DevelopmentMSG ERP Bistro

The idea: ordering, kitchen and bar for events — instead of a tally sheet.

• MSG ERP Bistro is meant to extend MSG ERP for events, snack and grill trailers.
• The tablet is meant to be the hub, phones the order pads.
• Kitchen and bar each get a board of their own, plus tickets for kitchen and bar.
• Everything is meant to run on its own event Wi-Fi, with no internet.
• Operation follows familiar hospitality devices: big tiles, fixed colours, few taps — with Midnight Sun’s own look.

The first running version.

• The tablet takes orders as the hub.
• Phones for ordering and stations for kitchen and bar are planned as roles from the start.
• Everything runs on its own Wi-Fi, no internet needed.
• Orders are not lost and not booked twice — tested on a PC with 500 test orders and several connection drops in the middle of sending.
• Tickets for kitchen and bar on a network receipt printer: the groundwork is laid.

This early version only had technical test pages — so there are no pictures here.

The ordering screen takes shape — and the app gets its name.

• Ordering screen for the tablet in landscape: receipt on the left, items as big tiles, coloured categories along the bottom.
• A window to edit a line: quantity, doneness as a required choice, paid extras, a note for the kitchen, course and seat.
• Overview of tables with waiting-time colours: yellow after 20 minutes, red after 40.
• Sign-in by PIN, with roles for staff.
• Voiding with a reason: a line already sent to a station can only be voided with a reason.
• Tickets per station, such as grill and bar; a reprint is marked COPY. If nothing was printed, a warning appears — tickets don’t get lost.
• Menu, prices and extras for an event arrive on the tablet as a ready-made package; taking them straight from MSG ERP is coming next.
• From now on the app is called MSG ERP Bistro.

Settings, items, receipts — and the first test on a real tablet.

• Settings and basic settings; the interface can be adapted: background, images, texts, prices, transparency.
• Items and item groups can be maintained on the device — active, inactive or hidden, with favourites.
• Receipt list with filter, period and search.
• Discount on a line, chosen from prepared discounts.
• Deposits run as a line of their own, with deposit return.
• “Call course”: the main course or dessert only goes to the station on request.
• Prepared for hired-out trailers: when the renter sells, the menu and basic settings are locked.

Finding at the first test on a real tablet: the app starts in about 5 seconds, but the layout doesn’t quite fit the screen — buttons are missing at the bottom. Fixed in 0.4.3.

Made to fit the tablet screen.

• All windows now fit the tablet screen: buttons and the OK key are always visible.
• The receipt header is more compact — at 1280 × 800 pixels all 9 lines fit at a glance instead of 3.
• The back button only closes a window and doesn’t quit the app; a hint explains how to quit.
• Messages belong to their window and no longer linger.
• Full screen as a setting: the system bars can be hidden.
• Setup is worded in plain language.
• Tablet test passed: booking, the VAT display and the stock counter on the item are correct.

Main screen · preview

Before, a large receipt header with logo and every detail — much of the room goes to the header. After, a compact one-line header: all nine lines including deposits at a glance.

Before

After

Main screen · on the real tablet

First device test against the passed one: full screen, both button rows complete.

Before

After

Editing a line · on the real tablet

Before, book and cancel sat below the edge of the screen; after, everything is there. (On the left the return tab happens to be selected.)

Before

After

Interface settings

New in 0.4.3: the full-screen switch at the top.

Before

After

Quit from the menu and a start screen of its own.

• Quitting is now also in the menu (0.4.4); the back-button hint points to it.
• A new start screen with the Midnight Sun emblem — compass star with crescent — on a dark background (0.4.5).
• The loading page continues in the same dark tone: no more white flash at start-up.
• Checked on the tablet.

Start-up · on the real tablet

From white loading text to a start screen in the app’s dark tone.

Before

After

The phone becomes the order pad, kitchen and bar get their station.

• Pairing devices: the tablet shows a QR code and the phone scans it — or you type the code in. The code is valid for 2 minutes and only once.
• Phone as order pad: PIN sign-in, table overview, menu with coloured categories, editing a line with doneness, extras, note and course. “Print tickets” sends the order to the tablet.
• Without a connection the order waits in the phone’s outbox and goes out by itself on reconnecting — exactly once, if the break was short. Tested on a PC with 300 test orders from 3 devices and connection drops: nothing lost, nothing doubled.
• Station for kitchen and bar: kitchen monitor with waiting time, courses kept apart and re-orders highlighted; a “Preparation” view with accepted, in preparation, done; bell; undo.
• Device list on the tablet with role, last seen and staff member; a device can be locked right from the list.
• Everything still on the dedicated event Wi-Fi, no internet.

