Chapter 37
How do I keep an eye on a shop I am not standing in?
With more than one branch, you cannot be in two places at once — three reports exist so you do not have to be.
Branch Comparison shows today's revenue, cost and profit side by side for every branch you can see, and the cash figure on it is that branch's NET MOVEMENT for the day — money in minus money out, never a running balance; a branch that closes at zero has not lost money, it simply moved none. Branch Dashboard adds what each shop's tills are doing right now — which are open, and any counted difference still waiting for an explanation. Both are on the Business plan.
The alerts watch between your visits
Branch Alerts (also Business) compare a branch against its OWN recent self — a sudden drop in sales, a till that closed short, stock that looks available online but is not on the shelf — and only ever against yesterday's complete day, never a day still in progress, so a slow Monday morning does not read as a collapse.
None of this replaces knowing your own shop. It gives you the same facts a manager standing there would have, so you can ask the right question before the day ends rather than after the month does.