Website Guy Retail Cash Manager

Website Guy Retail Cash Manager (RCM) helps businesses control physical cash from daily reconciliation through safe custody and banking. It is designed for retailers, cafes, hospitality businesses, service businesses and other organisations that handle cash and want to move beyond spreadsheets, paper sheets, manual processes or disconnected systems.

RCM is not a point-of-sale system. It works alongside your existing POS, ecommerce platform or sales process, recording what happened after trading so that cash, card totals, expenses and physical cash movements can be reconciled and understood.

You do not need an existing WordPress website, WooCommerce store or ecommerce business. RCM can run on a dedicated WordPress installation used purely as an internal business application. If you would like to use RCM without managing WordPress or hosting yourself, Website Guy can set up, host and maintain a suitable installation for you.

RCM includes guided first-run setup for your business, branch, payments, cash handling, people and notifications. Each operator can use an individual RCM login with branch membership and granular access. Businesses can require a different eligible person to authenticate and approve selected higher-risk actions, preserving both performer and approver in the audit trail.

Guided Setup

New installations include a Setup Wizard that asks practical questions about how the business works. It covers the business and first branch, payment methods, cash handling, the till float and counting approach, people and branch access, optional second-person approval, and notifications without expecting the administrator to understand RCM’s internal configuration terminology.

Automatic first-run setup is limited to genuinely unconfigured installations. Existing installations with branches, configuration or operational history are not arbitrarily forced through fresh onboarding. Administrators can deliberately reopen the Wizard later to review a branch without resetting its operational records.

People & Access

RCM membership connects a WordPress user to one or more branches. Manager, Supervisor and Staff profiles provide practical starting permissions for new assignments: Manager starts with broad branch operation and management access, Supervisor with day-to-day operation and review access, and Staff with a restricted routine-work experience.

Profiles are starting points rather than the security mechanism by themselves. Effective branch permissions control what each person can see and do, authorised managers can choose branch membership, and changing a profile template does not silently rewrite permissions already granted to existing members. A WordPress user is not automatically an RCM member or employee.

Login and Staff Attribution

RCM uses WordPress authentication through an application-focused sign-in screen with Remember Me and the normal forgotten-password workflow. Operational accounts created inside RCM receive a temporary password that must be replaced on first sign-in. Restricted frontend-only accounts are returned to the RCM application and kept out of normal wp-admin areas.

For supported operations, RCM can use the signed-in branch member as the authenticated actor. This improves accountability compared with relying only on typed names, but it does not remove Staff Signoff. Staff Signoff remains the operational name attached to Cash-Ups, counts and other established workflows, and a Staff Signoff name does not create a WordPress login.

Second-Person Approvals

Each branch can optionally require another authorised person to approve selected sensitive actions, such as configured completion, cancellation, reversal, variance and maintenance operations. The person performing the action cannot approve their own action. The approver must be an active member of the same branch, have the required approval access, and authenticate with their own WordPress password.

RCM retains both performer and approver identities and the approval event in the audit history. Minimum eligible-approver rules prevent a branch from enabling an approval policy that cannot be operated safely. This is sometimes called four-eyes approval.

Daily Cash-Ups

Create one Cash-Up for each branch and business day. Record expected and actual amounts for Cash, Card and other configured payment channels, with a clear discrepancy for each channel and for the overall day. A value that is not yet known can remain pending instead of being treated as zero.

For cash channels, staff can enter a manual total or count by denomination. Each branch can choose whether staff count all cash in the till, including the Standard Till Float, or count only cash above the float. Full-till counting remains the default, and each saved Cash-Up keeps the counting method it used. Staff Signoff records who completed the operational step.

RCM currently uses a Shared Till Group for each branch’s daily Cash-Up. It does not yet provide separately controlled individual tills or multiple Cash-Ups for the same branch and day.

Safe Management

RCM keeps a clear picture of where physical cash is held. Depending on your branch setup, this includes the Shared Till, Banking Safe – Available Cash, an optional Change Float Safe, Sealed Cash Drops and Prepared Lodgements.

