Point of Sale (POS)

Geoffrey Goodfellow

Does anyone have a Point of Sale (POS) system that integrates fully with Blackbaud? We would be using this for selling items in our cafeteria and in our bookstore among other ideas. As far as I can tell, Blackbaud does no have a POS of its own, but I've reached out to my Account Exec for confirmation. I can see some school lunch options in the Blackbaud Marketplace, but they look more geared for hot lunch pre-ordering and other features rather than simply POS, but I hope to explore those third-party websites some more. Clearly, there are some sophisticated stand alone third-party POS systems where data could be transferred back and forth via .CSV files, but I would prefer something more seamlessly integrated with Blackbaud Merchant Services or Smart Tuition or Financial Edge along with student data from SIS. Thanks for your insight!

Karla McNamee

@Geoffrey Goodfellow we have also been trying to find a POS system and have had no luck so I'm interested to hear what suggestions others may have.

One other issue we have is that we can no longer bill faculty and staff through Blackbaud. In the past we were all able to charge items and then pay our bill monthly but it's not an option now. We even looked into a workaround in Blackbaud by giving faculty and staff different personas but it just won't work for us.

Laurie Cornett Cross

@Karla McNamee @Geoffrey Goodfellow there is no current system that integrates with Blackbaud for POS. I had this discussion at bbcon last year and was told “it's on the radar”. We use Square, it's a fabulous easy to use system and does inventory management, etc.

Karla McNamee

@Laurie Cornett Cross
With Square are you able to let students buy items and add them to their student bill verses having to pay for them at the time of purchase? Most of our school (and concession stand charges) are added to the student's monthly bill for the parents to pay.