What’s New in Sapaad: September 2023 Roundup

We’re capping off September with new features and enhancements to further improve the Sapaad experience for both you and your customers! 

Here are some highlights for the month of September:

Sapaad Online

General Release: Sapaad Online multilingual now generally available 
The Sapaad Online Multilingual feature has now concluded the open beta phase successfully and is now generally available.

You can now easily enable multiple languages for your online store, offering a gorgeous multi-lingual experience to your customers. 

To activate multi-linguality for your store fronts, visit “Setup” > “Add-ons” > “Sapaad Online Settings.” You can then tailor your online store’s language preferences, including setting up a default language for your store-front. Currently, this feature has been rolled out in all Arabic-speaking territories, and will soon be available worldwide.

Sapaad Web POS

Improved KDS screen functionality
We’ve made updates to our Kitchen Display System (KDS) screens to further optimize the Course feature and to apply a few fixes. 

• Order completion issue resolved: We’ve fixed the issue where an order couldn’t be marked as completed or fulfilled from the KDS screen, and when two orders are marked as completed at the same time, the KDS screen would go blank.

• Improved course label display: We’ve enhanced the course display by highlighting the “Fired” course label in red, ensuring it’s easily recognizable from the courses placed on “Hold”, which appears grayed out.

Sapaad POS app update on Google Play Store
We’re upgrading the Sapaad Native POS app by updating its Software Development Kit (SDK) to version 33, which is the latest Android version.

Starting November 2023, Google Play Store will require all Android apps to be on the latest version. To ensure uninterrupted accessibility, we’re implementing this crucial update for Sapaad POS.

This upgrade guarantees compatibility with Play Store requirements and brings security enhancements and performance improvements associated with the latest Android version.

Sapaad Waiter BETA 

Feature Update: “Enable/Disable at-table Payments” – Sapaad Waiter – Android
We’re excited to introduce the “Enable Payments” option for Sapaad Waiter – Android, our advanced table service app. This update provides greater flexibility over payment collection. 

Now, if you have an NFT enabled device running Sapaad Waiter, you can enable table-side payment collection. Note that this feature is on by default.

To use this feature, visit the “Enable Payments” option under “Setup”  > “Sapaad Add Ons” > “Sapaad Waiter.”

Mandatory Sapaad Waiter – iOS app update
To ensure access to the most up-to-date iOS version of Sapaad Waiter, you will be prompted to update to the latest version once it’s released in the App Store. This ensures you benefit from the continued improvements, fixes and enhancements we provide.

Sapaad Pay 

Singapore

Introducing our all new Sapaad Pay Dashboard
We’re thrilled to introduce the Sapaad Pay Dashboard—a dedicated payment transaction dashboard that can be accessed from right within Sapaad’s core dashboard.

The Sapaad Pay dashboard provides direct access to real-time updates on all Stripe transactions including successful payments, failed transactions, and cancellations. It displays helpful information including card and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) transaction details like payment method, amount charged, date paid, and more. 

For added convenience, you can search for a specific transaction by simply keying-in the unique reference ID assigned to each t payment in the search field provided. Coming soon: the refund status function for even greater convenience.

UAE

Instant email notifications for successful Pay by Link transactions
We’ve made significant improvements to the Pay by Link workflow in the CRM module. Pay by Link is a super-convenient payment collection feature that you can use to collect payments from your customers by simply sending a link via email. Pay by Link can be used for various use cases, such as collecting advance payments for bulk table reservations, party hall bookings, and more. 

Now, every successful Pay by Link payment transaction triggers confirmation emails: your customers will receive a thank-you email from your restaurant and you will get a transaction confirmation email.

Payment processing for takeaway orders now available
Sapaad Pay payment processing is now generally available for CRM takeaway orders (Pay on Collect). When a customer arrives at your restaurant to collect their food, and your restaurant staff initiates payment collection using the Delivery Manager Takeaway tab, the payment flow is now fully integrated with Sapaad Pay. 

This update also includes optimizations such as faster payment transactions (now completed in just 2.5 to 3 seconds—over 70% improvement), automatic closure of pop-up messages for successful and declined payments, and precise display of error messages on the POS for transaction issues.

Simplified setup and access for Sapaad Pay

• Now, you can conveniently access Sapaad Pay by going to “Setup” > “Sapaad Payments”. Previously, accessing it required navigating through multiple steps in “Setup” > “Partner Integrations” > “Payment Partners”. 

