We've been so swamped trying to get everything done before Christmas, so we decided to let someone else take care of our blog post for the week. Crumpet the cynical elf volunteered to talk about what we've been up to since launch...
Ya know, I never really thought Christmas was all that great. Who wants to go drop a wad of cash on people you can’t stand to be around half the time? It’s ridiculous. But something has to pay the bills. It’s not like there’s a big market for three-foot tall high school dropouts. This year, these extra-large elves hired me to help out at their workshop on top of the Liberty Building in Des Moines. They pay me in candy cane cigars, so I can’t really complain.
They’ve been working on some iPad junk to replace cash registers. It’s called Change, which is the worst pun I’ve ever heard, but here’s what those big jerks have been working on while I sweep up and hide all their flash drives and pens:
Requesting Money From Nearby Dwolla Users
Change has been integrated with Dwolla from day one but Dwolla recently opened up new API methods that let us find what users are nearby and lets us request money from them. When using Dwolla as a payment method, you can now select from a list of nearby users or search your contacts then send them a request for payment.
Better Item and Group Arrangement
We've spent a lot of time on the interface for moving items and groups around on your ordering screens. When we launched, we were really proud of how everything worked except for how items and groups were selected. Since then, we’ve come up with a solution that captured all of the benefits with none of the drawbacks. Our next update will feature a new item tray to make selecting items and groups even easier.
Better Item Modifications
After adding an item to an order, Change lets you add notes for any special requests like adding caramel to a cappuccino. While this worked pretty well, we’ve since gone in and made this even smoother. Buttons react much more intuitively when pressed and the screen updates accordingly.
Account Dashboard
The account dashboard has been designed. Soon you’ll have access to your reports and be able to update your plan and payment information. You’ll also be able to view all your session and till reports as well as export them to Excel.
Updated Reports
While preparing reports for the account dashboard, we decided to update our paper reports. We removed drawer information from the session reports and instead put these details onto new till reports. Session reports now only show sales and payment details.
Trouble With Images
One of the more frustrating bugs we kept running into was with our images. At first, the demo images wouldn't show up. Then images assigned to items weren't saving properly and we couldn't figure out why! With the help of one of our pilot sites, we were able to figure out what was causing the problem and fix it.
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Needless to say, they have a lot to be proud of. Actually, who cares. I need a smoke.