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Support Center
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 | Important Support Information |
 | Installation Support |
| Online Training Documents |
| Frequently Asked Questions |
| Hardware Specifications |
| Software Upgrades |
| Mercury Payments Merchant Application |
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Welcome to the eStream Support Center!
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IMPORTANT HST Changes Information for British Columbia
- BC is joining with Ontario in becoming a “participating province" under the GST legislation effective July 1, 2010
- On that date, the SST and PST in British Columbia will now no longer be in effect.
- A 12% 'HST' (Harmonized Sale Tax) will take the place of any items previously carring GST, PST or SST.
- Thus we are changing our Tax 1 (GST at 5%), to the HST at 12% and eliminating the other two taxes.
- We recommend that at this point in time, stores that do NOT have to exempt some PST items (such as childrens clothes)
set the system PST Tax (2) Rate to 0, Set the GST Rate to 12, and rename the GST Tax (1) to HST.
- Liquor stores should set the SST (Tax 3) Rate to zero.
- Taxes are changed in the Back Office Software - Setup - System - Taxes menu.
- Stores that do currently exempt PST items in some cases, should just keep the tax rates the same and rename them both to HST.
- Send all changes to the lanes when the utility has completed its work.
- HST at 12% will then be charged on all products previously taxed with GST/PST/SST.
- Liquor Stores in British Columbia are advised to make no immediate price changes if they are running a Tax In retail system, adjusted costs will be made available from the BCLDB download we provide.
- The utility can be deleted once it has been run successfully.
- If you experincing difficulties with your system, please Contact Us.
IMPORTANT Support Information!
- If you are experiencing trouble installing the software, please check the Installation Support section on this page.
- For General and Sales Information contact us through this site or call
(250) 383-7134 during business hours (9 AM to 4 PM) Pacific Time.
- You must have purchased a License or at least one support option before we will support specific issues with your eStream system.
We reserve the right to change the functionality of the software without notice at any time.
- Unless an eStream patch is recommended to you by a member of our technical support team, there will be NO advantage gained in downloading or running any file on this system.
- Any time taken to correct problems resulting from a patch installation made without prior consultation with our technical support team will be billable at our current standard rates.
- Software support is limited to 'eStream Office','eStream POS' and the 'eCommerce Web' software advertized functionality only.
- Fees will apply to any data reconstruction or custom programming issues.
- We may request that you send us a file from your PC as part of the support process.
You must have a valid Support Ticket number before the file can be sent.
(Move your mouse over the  Red Arrow to the left of any support function to see more details for that function.)
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Installation Support
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This installation and setup software has been installed, successfully, on hundreds of different user's systems to date. It will work under most conditions.
We cannot guarantee a successful installation under all circumstances however.
If the installation does not work or you are experiencing problems on startup, our only remedy, will be to recommend that you start with a newly installed and patched Windows system, on a PC configured as per the 'Hardware Specifications' on this page.
If you experience conflicts with other packages on the same PC, our sole remedy will be to recommend that one of the conflicting packages be removed from the PC.
If you require the time of one of our qualified support technicians it is possible to purchase an initial 'Configuration Support' option through this site.
Supported Installation conditions:
- All current versions of Microsoft's operating systems are supported.(XP,Vista,Windows 7,Server 2003/8)
- The Date on your system must be the same Date as the current Pacific Time date when licensing the system only.
- The time on your system should be correct.
- Anti-Spyware and Anti-Virus programs may disprupt the Network Communications protocol we use.
Uninstall, reconfigure or disable these products accordingly during all initial Network communication testing.
Refer to the bundled Setup instructions for more details.
- The operating system must be fully patched to the latest Windows version.
- Refer to 'Hardware Specifications' on this page to ensure your PC can run this software.
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Online Training Guide
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Please note this guide is intended for in-depth training to be followed whilst setting up your system.
It is included in this section for convenience during the planning stage of your database setup.
- The same Training documentation is available from the 'Help' menu in our software when it is installed.
- We recommend that you allow 5 sessions of between 2 to 4 hours each to understand the software.
- For data entry planning, allow one week per every 1,000 individual items in stock to complete your stock database entry process.
This process may be faster if entering many like items.
- The sessions will be a guide to setting up your system after it is purchased.
- Click here to start.
If you have not yet purchased the software, please contact our sales department.
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eStream Frequently Asked Questions
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- Q - Does the software run under Windows Vista/7?
A- The Lane, Office and eCommerce software has been tested and approved for all versions of Windows Vista and 7 (32/64 bit). Please ensure that other applications that you may want to run on the same PC are also compatible with this operating system.
- Q - What type of database are you using?
A - eStream Offers a choice of two database platforms.
1 - Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (Standard, Enterprise or Express Editions) for users wishing to run a central database for 'real-time' Inventory control and updates.
2 - Microsoft "Jet" for Stand Alone systems and full server redundancy on each POS Lane.
Microsoft SQL Server is recommended for professional environments with an IT staff and huge amounts of data are required to be stored and accessed.
Microsoft 'Jet' is suitable for small store applications and is easy to install, use and integrate into larger systems.
Unlike many Jet based systems,however we do not share Jet files over a Network, preferring to transfer data between machines and process locally on a peer to peer network.
This system eliminates problems caused by Jet Network sharing and as a result we enjoy a very stable environment with a lot of built in system redundancy in the case of network failure.
As a result of these architecture options We can use a SQL Server based Back Office with remote, stand alone POS Lanes
- Q - What Accounting Packages to you link to?
A - Any data stored in our database can be exported to standard formats readable by other systems.
Most accounting packages can import these formats, but it is a matter of tailoring the export to suit whatever package you are using.
We are not claiming to link automatically to any specific package - you will need 3rd party support to make this work for you.
We will support a 3rd party consultant on a fee basis if you wish to extract data from eStream to use in any accounting system.
We find that the standard reports in our system make accompanying Accounting Packages mostly redundant when it comes to reviewing Point of Sales based information.
Most businesses prefer to keep their accounting systems separate from their POS system for many reasons.
We feel it is better to produce a summary report for your book keeper/Accountant rather than duplicating and maintaining information in two systems.(One of which we have no control over!)
Our eStream Office produces excellent G/L summary reports for Sales, Purchases and Stock On Hand upon demand.
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Hardware Specifications
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eStream Office
The minimum specification is easily met by most new off the shelf PCs for the Back Office.
Windows Vista (all versions) and Windows XP (SP2 - Home/Pro) are the only supported operating systems.
Otherwise you will need the following
- 1.5 Ghz or faster CPU (AMD, Intel etc..)
- 10/100/1000 Ethernet Network Card
- Network Cabling (Cat 5 standard) and switchers/routers as necessary.
- 512 MB RAM minimum - 1GB recommended.
- 2GB free hard drive space on a hard drive with good specifications.
- Any graphics card will be OK but keep in mind the needs of other applications you may want to run.
- VGA monitor 800 x 600 resolution minimum.
- DVD writer or External USB Hard Drive for daily backup purposes.
- An Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS)/Line Conditioner is a must for all critical business systems.
- On board 9/25 pin Serial port if you are interfacing to any serial devices such as an older style external modem or hand held data entry unit.
- Uniwell Cash Register users upgrading their PC will require a 25 PIN parallel port installed as LPT1: for the Uniwell 'Dongle'
eStream POS Lane (Each)
The POS Lanes are more specialized and should be dedicated to that one use.
The larger the database you are using the faster the machines will need to be.
In general, source a reliable PC with good cooling, a fast hard drive and good data throughput on the motherboard.
The placement of the PC in the store is important, it must have adequate space for cooling and be out of the way of coffee spills.
Your customer service will rely on the availablity and power of your front end PC's so do not skimp on their configuration!
Windows Server 2003, XP (SP2) and all versions of Windows Vista are supported.
- 10/100/1000 Ethernet Network Card.
- 512 MB RAM minimum.
- VGA Touch monitor 800 x 600 resolution.
- Optional VGA Customer Display monitor 800 x 600 resolution.
- Graphics card/s capable of dual VGA support if you install the customer display.
- Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS)/Line Conditioner.
- Two on board (9 pin) Serial ports, four is recommended.
(Many POS devices still rely on a serial Interface)
- One 25 PIN parallel port.
- Four USB 2.0 Ports.
- A wireless mouse and keyboard is recommended for easy servicing, they will be locked away in general use.
Some manufactures will supply an all in one POS terminal. This approach really improves the appearance of your front end!
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Mercury/Global Payments Application kit
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- Download the Global Payments Canada/Mercury Payments Credit/Debit Application kit
- Extract (unzip) the PDF documents in this kit and print them out.
- (You will require the free "Adobe 'Acrobat' reader from www.adobe.com to view these documents).
- This kit contains all of the forms required, please complete them fully and return them to us.
- A Void Company Cheque must accompany the application.
- Indicate the number of Debit PIN Pads you require for your Store.
- A Visa or Mastercard payment will be required at the time of the order for any PIN Pads.
- Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for your application to be processed and your Debit Machines to be delivered and installed.
- Mercury Payments will also require a payment at, or before, setup time in order to setup your account.
- Call us at 250-383-7134, ask for your sales representative to confirm and track the status of your order.
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Software Upgrades
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The current version of the Software is 12.8.40
- There are no upgrades or patches available for this version of the software.
- We will post upgrade information here as enhancements to the software are made available.
- Upgrades will be available to licensed users at no additional charge.
- We are happy to accept feature requests at any point in time, just drop us a line to request features or enhancements to the product.
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