attempt is made to ensure these manuals are accurate and current, Dedicated Micros reserve the

right to alter or modify the speciﬁcation of the machine described herein without prejudice.

SW Vers 01

Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................. 3

APOS

module ........................................................................................ 3

Installing the APOS software .................................................................. 4

PC Speciﬁcations ....................................................................................

Installing the JRE (Java runtime environment) ﬁle .................................

Installing the APOS application ............................................................... 4

Features .................................................................................................. 5

Conﬁguring

the APOS ............................................................................. 6

General Settings ..................................................................................... 7

POS Interface Module ............................................................................ 7

POS Inputs ............................................................................................. 8

Camera Outputs ..................................................................................... 9

Network Switch Settings ....................................................................... 10

Network Ports ....................................................................................... 10

Store Times Settings ............................................................................. 11

Opening hours ...................................................................................... 11

Text Analysis Settings ...........................................................................

Deﬁnitions ............................................................................................. 12

Modiﬁers ...............................................................................................

Alerts ..................................................................................................... 13

Saving and Exporting Unit conﬁguration ............................................... 16

To save the conﬁguration to a .ini ﬁle ....................................................

To export the conﬁgurat

ion to other units on the network; .................... 16

Useful conﬁguration scenarios .............................................................. 18

Deﬁnitions .............................................................................................

Alerts ..................................................................................................... 18

APOS

Introduction

APOS module

The APOS module has been developed to sit between the DVR and the point of sale (PoS) tills. It will alert the

DVR to any activity that has been deﬁned as suspicious, and trigger it to record the suspicious activity. A single

Interface Module can handle up to 8 POS locations.

The powerful condition tools allow a user to deﬁne rules for suspicious activity in a number of ways and for a

wide range of text streams. These will then trigger the DVR to record using the Text Insertion menus. A ‘free text’

search facility allows you to quickly track down and act upon those unexpected items that are identiﬁed.

The Import and Export facility built into the software enables the operator to create, edit and copy a single set

of rules across all units on a network, providing a universal set of rules for an organisation. These rules can

quickly be amended and updated to APOS units across the whole network.

Aside from deterring theft and fraud,

the Interface Module is a great way of quickly settling cash back complaints and missing items without suffering

additional losses to the beneﬁt of the customer.

XML reporting structures and java applications mean centralised, loss prevention database for searching across

multiple sites for the same type of problem without visiting site.

The APOS Module provides unrivalled power to target, detect and reduce theft, fraud and collusion on both

sides of the retail counter. Adding the APOS Module to an existing DM DVR, such as a DS2 or DV-IP Server, is

a simple but powerful way of enhancing day to day combat against stock shrinkage.

The APOS Module will provide small, medium and large retail organisations with the time saving and powerful

capability of linking valuable POS evidence directly to your recorded CCTV footage.

NETWORK

HDD

POWER

00.00

POS Network Back Office

DVR 1 - 8

POS 1 - 8

Network Switch

Serial

connection

Network Switch

APOS

Host

Security Room

APOS

Installing the APOS software

The APOS software is supplied on CD or alternatively can be downloaded from Dedicated Micros website.

The installation process described here works with either of these options. The software is a Java based

application and requires the latest Java Runtime Environment to be installed. This is also included on the CD.

PC Speciﬁcations

Minimum Recommended

Operating System Window XP Pro Windows XP Pro

Processor 1GHz Intel Pentium 3 2GHz Intel Pentium 4

or equivalent or equivalent

System RAM 512MB 1024MB

Screen Resolution 800 x 600* 1024x 768 or higher*

Colour Depth 24bit* 24bit or 32bit*

Installing the JRE (Java runtime environment) ﬁle

1. Find the JRE ﬁle on the CD, the latest JRE is also available from java.com.

2. Run the exe ﬁle.

3. Use the installation wizard and follow the screen prompts to install the ﬁle.

4. Once the JRE ﬁle has been installed the APOS software can be installed.

Installing the APOS application

1. Find the setup.exe ﬁle from either the CD or the web download.

2. Run the exe ﬁle.

3. Using the installation wizard follow the on screen prompts.

4. You will now be able to launch the APOS application using the Start option or the desktop shortcut

if one has been created.

APOS

Features

● Capture, record and associate POS transaction data with the relevant CCTV footage

●

Comprehensive range ensures seamless integration with POS equipment from leading manufacturers

● Interface with almost any point of sale equipment

● Connects to printer, customer or POS network ports for maximum data capture

● RS232, RS485, RS422 data network compatible

● Live data transmission locally and remotely for near real-time monitoring of event

● Text overlay colour choices and background block for ease of viewing

● User deﬁnable rules and exceptions with fast updating interface

● Up to 8 POS devices per interface module

TEXT FILTERS

• Epson/Sharp, HP LaserJet, TVS, VT100, XML, Bizerba, DS Raw, DS Plain etc.

