Before users can process orders on the Lightspeed Restaurant app, a sales period must have been started.

A sales period can be understood as the time between when a session on Lightspeed Restaurant POS (K) is opened and closed by a shift manager. Only a shift manager (a user with elevated permissions, as determined from the Back Office) can open a sales period. A sales period is also designated as a Period report on Lightspeed Restaurant reports. Some useful information about sales periods:

• Only users with the configured permission to do so can open a sales period.
• Once a sales period has been started by a shift manager, other sales staff can access the ordering screens and process transactions.
• Once a sales period is ended by a shift manager, other POS users are unable to access the Register screen until another sales period is started.
• Sales periods are manually created from Lightspeed Restaurant POS (K) and as such, can be opened or closed at any time within your business hours. 

In addition to starting a sales period, some managerial users may also have the configured responsibility to count a cash float. From the Back Office, it's possible to configure a cash float count POS setting for specific users and devices. For more information on how to use the cash float count feature, see Counting a cash float.

Opening a sales period 

• Open the Lightspeed Restaurant POS (K) app. If a sales period has not yet been opened, you'll be prompted to start a POS period. Users who only access the POS for time-tracking purposes (such as a chef) can also clock in from this screen. To open a sales period or clock in, tap Clock in/out. 

• After tapping the Clock in/out button, you will be brought to the Clock in/out screen. From here,  you are able to view shift managers who have access to starting a sales period. You can also view the staff members who can clock in only. Tap the applicable username from the list and enter your PIN or QR code (if required): 

• After selecting a shift manager username, an Open sales period window will appear on screen. From this window, add some information about the shift so far, such as the weather for the day and/or a custom note: 

• After starting a sales period, you will be asked if you want to clock in. Note that shift managers don't need to clock in to begin a sales period:

• Once the sales period has started, the POS will display the Home screen for other users to clock in to a user shift or log in to the Register screen: 

• The first user to access the Register screen after starting a sales period and who has the permissions to do so will be prompted to count a cash float. For more information on how to perform this function, see Counting a cash float. Note that a cash float count must be activated from the Back Office.

Closing a sales period

To close a sales period:

• From the Home screen, navigate to the Clock in/out screen. 
• On the right-hand side of the screen, tap the shift manager who is closing the sales period.
  • Note: Shift managers users are only able to close a POS shift once all other POS users have closed their orders and clocked out. If there are outstanding orders on the POS, you will need to process a payment and finalize these orders before closing the sales period.
• Confirm you wish to proceed with closing the sales period on the pop-up window.
• If the cash count setting is enabled, proceed to count your float. For more information, see Counting a cash float.

What's next? 

Understand the float count function with Lightspeed Restaurant. See Counting a cash float.

Employees can self-report, or declare, the amount of tips they leave with at the end of their user shift. To learn how to enable and use this feature, see Declaring tips.

For more information about viewing POS shift details, see Creating Period reports.