Cougar Mountain Software — CMS Professional 2011POS

SPECIALIZED FEATURES/SERVICES:
Utilizing the integrated eCommerce add-on, CMS Total eCom, automatically adjusts inventory when online sales occur. The eCommerce function also offers four hours of website creation and shopping cart design to add online sales to existing brick and mortar stores. The system accepts multiple tender types including cash, check and credit cards. Debit cards can be accepted, as well.

Using CMS Professional 2011 POS with POS Back Office makes it easy to lookup customer information, including a comprehensive customer transaction history, aged analysis and credit/collection information. Retailers can track customer purchases and reward return customers with special pricing and product discounts.

TRACKING/REPORTING:
With the addition of the Cougar Dtails, A Sales Dashboard, CMS makes a significant enhancement to its reporting capabilities. A wide range of POS reports includes reporting for cash receipts and credit card receipts. A Promotional Sales report highlights sales activity for all promotional products. The optional add-on product, CMS Professional 2011 POS R&R ReportWorks8 Infinity, allows for creation of custom reports based on the criteria set by the user. Selected reports can be exported to a CSV file for easy customization in Excel. The Snapshot Reports provide quick reporting options such as vital statistics like 10 best and worst selling products. Real-time integration with other CMS Professional products means automatic updates and current data in all reports.

The Inventory module easily tracks product movement so a business will always know which products are selling and which are not. Inventory sales can be tracked by month or by year, revealing which products may need to be replaced or removed. Dashboards provide excellent business financial and sales management analysis. The audit trail report provides a complete listing of system transactions including a user ID, description and account posted to.

INTEGRATION/IMPORT & EXPORT:
CMS Professional 2011 POS integrates with the CMS Professional suite of products for complete front/back office functionality. Add-on modules are available for integrated shipping options for both FedEx and UPS. The Data Exchange feature allows easy import from database or spreadsheet programs, along with export capability to a variety of file formats including MS Access, FoxPro, Paradox, Excel and other ASCII file for-mats. CMS POS offers easy integration with numerous hardware peripherals, including credit card readers, cash drawers, pole displays and barcode scanners.

HELP/SUPPORT:
Cougar Mountain Software provides an excellent Help system. The Software Assurance Plans offer maintenance releases, service packs, access to the FAQs knowledgebase, and basic e-learning. Product documentation for all recent product versions is available on the Customer Service Center website, as are software updates and patches. Customer support is available during regular business hours and is available by telephone or email. All CMS support is handled from the vendor’s Idaho-based headquarters. The vendor offers a variety of on- or off-site training solutions, and e-learning videos are available.

SUMMARY & PRICING
CMS Professional 2011 POS for a single-user starts at $845 and includes the Software Assurance Plan. POS with Back Office starts at $1,934. CMS continues to offer a solid, reasonably priced product, and is an excellent choice for small to midsized retailers who want a solid POS product with an outstanding back office system.

2010 OVERALL RATING: