Opening and closing a POS shift

A shift is the period between opening and closing a register. ChannelDock requires an open shift on a register before any sale can be rung up, and it produces a Z-report when the shift is closed so cash can be reconciled.

Opening a shift

1. Open POS checkout on the register you want to use.
2. Pick the Location & register at the top if it isn’t already set.
3. If no shift is open, an Open shift button is shown.
4. Click Open shift and enter the opening float — the amount of cash that’s physically in the drawer at the start of the day.

5. Confirm. The chip in the top bar now says Shift open with the time the shift was opened.

You can also open and close shifts from POS → Cash drawer without going through the checkout — useful for managers who don’t ring up sales themselves.

During the shift

Every sale, refund, and cash movement is automatically attached to the open shift. The cash drawer view shows a running expected cash total: opening float + cash sales − cash refunds + cash-in − cash-out.

Closing a shift

At the end of the day:

1. From the checkout or the cash drawer, click Close shift.
2. Count the cash physically in the drawer and enter the counted amount. ChannelDock shows the expected amount and the difference (over/short).
3. Optionally add a note explaining the difference.
4. Click Close shift & print Z report.

The Z-report prints automatically (and is also stored as a PDF on the shift). It includes:

• Total sales, refunds, and net revenue.
• A breakdown per payment method.
• Cash reconciliation: opening float, expected, counted, difference.
• VAT summary for the shift.

The shift is now closed and a new one can be opened on the same register.

Forgot to close yesterday?

Open shifts don’t expire automatically. If a colleague forgot to close a shift the day before, you’ll see it as an Open shift in the cash drawer. Close it from there before opening a new one — closing it retroactively still produces a correct Z-report based on what happened during that period.