Avero & Infogenesis v4+ (On-Premise)
Infogenesis is supported for Sales data only.
Avero processes and presents data from your Infogenesis POS for your analysis and insight. This article details how to handle POS changes, make updates to this data, and how to handle discrepancies or problems you might encounter. For some things, such as adding meal periods or revenue centers, you must complete the action on your side in order for it to be reflected in Avero (maybe with the help of your POS reseller or Agilysys Support) and for some changes, such as global category associations, you'll need to reach out to our support team. This article refers only to Infogenesis On-Premise systems, meaning you have an on-site server hosting your POS. To read about the Infogenesis Cloud system go here: Infogenesis ASP Cloud System
In this article:
- About Infogenesis POS
- Installation & Reinstallation
- Regular Maintenance: Making Updates and Changes
- Common Problems
- Frequently Asked Questions About Infogenesis
About Infogenesis POS
POS Type: On-Premise
Infogenesis in an on-premise POS system, meaning that a server at your restaurant runs your POS. Avero's data extraction utility is installed on the machine in your restaurant and every day sends us your sales data.
Differences between Infogenesis & Avero
Infogenesis uses the term Profit Center and Avero uses the term Revenue Center. When you are reading instructions throughout our Knowledge Base or using Avero to run reports, Revenue Center will mean the same thing as Profit Center.
Infogenesis uses meal periods to calculate the sales data, but Avero uses closed check time. This means we may not match up with your Infogen reporting.
Infogenesis does not send information regarding transfers of checks, so you will not be able to report on this information.
Item Sales for Infogenesis is determined by Check Open time, this may mean that your Sales by Hour Report does not exactly match the hours in which individual items were sold.
Installation & Reinstallation on Infogenesis
Infogenesis is installed by a technician on Avero's Installs team. You don't need to be installed to start using Avero! Even though data isn't flowing yet, you'll be invited as an Avero user right away to begin setting up your Logbook and exploring our platform!
If you are a new customer, the Avero Sales Associate who sets up your subscription will open a ticket for your install on your behalf, and you will be sent a technical form to provide us with the necessary credentials on configuration information to remotely access your on-site machine and install our data extraction utility. Once you've returned the form, you'll book an appointment via our automated system to select an available timeslot. At the appointed time our installer will access your machine and complete the necessary work to pull data, including connecting our data extractor to your Infogenesis database. The next day, once we've received the scheduled transfer, your install will be confirmed.
If you are switching to Infogenesis from another system, Open a Reinstall Ticket with Avero's Support Team and they will get you started! Otherwise, the process is the same. Be sure to let us know before installing your new system to avoid missing data!
You will also prepare for the install. This means following our Pre-Install Checklist which will make sure you have the access needed and that our interactions will be marked safe by your system security by whitelisting Avero in your firewall (IT or your POS reseller can assist with this!). Remote access to your onsite server must be confirmed prior to your scheduled appointment, or it will be rescheduled.
The Avero extraction utility will connect to your InfoGenesis database via ODBC. Please make sure the server Avero will be installing on has the latest Microsoft SQL Server ODBC drivers and confirm with your IT team that the InfoGenesis database server can accept ODBC connections. (Link to Microsoft latest drivers download: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/connect/odbc/download-odbc-driver-for-sql-server (copy and paste link into a browser on the server to download and install).
Required Prior to Install - Create the Database Access
Avero will need to have access to your IG database to query your sales data. Creating database access must be done prior to your installation appointment and has two main steps.
Create an Avero Database User
First, you'll create a database user named Avero (or a variation of your choice such as Avero_User or Avero_Reporting) with access to the tables listed below under 'Tables Used in Avero Queries'.
Please Note: Avero typically cannot install using the SYS/SA users; you'll need to create a user with access for Avero to use. Access to all listed tables is very important to ensure we can extract your sales data successfully.
