Three verbal lines: “your machines are compatible,” “we have support,” “you can export the data.” Saturday night the kitchen printer will not feed paper; the model was never written on any page. Sunday morning the new opener cannot split a check; training was only an afternoon demo for the manager. If hardware, training, support, full cost and data exit are not on the same comparison sheet, a pretty software quote is still only a quote.
Ask the party under evaluation for written statements, and check them on this shop’s floor. Do not copy “compatible / we support / you can export” into the sheet as verified — land on models, roles, hours, fees, and files you can still open after you leave the online system.
Hardware: down to the model, and who to call when it fails
Inventory workstations, OS, printers, displays, cash drawers, scanners, payment devices, network and other peripherals. For each unit note: model, firmware, connection, location, ownership, status.
Compatibility needs a keepable note: software version, model, date. Verbal compatibility is not enough. Then mark: keep, reconfigure, or replace. Cabling, install and scrap go into the plan. Who installs, upgrades, replaces; what happens on failure; when the cause is unclear, who owns software, hardware, network and payments.
Scene: the needle printer at hot pass “always worked.” The written list has no such model. Lunch’s first kitchen ticket never comes out; the spare is in the store with no cable. If location and ownership were on the sheet early, that day at least you know which unit to swap and where the cable is.
Training: by role, on this shop’s menu, across shifts
List must-do tasks by role: floor, bar, cashier, kitchen, shift lead, owner, admin, day-end finance, incident handling. Use this shop’s menu and common scenes, not the showroom coffee. Cover different shifts and new hires. Note steps that still need coaching, and what language and form the materials are in.
Scene: the manager got it in the afternoon. Sunday’s opener splits a check for the first time; the queue reaches the door. If that shift and role were never covered, the sheet should say “not covered,” not “trained.”
Before go-live, let the people on shift walk a real flow alone. Any step that still needs someone beside them has not passed.
Support: language, channel, hours — first reply is not recovery
Write language, channel, hours (including weekends and holidays if this shop opens then). First reply, temporary workaround, and how recovery happens — three separate lines. Tiering, remote vs on-site, who coordinates third-party devices, what is out of scope, what is billed extra. With several vendors: who owns software, hardware, network, payments. The written scope wins.
Scene: Saturday 21:00 the card terminal dies. The phone is answered — that is only first reply. Whether money can keep being taken, who comes on site, whether it is extra — if those are not split out, the shift only hears “logged.”
Full cost: one-off, recurring, and what it costs the service day
One-off: onboarding, hardware, migration, clean-up, training, outside services. Recurring: software, support, connectivity, spares. Impact on service: training hours, dual systems, possible downtime. Do not compare only the software quote against “keep what we have.” Keeping has maintenance and patches too; switching has stalls and nights spent teaching — put both sides on the same sheet.
Data exit: what you can export, and whether files still open after you leave
Exit is part of the buying decision; do not wait until the day you leave to ask. What can be exported, in what format, to what depth, with which identifiers. Ask for samples of items, users, tickets, payments, day-end, change logs, reports. After you leave the online system, files must still open and still reconcile. Fees, how to request, lead time, how long access lasts after termination, who does the last export; rules for closing, retaining or deleting accounts.
Scene: you get a “ticket export” that only opens with their account. When the account closes, reconcilers have empty hands. Samples must have been opened on this shop’s own computer.
Five columns side by side: any blank cell is unknown. Unknown is not “probably fine.”