SUPPORTED COMMUNICATION INTERFACES

• Ethernet

• RS232

• RS485

• RS422

COMMUNICATION SERIAL PORTS

• SERIAL 1 - 4 (9 Way D-type Male - RS232, 422, 485)

• SERIAL 5 - 8 (RS232 only)

ETHERNET CONNECTION

• NETWORK RJ45 connectors, programmable modes including ‘OFF’

• Automatic MDI / MDI-X conﬁguration

POWER REQUIREMENTS

• 3 Pin mini Din connector

• 12Vdc, 0.5A, 6W

• Input supplied via 110 - 240VAC 50/60Hz switch mode PSU

TEMPERATURE RANGE

• Operating range: 0°C to 40°C

DIMENSIONS

• 250.9mm (L) x 151.5mm (W) x 47.4mm (H)

• 9.88” (L) x 5.96” (W) x 1.87” (H)

Dimensions are without rack mount ears installed

CONFIGURABLE PARAMETERS (Via conﬁguration utility)

• Transaction data extracting and masking

• Unit address and name

• Serial port settings

• Network port settings

• Conﬁgurable text ﬁlters

• Conﬁgurable transaction and exception rules

INCLUDED ACCESSORIES

• EPOS Interface Module

• 110/240 VAC External Power Supply

• Power Leads

• CD ROM containing setup software and manuals

• Mounting brackets

APOS

Conﬁguring the APOS

Open the Conﬁguration Utility by double clicking on the desktop icon. The opening screen will show ﬁve greyed

out tabs across the top of the page, as the utility needs to connect to a unit to be able to conﬁgure it.

Select File-> Import. The software will scan the network for a Dedicated Micros Point of Sale Interface and

display all those found in the import conﬁguration dialog box.

Select the required unit and click ‘Import’.

The software now has all the conﬁguration information for the selected unit. The unit details, including unit

name, IP address and Netmask, are displayed in the bottom right hand corner of the window. The ﬁrst page

displayed will be the General Settings.

APOS

General Settings

POS Interface Module

The screen allows the setup of the network parameters for the APOS Module.

Function Description

IP/MAC Address The unique IP address of the APOS.

Netmask The network mask for the APOS.

Net Gateway The optional network gateway (only required if the DVR will

not be on the same subnet as the APOS and PoS till).

Name User deﬁned name of APOS device.

SNTP Time sync This allows the APOS to use Network TIME protocol for time

synchronisation. If this is not selected, the APOS will link to

a suitable DVR (eg Classic Digital Sprite) for time

synchronisation.

Date Separator This free text box allows an operator to input how the date will

be formatted in the incoming text stream.

Time Separator This free text box allows an operator to input how the time

will be formatted in the incoming text stream. The APOS can

use this along with the date information to accurately set the

internal clock, removing the need to sync time.

Date Format Select the way the date will be displayed, the options are

ddmmyy, mmddyy or yymmdd.

Sync Time This drop down allows the operator to select when the unit

will regularly force an SNTP Time Sync.

Note: The APOS will monitor the time registered on the DVR and automatically update if it detects a

signiﬁcant discrepancy.

SNTP Server The address of Network TIME server or suitable DVR.

XML Target The address of the server (with associated UDP port) that the

APOS sends an XML format report to for every exception it

detects and reports. Set to 0.0.0.0 to turn off.

APOS

POS Settings

There are two pages available under the POS option. The General submenu allows the operator to deﬁne the

input parameters for up to 8 Point of Sale devices, and the Advanced submenu enables the operator to set up

the advanced serial parameters.

General Submenu

Note: If the POS tills are connected to the APOS unit via the serial connectors then the PoS number

should be set to correspond to the physical serial port number.

POS Inputs

Each Port/POS input can have the following settings applied to it.

Function Description

Serial Baud: Speed of the network interface (The APOS interface assumes

that the network operates at 8 data bits)

Mode: Serial mode

Port 1 to 4 support RS232, RS485 or RS422

Port 5 to 8 are RS232 only

Filter: Format of the data being sent from the POS till to the port.

The options available are;

None Plain ASCII text expected with CR/LF line terminators.

M_AND_S Marks and Spencers (Fujitsu/ICL) customer display.

CD5220 Customer display.

UTC Standard Customer display.

UTC Enhanced Customer display.

AEDEX Customer display.

ADM787/788 Customer display.

