KEAP Terminal
Course Instructor
Pramod Gupta
Abstract
This senior project is the design and development of a point of sale (POS) system which is targeted towards small businesses. We decided to do this project because we know someone who has a small business and wanted additional features that the POS system can not provide. Some of the mom and pop stores still have the older analog POS system which is now outdated. With the system we are coming up with, we want it to be more online so the owner is able to track sales, inventory, and other statistics without having to come to the location. The objective of the project is to create an easy-to-use, cost-effective, and reliable POS system that has fast checkout, real-time inventory tracking, and accurate pricebook management .
Some of the issues that some of the POS systems face today include being expensive and inconvenient for small stores. If small businesses wanted additional features, they would need to pay more or subscribe to monthly plans. We want to include those features for free as we want to help small businesses thrive without having the extra financial burden. To understand what the clientele wanted, we asked a local business owner for their problems they deal with and what features they wish they had. This feedback helped shape our own POS system, KEAP Terminal.
The system was developed using ReactJS, Vite, TailwindCS and MongoDB. The frontend is made to where it is simple and easy to use for store employees where they might have limited technical experience. The backend is for item lookups, transaction logging, inventory updates, and price changes. The part we focused heavily on was the simple UI, fast search performance, and a database which can store items and other information. As we continued on the KEAP Terminal, we kept talking with a local business owner for their opinions and criterias for this POS system.
Some of the key features of this POS include categories for the items to fall under, receipt generation, changing information about the price, and what we worked on really hard was the invoice scanner. It becomes easier tracking inventory and saves a bunch of time from inputting the data yourself. Some strengths of this POS system are that it is easy to deploy, low hardware requirements, and flexibility for future expansion, such as online ordering and API integrations with other softwares.
Testing involved simulated transactions, database stress checks, and user interface evaluation with real store inventory items, This was tested by real employees who work at stores with this kind of POS system. This shows that a custom POS can help shorten the gap between expensive commercial systems and inefficient manual processes, allowing the small business owner more control over their store operations.
In general, this project shows the viability of creating a fully functional POS system using open-source tools. This also shows how simplistic interface design, efficient backend structure, and real business requirements can come together to make a solution which helps out a local small business.
KEAP Terminal
This senior project is the design and development of a point of sale (POS) system which is targeted towards small businesses. We decided to do this project because we know someone who has a small business and wanted additional features that the POS system can not provide. Some of the mom and pop stores still have the older analog POS system which is now outdated. With the system we are coming up with, we want it to be more online so the owner is able to track sales, inventory, and other statistics without having to come to the location. The objective of the project is to create an easy-to-use, cost-effective, and reliable POS system that has fast checkout, real-time inventory tracking, and accurate pricebook management .
Some of the issues that some of the POS systems face today include being expensive and inconvenient for small stores. If small businesses wanted additional features, they would need to pay more or subscribe to monthly plans. We want to include those features for free as we want to help small businesses thrive without having the extra financial burden. To understand what the clientele wanted, we asked a local business owner for their problems they deal with and what features they wish they had. This feedback helped shape our own POS system, KEAP Terminal.
The system was developed using ReactJS, Vite, TailwindCS and MongoDB. The frontend is made to where it is simple and easy to use for store employees where they might have limited technical experience. The backend is for item lookups, transaction logging, inventory updates, and price changes. The part we focused heavily on was the simple UI, fast search performance, and a database which can store items and other information. As we continued on the KEAP Terminal, we kept talking with a local business owner for their opinions and criterias for this POS system.
Some of the key features of this POS include categories for the items to fall under, receipt generation, changing information about the price, and what we worked on really hard was the invoice scanner. It becomes easier tracking inventory and saves a bunch of time from inputting the data yourself. Some strengths of this POS system are that it is easy to deploy, low hardware requirements, and flexibility for future expansion, such as online ordering and API integrations with other softwares.
Testing involved simulated transactions, database stress checks, and user interface evaluation with real store inventory items, This was tested by real employees who work at stores with this kind of POS system. This shows that a custom POS can help shorten the gap between expensive commercial systems and inefficient manual processes, allowing the small business owner more control over their store operations.
In general, this project shows the viability of creating a fully functional POS system using open-source tools. This also shows how simplistic interface design, efficient backend structure, and real business requirements can come together to make a solution which helps out a local small business.
