POS Shift and Z-Report

POS shift is a way to keep accurate track of cash in the POS: the cashier opens a shift with a starting cash float, records all cash movements, and at the end closes the shift and reconciles the actual balance with the calculated one. The result goes to the "Finance" section.

To open: Admin panel → POS. Shift management is in the header of the POS ticket (the POS icon or the menu next to it).

Why you need a shift#

Without an open shift, the payment button in the POS is unavailable. This ensures that every payment is linked to a specific cashier and shift — this is how cash reconciliation is formed.

Shifts are tracked per cashier: if several people work at the POS, each has their own shift for the location. Sales data for each shift is not mixed.

Opening a Shift#

In the ticket header, click "Open Shift".
Enter the cash float — the amount of cash already in the drawer before starting work.
Confirm. The shift is open: the payment button becomes active, and a badge with the cashier's name appears in the header.

If shift opening checklists are configured for the location, the system will automatically create tasks from them right at the moment of opening and show how many items were added — "turn on the coffee machine, take meter readings, check the display case" appear automatically, without reminders from the manager. You can find them in the Work Chat, under the "Tasks" section: as of 29.08.2026, the shift task board lives there, and there is no separate "Tasks" item in the sidebar (see Tasks).

Once opened, the shift is cached on the device — in case of a temporary network outage, the cashier can continue accepting orders.

Cash Movements#

During a shift, you can record three types of transactions:

Transaction	When to use
Cash In	Adding cash to the drawer (e.g., change)
Cash Out	Removing cash from the drawer (e.g., for business expenses)
Cash Drop	Transferring excess cash to the safe or to a cash collector

Each transaction is recorded with an amount and an optional comment, and is included in the final report.

X-Report — Mid-Shift Snapshot#

The X-report displays the current shift status without closing it: cash sales processed, cash in/out, cash collections, and the expected cash drawer balance. The shift continues, and data is not reset.

Use the X-report for mid-shift cash drawer audits during the workday.

Card sales are broken down by terminal: if the counter has two of them, you can see how much went through each — as “Card sales · ” lines right below the combined card total. The breakdown appears both in the report card on the POS and in the printed X/Z-report; it is additive and never inflates the total (a card payment with no terminal attached simply does not appear in it). The mobile app does not show this breakdown yet.

Sales for the report are aggregated by the server, so the X-report cannot be generated offline. That said, you can still open and close a shift without network access — Z-report figures will be calculated once the connection is restored.

Z-Report — Shift Closing and Reconciliation#

The Z-report closes the shift. Sequence:

Click "Close Shift (Z)" in the POS menu.
Enter the actually counted cash in the drawer.
The system calculates the expected balance:
```
Expected = Float + Cash Sales + Pay-ins − Pay-outs − Cash Drops
```
For a pickup point, cash cash on delivery for third-party parcels is added to this amount: the money physically sits in the same drawer, but is not included in the location's revenue — it is accounted for as a separate agency line item.
The discrepancy is displayed — the difference between the expected and actual balance. The discrepancy is recorded in the report (normal, shortage, or overage).
The shift closes. New sales can only be started after opening the next shift.

The report is saved and becomes available in the "Finances" section.

Printing X and Z#

Both reports are printed on a thermal printer via Cenaly Hardware Bridge; if there is no bridge, printing is handled via the browser. If the printer is offline, the job is queued and will print once the device comes back online — the interface will indicate this, while no paper has been printed yet.

A location where the only hardware is a fiscal recorder is a special case: the bridge does not print our documents through the fiscal recorder (only test printing and pre-bills are allowed for it), and the browser fallback is not triggered here. X- and Z-reports at such a location are viewed on-screen, while fiscal shift reports are generated by the POS itself. Learn more in Kitchen and Dining Area Printing.

A discrepancy at shift closing is a loss control event. It is logged in the risky operations journal and can trigger the "POS discrepancy" rule if it exceeds your threshold or noticeably stands out from the overall cashier pattern. See Loss Control.

Shift History in Finances#

All closed shifts are available in Finances → POS Shifts: a table by cashiers and dates with totals for sales, cash movements, and discrepancies. This is convenient for daily reconciliation and monitoring cash discipline.

The section is available to the account owner, manager, and any role granted access to the "Finances" section — for example, the built-in "Accountant" role (see Staff).

What you need to get started#

The POS — a shift is opened from the ticket header; it has no section of its own.
Permission to open a shift — the employee's role on the POS.
A cash float — the amount the shift starts with; expected cash is counted from it.
The bridge and a printer — if you want X and Z reports on paper (Printing).

Limitations#

Without an open shift, payment on the POS is blocked — that is cash-control protection, not a failure.
The X report is unavailable offline. The interim snapshot is computed on the server from sales; you can close a shift without a connection, and the Z report will be produced once the link is back — If the internet goes down.
A shift opened offline gets a temporary number and is swapped for the real one when the queue drains.
Shift history lives in the Finance section, and that runs on the AWS contour: on cenaly.ru there will be no shift history there.
A shift never closes itself. A forgotten open shift stays open until someone closes it.

Troubleshooting#

Payment is not allowed. No shift is open — open one with a cash float.

Cash does not add up at closing. Check the movements: pay-ins and pay-outs must be recorded in the shift, not kept in someone's head. The discrepancy is recorded in the Z report as is — that is exactly what the reconciliation is for.

A shift has been open since yesterday. Close it manually; the next one opens with its own float.

The X report will not build. There is no connection to the server — offline it is impossible by design: sales aggregation is computed in the cloud.

There is no Z report after closing offline. It will be produced once the connection returns and the queue of POS operations drains.

POS — order management, tables, payment
Finance — management dashboards, shift history
Receipts — receipt registry, refunds
Tips — tracking tips in shifts and financial reports
Staff and Shifts — roles, access permissions
Loss control — the cash discrepancy alert rule
Kitchen and front-of-house printing — printing X/Z through the hardware bridge

Frequently Asked Questions#

Can one cashier open multiple shifts at the same time?#

No. Each cashier can have only one open shift per location. To start a new shift, the current one must be closed with a Z-report.

What happens if the internet goes down during a shift?#

The open shift is saved on the device — the cashier continues accepting payments. Shift opening, cash movements, and shift closing are queued and sent to the server once the connection is restored. Offline, only the X-report cannot be generated, and the Z-report reconciliation is calculated after synchronization: sales data is aggregated by the server.

What does a discrepancy in the Z-report mean?#

This is the difference between the amount the system expected to find in the drawer (based on the accounting formula) and the amount the cashier physically counted. A minor discrepancy is normal (change errors). A systematic discrepancy is a signal for an audit.

Are card sales also included in the shift?#

Card sales are linked to the shift and visible in the report. However, cash movements (cash-in, cash-out, cash drop) apply only to cash; the final reconciliation of the expected balance is calculated based on cash receipts only.

Who can see POS shifts?#

An employee in any role assigned the "POS" section can open a shift and work with X/Z-reports — by default, this includes "Manager", "Waiter", "Shift Administrator", "Cashier", "Salesperson", "Bartender", "Receptionist", and "Pickup Point Operator", but the list is customizable. Shift history in the "Finance" section is accessible to the owner, manager, and roles with access to the "Finance" section (for example, "Accountant").

💵 Cash Shift