Getting started & feature guides

Register and name your business

Click Get started, enter business name, email, and password. Your 14-day Pro + VoltaBooks trial starts automatically. You land in onboarding to confirm business type and tax settings.

Create your first location

Add a shop or site under Locations (or follow the onboarding prompt). Name it clearly — e.g. Main Store — because reports, terminals, and stock all filter by location.

Add products

Go to Products → New product, or import CSV, or seed sample products during onboarding. Assign categories so the till layout is usable. Set price and optional cost for margin reports.

Tip: Subscribe before your trial ends to avoid interruption to the till and back office.

Create and pair a terminal

Terminals → Add terminal → choose location → note the 6-digit pairing code. On the till device open /login/pos, sign in as owner or cashier, enter pairing code when prompted.

Open a shift and sell

On the till, Open shift with your starting float. Add items to the basket, choose payment method, and Complete sale. View the sale under Sales in back office and on the dashboard.

Open shift

At shift start on the till, tap Open shift. Enter the starting cash float (coins and notes in the drawer). Trading is blocked until a shift is open — this attaches every sale to the session for cash-up reports.

Record sales during the shift

Sell as normal. Completed sales increment expected cash/card totals for the shift. Park tickets if customers are not ready to pay; recall and complete later on the same shift when possible.

Close shift and cash up

Tap Close shift / Cash up. Count physical cash in the drawer, enter counted amount, and confirm. VoltaPOS compares counted cash vs expected cash from sales. Resolve variances before leaving — note reasons in your internal procedure.

Tip: Run Reports → Shifts for history and expected totals per terminal.

Build the order

Add items and modifiers as usual. Use Park instead of Pay when the table is not ready to settle.

Recall a parked ticket

Open Open sales / parked tickets on any till at the same location, select the ticket by name or time, and continue. Add items if needed, print the bill from the ticket menu if the guest wants it before paying, then complete payment or tip.

Understand removal rules

Removing a line from a parked ticket is a separate permission from removing a line on a new ticket. Staff without that permission need a manager PIN; if no manager is available they can still void the whole ticket. Removals and voids appear in loss-prevention reports.

Enable Payment Gateway

In Settings → Features (or Billing), turn on Payment Gateway. Open Settings → Payment Gateway and tick every location that should send pay links. Save locations — each enabled site bills at R100/month.

Connect a provider

On the same page, open Payfast, PayGate, or Yoco. Enter your merchant credentials, choose Sandbox/test or Live to match your keys, tick Mark as connected, set as default if needed, then Save. For Payfast and PayGate, copy the Webhook / notify URL shown on that page into your provider account — use that exact Volta URL so payments can complete the sale. Yoco registers the webhook automatically when you Save.

Tip: Do not point the webhook at your own website. If Volta does not receive the notify call, Pay online tickets stay unpaid.

Order Pay online on the till (optional)

Settings → Payment methods: enable Pay online and move it with ↑ ↓ so it sits where staff expect it on the Charge screen.

Optional: WhatsApp Business API

Settings → Communications — enter Phone number ID, WABA ID, access token, approved utility template name and language. Mark connected and Save. Without this, till staff still use Create link & open WhatsApp (wa.me).

Send a test pay link

Open a shift on the till, ring a small sale (Yoco minimum R2), Charge → Pay online, enter a WhatsApp number, and send the link. Pay with test cards if in sandbox. When payment succeeds, Volta completes the sale, updates stock, and prints the tax invoice.

Tip: Awaiting tickets sit under Open sales until paid or voided. Pay links expire after about 60 minutes.

Create ingredient products

Add each raw item as its own SKU with cost and stock tracking — e.g. bun, patty, cheese. Receive initial stock via GRV if needed.

Create the composite SKU

New product for the finished item (e.g. Classic Burger). On the product form, open the recipe section, add ingredients with quantities, set yield percent if there is waste, and save.

Verify cost and stock

Recipe cost calculates from ingredients. Sell one unit on the till; check Inventory → Movements to confirm ingredient deductions and finished goods logic if applicable.

Tip: Use Production for batch prep without a customer sale.

Start a new GRV

Back office → Suppliers → Goods receipts → New. Select location and supplier. Add lines: product, quantity received, and unit cost from the invoice.

Use UOM if buying in cases

For case/pack products, enter quantity in the unit you physically counted — cases on the delivery note — using the UOM fields on the line.