This version is tested on a PC. The test with real phones and a second device is still pending, as is scanning with a phone camera.

Polishing how the devices work together.

• The station rings exactly once for every order — even for a re-order shortly after the first.
• “Done” only applies to what the station has already seen. If something new came in meanwhile, it says so.
• Undo at the station now works the same everywhere: up to 2 minutes — a mis-tap is often only noticed when plating up.
• If the phone was disconnected for more than two minutes, an order no longer goes out by itself; the phone asks for it to be entered at the hub. “Send again” then first asks whether that has already happened — so nothing is booked twice. The outbox now says this plainly.
• Locking takes effect at once. Locked devices say so in plain words and offer “Pair again”; if pairing again fails, the old connection stays in place.
• The station also runs in portrait — on a phone or a tablet held upright.
• The load test on a PC passed again: 300 orders from 3 devices with hard connection drops — nothing lost, nothing doubled.

The same applies here: tested on a PC. The device test with real phones is the next step.

Safer in service: locks, brakes and a start-up with a percentage.

• Staff lock: a phone that is not used for a minute locks itself and asks for the PIN — even after the app restarts.
• Wrong PINs and mistyped pairing codes are slowed down: after several failed attempts there is a wait.
• Courses that should still wait show grey at the station — so nobody starts too early.
• Start-up shows how far it has got as a percentage — the steps were measured on the real tablet.

Settling up at the till: card, invoice, split and day close.

• Paying by card or on invoice: debit and credit cards go through your own card terminal and are noted at the till; “on invoice” with recipient and consecutive invoice number; mixed in part payments; hospitality receipt.
• Noted payments no longer get lost by accident: closing the window asks first.
• Bill split by line, quantity and seat, moving tables and discounts on a line or the whole receipt. Deposits move along visibly.
• Eat in / take away can be switched right before paying — the tax follows, the amount stays.
• A paid receipt is only cancelled with a counter-receipt that gets its own number.
• Staff and end-of-day reports with totals per payment type and tax rate, cancellations and discounts — numbered without gaps.
• Closing package for MSG ERP: one file with all receipts of the day, protected against later changes. Reading it into MSG ERP comes next.
• Backup automatically after every end-of-day report and for sharing to a second device. Even after restoring, no invoice number is issued twice.
• First PIN: set-up takes the owner to their PIN first. If it is still missing, it can be set later at the hub — the end-of-day report then says so. Before, you could lock yourself out here.
• Cash payments follow later.

Tested on a PC with 371 automated checks, then tried on the tablet. Printing the new receipts and the test with real phones are still pending.

Table plan and guest QR: the room on screen, the menu on the guest’s phone.

• Graphical table plan per area — dining room, terrace, hall. Every table shows waiting time, open receipts and who serves it; after 20 and 40 minutes it turns yellow and red.
• A tap opens the table, a long press the table menu. Zoom with two fingers, switch areas with the tabs at the bottom.
• Draw the plan yourself: management drags and turns tables, sets seats and decorates with lawn, wooden floor, parasols, plants or an own photo.
• Guest QR: a QR code lies on the table. With it guests see the menu with allergens on their own phone — on the venue’s Wi-Fi, without an app and without internet.
• “The bill please” from the guest’s phone: a “€” appears at the table and the staff know.
• Guest suggestions (when switched on): guests put their order together, staff check it and approve it. Only then does it go to the kitchen.
• Notes on intolerances are deleted after payment. Guest QR and guest suggestions are switched off by default.

Tested on a PC with 499 automated checks and installed on the tablet. The guest page on other phones, two-finger zoom on the tablet and printing the guest QR are still pending.

The round trip with MSG ERP: till package out, closing back — on the real tablet.

