Premier Retail 2009 provides various configuration options that control overall performance and memory consumption of the application. Here is a quick overview of the Configuration tool and description of some of the configuration options available.
Note: This guide presumes that you have Premier Retail 2009 installed and the database configured on your system. If not, then please follow our Getting Started guide available online.
Selecting the Workstations
‘Premier Retail Configuration’ lists the defined workstations in the right side of the configuration window. 
Workstations are the systems/terminals on which Premier Retail is running. Important; Workstations should be unique, i.e. no two systems should have the same workstation code.
To set the workstation code for the current system;
- Click on the Application Button.
- Go to ‘Point of Sale’ > ‘Workstations’.
- Select a workstation from the existing workstation drop-down list or create a new workstation.
- Click the ‘Set as this Workstation’.
Premier Retail allows configuration of each Workstation to differ from each other. For example one workstation on the network can be configured as an information/advertisement kiosk while another might allow customers to search the store’s inventory for specific items. Similarly Workstations in the Members Area could be configured to automatically apply discounts to the items purchased or add gift items to the transaction.
To configure a workstation, select it from the Workstations list and check the checkbox. Now when a configuration option’s value is changed, the selected workstation will be updated. So, selecting all workstations will apply any changes to each workstation in the network.
Loading Data Into Memory
Located in the General category, ‘Load Data Into Memory’ is one of the most vital configuration option in Premier Retail when it comes to performance. When enabled, Premier Retail loads inventory, 
customers, and other data into the system memory reducing round-trips to the database during sales, customer lookups, and other events. Although transaction processing speed and overall application performance is improved, enabling this option has its drawbacks; memory consumption is increased and application startup is slower.
When to enable;
- Inventory is less than 10,000 items.
- Database is located on a remote server.
When to disable;
- Inventory is over 10,000 items.
- Database is located on the local system or network.
Transaction Posting & Background Posting
What is posting? It is the process which finalizes the transaction and closes it recording the sale as completed and paid for. Unless a transaction has been posted, a user with access to Interprise/Premier Retail can modify the transaction by adding/removing items, making payments, and more.
Posting is one of the biggest bottlenecks in the processing of a transaction in Interprise. To overcome this bottleneck Premier Retail provides two configuration options located in the General category under Transactions; ‘Post Transaction on Completion’ and ‘Use Background Posting’.
‘Post Transacton on Completion’ lets the user turn off posting of transactions completely. Although disabling transaction posting improves transaction completion speed drastically, it is only advised to turn it off if the company needs to review all transactions before being finalized. For instance; a manager may turn off posting of transactions to review all sales made at a workstation ensuring that all records are in order. Note that it is essential to post a transaction in Interprise that was completed otherwise the sales reports and inventory will reflect invalid record.
‘Use Background Posting’ lets the user switch posting of transactions to a separate application thread enabling the Clerk to proceed with a new sale without delay. Enable this option for optimal performance. However, when enabled, if the database is located on a Remote server and the connectivity speed is poor, then the process might timeout during execution and fail to post a transaction successfully.
Inventory Oversell
A great feature of Premier Retail is the ability to disable Clerks from selling an item if the system inventory reflects the the store to be out of stock for that item. Located under the General category in Transactions, the system can be configured to completely disable selling of an item if overselling inventory, let the manager override the restriction when occurred, or not apply any restrictions.
Although useful, disabling Inventory Oversell or requiring Manager Approval on oversell causes the inventory to be refreshed after each sale resulting in slower transaction completion. In a future service pack release of Premier Retail 2009 this functionality will be rewritten to optimally update the inventory via threading and event triggers, but till then it is advised to set Inventory Oversell Mode to Allow.
Disallow inventory oversell or configure for manager approval when;
- Inventory is less than 10,000 items.
- Load Data Into Memory is turned off.
- Database is located on a local system or network.
Refresh Inventory on Lookup
In Premier Retail the Item Lookup provides users with the ability to quickly lookup inventory items with ease. Although the lookup displays each item’s available units in stock, the value may not reflect the actual record unless ‘Load Data Into Memory’ is turned off. The ‘Refresh Inventory on Lookup’ configuration option configures the item lookup to automatically refresh the inventory when the lookup is loaded.
Enable this option if and only if;
- Inventory is less than 10,000 items.
- Load Data Into Memory is turned off.
- Database is located on a local system or network.