DSP 800 Customer display.

NORITAKE Customer display.

ESC/POS POLE Customer display.

ESC/POS PRINT Receipt printer.

VFD 450/550 Customer display.

ICD 2002 Customer display.

DS RAW Digital Sprite RAW data, similar to None.

DS PLAIN Digital Sprite PLAIN data, similar to None.

EPSON EPSON printer.

EPSON/SHARP EPSON/Sharp printer

APOS

HP Laserjet HP Laserjet printer.

SIDG SIDG output format.

TVS TVC-1066 TVS TVC-1066 PoS interface output format.

VT100 VT100 display.

XML XML format data, requires additional descriptor ﬁle.

BIZERBA Bizbera scale systems

BEETLE/POS Wincor/Nixdorf Beetle/POS format network data

Camera This is the camera which is linked to the text stream (ie the

camera pointing at this particular POS till). Once a camera

has been selected, the port can be deﬁned in the next

section.

Camera Outputs

Once a camera has been linked, it is necessary to deﬁne the port parameters. Camera text can be output either

via serial port (in which case the baud rate is as set in the previous section) or through a network connection, or

both.

Note: It is possible to output text on the same port that PoS data is input, with appropriate cabling,

but the baud rates MUST match

Function Description

Serial Output Port This is the serial port to output text over. (Select ‘-’ to output

ONLY over the network).

DVR Port This parameter is read only. It indicates the DVR port that the

text will be sent to. It can be adjusted in the ‘Camera 1’s Port’

parameter below. The DVR should be conﬁgured to match.

DVR’s IP Address The network address of the DVR

Camera 1’s Port This is the port number for Camera 1. The APOS will

conﬁgure the other cameras to follow sequentially (The

number will be displayed as DVR Port when set).

Transmit Data as UTF-8 The character sets used in the data require transmission as

UTF-8.

Timeout Text timeout in seconds. If no text is output for a camera for

this time then a screen clear will be sent to remove old text.

Set ’0’ to turn this function off.

APOS

Advanced Submenu

POS Inputs

Each Port/POS input can have the following settings applied to it.

Function Description

Serial Baud, Serial Parity, Serial Bits This designates the speed of the network interface on this

port (The Baud settings are repeated from the previous

POS General tab). The Parity and Bits options allow greater

conﬁguration.

APOS

Network Switch Settings

Network Ports

There are four network ports on the front of the unit that can each be conﬁgured individually.

Mode Off Switches the port off

Sniff Allows the unit to scan the network for data

Uplink Uplink connection to LAN switch

DVR Used to connect the APOS to a DVR

General Used for a general purpose network port

Debug Used for debugging

Speed Auto Allows the unit to autodetect the network speed

10M Forces the unit to use 10MBps

100M Forces the unit to use 100MPBps

Duplex Mode Full Duplex Allows simultaneous two way communication

Half Duplex Allows sequenced two way communication

APOS

Store Times Settings

Opening hours

If the APOS is programmed to make out-of-hours checks then the normal opening hours of the store need to be

entered. The opening hours screen allows the operating hours of the store to be entered. Alternatively, if no out-

of-hours exceptions are required, the unit can be programmed with 24 hour opening using the 24 hour button.

APOS

Text Analysis Settings

Deﬁnitions

This page is used to deﬁne what types of transaction (or other values) are to be detected and tracked and which

keystrings in the text output that deﬁne those values.

There is a default blank entry under Monetary Values. This cannot be edited and is used by the system. To

deﬁne a new Monetary value, click on the ‘Add’ button next to the Monetary values pane. Enter a category title

within the dialog box that appears (for example ‘Credit card’) and click OK. This creates an editable category

that can be sent to the DVR to trigger keyword recording. Using this method, a wide variety of words can be

used to trigger one category of recording. When the new category is highlighted, the ‘Add’ button next to the

Monetary Values pane becomes active. Click on this to add individual values within the category (for example

Mastercard, Visa, AMEX). Whenever one of these individual values is detected by the APOS, it will send the

category to the DVR, increasing the detection available via the DVR.

‘Credit card’ has the identifying key-strings ‘Mastercard’, ‘Visa’, and ‘AMEX’. Any one of these key-strings will

indicate that the next monetary value will be a credit card value and will be logged as such (values are taken as

the last numeric data in the format nn.nn or nn,nn on a line immediately following a monetary value key-string).

Any value with no outstanding key-string identiﬁer is logged against the Item monetary value (For instance, a

credit card not listed amongst the Monetary Values ie Barclaycard). It is not possible to assign key-strings to the

Item value type but it is possible to deﬁne rules for the type (to alert on high-value items for instance).

