(continued from Appendix 1 Abbreviation Rules)

Appendix 2: Abbreviations for Wine Lists

This section applies to establishments having an extensive wine offering (more than 30.)

Wine descriptions present a special challenge when programming a POS system.  They tend to be long and sometimes difficult to remember.

ASI suggests for establishments with a long wine list, best to use bin numbers as the abbreviation (e.g. "124" or "w124"). See section Wine ID.

The longest descriptions will typically include the brand name, year, vineyard/company and type.  For example: Fess Parker '98, Santa Barbara Co, Chardonnay.  In a traditional touchscreen POS system, this is resolved by using multiple groups to categorize the wines according to their color (red, white), or if more extensive by their types (chardonnay's, Pinot Noirs, etc.)  When programming for the Write-On, the group categorization is less important, since it is bypassed by directly writing the item’s abbreviation.  However, it is still important for reporting purposes and in situations where some servers/bar tenders use fixed POS stations instead of the handhelds.  The main consideration is to use POS descriptions that are as close as possible to what is on the actual wine list from which the customer orders.

Note: In practice, servers will use the find function to enter wines, so it is important to be consistent when choosing descriptions.  For example, once you settle on “Cab”, say, as the description abbreviation for “Cabernet”, always use this abbreviation (don’t use the full name just because it fits on some wines.)  This way, if the server does a search for “cab”, all the cabernet wines will appear in the selection window.

Following are examples for different ways to describe wine items that take into account the length limitations.

Type, Vineyard, Year (preferred method)

In this case we leave out the vineyard/company name, and put the wine type at the beginning, abbreviating each word so that the overall description takes less than 17 characters.

Advantages: Contains full description; automatically generated Write-On abbreviation.

Disadvantages: Requires abbreviating the description.

If you are selling a wine by the glass, add the size abbreviation at the end of the description.

Eg. Caber C Mont 97 btl, Cab C Mont 97, gls

Vineyard, Year

Consider the following when Vineyard and vintage are required

Advantages: Shorter description, possibly closer to what a customer would verbally order.

Disadvantages: Requires abbreviating the description.

Wine ID

For establishments with a long wine list, best to use bin numbers as the abbreviation (e.g. "144" or "W144").In this method every wine on the wine list is tagged with an identification number or code.  For this to work effectively, the number should also appear on the wine list presented to the customer.  This way the server can graciously ask the customer what the associated number is for the wine he is ordering if he forgets it.  This system is especially suited for very large wine lists.

Advantages: Allows for fuller description on the check.

Disadvantages: Requires manual abbreviation assignment.

(continued in Appendix 4 Error Recovery Procedures)