Skip to main content

Missing Data / Incorrect Data / Data Discrepancy

Updated

My Data is Missing or Incorrect: Troubleshooting

Are you logged into Avero and notice that your data is missing or incorrect? If you have recently changed or upgraded your system or server, please see our article on Changing or Updating POS Systems as reinstall may be needed. 

This article will discuss the following topics for troubleshooting:

Typical Causes for Missing Data

The nature of Avero's system is that we need to extract data from POS systems over the internet and then load it into our systems all day, every day. We invest ourselves continuously into making this process faster and more reliable, but it is not, and will never be, error-proof. The internet goes down; equipment fails, bugs pop-up, etc. Occasional delays are to be expected. For On-premise systems, we provide you the ability to recover your own data on-demand, any time you notice it missing. For Cloud Systems or Exports, you will likely need to involve Avero Support. See below for more information about getting your data into Avero as quickly as possible. 

The most common causes of Missing Data are: 

  • Your restaurant was closed or had no transactions.
  • You ran your end of day late 
  • The end-of-day did not/complete
  • The internet was offline at the time of extraction
  • There were changes made to your firewall
  • FTP access was blocked 
  • The server was shut down/unavailable at the time of extraction

We do have fail-safes in effect to try to minimize these instances of missing data. Our extraction utility attempts to resend data at 8AM and 2PM if none is received. We don't continuously retry all day because we also need to minimize the resources we use on the POS system. It is very important that we do not impact the system's performance or stability, so there is a trade-off there. Additionally, we have a system that detects and attempts to recover missing data automatically. Despite these efforts, the nature of on-premise software is that when stuff gets disconnected, human intervention may be necessary to restore the data flow. For this reason, we've invested in improvements to our data extraction capabilities and documentation so that is is easy for users to recover their data without relying on a back-and-forth with support. We believe this creates a better user experience. Now, when users on-site follow the instructions to recover data (it takes less than 1 minute) they get immediate results and the data is loaded into the Avero platform within 2 hours. 

 

What kind of system do I have?

On-premise means you have a server on-site at your restaurant that runs your point of sale system. We have a data extraction utility installed on your POS server which runs a daily process and send task to deliver your sales data to Avero. Common examples are Aloha, Micros (3700, 9700, Simphony), Digital Dining, PosiTouch, PixelPoint, and Restaurant Manager, among others. 

Cloud Export means your POS sends us an export file containing your daily sales data, which we process. Common examples of export systems are Silverware, Breadcrumb/Upserve, Mobilebytes/Heartland, TouchBistro, Infrasys, Clover, Revel, Northstar, Salido, and others. 

Cloud API means your POS is hosted in the cloud and we access an application interface to retrieve your daily sales data. Common examples of API systems are Toast, Lightspeed, or Square. 

I don't know where the POS Server is / I don't have access

If you do not know where your POS server is or you do not have access to it, bring the issue to your IT department or IT servicer and they may be able to assist you by providing access or performing the data recovery for you. Once they extract the data, it will be reflected in Avero within two hours. 

If you do not have an IT department, ask your POS reseller or servicer for assistance. 

Troubleshooting Missing Data

 

Recovering Missing Data: On-Premise Systems

Here are the steps for recovering missing data for an On-Premise POS system. On-premise means you have a server on-site at your restaurant that runs your point of sale system. Common examples are Aloha, Micros, Digital Dining, PosiTouch, PixelPoint, or Restaurant Manager, among others. 

  1. On the PC that runs your POS, typically in your BOH, sign in as an administrative user.
    • If you don't have administrative rights, find a user that does, and ask them to complete the following steps.
  2. Open the Avero Data Extraction Utility (DEU) and click View Output.
    • The DEU is typically found on the POS Server's desktop. If it's not, use windows to search for Avero, and you should find it.
    • The icon looks like this:
    • DEU.PNG
  3. If the files are present, attempt to resend them by using the Send Files button
    • mceclip0.png
    • Once sent, it may take up to 2 hours for the data to appear in the product.
    • If the files fail to send, check your internet connectivity and firewall settings.
  4. If there are no files in the output, run the DEU for the missing days. 
    • Select the missing days on the calendar and click the run button. The files should leave the open output folder.
  5.  If the DEU doesn't open, confirm that you are logged into a user with administrative rights.
    • If you are an admin user and still having trouble, reboot your server at the end of the night and try again.
  6. If issues persist or the server has potentially been replaced, reinstalled, or re-imaged, open a ticket with details of the actions you've already taken for further investigation.