Modiﬁers

Modiﬁers can be added to the Monetary value deﬁnitions. By preﬁxing the Monetary Value identiﬁer with a ‘+’ the

installer indicates that the value should be summed for each transaction. For instance, multiple Vouchers may

be used to pay, these will be summed together so that the total value can be assessed. For instance, an alert

could be triggered when the value of vouchers used exceeds a certain value.

APOS

All monetary values are reset to zero when a new transaction is detected. It is important to have a means of

detecting transaction ends so that this can happen. In the above example we have a monetary value type End

Transaction which could be triggered by ‘Next Customer Please’ appearing on the customer display for instance.

A rule must be conﬁgured for this to trigger the transaction end, see Alerts for more information.

Monetary values do not need to have values associated with them. Some rules only require that the key-string

is detected and do not check the associated values. This could allow a credit card number to be spotted and

alerted on if it was suspect.

The rules work using the information in the data output from the PoS till and sent to the APOS. Credit card

details are not usually shown on the customer display but normally are present (albeit masked) in the receipt

printer data. Whilst the customer display shows data trafﬁc immediately, the receipt will not be printed until the

end of the transaction. It would be possible to monitor both by using two PoS ports on the APOS, one port to

monitor the receipt printer, the other the customer display. The data from each port should be sent to the same

camera and interleaved appropriately. Alternatively the DVR couls be set to record with pre-alarm in this case.

Alerts

This page is used to create the rules to generate the alerts that the APOS will send to a DVR in response to the

data input from the PoS till.

Create a new Alert by clicking on the ‘Add’ button. The new Alert Rule dialog box will open.

Any rule created in the APOS can have up to two conditions. Use the right hand drop down menu to specify

what kind of condition to look out for. The options are;

Condition Description

OFF Ignore this check

LE Constant Value less than or equal to a constant value

GE Constant Value greater than or equal to a constant value

LT Constant Value strictly less than a constant value

GT Constant Value strictly greater than a constant value

APOS

EQ Constant Value equal to a constant value

NE Constant Value not equal to a constant value

Note: Each of the options above will open a data input box to allow a constant value to be added

LE Value Value less than or equal to another detected value

GE Value Value greater than or equal to another detected value

LT Value Value strictly less than another detected value

GT Value Value strictly greater than another detected value

EQ Value Value equal to another detected value

NE Value Value not equal to another detected value

RATIO The ratio of one detected value to another is greater than a

deﬁned constant

Note: Each of the rules that require a comparison will enable a comparison drop down box

END TRANS Detecting this value indicates the end of a transaction. The

deﬁned constant value indicates the timeout period that will

be applied to the transaction (use 0.00 to disable the timeout

feature).

OUT OF HOURS On detection of the value an out-of-hours check will be

performed.

TILL EVENT Value indicates a till event (no monetary value is required)

IN HOURS On detection of the value an in-hours check will be

performed.

SUMMARY On detection of the value a summary of the transaction so far

will be generated.

MASK LINE Masks the line containing the detected string

MASK AMOUNTS Masks any monetary amounts in the line containing the

detected string

MASK LAST AMOUNT Masks the last monetary amount in the line containing the

detected string

MASK FIRST AMOUNT Masks the ﬁrst monetary amount in the line containing the

detected string

MASK_START The line containing the detected string and subsequent

lines will be masked until an END TRANS or MASK_END is

detected

MASK_END Ends the masking of lines

BLACKLIST Advanced function that allows the detection of ìblacklistedî

strings (for instance credit card numbers)

AUX LT Advanced function that allows checking of an auxiliary (non

monetary) value for being less than a constant

AUX GT Advanced function that allows checking of an auxiliary (non

monetary) value for being greater than a constant

AUX RATIO Advanced function that allows checking of the ratio of an

auxiliary (non monetary) value to a detected value being

greater than a deﬁned constant

Once a condition for comparison has been set, the items to be compared need to be entered. These are

selected from the Monetary Values set up in the Deﬁnitions window, see Deﬁnitions

The ‘Once per transaction’ tickbox indicates that the alert should only be issued once in a transaction. For

instance, it may be used to prevent multiple ‘High voucher transaction’ alerts where the voucher values are

summed from reporting multiple times, see Modiﬁers. If the tickbox is not enabled then the alert would be issued

when the voucher value ﬁrst reaches the threshold and then again each time a voucher was subsequently

scanned (as the value would again exceed the threshold).

The software allows is capable of allowing a limited number of restricted transactions occour without report. If

this limit is exceeded within the set time frame, it will then generate an alert. Use the ‘Report after’ drop down

box to set the number of alerts, and use the ‘activations in’ drop down box to set the time frame.

