Back office glossary for gas stations and c-stores
The words owners, distributors and POS vendors use around the register, defined in plain language and in the order the day happens.
The basics
Back office software
Also called: backoffice software, back-office software, back office system, back office program, back office system (BOS), BOS
Back office software is the system a store uses for the work around the register: setting item and fuel prices, reading the day's sales, counting the till, logging vendor invoices, tracking inventory and lottery, and running reports. It is not the register itself. Owners write it as back office, back-office or backoffice, and call it a back office system or a back office program just as often as software. Gilbarco calls its own version a Back Office System, or BOS.
C-store
Also called: cstore, c store, convenience store, conv store
A c-store is a convenience store, the small retail format that sells packaged food, drinks, tobacco, lottery and, at most US sites, fuel. The trade press and vendors shorten it to c-store, and owners write it c-store, c store or cstore with no difference in meaning. Most US convenience stores also sell fuel, which is why back office software for the two is the same product.
Gas station, fuel station and service station
Also called: fuel station, service station, filling station, forecourt
A gas station is a retail site that sells motor fuel from dispensers, usually with a convenience store attached. Fuel station and service station mean the same site in US usage, service station being the older word from when the site also did repairs. Forecourt is the British term for the pump islands, and filling station is used mostly outside the US. Petrol station is not US usage.
POS (point of sale)
Also called: point of sale, POS system, register, front office, pos back office
The POS, or point of sale, is the register system at the counter that rings up customers, takes payment and controls the fuel dispensers. It is the front office; back office software is everything behind it. The two talk to each other: the POS sends its sales and item movement up, and the back office sends price changes back down. Neo Office is a back office that works alongside the POS rather than replacing it.
Gilbarco Passport
Also called: Passport, Passport POS, gilbarco passport back office, Gilbarco Veeder-Root Passport
Gilbarco Passport is the point of sale system made by Gilbarco Veeder-Root for fuel sites, running the registers and the dispenser controls at the counter. Passport keeps its own item file and its own fuel prices, so a back office system has to be certified to read from it and write to it. Gilbarco Passport is the one POS Neo Office connects to today.
Neo connector app
Also called: connector, store agent, on-site connector
The Neo connector app is the small program Neo Office installs on the back office PC a store already has, so the POS and the cloud can exchange sales, items and price changes. It is the whole of the on-site setup: no new hardware is bought, nothing is racked, and the install takes about ten minutes. Once it is running, it keeps itself current and Neogen watches the connection.
Price book and items
Price book
Also called: pricebook, price book management, central price book, multi-store price book
A price book is the store's master list of what it sells and what each thing costs and sells for, including sizes, packs, departments and tax flags. Keeping it right is what stops the register charging last year's price or ringing an item up as a department key. Most owners write it as two words, though some vendors spell it pricebook. In Neo Office the price book lives on the Item Pricing and Groups screens, and changes made there are published to the POS.
Item, PLU and Scan code
Also called: PLU, scan code, UPC, item number, SKU
An Item is one thing the store sells, a PLU is the short number a cashier can key for it, and a Scan code is the barcode on the package. One Item can carry several scan codes, which is how a single bottled water record covers three different suppliers' barcodes. Some systems call the record a SKU; Gilbarco Passport and Neo Office both use Item, PLU and Scan code.
Send to POS
Also called: pending price change, Queued, Applied, push prices to the register, publish prices
Send to POS is the step that takes a price you set in the back office and writes it into the register, so the change reaches the counter without anyone keying it there. In Neo Office it is its own screen, and a change moves through two statuses: Queued while it is waiting to reach the store, then Applied once the POS has taken it. A change that does not land is retried and stays visible instead of disappearing, which is the difference between publishing a price and hoping it published.
Fuel
Fuel grade
Also called: grade, Regular, Midgrade, Premium, Diesel
A fuel grade is one product on the dispenser, normally Regular, Midgrade, Premium and Diesel at a US site. Prices, volumes, costs and margins are all tracked per grade, because each one moves on its own. In Neo Office the Fuel Pricing screen lists every grade with its cash price, credit price and Last Updated time.
Cash and credit price
Also called: cash price, credit price, cash vs credit gas price, split pricing
Cash and credit prices are two street prices for the same fuel grade, the cash one lower to pass on the card fee the store avoids. The gap is usually a few cents to a dime a gallon and both prices have to be posted, on the sign and at the pump. Both prices are set per grade, so a site running split pricing on four grades is managing eight numbers every time the street moves.
Fuel margin (cents per gallon)
Also called: CPG, cents per gallon, fuel gross profit, pool margin
Fuel margin is the street price minus the delivered cost of a gallon, quoted in cents per gallon and shortened to CPG. It is the number fuel decisions are judged on, because a penny of margin on a site pumping 100,000 gallons a month is $1,000. Margin is read per grade and then pooled across grades, since the mix of what sells changes the blended figure.
Fuel survey
Also called: price survey, competitor price check, street price check
A fuel survey is a record of what the stations around you are charging per grade, taken so you can price against the street instead of against a guess. Traditionally somebody drove the block and wrote the signs down. In Neo Office it is the Fuel Survey screen, which keeps nearby stations' prices next to your own.
Rack price
Also called: the rack, wholesale fuel price, terminal price
The rack price is the wholesale price of fuel at the distribution terminal, the rack, quoted per gallon before freight and taxes. Add freight, taxes and the supplier's margin and you get the delivered cost the station actually pays. Retailers watch rack moves because a change at the terminal today shows up in street prices within a day or two.
