Several counters offline at once

The cloud-sync behavior below describes counters without a working BitMed Link connection. With BitMed Link installed and paired on each counter, the counters can also share completed bills, returns, held bills and stock changes over the local network while the internet is down. See What BitMed Link is and what syncs locally.

How it behaves

1. Each session runs independently — its own local data, its own upload queue. No session blocks another.

2. Bill numbers stay unique — each session bills on its own numbered series, identified by a terminal letter inside the bill number: PUN1-C-26-00006 is store code PUN1, terminal C, financial year 26, sequence 00006. Counter A and counter C therefore cannot produce the same number, even with nobody online to co-ordinate them. Staff see nothing different on the receipt: the number printed offline is the permanent one.

   Below is counter C part-way through an outage — three bills rung up locally, all on its own C series, all still waiting to upload.

   

   Returns run on a separate series of their own — a credit note reads CPUN1-C-26-0001. So raising a return offline never advances the counter's sale-invoice numbering.

3. Reconnection merges everything — all queues upload; sales, stock movements and registers consolidate. Stock counts reflect every session's sales once synced.

   The same counter a moment after the connection returns: the bill numbers have not changed, the pending count is gone, and the screens that need the server are back.

   

Set expectations

• Each device must already be bound to its counter before the connection drops. Assigning or switching a counter needs the server, so it is unavailable offline — a device that is already billing on counter B simply carries on. A device that is not bound refuses to bill rather than guessing: it will not fall back to terminal A, because two devices sharing a letter is exactly what produces duplicate bill numbers.
• Without local sync, during the outage each counter sees its own unsynced sales only; the combined picture (dashboard, stock) completes after everyone syncs.
• Returns during the outage: any bill already synced — that is, anything in the store's last seven days — can be returned from any counter, including bills another counter rang up. What is not reachable is what the other counters have rung up during this outage; those arrive when they upload, or through a working BitMed Link connection between the paired counters.
• An outage across 1 April asks before it bills. If the device hasn't reached the server for a while and the next bill would fall in a new financial year, it stops for a confirmation rather than silently starting a new series. A device whose clock has been moved backwards is blocked outright.
• Long outage? Just leave the BitMed windows open and on screen — the queues hold regardless, but a hidden or minimised tab is throttled by the browser and drains more slowly once the connection returns.