Yes, you might want to look at cloud-based solutions. With gift shop sales, it's hard to get around purchasing/leasing at least one POS terminal and Inventory scanner and they aren't cheap. You might want to price out cloud systems versus the cost of local hardware.
Original Message:
Sent: 06-16-2015 02:48 PM
From: Allison Wieland
Subject: Retail POS and General Admissions Software
Hi Beth,
There are simpler solutions out there that are all in one. Techsoup.org and idealware.org are incredible resources. Make a list of what it must do for you (maybe even prioritize) and go through your checklist with products.
Techsoups products are discounted for non-profits, an account just needs to be set up with them and many products you ordinarily buy (Microsoft Office, Adobe, etc) you can get reduced. I just found one product called NonProfitEasyStart. It's cloud based and says it does:
NonProfitEasy is cloud-based, all-in-one data management software for managing grants, donors, members, volunteers, events, tasks, communications, and programs.
I guess that doesn't include retail, but retail systems are very different and you may not be able to find one system that does everything without making some sacrifices. Even those products that do them all (and cost $$$), like Altru, have weaknesses in certain areas.
Another solution that I have used is using POS retail to do shop/admissions/everything financial, outlook for scheduling, and supplementing with other databases to store/manage your other data for memberships, donations, etc.
Although, this day and age, you really want to be web focused and you will probably be happier with a cloud solution to allow your constituents to do much of the entry for you online if possible. That way you aren't entering data twice. Ideally, you get to see and review the data before it comes in, but that's a whole other discussion.
Best of luck!
Allison
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Allison Wieland
Database & Grants Manager
Anchorage Museum
Anchorage AK
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-12-2015 03:58 PM
From: Beth Sanders
Subject: Retail POS and General Admissions Software
Hi all -
I was hoping to revive this discussion: I work at a smaller museum, which receives about 6,000 visitors annually, so I am not too keen to spend $10,000 to set up a POS system. However, we do handle event sales, room reservations, admissions, and gift shop sales, so we can't just use one module. Are there any other small museums who have made the transition from pen and paper recording to a POS within a tight budget?
Thanks,
Beth
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Beth Sanders
Registrar
Klamath County Museum
Klamath Falls OR
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-05-2015 09:30 AM
From: Kristina Gerard
Subject: Retail POS and General Admissions Software
Hi Kathy,
We were able to bring all of our records over from RE to Altru and Altru has been able to hold all of our records without issue. Also, since you use Financial Edge, you can post payments from Altru to FE, so you don't have to manually tell your business office what needs to be posted to FE. They can run a post process from Altru that then links to FE (with a few steps). It makes reconciling with your business office that much easier.
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Kristina Gerard MBA
Database Manager/System Analyst
Louisville KY
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-02-2015 11:41 AM
From: Kathy Allegro
Subject: Retail POS and General Admissions Software
Thank you, Kristina,
We do use Raiser's Edge and Financial Edge from Blackbaud, but I have heard mixed reviews on Altru. When I looked at it some time ago, it didn't look like it could handle the number of records we currently have in RE. I'm glad it's working out for you.
Kathy
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Kathy Allegro
Director, Information Technology
The Newark Museum
Newark NJ
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-01-2015 12:14 PM
From: Kristina Gerard
Subject: Retail POS and General Admissions Software
We use Altru, which is a Blackbaud product. It handles ticketing, museum shop and back office transactions. We haven't used the shop portion to a great extent yet, as our main museum is under construction. But we will when we reopen. Currenlty we use it for everything else and we like it. The best part is that it gives us a 360 degree view of our patrons.
Kristina Gerard
Speed Art Museum
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Kristina Gerard MBA
Database Manager/System Analyst
Louisville KY
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-27-2015 09:50 AM
From: Kathy Allegro
Subject: Retail POS and General Admissions Software
We are looking for a new Retail POS software system that can also handle General Admissions and simple Group Tour ticketing.
I realize there are a lot of messages from members that they are also looking for ticketing software - we are also TM Vista users. Has anyone tested and/or selected a combined Shops / General Admissions software system?
Our Shops Manager is looking seriously at TAM Retail, but I only noticed one message from a TAMs user. Is anyone else using TAM Retail and if so, are you using their Admissions/Ticketing module? How has your experience been?
Thank you
Kathy
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Kathy Allegro
Director, Information Technology
The Newark Museum
Newark NJ
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