Overview #
A vending machine in Sentry can generally work in two ways:
- Dex; and
- ‘Live transactions’.
In general, we recommend running vending machines with dex.
Where a machine does not have dex capability and a Nayax credit card reader is used, it is possible to still use Sentry with the machine. However, this is a more complex system than dex, requiring greater configuration between the Nayax and Sentry.
This guide should be used for live transaction machines only, not dex machines.
Setting a machine to use live transactions as its sales source #
To set a machine to use live transactions as its sales source, go to its modem (communication device) where you can select the sales source:
Configuring live transactions with Sentry #
When a machine’s modem is configured to process live transactions as its sales source, the effect is:
- Sales are sent from the modem company (e.g. Nayax) to Sentry;
- Sales are generated in Sentry and products are decremented from planograms based on:
- As a first priority the PA Code sent from Nayax; or
- As a second priority, if there is no PA Code, the MDB Code.
You can set these codes in Nayax in the machine product map:
In some machines, PA Codes are generated correctly and match the machine selection numbers. This is where a machine is modern and follows correct MDB-Dex mapping specifications.
In older and non-dex machines this does not happen. In these cases you need to set the PA Code in Nayax in order for Sentry to understand the sale; or, alternatively, set the MDB Code.
In general, we recommend setting up the PA Codes. These are basically the machine’s selections (e.g. 10, 11, 12, 20, 21, 22).
If Sentry receives sales data with a PA code (or MDB code where no PA code is provided), Sentry will still generate a sale, but because it has no planogram selection to match against, the sale will be for ‘Unknown product’. There is no way for Sentry to know what selection this is if Nayax is not configured correctly to send a correct PA Code / selection.
Configuring the Sentry planogram #
Once the Nayax product map is configured, it is also necessary to configure your Sentry planogram to match it.
Unlike dex-enabled vending machines, planograms in Sentry must be manually configured (dex-enabled vending machines send layouts, whereas live transaction machines do not).
To configure your Sentry planogram, on the planogram page, click ‘Dex view’ and then ‘Modify layout’:
Once ‘Modify layout’ has been toggled, you can click between rows, columns and selections to modify the planogram, and also click on the ‘x’ in the top right hand corner of a selection to delete it:
Once you have configured the machine’s layout you should also correctly label the machine’s selection numbers to match the incoming PA codes (or MDB codes if PA codes aren’t supplied). This can be done by toggling ‘Edit selections inline’ on the planogram page:
