Back office software vs POS: what each one does
A POS rings up sales, takes payment and closes a till at the counter. Back office software sits behind it. It holds the price book, fuel prices, invoices, inventory, lottery and till counts, then sends changes to the register. One records what happened. The other decides what happens next.
In short
- Gilbarco Passport rings sales and prints a day close, but it does not read vendor invoices.
- Edit a price once, hit Send to POS, and watch it go from Queued to Applied.
- A second store, or a manager who is not you, is usually when a back office pays.
What is the difference between a POS and back office software
Your POS is built for the two minutes a customer is at the counter. It rings items, reads a scan code, takes the card and closes the till. It is very good at that.
Back office software handles everything around those two minutes. It knows what the item cost, what it should sell for, and what it all adds up to across your stores.
POS
Records transactions
- Rings up items
- Takes payment
- Prints the receipt
- Closes the till
Prices down ↓
Back office
Decides and checks
- Holds the master price book
- Sets fuel prices
- Reads vendor invoices
- Rolls up every store
What does back office software do all day
A back office system, or BOS, runs the paperwork that used to live in a drawer. That means the price book, fuel prices by grade, invoices, inventory, lottery and Till Settlement. Some owners spell it backoffice. It is the same thing.
The part owners notice first is Send to POS. You edit a price once, and it reaches the register with a time stamp and your name on it. A spreadsheet can never do that.
Which system owns which job
| The job | POS | Back office |
|---|---|---|
| Ring a sale and take payment | Yes | No |
| Hold the master price book | Holds what it was given | Yes |
| Read vendor invoices and costs | No | Yes |
| Report across every store at once | One store at a time | Yes |
Do I need back office software if I have Gilbarco Passport
Passport is a capable POS. It rings sales, holds the prices it was given and prints a day close. If that is all you need, you are done.
What it does not do is the thinking. It does not know what your last cigarette invoice charged, so it cannot warn you that margin moved. It also reports one store at a time.
Neo Office
Cloud · phone or laptop
Neo connector app
The in-store PC you already have
POS register
Gilbarco Passport
Retries on its ownEvery send kept in historyNo new hardware
Back office software examples, and when to skip it
Four kinds of product use the name: the POS maker's own back office, a fuel suite built for large chains, a cloud app like Neo Office, and accounting software. Only the first three are back offices. QuickBooks or your accountant still keeps the books.
One store you work yourself can live on POS reports and a spreadsheet. That stops working at a second store, or the first month you cannot say what a category earned.
Rule of thumb
If you can say what each store sold yesterday and what it cost you before your coffee goes cold, keep the spreadsheet. If not, a back office costs less than the guesswork.