Comprehensive Analysis of a Point of Sale System for Business Growth

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of a Point of Sale (POS) system, focusing on its application for Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery. It begins with an introduction to POS systems, defining their function in retail transactions. The report then delves into the advantages and disadvantages of implementing a POS system, such as increased efficiency, improved inventory management, and reduced errors, while also considering the high infrastructure costs and the need for employee training. The report further explores the competitive advantages that a POS system offers, including automation and improved decision-making. It also discusses the benefits of a centralized database, such as data preservation, security, and cost-effectiveness. Recommendations for telecommunication options are provided, and the report concludes by identifying potential risks associated with POS systems and offering mitigation plans, such as implementing antivirus software and establishing secure login protocols. The report utilizes various sources to support its claims and includes appendices with relevant information.

Running head: POS SYSTEM
POS System
Name of Student-
Name of University-
Author’s Note-

Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
1. Advantages as well Disadvantages of Point of Sale System...........................................2
2. POS System provides Competitive Advantages..............................................................4
3. Benefits of Centralized Database.....................................................................................4
5. Recommendations of Telecommunication Options.........................................................5
6. Risks in POS System with Mitigation Plans....................................................................6
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................7
References............................................................................................................................8
Appendices........................................................................................................................10
Appendix 1.....................................................................................................................10
Appendix 2.....................................................................................................................10

Introduction
The definition of POS cab be stated as the exact amount of time that is needed for the
retail sale transaction till the transaction gets complete. When the retailer evaluates the exact
time when the customer takes the good from the user, that exact point is known as Point of Sale
(Rese, Schreiber & Baier 2014). In Point of sale exact time as well as exact amount of money is
evaluated. For the POS to be completed, the customer is to be provided with an invoice for the
amount that the customer is paying and for the good that is customer is taking. After the giving
the invoice, when the customer pays the amount of money to the manufacturer and at that time
the sale is known as Point of Sale. Without the invoice and without the payment method, the
POS system is not being completed. The POS system can be used by big companies as well as
small companies where transactions take place.
1. Advantages as well Disadvantages of Point of Sale System
The Point of Sale serves with many advantages as well as many disadvantages. When an
organization implements the POS system, the organization will have to face advantages along
with disadvantages. For the organization of Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery, the
advantages that the company can get from the Point of Sale is are stated below.
1. The advantageous features that the Point of Sale provides to Four Seasons Greenhouse
and Nursery is that the system is very efficient and provides a rapid result. The organization can
increased the efficiency of the system by the using the Point of Sale system (Madden and TAN
2015). the transaction that are to be take place in the organization should be efficient enough so
that there is no mistake and there is no wrong transaction that is possible for manual transaction.
POS system makes the transaction process faster.

2. As the Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery is maintain its inventory through manual
system. There are some register in the organization that are most often not maintained properly
(Dai 2015). To make the inventory most efficient and most to keep a track on the store, the Point
of Sale is Used so that the organization can keep track on the store. The employees are not able
to maintain the system properly in the organization. If a POS system is implemented, this
problem can be mitigated.
3. The system of POS cannot be wrong, and the exact amount of money will be taken
from the user as well as the suppliers. The chance of making mistakes increases when the system
is manually. There can be calculation mistake in manual process (Wang et al. 2014). But in Point
of Sale there is no chance of such mistake. The system is perfect for Four Seasons Greenhouse
and Nursery.
The system of Point of Sale cannot be always flawless. In fact, all the system in the
universe provides the user with some issues. So, the POS system also has some disadvantages
that are stated below.
1. The infrastructure of the system that is needed for implementing the Point of Sale is
the very costly. The organization of Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery is a small sized
company that deals with the garden equipment and plants, is basically a small sized company
that does not have much capital to implement a costly system in their system (Orr et al. 2015).
For implementing the system of POS in the infrastructure, the organization needs to have huge
capital. To implement the POS system in the nursery may lead to financial crisis in the
organization.