I received an error message!

Error messages are generated for a variety of reasons. After running the DEU you may see this pop-up:

mceclip1.png

Click OK to view the errors. 

Item Sales returned no data

If you have many revenue centers, it is not unusual to receive an error message even when your data has sent successfully if some revenue centers show no sales. For example, a hotel rerunning data may receive an error message 'returned no sales data' for Banquets because there were no banquet sales on that day, even though Restaurant, Bar, Mini Bar, and Room Service all exported their sales without issue. Take a look at the RVC identifier in the error message and compare it to your RVC list to identify which RVC is missing sales to know if this error is impacting your data.  

Other errors - if you see other errors or if you verify that the RVC that returned no data should have had sales: Open a ticket and our team will work with you to resolve. 

Files not transferred / Could not connect to Avero

This error is returned when the DEU cannot connect to the Avero site to relay the files. Most commonly, the cause of this is that your firewall is blocking the traffic to send these files to Avero. This may happen suddenly after a recent firewall update.

To repair, update your firewall to allow our information as outlined in Troubleshooting - IT & Technology

You can also try alternate send methods:

  • Open the Avero Data Extraction Utility (DEU) and click Options
    • Note: if Options requires a password, you'll first need to perform an update, which takes 2-5 minutes using these instructions: DEU Update On Demand
  • The DEU is typically found on the PC's desktop. If it's not, use windows to search for Avero, and you should find it. The icon looks like this:
  • Select File Transfer
  • Under 'Transport Method' select HTTP (or is already selected, attempt another format from the drop-down menu)
  • Select Apply, then OK, ​then try to send the files by selecting Send Files
  • ​
  • If successful, the data will be present in Avero in 2 hours. If unsuccessful, you can try another format or whitelisting will be required. 

Recovering Missing Data: Cloud Export

Reach out to your POS vendor and request that they resend the export to Avero for each day of missing data.  Common examples of export systems are Silverware, Breadcrumb/Upserve, Mobilbytes/Heartland, TouchBistro, or Infrasys, among others. 

 

Recovering Missing Data: Cloud API

If you are missing data, we are likely already trying to recover it.  If this issue is recurring for multiple days, please open a ticket, and we'll escalate to our technical team. Common examples of API systems are Toast, Lightspeed, or Square. 

 

Troubleshooting Incorrect Data

If the data in Avero doesn't match the data in your POS system, please follow the following steps to help us narrow down the issue and find a quicker resolution. 

  1. Run a single day report in Avero for a single day that highlights the issue
    • If you need help running a report, learn more about the Report Generator.
    • If there are multiple days of issues, please run individual reports for each day.
  2. Run a Daily Sales Report in your POS for the same day
    • If there are multiple days of issues, please run individual reports for each day.
    • Download as PDF 
  3. Confirm the discrepancy - check the sales report in Avero against your PDF
  4. Open a ticket and include the following:
    • Dates discrepancy reported
    • Description of issue, please be specific
    • Avero reports (PDF)
    • POS reports (PDF)

When Will I See My Data?

Once you or we have recovered your missing data, it still needs to load into the system. Delays vary based on how the data was received and the current load queue, so don't resend the data again as it will start over and place you at the back of the queue. You should see your recovered data in Avero in about 2 hours.

How Can I verify the Data was Recovered?

The best way to verify data was recovered is to run a report in Avero such as an Item Sales Report. If you are verifying multiple days, you can run a Trend Report for the past X amount of days you are verifying. If data is not present after 2 hours, you can Open a ticket with support to investigate further. 

Related articles