Trying Otura in test mode, and going live
A new business starts in test mode: it can try every part of Otura with sales that are not real, receipts say TEST, invoices are numbered TEST-INV, and nothing reaches the real books. On go-live day Otura archives the test data and the first real invoice is INV-000001.
Checked against the product on 24 October 2026
What test mode changes
Everything works as it will when you are live: the till, the kitchen, stock, purchasing, reports, the VAT return. What is different is that none of it is real, and every screen and every paper says so.
| Where | What you see in test mode |
|---|---|
| Every screen after signing in | A strip along the bottom: Test mode — sales are not real, and Invoices are numbered TEST- and are not tax invoices. Everything rung now is removed when the business goes live. It cannot be closed. |
| Receipts | TEST — not a tax invoice: boxed at the top of the receipt on screen, and right under the business name on the printed slip, whatever your receipt settings hide. |
| Invoice numbers | Sales take TEST-INV-000001, TEST-INV-000002…; returns and voids take TEST-CN-000001… They are not legal numbers and are not part of your real series. Returns and History find a sale by its TEST number like any other. |
| A4 invoices and credit notes | Boxed above the title: TEST — not a tax invoice, in the document's language. |
| CommerceInvoice register | The series are listed as Test invoices (not tax invoices) and Test credit notes. |
Your plan and billing are not affected by test mode.
Going live
On your go-live day, Otura empties the test books so your real ones start at zero. Before you call us:
Close every shift
Close the shift on every till (Closing a shift). Going live is refused while a shift is open, so that no sale is half-way through when it happens. If nobody can get to a till, Otura can close its test shift for you: it is closed as the till closes it, with any order on the screen parked, and counted at exactly the cash the drawer should hold, so no difference is recorded. A shift whose till still holds unsent sales is not closed until that till comes online.
Bring every till online
A till that sold offline must send its sales first (Syncing offline sales). Going live is refused while a till reports sales it has not sent.
Decide about your catalogue
Your products, prices and recipes are kept, unless you ask to start the catalogue fresh too: then every product is withdrawn (not erased; it can be restored).
What going live removes, and what it keeps
Everything recorded in test mode is first copied to an archive kept with your business, then removed, all at once: if anything fails, nothing is removed and the business stays in test mode.
| Removed (archived first) | Kept |
|---|---|
| Sales, returns, voids and their TEST numbers; shifts and the cash drawer; kitchen orders; carts and held orders; online orders; stock movements, lots, counts, transfers and production; purchase orders, receipts and supplier invoices; customer and supplier balances; journal entries, the tax ledger and VAT returns; loyalty points; payroll runs. | Products, prices and recipes (unless you chose otherwise); staff, roles and PINs; settings, receipt and printer settings; customers and suppliers; locations, registers and paired tills; the chart of accounts and tax settings; menus; the activity log. |
- Stock starts at zero, with no cost.Every quantity and cost came from the test. Count your shelves and enter each item's opening stock with today's cost in StockInventory with Add Location (Getting stock in): it fills the empty record going live left, and the stock is valued at the cost you enter. Or receive goods. Do this before you sell tracked items.
- Cash boxes start at zero. Open the first shift with the cash really in the drawer.
- Till sessions end. Staff sign in again as usual.
- Your first real invoice is
INV-000001, and every other series (POS-, journal entries, receipts) starts again too. - A sale rung offline in test mode that reaches the server after going live is refused: it never lands in the real books.
Already live with practice sales?
A business that rang practice sales before test mode existed has issued real invoice numbers. If those invoices were only practice (not real sales, and no customer received them), Otura can put the business back into test mode. Ask us, and confirm that in writing; we record it with the list of invoice and credit-note numbers it covers. Otura cannot do it when:
- a tax return covering the business was filed: declared sales are real;
- Otura has a record of a customer receiving one of those documents: an online order, or an invoice recorded as printed, sent or handed over;
- a till still holds sales it has not sent: bring it online first.
Back in test mode, new sales take TEST numbers. When you go live (the steps above), those practice invoices and credit notes are archived and removed with the rest of the test data, and the series start again: your first real invoice is INV-000001 and your first credit note CN-000001.
More about the real series: Invoice numbers and the invoice register.