Staff can count physical safes, compare a count with the expected ledger balance, and record an explicit corrective movement where a variance needs to be reconciled. This preserves a traceable operational history instead of silently changing financial records. The Safe workspace focuses on current physical safe operations, while Cash Deliveries and the Ledger have their own dedicated workspaces.

Cash Drops and Recounts

Cash Drops can be created from a Cash-Up and formally confirmed as sealed cash. A whole-bag recount lets authorised staff count a sealed drop by denomination, compare it with the recorded value and document any shortage or overage. The chain remains visible from Cash-Up to Drop to Safe or banking position.

Lodgements and Collection

Authorised staff can prepare a Lodgement from Banking Safe cash, eligible Cash Drops, or a combination of both. RCM supports partial Banking Safe contributions, denomination reconciliation, optional physical bank bags or references, and Staff Signoff while holding the prepared value separately from available cash.

A Prepared Lodgement can be collected or cancelled through an audited workflow. Collection records that the physical cash has left the business. Cancellation returns the whole held value to Banking Safe – Available Cash while preserving the historical link to any related Cash Drops.

Cash Deliveries

Authorised staff can record cash or change physically received from a bank or cash supplier. The received amount is calculated from a denomination count and enters Banking Safe – Available Cash. It is not treated as sales or income. Each delivery can include Staff Signoff and optional supplier or reference details, and has an immutable DEL reference.

If a delivery was entered incorrectly, an authorised reversal preserves the original delivery and denomination evidence while recording a separate correcting movement. The reversal is blocked when Banking Safe no longer contains enough available cash.

Ledger

The standalone Ledger shows immutable physical cash-movement history. It helps answer practical questions such as where cash came from, where it went, when it moved and which operational record caused it.

The Ledger records physical cash movements. The Audit Log records operational, user and system actions. Together, they provide a clear history without mixing the two purposes.

Expenses and Reporting

Record branch expenses, including expenses paid from the till. Cancelled expenses remain visible in history but are excluded from active totals rather than being silently deleted.

The dashboard provides a quick daily position. Reports include daily and date-range summaries, the Daily Cash-Up Breakdown, branch totals and discrepancy information. The Audit Log provides a read-only history of important operational actions.

Branches and Operational Configuration

RCM is branch-scoped. Configure each branch with its payment channels, expense types, Staff Signoff names, cash locations, denominations and standard till float.

Branch configuration and records remain separate between branches. Authorised managers can control branch membership and access without granting global WordPress administrator capabilities.

Starting RCM in an Existing Business

Businesses with existing RCM history do not need to rewrite or delete that history just to begin using the current Cash Control workflow. Fresh Operational Cutover allows an administrator to preserve historical Cash-Ups, Expenses and Reports, physically verify the opening balances, and establish a new audited Cash Control starting point for future operations.

Moving Your Setup

Setup Transfer helps administrators move supported RCM configuration between sites, including branches, payment channels, expense types, Staff Signoff names, denominations, cash locations, branch permissions and selected settings. It does not transfer transactional history, WooCommerce data, passwords, credentials or unrelated WordPress settings. Every import begins with a checksum-validated dry-run and is administrator-only.

Why WordPress?

RCM uses WordPress as an application platform, not as a POS feature. It benefits from mature authentication, permissions, database infrastructure, localisation, hosting flexibility, software updates and plugin architecture. Improvements and security fixes can be distributed through the normal WordPress plugin update process instead of requiring businesses to maintain bespoke installations.

Publication through WordPress.org also means the plugin is subject to WordPress.org review, security, packaging and compatibility expectations. This is not a certification or guarantee, but it supports a practical, maintainable way to deliver the software.

Interface Choices

Classic is the default RCM interface. Modern is an optional application-style interface, and each signed-in user can choose Comfortable or Compact display density. Both interfaces use the same underlying records, permissions, calculations and operational handlers.

Auditability

Important operational actions are recorded in the audit history. Posted cash movements are immutable where applicable, and corrections or reversals are used in preference to silently rewriting financial history. Staff Signoff supports day-to-day accountability.

Current Scope

RCM is not intended to replace a POS, accounting software or bank-reconciliation software. Advanced individually controlled till workflows, change given or returned, outstanding change obligations, general internal cash transfers and denomination exchanges are not yet included.