The ‘Alert String’ text box holds the description of the alert. This text will be passed to the DVR and recorded

along with the image.

APOS

The ‘Additional Alert’ drop down box selects which standard alert text will be used to preﬁx the Alert String

description. This can be used as the trigger text for the DVR. These additional alert text options are user deﬁned

and listed as Alert 1 and Alert 2 on the main

Alerts window.

‘Alert 1’ is an alert preﬁx which can be used to trigger an alarm event on the DVR.

‘Alert 2’ is an additional alert preﬁx which the DVR may or may not trigger an alarm event on, or can be used for

inclusion in a list of searchable keywords. This additional preﬁx may be turned off if not required.

Scenario

This example shows a High Cash Account Payment. There are two conditions for the exception to be generated,

both of which must be active. In this case, an A/C Payment with a value greater than or equal to 100 was

registered with cash tendered greater than or equal to 100. As soon as BOTH these conditions become true

for a transaction, the alert string ‘HCAP High cash account payment’ will be inserted into the text stream for the

camera.

This alert string will be preﬁxed with the text ‘EXCP:’ as we have requested the additional alert ‘Alert 1’ to be

added. The DVR will see the line;

EXCP: HCAP High cash account payment

The DVR should be conﬁgured to trigger a text keyword alarm event on seeing the text ‘EXCP’.

For any condition to be activated and checked ALL the value types MUST have been detected in the current

transaction.

APOS

Saving and Exporting Unit Conﬁguration

Once a single APOS has been satisfactorily conﬁgured, the settings can be saved to the local drive and

exported to another unit, or to all units visible on the network.

To save the conﬁguration to a .ini ﬁle

Click on File->Save As. Select a destination for the ini ﬁle, either on the local drive or in a network location. This

saved ﬁle can be opened and edited at a later date if required.

To export the conﬁguration to other units on the network;

Click on File->Export To. All available APOS units on the network will be displayed.

Check the box labelled ‘Leave unit network Settings unchanged’ to maintain each APOS individual network

parameters.

Select what type of Export should be performed

Update rules will update the text analysis rules but leave all other parameters (communications, ﬁlters,

DVR etc) the same.

Update conﬁguration and rules will update the entire conﬁguration, response to the ìleave network

settings unchangedî will remain the same.

Re-initialize & conﬁgure unit (No Download) will format the APOS ﬁle system and download the

conﬁguration parameters but no other ﬁles.

Re-initialize & conﬁgure unit (Download ﬁles) will format the APOS ﬁle system and download the

conﬁguration parameters and other auxiliary ﬁles. The auxilliary ﬁles will vary between installations.

Click on the ‘Export’ button to begin the process.

APOS

The conﬁguration will be sent to each selected unit, which will then be reset. When the last unit has been reset,

the system will display a successful export notice.

APOS

Sample Conﬁguration Scenarios

These tables are intended to suggest a starting point for the conﬁguration of the APOS and do not reﬂect all of

the possibilites available using this system.

Deﬁnitions

Types of Monetary Value Monetary Value

Credit Card Brand names

Debit Card Brand names

Cheque

Cash

Balance

Refund

Amount Due

Cashback Due

A/C Payment

Till Closed

End Transaction

+Voucher

Cigarettes Brand names

Spirits Brand names

Weedkiller

Alerts

Condition 1 Condition2 ONCE Alert String

Balance RATIO Item 5.00 Cashback due GE 50.00 LTHC

(Low Tender High Cashback)

. ....................................................................................................................................................... .

Balance GE 100.00 Cash GE 100.00 HCTR

(High Cash Transaction)

. ....................................................................................................................................................... .

End Transaction END TRANS 0.00

. ....................................................................................................................................................... .

Balance OUT OF HOURS OOHT

(Out Of Hours Transaction)

. ....................................................................................................................................................... .

Balance LE 100.00 Balance GE 0.01 LVTR

(Low Value Transaction)

. ....................................................................................................................................................... .

Refund GE 0.01 CREF

(Cash Refund)

. ....................................................................................................................................................... .

A/C Payment Cash GE 100.00 HCAP

(High Cash Account Payment)

. ....................................................................................................................................................... .

Cash RATIO Balance 5.00 LVHT

(Low Value High Tender)

. ....................................................................................................................................................... .

Cheque GE 0.01 CHQP

(Cheque Payment)

. ....................................................................................................................................................... .

+Voucher GE 100.00 End transaction TILL EVENT HVCH

(High Voucher Transaction)

. ....................................................................................................................................................... .

+Weedkiller GE 5 DANG

(Dangerous Purchase)