What are Autonomous and HO controlled Stores

In Nimbus RMS, one very useful feature for chain stores is the freedom to create both HO controlled and Autonomous stores. HO controlled stores are those stores whose operations are totally under Head office’s or Admin’s control. This means the Admin can not only see reports of all HO controlled stores but can also perform all store operations like making sales, defining customers, creating GRN, purchase orders, stock transfer notes, etc.

On the other hand, Autonomous Stores are on their own as far as the store operations are concerned. This means, though the HO or admin can view records and reports of autonomous stores, they cannot perform any operations. For example, they cannot make sales on behalf of the autonomous store.

How Stores are made and Autonomous in Cloud Retail Software

Select the Radio Button Autonomous

Making any store autonomous or not is Admin’s decision and it only involves one simple step. There are two radio buttons on the Store definition screen: HO Controlled and Autonomous. If you want to make a store autonomous select the appropriate radio button for it and save.

Company account heads can be attached to autonomous shops on Store definition. Select the autonomous shop, click Accounts tab and mark the account heads you want to attach to the autonomous store and Update.

Attach Users with Autonomous Store

When you have saved a store as autonomous on the Store Definition screen, the next step is to attach a user to the store who will log in with her/his user ID and manage store’s operations. User can be created under any security group on Security>Security Users screen. You can also create more than one User under different groups and assign rights to each User according to your requirements for store management.

For example, you can create one user under the sales shop group and this user can handle cash register, ping sales and manage other store activities. Similarly, one more user can be created under the Shop manager group with more rights like creating GRNS, Purchase orders, Stock transfers, etc.

Logging in to Autonomous Store

Any user attached to the autonomous store can log in to the store. The login screen will require the user to enter the company name in the Company Name field and the user ID plus password for the autonomous store.

What Rights will the Autonomous store have?

Well, it depends. You will obviously give them rights to make their own sales otherwise there is no point in making it autonomous. As far as the administrative rights are concerned, it is up to the HO to decide. There is no restriction in Nimbus regarding which rights can be granted to autonomous store users.

Remember, you can’t control rights at the user level. Rights are granted group wise meaning all users IDs created under a particular group will have the rights assigned to that group.

Database for Autonomous Stores

The autonomous stores will get a database of the company.

The database will include the complete items and supplier lists. Remember, all new suppliers defined at the Head office and any new item added to the product list will automatically become available for autonomous stores.

Stock Transfer to Autonomous Store

As you know, stock transfer notes are created for various stores by the HO. For autonomous store, HO can create a stock transfer note for dispatch of stock but it cannot receive stock on its behalf. The autonomous store user will receive the dispatched stock.

Monitoring Autonomous Stores in Cloud Retail Software

If you have made your certain shops autonomous, you are not completely in the dark as to what is happening there. HO can keep an eye on all autonomous stores by monitoring their activity. Record tab on every screen will list all saved records that can show all activities being carried out at autonomous stores. Moreover, HO can also generate all types of reports of every store whether autonomous or HO controlled.

I hope the above article clears up all confusion about the difference between HO controlled and autonomous shops. If you have any question,

you can always leave a comment in the comment section below.

Cheers! & Happy Retailing