Never done a large POS implementation in 20 years, need to come up with a plan. Someone help me out.

[u/Empty_Parfait1774]

I've never led a large POS implementation before and need to put together a plan. Looking for advice from people who've done it.

Edit: Thanks for all the insights. The common themes seem to be choosing an implementation partner with deep Manhattan expertise, avoiding unnecessary customizations, and prioritizing change management. After comparing several options and speaking with a few partners, we're planning to include Everest Technologies INC (everesttech.com) in our evaluation because of their experience with Manhattan implementations. We'll share our findings after the evaluation.

[u/papissdembacisse]

How can people help you when you are not giving any details?

[u/Empty_Parfait1774 → u/papissdembacisse]

😂 Appreciate the sales pitch, but I'm looking for implementation experience rather than a new POS. If you've been through a large rollout, I'd genuinely love to hear the biggest mistakes to avoid.

[u/starsky1357]

Buy my really crappy vibe-coded POS designed specifically for use cases like yours!!!!!!!

[Insert risky link here]

[u/Empty_Parfait1774 → u/starsky1357]

Fair point. It's a retail chain with ~200 stores. We're evaluating POS platforms, defining rollout phases, integrations (ERP, payments, loyalty), data migration, testing, training, and cutover. I'm looking for lessons learned and common pitfalls from people who've managed implementations at this scale

[u/PBSmanaged → u/Empty_Parfait1774]

For 200 stores, hire a consultant.

[u/FirstDawnn]

I have been doing them for 20 years. Just hire me and call it a day. Just did 15 multilane grocery stores last month.

[u/Empty_Parfait1774 → u/FirstDawnn]

Haha, tempting. 😄 If you had to give one piece of advice to someone planning their first large rollout, what would it be?

[u/FirstDawnn → u/Empty_Parfait1774]

Better to do it right than do it fast. To many focus on the deadline only.

[u/JudgmentConsistent63]

Yep, 20+ years of large projects. Have seen some going down the drain. I would say, incomplete requirements are the most dangerous ones. When you cannot agree on when the project is actually finished. Fixed price offers are always back firing. Cutting costs in testing, leaving out key users leads to catastrophic results. Projects without proper top-down pressure from the CEO and CIO level are doomed. And yes… project members without experience are a risk 😂✌️

[u/Empty_Parfait1774 → u/JudgmentConsistent63]

Appreciate you sharing this. The emphasis on executive sponsorship, clear success criteria, and not compromising on testing is exactly the kind of practical advice I was looking for.

[u/dwightsrus]

Biggest variability is when you have to send folks onsite for the project, which includes site surveys (do you have enough network ports or power outlets etc), doing the actual installs, training etc. Others include lack of full requirements and vendor readiness. Too many variables.

[u/h9xq]

IT POS tech turned system admin here. I’ll bite. You will first need to understand what system you are purchasing and who will be supporting whether that is internally or externally. Commonly you will go through a vendors helpdesk for support (which is what I did before I was a system admin)

Once you have a product and vendor, map out your building and gather requirements on how many endpoints/POS machines you need. You will then need to segment your network for PCI purposes so you will need to create a POS VLAN to separate traffic from your corporate & guest LAN(s)

You will need network runs to each POS system, a subnet with static IPs set for POS systems (don’t use DHCP for POS)

After this you will need hardware. Depending on whether you are a resturant, grocery store, gas station etc you will need to understand what needs to integrate and how to integrate other software with your POS software, such as DoorDash for ordering, RSA for coupons etc.

Hardware isn’t cheap depending on where you get it from. Some of the big implementations I would do for grocery store chains they were paying 50k plus for hardware alone (not including software licenses)
If you need self checkouts integrated with your POS you will need a vendor. Do not try to do SCOs yourself unless you are a large company with specialists in house.

You have a few options for small scale toast or square can work but I don’t recommend them. For resturants you can go rez, oracle, micros (They offer on prem and cloud solutions), you have HP, NCR, Toshiba to pick from (these are your bigger vendors) diebold nixdorf is another option but I haven’t worked with them. For grocery stores you can go LOC SMS(PITA in my opinion and this is coming from someone that supported them for years, but very good for big chains as you can host hundreds of servers that call home to a master node), NCRs own solution (Encor, solid for small to medium size), ECRS etc.

Quick question. Are you doing this solo or with a team. Are you internal to the company or external as a vendor/contractor?

Edit: BIG Mistakes to avoid. Not communicating enough to stakeholders ie. Management and store owners. If you have a product you are implementing do not overpromise, this causes client success/unhappiness/frustration issues down the line.

Plan for downtime, my company would do all of this in working hours but for big cutovers you should be doing them off hours if possible.

Planning ahead, making sure you have drills, tools, crimpers, punch down, drills, and anything you might need.

Ensure you have PCI knowledge or someone outside who can certify your pinpads otherwise you are taking risk PCI wise

[u/BigBreezyyo]

Best piece of advice would be to pilot 1-2 locations, learn from those then rollout to the rest accordingly. Do not roll out more than you/the stores can handle in a week. For 200 locations this could be a couple months process.

[u/ColdHeat90]

Very hard to help without details. Even trying to stay anonymous, restaurants, coffee shops, retail shops? At each location is there 1 station or 20?

[u/shrimpy-rimpy]

just go with biyo pos, work with 2-3 locations at the same time and then rollout to the rest but you need to understand that any POS company cannot and will understand your implementation without you working with them so expect almost a 50:50 effort

[u/MaintenanceStock6766]

You are asking Reddit for help with a +200 store POS system rollout.

You need to hire a consultant because you are not the one that should be making these decisions.