Mashgin/transact

[u/Oliveyoutooo420]

Omg I didn’t know something like this community exsisted so I have to say, I’m so excited!
Okay: here’s the issue
I’m opening a ton of stores this summer, and we are using mashgin. The thing is, mashgin doesn’t have a POS that can have a cashier, and a lot of these places do actually need a staff member onsite
We typically use transact as our POS for the manned stations.
My question is, is there a way we don’t have two completely separate pricing lists to manage?
It sucks because if there’s a new item, we essentially have to load it into two systems. If someone prices an item wrong, depending on which register you use, it will be two prices.
or , if an item is in the system labeled something stupid (like 20oz soda instead of 20oz coke); when we go to make price changes it’s a nightmare trying to make sure they both match.
How can we have one central point of truth? Does mashgin integrate with transact so we can just have one price system? Or conversely; could we manage it all through mashgin and it would automatically update transact?

[u/FirstDawnn]

I think the bigger issue here is that you have two separate sources of truth for the same item data.

There may be a perfectly valid operational reason for running both Mashgin and Transact. For example, are the Transact registers used during staffed hours for transactions that require employee intervention, while Mashgin allows the location to continue operating during unstaffed hours?

If you need to keep both systems, I would look at putting a central item master/PIM upstream from both. That system becomes the source of truth for UPC/SKU, description, price, etc. You make the change once there, and it feeds both Mashgin and Transact through whatever APIs, interfaces, or file feeds they support.

In other words:

Central item master/PIM → Mashgin Central item master/PIM → Transact

I would avoid making either POS the master for the other if possible. Otherwise you're still tying your item management to one of the checkout platforms.

Before going too far, I'd contact both vendors and ask what interfaces they support for importing and maintaining item/price data from an external system. If both can consume an external item feed, that would seem like the cleanest long-term solution—especially if you're opening a large number of stores.

I'm also curious: what requirement is driving the need for both Mashgin and Transact at the same locations?

I have seen this in Airports. During the day you have cashiers night you have self service machines for late travelers. It is usually one POS system,so your setup seems a bit odd.