Briefing¶
A short list of what needs your attention, worked out from figures your shop already has. Three to five things, or none — and none is a normal morning.
Where: the chart icon in the top bar of your home screen. It is there whether you land on the till or on Food Safety.
Set up: nothing. It reads your sales, your cash-ups and — if you run inventory — your stock. Ask us to switch it on for your shop; it is off until you do.
What it is for¶
Reports answer what happened. The Briefing answers what should I do about it, and it does the looking so you do not have to go and check.
It is short on purpose. If it had a list that kept growing you would stop opening it, so it shows the few things that crossed a line and nothing else.
The two lists¶
| What needs you | Things that already happened and want a decision. At most five, worst first. |
| What is ahead | What the next week or two does to you. Dates already in your system, and your own history. |
A badge says how much to care: Needs attention or Worth a look. Things in What is ahead are never badged — a voucher expiring in a fortnight is information, not an alarm.
What it looks at¶
Every shop:
| It tells you | When |
|---|---|
| Nothing rang up yesterday | A day you normally trade took nothing. A closed shop, a till that never synced and a broken connection all look the same from here — the thing to do is the same too. |
| Yesterday against your usual | Yesterday was 20% up or down on your last four of that weekday. Tuesdays are compared to Tuesdays, never to "last week". |
| The drawer did not balance | A cash-up $20 or more away from expected, or a run of nights leaning the same way that adds up to something. |
| A line has gone quiet | A product selling well below its own month. The three that cost you the most. |
| More discounting than usual | Discount as a share of list price is up three points on the month. Where one person is well clear of the rest, they are named in the detail. |
| Card surcharge not being collected | Some card sales took your surcharge and some did not. It prices the ones that did not at the rate the others paid. |
| Some figures are behind | Our copy of your data has not caught up. Anything that depends on it is held back rather than shown wrong. |
| Your next big day | Your biggest weekday, when it next falls, and what your last three took. |
| Lines that have stopped selling | Products that sold well in the three months before and nothing in the last month. |
If you run inventory as well:
| It tells you | When |
|---|---|
| Running out | Less than three days of cover on something that is actually moving. |
| Runs out this week | The same, a few days further out. |
| Stock counted below zero | Your ledger says you hold less than none of something. Usually stock sold that was never received, or tracking switched on before a first count. |
| Margin has slipped | Gross margin on tracked lines down three points on the month. |
| More wastage than usual | Last week's wastage at least half as much again as your normal week, and at least $50. |
If you run laybys or vouchers:
| It tells you | When |
|---|---|
| Laybys coming due | Due in the next week, or already past. Only ones with a date on them. |
| Vouchers about to expire | Expiring in the next fortnight with money still on them. |
Day to day¶
Open it in the morning. It covers yesterday — the last full trading day — which is what the line at the top says. Today's takings are half a day old and would drag every comparison down, so they are left out until the day closes.
Pull down to refresh, or use the refresh icon.
Nothing is stored or ticked off: it is worked out fresh each time you open it, so a problem you have fixed stops appearing on its own.
Why am I being told this?¶
Every line carries the numbers behind it — what happened, what is usual, and how much it cost. Nothing is a hunch. A finding either crossed a stated line or it is not shown.
Thresholds are the same for every shop for now. Setting your own margin and wastage targets comes later.
What it cannot do¶
It only ever reads. It cannot change a price, order stock, message a customer or touch an order. That is not a setting we could get wrong — the connection it uses is read-only at the database, so there is nothing for it to write with.
What is and is not affected¶
| Your data | Read only. Nothing is changed, moved or deleted. |
| Your staff | They see the same Briefing you do. It is on the home screen for anyone signed in. |
| Your customers | See nothing. This never leaves the app. |
| Reports | Unaffected, and unchanged. The two share figures and nothing else. |
| Turning it off | The Briefing disappears from the top bar. Nothing else changes. |
Good to know¶
- Nothing this morning is a result, not a fault. "Nothing needs you this morning" means we looked and nothing crossed a line.
- It does not email you yet. You have to open it. Daily delivery is coming.
- Sales figures can be a few minutes behind. If they are further behind than that it says so, and holds back anything that would be wrong.
- A finding about stock needs inventory turned on, and one about laybys needs laybys. A shop that does not run them is not nagged to.
- A new shop has little to say. Most findings compare you to your own history, so they need a few weeks of trading behind them.