Tables Used in Avero Queries
Avero will need to be provided with a database username and password with read-access to the tables below (the whole table, please do not limit column access). SQL Server authentication is strongly preferred over integrated Windows authentication. If integrated Windows authentication must be used, then the user configured for database access must also be a local administrator with permissions to install software, configure scheduled tasks, and create system ODBC connections.
| Database | schema | TableName |
| ig_business | dbo | check_account_detail |
| ig_business | dbo | check_discount_detail |
| ig_business | dbo | check_item_detail |
| ig_business | dbo | check_sales_detail |
| ig_business | dbo | check_tender_detail |
| ig_business | dbo | employee_clock_data |
| ig_dimension | dbo | business_period_dimension |
| ig_dimension | dbo | check_type_dimension |
| ig_dimension | dbo | discount_dimension |
| ig_dimension | dbo | employee_dimension |
| ig_dimension | dbo | job_code_dimension |
| ig_dimension | dbo | meal_period_dimension |
| ig_dimension | dbo | menu_item_dimension |
| ig_dimension | dbo | modifier_dimension |
| ig_dimension | dbo | profit_center_dimension |
| ig_dimension | dbo | tender_dimension |
| ig_dimension | dbo | void_reason_dimension |
| it_cfg | dbo | check_type_master |
| ig_revconfig | dbo | meal_period_schedule_day_join |
| it_cfg | dbo | menu_item_master |
| ig_revconfig | dbo | screen_schedule_master |
| ig_revconfig | dbo | screen_schedule_meal_period_join |
| it_cfg | dbo | Term_Grp_Master |
| it_cfg | dbo | Terminal_Master |
| it_cfg | dbo | Check_Type_Master |
| it_cfg | dbo | menu_item_master |
| it_cfg | dbo | Profit_Center_Master |
Create the Avero Data Source
Second, you'll create the Avero Data Source. Follow these steps:
- Locate the SysWOW64 folder (usually C:\Windows\SysWOW64) and open the ODBC Adminstrator (odbcad32)
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Select the System DSN Tab and select Add
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Select SQL Server from the picklist > Finish
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Name it Avero and point to the Database Server > Next
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Select SQL Authentication - do not use Windows authentication - enter the User and Password for the Avero user you set up > Finish
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A pop-up with the ODBC Data Source Details will appear, click Test Data Source
- Test completed successfully! You should receive this success message, if not verify the database user credentials are correct.
Regular Maintenance: Making Updates and Changes for Infogenesis
When changes or updates are needed who is responsible? If something appears incorrect or out-of-date, how should it be updated?
Change or Add a Meal Period in Infogenesis
Whenever meal periods are changed in Infogenesis they will be reflected in the next export we receive from Infogenesis. Nothing needs to be done on the Avero side to approve/accept/map your meal periods. Feel free to make an update or add a meal period and see the data flow straight to Avero. Note that changes reflect data going forward.
Important to note - Meal Period changes/additions will not automatically update your logbook or saved reports.
Change or Add a Profit / Revenue Center in Infogenesis
You can change or add profit centers to your Infogenesis configuration and see them reflected in Avero as soon as the next day. Changing a revenue center's name will only affect the data moving forward.
To add a profit center, or move a profit center from one outlet to another in Avero, use our Business Mapping Instructions
To add a new outlet for profit centers to be routed to, open a ticket with Avero Support to create the new outlet. They will provide you the information to complete Business Mapping Instructions.
To change an outlet name, open a ticket with Avero Support. Changing the name of a revenue center must be done in Infogenesis, but the business it reports to ('Business' box in report generator, name on the logbook) will be changed by Avero.
To remove an outlet, open a ticket with Avero Support to request it be removed from Avero. Doing so will remove access to the historical data which you may want for reports on previous years and cannot be undone, so be sure this is what you want before requesting.
Categories & Items in Infogenesis
Avero provides the following Global categories: Beverage, Food, Misc., Other, and Retail. The major and minor categories come from your POS.
To make changes to items you'll need to update Infogenesis - changing an item name, price, or moving it between categories.