2. The maintenance of the Point of Sale system is also not that easy for the employees of
the nursery. The Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery has to hire new employees for maintain
the software of Point of Sale. Or the existing employees will have to be given proper training to
the employees for maintaining the system.
2. POS System provides Competitive Advantages
The system of POS is very fast as well as efficient because it is an exact system that
makes the system automated. The transaction system of the nursery becomes easier with the
implementation of the POS system. The organization deals with the buying as well selling of the
garden equipment and plants, the system is to exact as the organization cannot keep a track on
the inventory. To make its work performing more efficiently POS system is used. There are
many such nurseries who provides similar kinds of services and products (Falzone and Ciabarra
2016). To make the working process more automated and unique, the system of Four Seasons
Greenhouse and Nursery is suggested to use the Point of Sale in the system. The errors that the
organization usually are expected to make can be mitigated by using the system of POS. The
decision making of the organization is also improved by using the POS system. The organization
can collect the exact amount of money by implementing POS and mitigate loss in the
organization.
3. Benefits of Centralized Database
A simple database is basically considered to be as a centralized database that helps
organizations to keep all the data securely stored. The centralized database uses many advantages
for making the information technology system more efficient (Meagher 2014). The information

are very vital for an organization and they are to be kept safe. So, the advantages that the
centralized database offers are very useful to know. The advantages are stated as follows.
1. The centralized database use to preserve data as this is a huge storage system for the
organization. This is the foremost advantage that the system offers. Increasing the space in
database is not at all costly.
2. The centralized database provides security to all the data that are stored in the system.
The database is a safe place where the data can be stored without any fear of data breach (Yang
et al. 2015). The confidentiality of data is therefore maintained by implementing the centralized
database.
3. The centralized provides security of space as no unauthorized user can access the data
of the organization. The organization needs to keeps the data safely in the centralized database.
4. The system of centralize database is very cost effective. This is the most advantageous
feature that the database provides. The system is very much cost effective. All organizations
from small to big can use the centralized database very easily.
5. Recommendations of Telecommunication Options
The organization of Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery needs to communicate with
all the employees and the telecommunication process should be very a cheap one as the
organization is not a big organization and does not have such huge capital to invent on
telecommunication (Januzaj, Ajdari and Selimi 2015). A cheap, affordable, as well as efficient
telecommunication that the small nursery can use if the Wide Area Network (WAN). There are
other networks as well such as LAN (Local Area Network) and MAN (Metropolitan Area
Network). Both of these networks are not appropriate for the nursery because the area of Four

Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery is wide to implement LAN, and not that large to implement
WAN. So, the most appropriate network that the nursery can use WAN.
There are many technologies that are basically used for communication to take place. The
most suitable telecommunication that Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery can use is the
wireless technology. There is no headache of using high cost cables in other communications.
The wireless technology provides the organization with most appropriate telecommunication
medium for the organization.
6. Risks in POS System with Mitigation Plans
The Point of Scale cannot be flawless. So, the POS system also provides some
disadvantages that the nursery may face while implementing. The disadvantages are as follows.
1. The security that the Point of Scale provides is the not always appropriate. The
network of the system is not always secure (Coronel and Morris 2016). The hackers can hack the
network of the POS to get the data or the information that is related with the Four Seasons
Greenhouse and Nursery. Hacking of data from POS network may lead to data breach. This data
breach can be mitigated by implementing a proper antivirus in all the systems of the
organization. This will help to find out any abnormalities in the organization.
2. There is a confidentiality as well as privacy issue that the organization may face by
implementing the Point of Scale is that there may not be confidentiality of data and the data
sometime cannot be kept private by the employees of the organization (Horn et al., 2017). The
confidentiality of the data can be maintained by not allowing other users to access the data of the
organization. No other users are allowed to access the data that are associated with the
organization. And to maintain the privacy, the organization should implement accurate user

name as well as passwords for logging in the system so that no other unauthorized user can login
the system.
Conclusion
It can be stated that the POS system is the most appropriate system that the Four Seasons
Greenhouse and Nursery can use to make its system organized and automatic. To keep a track on
the inventory of the organization, the POS is the best system that can be implemented. This
report clearly defines the advantages as well as disadvantages of the Point of Scale and all
possible ways by which the organization can mitigate the issues the POS system. This report also
states about the advantages that the centralized database system provides to the organization and
at last a recommendation is given to the nursery that will help the organization to improve the
telecommunication system.

