Control Centre

Control Centre is the main screen of the Cafezee server from where all the activities of the cyber cafe are controlled. This screen enables the client computers to be managed remotely, setting up of security and general settings of the café, entering the daily purchase and sale transactions, viewing of reports and chatting with customers. When the server is used as a client, the control center gets hidden. The staff then has to perform these operations from individual client systems directly.


Dummy Client

Computers that are connected to the network and do not have Cafezee client program installed on them are termed as Dummy Clients. These may be the laptops, which are connected for accessing Internet. Cafezee allows only tracking of session details for these systems, but the remote administration facility which is possible with the systems that are running Cafezee client cannot be done on the Dummy Clients.

The following are the tasks that can be done for maintaining Dummy Clients:

• Add a dummy client
• Rename a dummy client
• Start a dummy session
• Close a dummy session
• Delete a dummy client

Unlike the normal session clients the dummy clients have only two operational states: Idle and Busy. The initial state of a dummy client is Idle, whenever a customer comes in with a laptop and connects to the network the staff has to start the dummy session and the session continues until the customer requests for the bill, close the dummy session and bill for the Internet Usage.

This feature can be used to maintain other billing services, for e.g., use the Dummy Clients to handle billing in a restaurant by naming the dummy clients as Table1, Table2, …


Restoring data if Windows.pra file is corrupted

The Windows.pra file in the Cafezee Server Installation folder is the database file where all the Cafezee data is stored. Cafezee's auto backup feature takes database backup every time the Cafezee Server program is started. Sudden shutdown of the Server program at times may corrupt the database. The Server program cannot start if the database is corrupted. The Windows2.pra file is the latest backup file that is created automatically by Server program. The server folder also contains other .pra files, which are backup copies of the Server database. These backup files are saved in the format of MMDDYYYY.pra where DD is the date, MM is the month and YYYY is the year. For e.g., the backup file for 1 February 2004 would be saved with filename 01022004.pra.

To restore the database if the Windows.pra file is corrupted following the steps under

• Rename the Windows.pra file as WindowsBAD.pra
• Rename Windows2.pra as Windows.pra and start the Server program.

If the windows2.pra file were also corrupted then

• Rename the Windows.pra to Windows2BAD.pra and
• Rename the latest of MMDDYYYY.PRA files to Windows.pra and restart the Server program.

Upgrading to the latest version of Cafezee

Provided that the café owner/administrator has saved the older version database of Cafezee as "winOLD.pra", and uninstalled the older version of Cafezee, follow the steps below to import the database into the latest version and start using Cafezee:

1. Download and install the latest version of Cafezee from www.cafezee.com
2. Assuming you have already paid for the upgrade and are authorized to use the latest version, install the latest version of Cafezee in your server and client computers.
3. After installing the server, supply the admin password=india and login to the main screen.
4. Select Import Database from the file menu and select the file "winOLD.pra" saved earlier.
5. Wait until the import is completed and restart the server.
6. Install the latest version Cafezee client software in all other computers and start using Cafezee.

Transaction types supported by Cafezee

The different Sale types supported by Cafezee are

• Product :  Products are physical items whose quantity is to be tracked when they are sold. The stock available for this type of items can be checked from the Inventory Report. E.g.: Coke, CDs, etc.
• Service :  Cyber cafes normally offer other services like printing and scanning for which the quantity remaining or tracking inventory does not apply.
• Code :  A code type sale has to be made before the code is given to the customer wanting to use a computer. Codes are capable of unlocking the client computers for usage.
• PC-Usage :  A code type sale has to be made before the code is given to the customer wanting to use a computer. Codes are capable of unlocking the client computers for usage.
• Package :  A package type sale is made when a prepaid member account is renewed using a prepaid package. A prepaid package is nothing but a set of {minutes, validity period and amount}.
• Others :  Allows adding of a custom service which is not defined in the Products and Services list and allows entering of the desired amount for the entered service.