To make changes to major/minor categories you'll need to update Infogenesis - changing category names, updating which items are in a category, making categories more specific.
To make changes to global categories, you'll need to open a ticket and request Avero makes the change. For example, if Appetizers are appearing under Beverage and need to be moved to Food.
When creating new Categories, they may default to Other and require a ticket to update this mapping.
Common Problems
It is very important to keep an active connection to your POS server should you ever need Avero Support to access the server and assist. Please visit our article on Remote Access to On-site Servers.
Infogenesis Missing Data
Missing data happens. 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 Infogenesis systems, we provide you the ability to recover your own data on-demand, any time you notice it missing, in just a couple of clicks. This data is processed and loaded into the Avero platform automatically within 2 hours, so you don't have to wait for a support agent, have any back and forth, or wait an entire day to rerun your reports. You are able to select the date on a calendar and send it - which means you have your data when you need it.
Simple instructions that take less than three minutes are found here, see On-Premise Data Recovery: Missing / Incorrect Data
Data Discrepancies - Avero's sales data is not matching Infogenesis
If you notice your sales data is not matching up with your Infogenesis reports, there are three actions you need to complete:
- Make sure the data discrepancy exists in Avero by logging in and running a sales report. If you notice incorrect data in an emailed report, it may be related to email settings and not the data itself. See our troubleshooting guide: Troubleshooting Email Reports with Missing or Incomplete Data
- Review the Differences between Infogenesis & Avero to make sure this isn't the discrepancy you are noticing.
- Run a Profit Center Report from Infogenesis for the date in question, Open a Data Ticket, attach the report and explain the discrepancy. Make sure to include the report, the date, and profit center or location if you have access to several, as well as any examples you can provide.
Our team investigates all data discrepancies - due to the nature of our daily data extraction a single date and single-day sales report must be provided. We cannot investigate date ranges, but it is helpful to know if the issue is recurring and you can provide multiple dates.
Frequently Asked Questions About Infogenesis
Why don't Avero's sales look the same as my Infogenesis reports?
Infogensis uses meal periods to calculate the sales data, but Avero uses closed check time. This means we may not match up with your Infogen reporting.
Infogenesis does not send information regarding transfers of checks, so you will not be able to report on this information.
Infogenesis creates a NEW unique check number when closed checks are reopened and canceled/voided/refunded or otherwise updated, however these secondary checks are omitted from Infogenesis reporting, so check counts may differ between Infogenesis and Avero reporting.
Is there any information Infogenesis doesn't export to Avero?
There are some data limitations you may notice based on what we receive from Infogenesis.
- Infogenesis does not send us check transfer information, so this portion of Check Search and Loss Prevention are not available to Infogenesis locations.
- Infogenesis sends both Service Charges and Taxes as totals, but does not supply Service Charge Types or Tax Types, so these are on available to view as a total.
- Infogenesis does not supply Item Transaction Time, so Check Open time is used for sales by hour.
Why do I recover missing data myself?
We've invested in improvements to our data extraction capabilities and documentation so that it 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. You can also open a ticket to recover missing data, but it will not load until the next day.
Does Avero pull credit card information from my Infogen system?
No. Avero pulls payment type information, such as what type of card is used and the amount of the payment from all systems. We can also pull payment reference information (what is contained depends on your configuration) and the last 4 digits of Credit Card from Infogenesis, if available. We do not have access to, collect or store, full credit card numbers, though the last four digits can be displayed to identify checks and payments. Whether or not this is shown depends on your POS configuration.
Can I pull back / historical data from my Infogenesis server?
Yes! If you are a new customer, are missing recent data, or have just added a new profit center that already had sales that weren't loaded to Avero, you can run the data extraction for previous dates. The data that is available and extractable on Infogenesis servers varies, but typically at least 45 days is available, in some cases up to 90 days may be available.
Instructions on running the data extraction are here: Missing / Incorrect Data