• Tested with MSG ERP 1.21.0: menu, table plan and invoice numbers come from MSG ERP. After the end-of-day report the closing goes back and becomes invoices there with the same numbers.
• Save the closing package directly: “Save to files” stores closing packages and backups through Android’s files dialog; sharing stays as a second way.
• Fingerprint for MSG ERP: the till shows it with every closing package. When reading it into MSG ERP the same one appears — so it is clear the closing comes from this till.
• Cancel open receipts together — with one reason for all, a check list and a confirmation. Before switching events the till points out receipts not yet settled.
• “Completed — on account” instead of “Paid” as long as no money has changed hands: the amount is an open item in MSG ERP.
• Plain sentences instead of technical messages, for example when the wrong file was chosen for the till package.

Including the interim build 0.7.1. Tested on a PC with more than 550 automated checks, installed on the tablet and played through with MSG ERP 1.21.0: selling, cancelling, end-of-day report, reading in the closing — the totals match to the cent. Saving to a USB stick and the test with phones are still pending.

Drawn symbols: every item without a photo gets a fitting picture.

• 230 drawn symbols for food and drinks — from bratwurst to apple spritzer.
• Chosen automatically from the item’s name, otherwise from its product group. Your own photo always comes first.
• With the next version of MSG ERP, the preview of the till tiles shows the same symbols.

Tested on a PC with more than 600 automated checks and installed on the tablet.

Deposits at a glance: how many cups and plates there are, how many are with guests and how much deposit is still outstanding.

• Deposit board in the “Deposit return” tab: per deposit type stock, handed out, returned, with guests and still here — for the whole event, across all days and devices.
• Enter the stock at the till and add to it, for example when 50 more cups arrive. Every change is in the change log.
• Deposit not refunded in euros — only for staff with the right to see the report.
• Notes when more was handed out than the stock, or more comes back than was handed out.
• The report can switch between “today” and “whole event”.

Tested on a PC with 635 automated checks, installed on the tablet and tried there: stock entered, the board counts along. The test with phones is still pending.

The first real phone as an order pad: pairing now works even when a VPN is running on the phone.

• Pairing with a VPN: If a VPN is running on the phone, the app still connects to the hub over the event Wi-Fi.
• Messages name the cause: no Wi-Fi, a VPN, the hub does not answer, the connection is refused, the check characters do not match or the code has expired — instead of a general “not reachable” message.
• QR code read more reliably: Tilted, blurred or small photos of the hub’s screen are read too. If the app finds no code, it says so within a few seconds.
• Typing the code: The hub’s address is enough; the app adds the port number.

Tested on a PC with 681 automated checks. Installed on the tablet and a phone: the phone was paired with its VPN switched on, reconnects by itself after a restart, and signing in with a PIN goes through the hub. Scanning with the phone camera is checked on a PC with test photos; on a real phone it is still pending.

The guest menu now shows the same symbols as the till, and deposits can be taken back without paying out any money.

• Menu with symbols: When a guest scans the code on the table, every dish and drink shows the same symbol the staff see at the till — in light and dark mode, even on narrow phones.
• Deposit back without a payout: If a guest only brings back cups or plates, the till closes the receipt without paying anything out. The deposit board counts them as “returned”, with “of which … not paid out” below.
• One counting rule: The deposit board, today’s report and the daily summary count the same way. Open receipts with returns say what still needs to be done.
• Undo: A return booked by mistake can be cancelled with a reason; after that it no longer counts.

Tested on a PC with 708 automated checks. Installed on the tablet and a phone: after the update the phone reconnects to the hub by itself. On the tablet, three cups were taken back without a payout and the return was cancelled again; the guest menu was opened in the phone’s browser.

The symbol chosen for an item in the ERP now also appears at the till and on the guest menu.

• Symbol from the ERP: If the business chooses a symbol for an item in the ERP, the tile at the till and the guest menu show it. Without a choice, the till picks a fitting symbol itself, as before.
• Also during the event: The till also accepts a new till package with a different symbol while the event is already running.
• Clearer prompt: For a deposit return, the prompt first says that nothing is paid out, and the quantity comes first.
• Without a connection: If the phone does not know the name yet, the lock screen asks to enter the PIN instead of showing a long ID.

Tested on a PC with 720 automated checks, together with MSG ERP 1.25.0. Installed on the tablet: the deposit return prompt shows the new wording, and the device list calls the phone an order pad. The phone with the previous version stays connected to the hub; it gets 0.7.7 the next time it is plugged in.