• We’ve also streamlined the Sapaad Pay integration process for our Sapaad Advantage (fintech pricing) customers: you can now easily add a Sapaad Pay-approved payment terminal by going to “Location Setup” > “Sapaad Payments,” eliminating the need for a terminal POS checkbox and simplifying the setup steps. 
  

Sapaad Dash

Sapaad Dash – iOS: Improved API infrastructure for Application distribution
To ensure that you are always using the latest version of the application, we have updated our API infrastructure to deprecate older versions of Sapaad Dash. Following this release and a subsequent depreciation of older versions of the API, all Sapaad Dash users, including early beta adopters, must upgrade to the latest version for continued usage. 

This is to ensure that you enjoy the benefits of the continued new features, fixes, updates, and performance improvements we provide to our products. 

Offline location saving now available for Sapaad Dash – iOS
We’ve introduced offline location caching in Sapaad Dash – iOS, ensuring that riders’ locations get updated accurately even if they lose internet connectivity during a delivery. The app saves their location data and once they’re back online, it automatically updates their location. This guarantees uninterrupted delivery operations, even in areas with unreliable internet connection.

Mandatory Sapaad Dash – Android app update
We’ve made a change to ensure all riders use the most up-to-date Android version of Sapaad Dash. It’s now mandatory to update the app. The rider will not be able to proceed past the prompt and must mandatorily update the application. This ensures that riders use the latest version and benefit from the continued improvements, fixes and enhancements we provide. 

Delivery Manager

Improved validation in case riders are deleted
In rare scenarios, a rider may be deleted or reassigned to another location during business hours, sometimes even while the rider has already been assigned a package. In such cases, Delivery Manager will, in real-time, identify the change in availability of the rider and will reflect that in the experience. It will also allow the order to be marked as delivered while indicating that the order is no longer associated with a rider. This ensures no disruption in the operation while handling rider removal gracefully. 

In addition, completed deliveries assigned to deleted riders can be viewed conveniently under the “Deleted Riders” category within the “Delivered” tab.

Performance updates, enhancements, and fixes

For Sapaad Pay

• Enhancements for displaying EFT details in printed bills – Android POS
  
• We’ve made improvements in displaying EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) details on reprinted bills from previous orders. 
  
  Now, when reprinting bills from past orders in the Android native POS system, the EFT details will be displayed for card payments. To make sure EFT details are reflected, “Print EFT Details” must be enabled in the print template settings.

• We’ve also fixed an issue in split bill transactions where EFT details were only visible if the last payment method used was a card. Now, the printed bill will consistently display complete EFT details, regardless of the order of payment methods in a split bill transaction.

• Orders complete on full payment for split bill transactions – Android 

We’ve resolved an issue where when splitting a card payment in half, orders were placed without collecting the second half of the payment. With this update, orders are now processed correctly. 

Singapore

• Payment Transaction Enhancements for Sapaad Waiter – Android
  
  • EFT transaction details in printed bills
    Enabling the ‘Print EFT details’ option in the print template settings now  includes additional information to invoice prints, including payment method, amount charged, date paid, and other Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) details, enhancing transparency in payment records.
    
  • Enhanced Sapaad Pay transaction reconciliation
    We’ve updated metadata to enhance efficiency and accuracy of Sapaad Pay payment tracking.
    
  • Payment error messages for easy troubleshooting
    We’ve also enhanced error messages for failed transactions to provide detailed insights into issues such as internet connectivity or incorrect cards.
    

• Improved stability of split bill transactions
  In rare instances, split bill transactions led to unintended charging of the full amount for each diner for Sapaad Pay transactions in Sapaad Direct. We’ve fixed this, ensuring accurate split bill transactions for you and your customers.

• EFT details now display on printed bills from Android native POS
  We’ve fixed an issue where EFT details were not appearing for Sapaad Pay payments made through Android native POS.

• Fix: Time zone discrepancy in transaction timestamps
  We’ve resolved a time zone mismatch issue in the pop-up when selecting transactions from the Sapaad Payments dashboard. Previously, if the system time zone differed from the account timezone, it displayed transaction timestamps in the system time zone, causing discrepancies with the timestamps in the ‘Date’ column of the Sapaad Payments dashboard. 
  
  Additionally, we’ve improved the readability of transaction timestamps by switching from a 24-hour to a 12-hour clock format, making them even easier to read and understand.

UAE

• Improved terminal stability 
  On rare occasions, terminal crashes were reported while processing transactions due to a terminal health polling mechanism. To address this, we’ve improved the system so that terminal health checks occur only during initial setup. Now, if the terminal disconnects, a prompt will appear to reconnect it. This ensures a more reliable payment processing experience.

