In November 2001, Orchids By Millie adopted Point of Sale for Sage MAS 90, and later upgraded to Point of Sale Professional. "We were in a growth spurt at that point," says Reynolds.

McGuire’s accountant recommended that the business owners consult with their Sage MAS 90 reseller about sales transaction software. "We were already considering Sage Software’s Sage MAS 90 accounting solution, and the integrated Point of Sale software was a good fit," says Reynolds. All of the financial data, from transactions created in Point of Sale Professional, is applied to the accounting modules of the Sage MAS 90 system. Atlantic Avenue Lawn & Garden Center uses Sage MAS 90’s General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Sales Order, Inventory Management, Bank Reconciliation, and Purchase Order modules.

The retailer tested the product, duplicating its transaction systems, using the cash register and Point of Sale in parallel, "until we came in one day and the cash register was broken," says Reynolds, "So we decided to go live with Point of Sale. We had all of the inventory in the system, so it was ready to launch." That was in April 2002, just in time for the acquisition of the 5.8-acre garden center on Atlantic Avenue. Atlantic Avenue Orchid & Garden Center, under the ownership of McGuire and Lee, upgraded from Point of Sale to Point of Sale Professional, a subsequent version of the software that drastically reduced the intensive data entry requirement and replaced it with greater scanning capabilities.

The software’s support of hardware including cash drawers, receipt printers, magnetic-stripe readers, and barcode scanners has Atlantic Avenue Orchid & Garden Center considering expanding its cash drawers from one per transaction terminal to one per employee. Five employees work regularly with Point of Sale Professional at store payment counters. "Point of Sale Professional offers a lot of functionality," Reynolds says. She predicts assigning a cash drawer to each employee working at a checkout in a day will make employees more accountable.

Point of Sale Professional automatically integrates with Sage MAS 90’s Accounts Receivable, Inventory Management, Sales Order, Bank Reconciliation, General Ledger, and the garden center makes the most of inventory management and sales order integration. It also uses custom reports enabled by Point of Sale Professional - current sales, discounted sales, and profit margins by product and category.