References
Coronel, C. and Morris, S., 2016. Database systems: design, implementation, & management.
Cengage Learning.
Dai, X., 2015. Secured point-of-sale transaction system. U.S. Patent 9,129,269.
Edwards, T., Skoog, L., Babu, A. and Dorogusker, J., Square Inc, 2016. Point-of-sale system.
U.S. Patent 9,424,721.
Falzone, L. and Ciabarra, C., Revel Systems Inc, 2016. Point of sale system. U.S. Patent
Application 15/043,163.
Januzaj, Y., Ajdari, J. and Selimi, B., 2015. DBMS as a Cloud service: Advantages and
Disadvantages. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 195, pp.1851-1859.
Madden, C.A. and TAN, G.P., VeriFone Inc, 2015. Point of sale system. U.S. Patent Application
14/103,298.
Meagher, M., Metrologic Instruments Inc, 2014. Bioptical point of sale (POS) checkout system
employing a retractable weigh platter support subsystem. U.S. Patent 8,822,848.
Orr, R.N., Lemley, D., Hotchkies, C.J. and Dehoux, J.L., Atx Innovation Inc, 2015. System and
method for interfacing a client device with a point of sale system. U.S. Patent 9,195,982.
Rese, A., Schreiber, S., & Baier, D. (2014). Technology acceptance modeling of augmented
reality at the point of sale: Can surveys be replaced by an analysis of online reviews?. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services, 21(5), 869-876.

Van Horn, E., Kearney, S.P., Giordano, P.A., Good, T., Dickinson, C., Au, K.M., Wilz Sr, D.,
Furlong, J.A., Hejl, B., Walczyk, J.A. and Coyle, L., 2017. Multifunction point of sale system.
U.S. Patent Application 15/612,332.
Wang, C.X., Haider, F., Gao, X., You, X.H., Yang, Y., Yuan, D., Aggoune, H., Haas, H.,
Fletcher, S. and Hepsaydir, E., 2014. Cellular architecture and key technologies for 5G wireless
communication networks. IEEE Communications Magazine, 52(2), pp.122-130.
Yang, N., Wang, L., Geraci, G., Elkashlan, M., Yuan, J. and Di Renzo, M., 2015. Safeguarding
5G wireless communication networks using physical layer security. IEEE Communications
Magazine, 53(4), pp.20-27.

Appendices
Appendix 1
POS System
A point of sale system encompasses the hardware, software, and support that
manage that transaction, including credit card processing, and the post-transaction operations
that lead to customer fulfilment, whether in a retail or restaurant setting. The functionality POS
systems can provide is why they are replacing traditional cash registers. A point of sale serves as
the central point for customer data, sales reporting, and can even manage labor and
inventory. Running a business on separate pieces of technology working independently is high-
stress and inefficient. Point of sale systems connect every part of a business, to simply and
efficiently improve operations.
Appendix 2
Case Study
Four Seasons Greenhouse and Nursery, is a nursery located in Colorado. This
small nursery was like many other small businesses and garden centres. They used manual
registers to track and maintain its inventory as well as determine which products were realizing
the most profit. The profits from the nursery were either "negligible" or a loss. They did not have
access to useful operational data to effectively manage their business. For example, they did not
track or review the margins of individual products. However, they believed that they needed to
do something different for their $1M business operation. Enter a new point-of-sale system (POS)
in 2008. The system allowed the owners to track useful business data from the sales transactions
immediately at the time of the sale; eliminating the need for tracking sales manually. The system

processes and stores data from the sale while updating the inventory as well as compiling a sales
history. This eliminates reliance on manual entry of sales transactions and reduction of inventory
units for the items sold. POS systems provide much more than a cash register.