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Nivala
The practice-day guide

Check Nivala against your own records before you pay.

Practise on a separate copy of your café. Re-enter one real day from your paper book or your old software, then compare. Choose a plan only if the numbers match or you can explain every difference.

Before you start

  • Use a paired practice device, not the quick “try it now” mode. The quick mode uses a sample menu and has no day summary, so it cannot be matched against your books.
  • In Back office, Practice, press “Get practice device code”. On the counter device open /app/pair in Chrome or Edge and enter the code. It works once, for 24 hours, and the device shows a PRACTICE banner the whole time.
  • If you changed your real menu or GST answers after the practice copy was made, press “Refresh practice copy” so they match.
  • Take one real day of bills from your paper book or your old software’s day report.

The six checks

  1. 1

    Bill count and day total

    Enter every bill from one real day. Open the Owner tab on the practice device: the number of orders should equal your paper. Then press “Practice day summary” and compare the day total. If the count is off by even one, find the missing or doubled bill first.

  2. 2

    Cash, UPI and card

    You enter what each guest paid, so cash, UPI and card should match your paper exactly, and the three should add up to the day total in the summary.

  3. 3

    GST by rate

    In the summary, compare taxable value and GST for each rate (5%, 12%, 18%), and the CGST and SGST totals. A regular café sees “Tax Invoice” with a made-up GSTIN that carries the word PRACTICE, never yours. A composition café gets a bill of supply with no GST. If your GST answers are incomplete, practice runs as unregistered and shows no GST: fix your GST settings in Back office, then press “Refresh practice copy”.

  4. 4

    Tax inside the price, or on top

    Each dish is set to “price includes tax” or “tax added”. With tax inside, the bill total equals the menu price. With tax added, the total is the menu price plus tax. A ₹45 coffee at 5% tax inside is about ₹42.86 plus ₹2.14 tax, total ₹45. If your old system treated a dish the other way, the day total will not match. Check dish by dish.

  5. 5

    UPI QR and split payment

    If you saved your UPI ID in café settings, an unpaid bill shows a UPI QR for the amount still due. Scan it with your own phone and check the name and amount. Do not pay on a practice bill. Take one bill part UPI, part cash, and check “Remaining” and that the two add up. Nivala cannot see your bank: your staff record the UPI payment after checking it.

  6. 6

    Close the shift, then a full rush

    Close a practice shift and compare the cash, UPI and card taken, and the cash you would hold, with your drawer. Then ask the cashier who will use it to bill ten orders without help, including a cancel and a refund with the owner PIN. Note every step that slowed them down.

What should match exactly, and what may not

Bill count, cash, UPI and card should match exactly, because you enter what each guest paid. Paise-level differences in tax and in the day total can be real. A difference of a whole bill, or more than the reasons below can explain, is not okay. Tell us.

  • Rounding. Nivala works out tax on the whole bill, rounds it to the paisa (half up), then rounds the bill total to the nearest rupee (50 paise goes up) and stores the round-off. Some old systems round each line, so paise can differ bill by bill and add up to a few rupees over a day. Example: an ₹85 dish with 5% tax added is tax ₹4.25, total ₹89.25, billed ₹89. CGST and SGST split the tax in half and an odd paisa goes to SGST.
  • Menu changed after practice started. Press “Refresh practice copy”. This signs out practice devices, and menu edits made after the copy do not appear until you do.
  • Cancelled, refunded or free items entered differently on paper and in Nivala.
  • A bill forgotten, or entered twice. Compare the bill count first.
  • Your business day ends at a different hour from midnight. Tell us and we check the cut-off hour.
  • Discounts. Tell us how you give them, and compare the discounted bills one by one.

If a number does not match

Write down the bill, what you expected and what Nivala showed. Email hello@thenivala.com, Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 7 pm IST. We will tell you whether it is a mistake in Nivala or in how the menu was set up.

Then decide

If everything matches or is explained, choose Starter or Plus and go live. If not, you have lost nothing: nothing is charged until you choose a plan and authorise payment. Starter ₹999 or Plus ₹1,299 a month, final amount, GST not charged. Cancel any time. Download all your data any time.

Set up and practise free. Pay when you go live.

Starter is ₹999 a month per café. Plus is ₹1,299 a month per café. This is the final amount. GST is not charged. There is no free trial.

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