• Transaction enhancements for Sapaad Waiter – Android
  
  • EFT transaction details on printed bills
    Activate the ‘Print EFT details’ option in your print template settings to include more information on your invoice prints, such as card number, transaction number and other Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) details. This improvement boosts transparency in payment records.
    
  • Enhanced Sapaad Pay transaction reconciliation
    We’ve updated metadata to further streamline the efficiency and accuracy of payment tracking for Sapaad Pay transactions.
    
  • Detailed payment error messages for improved troubleshooting
    We’ve also improved error messages for unsuccessful Sapaad Pay transactions, offering comprehensive insights into issues like internet connectivity or card errors.
    

For Sapaad Waiter – iOS 

• We’ve resolved an issue where updates to orders placed from Sapaad Waiter, particularly deleting priced modifiers using the POS, were not reflected in Sapaad Waiter. This led to discrepancies in the total amount displayed on printed bills. With this fix, all order updates made via the POS are now accurately reflected in Sapaad Waiter.

• We’ve addressed an issue that caused the application to hang after periods of inactivity, caused by token expiry. With this fix, the app remains responsive even after extended periods of idle time, ensuring an uninterrupted user experience.
  
• We’ve enhanced our logging system to better detect issues, and we’ve also fine-tuned our code to reduce occasional post-login crashes.
  
• We’ve fixed an issue where confirming a Sapaad Direct order in Sapaad Waiter displayed the staff name as “Sapaad Direct” instead of their actual name. Now, you can easily identify the staff member who confirmed a specific order for better tracking and management.

For Sapaad Waiter – Android

• We’ve fixed an issue in Sapaad Waiter where regular items were inadvertently displayed alongside a grouped item selected from the menu category dropdown. Now, only the items that belong to that specific grouped item will be displayed.

• Deleted menu items now automatically update in Sapaad Waiter after menu refresh in POS.
  
• We’ve resolved an issue that caused a crash when attempting to click ‘Pay Now’ for a table with an empty split bill created in the webPOS.
  
• We’ve fixed an issue that caused the application to hang when accessing an occupied table containing a menu item that was deleted from the menu.
  
• Clearing an amount in the payment dialog now functions as expected; it no longer resets to zero.
  
• We’ve addressed a crash issue triggered by inputting a second decimal point in the payment dialog.

For Sapaad Direct

• Enhanced order validation for Pay First and Walk-in features
  We’ve made improvements to order/payment validation for Pay First (pay-as-you-order transactions) orders so that should there be any temporary issue with the payment gateway, the order will not be processed.

• Fix: Online-paid Sapaad Direct orders displaying as unpaid in Sapaad POS and Delivery Manager 
  We have resolved a rare issue that caused online-paid Sapaad Direct orders to appear unpaid in Sapaad POS and Delivery Manager. This issue occurred when restaurant customers switched between “Pay at Counter” and “Card Payment” options, affecting those with both payment types enabled. With this fix, all Sapaad Direct orders, whether paid or unpaid, will be accurately reflected both in Sapaad POS and Delivery Manager.

• Fix: Billing discrepancies in group orders modified via POS
  We’ve resolved a rare issue in Sapaad Direct that led to unintentional billing discrepancies for group orders.
  
  In a normal scenario, restaurant customers scan a QR at the table to place orders and pay straight from their phones. However, there are special instances where your restaurant staff, using the POS, can also add items to the group orders.
  
  In rare instances, however, items added by your restaurant staff from the POS did not reflect in the customer’s carts, creating a discrepancy in the bill when the customer paid for the entire order from their phone via Sapaad Direct. With this fix, any new items added by restaurant staff via the POS are now accurately reflected in the customer’s cart, ensuring that all ordered items are accounted for.

For Sapaad Online

• Enhanced Report Export capability 
  We’ve added “Item code” as a column to the following report exports in Sapaad POS dashboard: “Top Selling Items Report,” “Top Grossing Items Report,” and “Top Inventory Report.” This enhancement streamlines data matching processes, allowing you to easily correlate item names with item codes in your reports.

• Fix: Tip display issue for Sapaad Pay and Mastercard transactions
  We’ve fixed an issue where tips for Sapaad Online orders were inadvertently placed under “Returned.” Now, they’re correctly displayed under “Tips” in the order details.

For Delivery Manager

• UI/UX Enhancement for store location names
  We’ve fixed an issue in Delivery Manager where lengthy store location names caused button alignment issues in the user interface. The fix includes using concise location names and helpful tooltips that display complete store location names when you hover over a location name.

Additional enhancements, optimizations & fixes.