Invoices and deliveries
DSD (direct store delivery)
Also called: direct store delivery, DSD invoice, DSD delivery, dsd invoice meaning
DSD, or direct store delivery, is when a vendor's own driver delivers to the store and invoices there at the door instead of shipping through a warehouse. Bread, snacks, beer, dairy and soda usually arrive this way, several times a week, each with its own paper invoice. DSD is where most of a c-store's paperwork and most of its cost creep comes from, because nobody is checking every line against the last delivery. Neo Office logs those deliveries and reads the invoice lines so a cost change is visible.
EDI
Also called: electronic data interchange, EDI invoice, EDI feed, EDI for convenience stores
EDI, electronic data interchange, is a standard format that lets a distributor send documents like invoices straight into a retailer's system instead of on paper. For a c-store it means the delivery that arrived this morning is already itemised in the back office, with no typing. Neo Office receives live EDI invoices from Chambers & Owen, on the Deliveries & EDI screen, with columns for Partner, Document # and Received.
EDI 810 invoice
Also called: 810, X12 810, invoice transaction set
An EDI 810 is the invoice document in the ANSI X12 standard, the message a distributor sends to say what was delivered, at what cost, on which order. It carries the header, every line with its item and cost, and the totals, which is everything needed to price and pay a delivery. The 810 invoices Neo Office receives from Chambers & Owen are read line by line and matched to the store's items.
Invoice OCR
Also called: invoice scanning, invoice capture, photograph an invoice, invoice scanning app
Invoice OCR is software reading a photograph or scan of a paper invoice and turning it back into text and numbers, so the lines can be used instead of retyped. It is how a DSD invoice from a vendor with no EDI feed still ends up in the system. In Neo Office you photograph the invoice from the phone app, and the lines, costs and totals come back for you to check.
Scan data (tobacco)
Also called: tobacco scan data, cigarette scan data, scan data reporting
Scan data is a program in which a store reports its cigarette and other tobacco sales, scan by scan, to the manufacturer through an approved data provider, in return for promotional allowances and multipack discounts. The money is real enough that many owners run it as a separate line in the accounts. Reporting is done through the manufacturer's own certified providers rather than by any back office vendor who wants to.
The day's numbers
Inside sales and fuel sales
Also called: merchandise sales, in-store sales, total sales, inside vs fuel
Inside sales are everything sold in the store, fuel sales are everything sold at the pump, and total sales are the two added together. They are read separately because they behave nothing alike: fuel brings the volume and the thin margin, inside brings the profit. Neo Office's Dashboard shows the three figures side by side for today, so a slow morning inside is visible while the day is still running.
Inside conversion
Also called: conversion rate, fuel to store conversion, inside capture rate
Inside conversion is the share of fuel customers who also buy something inside the store, counted as inside transactions against fuel transactions. It is the single most watched operating ratio in the format, because a fuel customer who walks in is worth several times one who does not. Neo Office shows inside conversion on the Dashboard next to the sales figures.
Till settlement
Also called: shift report, over short, over and shorts, cash reconciliation, drawer count
Till settlement is the count at the end of a cashier's shift that compares the cash the register says should be there with the cash actually in the drawer, and records the difference as over or short. Done daily it is how a store catches theft, miskeys and coupon errors while there is still something to catch. In Neo Office it is the Till Settlement screen, with Sessions, Cash to verify, Counted cash and Net over / short.
Daily sales report
Also called: daily report, shift report, end of day, close out the day, gas station daily sales report
A daily sales report is the one-page summary of a store's day: inside sales, fuel sales and volume by grade, department totals, lottery, tax, till over or short and the deposit. It is the document an owner reads first and an accountant asks for at month end. Plenty of stores still build it by hand in a spreadsheet from register tapes, which is the job back office software removes.
Inventory and lottery
Inventory on hand and reorder point
Also called: on hand, stock on hand, reorder point, par level, keep track of inventory
Inventory on hand is how many of an item the system believes are in the store right now, calculated from what was received minus what was sold. A reorder point is the count at which the item should be bought again, set high enough to cover the days between deliveries. The gap between on hand and a physical shelf count is shrink, a miscount or a receiving error, and finding which one it is the reason counts get done. Neo Office tracks on hand and reorder points on the Inventory screen, with fuel volumes on Fuel Inventory.
Lottery book, activation and settlement
Also called: scratch off inventory, instant ticket accounting, lottery reconciliation, net due, lottery shrink
A lottery book is a bundle of instant tickets from the state, activated before it can be sold and settled once it is sold out or returned, with net due being what the store owes the state after commission and paid prizes. Counting books daily is what keeps instant ticket shrink from hiding in a drawer for a month. In Neo Office the Lottery screen tracks Books, Game, Book number, Next sellable ticket, Gross lottery sales and Net due.
Neo Office words
Multi-store (All Stores)
Also called: multi-site, multi-location, All Stores, multi store gas station reporting
Multi-store means running two or more locations from one set of books and one price book, rather than logging into each store in turn. The operating problem is comparison: which site is short, which one is priced wrong, which one has not counted its lottery. Neo Office's All Stores view puts every location's sales on one screen, and pricing is per location, so a second store is a second subscription and nothing else.
Neo Backoffice
Also called: Neo Office app, neo backoffice app, Neo Office iOS
Neo Backoffice is the name of Neo Office's app for iPhone and iPad on the App Store, and Android is coming. It shows live store sales, scans an item to check or change its price, sends price changes to the POS, and shows till summaries, lottery, deliveries and the time clock. It also has Offline Sale, which keeps ringing customers up when the register is down. The app is included on every Neo Office plan at no extra cost.
Neogen Technologies
Also called: Neogen, NeoGen Technologies, Neo Office by Neogen
Neogen Technologies is the company that builds Neo Office, the back office software this glossary belongs to. Neo Office is sold per location per month, at $29.99 for Regular and $49.99 for Plus, with an Enterprise tier quoted per group of stores. Plans are month to month with a 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can reach a person at hello@neogen.tech.