Post the receipt

Save and post. Stock increases immediately; WAC updates for margin reports. The movement appears in Inventory → Movements with GRV reference.

Tip: Managers with permission can draft GRV lines from POS → Receive stock for floor receiving.

Start a count session

Stock Counts → New session → choose location. Optionally scope categories to count in sections.

Enter counted quantities

Walk the floor and enter counted qty per product. UOM-aware entry supports packs and cases where configured.

Complete and review variance

Complete the session. Positive variance increases stock; negative variance decreases stock and is recorded in your inventory movement history.

Tip: Schedule counts after hours to avoid sales moving stock during the count.

Enable KDS

Settings → Features → turn on Kitchen display. Save.

Create stations and routes

Settings → Kitchen displays → add stations (Grill, Bar, etc.). For each station, assign which product categories should appear on that screen.

Open KDS on a tablet

On the kitchen device, open Kitchen Display login (/login/kds) and sign in with your back office owner or manager account. Choose the display for this device, then complete a test sale on the till — tickets should appear only on the correct screen with prep timers.

Invite or create staff

Staff section: add team members with email. For till-only cashiers, create POS credentials with login email and PIN. Assign a role tier — Cashier, Supervisor, or Manager — or customise permissions per person.

Set permissions

Edit the role under Settings → POS roles, or override per staff credential. Floor staff typically sell and park only; supervisors get voids, discounts, and shift reports; managers get shifts, stock receive, and terminal setup.

Test on the till

Log out of POS and sign in as the cashier. Confirm restricted actions are blocked with a clear message while basic selling works.

Enable loyalty

Settings → Features → turn on Loyalty. Open Settings → Loyalty to configure your program name, points per rand spent, and optional signup bonus.

Add members

Register customers in back office with name and phone. Cashiers with permission can add members on the till during checkout.

Create a Buy X Get 1 Free rule

Add a loyalty rule: reward type free item, trigger product purchase, select the product (e.g. Flat White), set buy quantity to 5 and free quantity to 1. Save and set sort order if you have multiple rules.

Tip: Staff must link the customer to the ticket before rewards appear.

Test on the till

Open POS, link a test member, add paid units of the product, and confirm the free line is offered. Complete the sale and check points balance in back office.

Choose products to count

Settings → Inventory → enable pre-shift count. Select products (e.g. premium spirits or coffee beans) that must be counted at shift start.

Decide whether to block shift open

Turn on block shift if cashiers must submit the count before trading. Leave off if you only want a reminder without blocking.

Cashier workflow on the till

Before Open shift, staff open Menu → Opening stock count, enter blind quantities, and submit. If block is on, shift open is unavailable until complete.

Review variances

Posted counts update stock and appear in Inventory → Movements.

Add employees

Open Payroll → Add Employee. Enter name, job title, employment type, monthly gross or hourly rate, tax number, bank details, and start date. Set pension or medical aid deductions if applicable.

Configure payroll settings

Open Payroll → Settings. Confirm SDL is enabled if your payroll exceeds the threshold, and set your default pay day. VoltaBooks uses the current SA tax year (March–February) for YTD totals.

Run payroll for the month

Click Run Payroll, select the period, and review each line — PAYE, UIF, SDL, and net pay are calculated automatically. For hourly staff, enter hours or import a timesheet CSV before processing.

Tip: Use Record Leave if anyone took annual or sick leave this period.

Post, payslips, and bank file

Finalize the pay run to post expenses to your ledger. Download payslip PDFs for each employee. Export your bank salary file (FNB, Capitec, Standard, or generic) and upload to your bank to pay net salaries.

EMP201 reminder

Check the payroll reports panel and dashboard widget for the EMP201 summary — PAYE, UIF, and SDL payable for the month. Download the EMP201 PDF for your records and mark filed when submitted to SARS.

Open VoltaBooks

During your Pro trial, VoltaBooks is already enabled — open it from the back-office sidebar. After trial, enable Books from Billing (R499 standalone or +R399/mo with Pro), then refresh.

Open POS products in Books

In VoltaBooks, go to POS products. Select your business (mapped from a VoltaPOS location) and click Sync from POS to pull the latest catalog and stock on hand.

Use synced data for invoicing

Synced products are available when creating invoices in Books. Stock snapshots help with month-end stock reporting. To push products the other way, maintain SKUs in Books and sync to VoltaPOS when ready.