POS System Companies & Dealers in Battle Ground, WA

Open Business System, often shortened to OBS, is a software provider for store-based and online merchants who want their point of sale and their back office handled in one place. It is based in the Battle Ground, Washington area, and it serves retailers, e-commerce sellers and specialty shops. Buyers can use it whether they run a small start-up or a larger operation. Buyers who compare local dealers will find a software-centered vendor here, not a hardware reseller.

The core product is a cloud-hosted system. A merchant logs in online and does not install anything locally, and the company says this means customers always work on the current version while their accounting database stays in the cloud. The cash register side is tied to accounting, inventory, e-commerce, email and website management, so a sale at the counter flows into the same records used for bookkeeping and stock control. Mobile devices can also be connected, which suits businesses that need access away from a single till.

What the system covers

• Point of sale for retail counters and online storefronts
• A full general ledger package with accounts payable and receivable
• Inventory control that supports very large item counts and custom units of measure
• Quote, purchase order, delivery and invoice workflow tracking
• Customer records with separate billing and shipping details, tax rates, credit limits and sub-accounts
• Vendor management, including check printing and vendor discounts
• Human resource data with an integrated time clock
• Reporting such as balance sheets, income statements and aging receivables

Several features are aimed at merchants with unusual selling patterns. The unit-of-measure tools let a business buy in one unit, stock in another and sell in a third, which is useful for building materials and similar goods. Multi-currency and multi-tax options help sellers who work across regions, and permission controls let owners limit who can see sensitive bank, payroll or check data. A card-on-file arrangement can be used to guarantee customer account terms.

On the working side, the company says its experienced staff will design a custom system around each customer's needs, and it describes the product as one that keeps growing. Support is included for as long as a customer uses the software, with no extra licensing charge. Help with initial setup is offered, along with a downloadable user manual and a support phone line. Licensing is not charged per computer connecting to the network, and a customer can choose one office location or the whole company.

For businesses that want to try before committing, the company offers a free online store for up to 20 items with no percentage taken from sales, and the trial does not expire. Customers can upgrade later for unlimited use and fuller customization. OBS is a product of Consortium Software, LLC, and it runs on that company's Stackable Software platform. Its history reaches back to the early 2000s according to the site's copyright dates, which gives buyers a sense of how long the product has been offered. Merchants who want a single hosted package for sales, stock and books, backed by a small local team, may find this vendor a fit.