More in Security & Control is part of Security & Control in Windward System Five. System Five includes 94 documented capabilities here — 92 in the standard set and 2 optional. Trades that lean on it include Plumbing Supply, Medical Supply Sales, Service & Rental, Hearth, BBQ & Pool Stores.
These 94 capabilities sit within System Five's 1287-capability documented set — a selection, not a ceiling.
Build the reports you actually need
The application server connects to the dataset over its own database definition and unlocks the Custom Report Designer in the navigator, with optional automatic login for every user, a configurable session timeout, a paired document server, and a listening port used by browser-based applications.
Know an update is genuinely ours
Updates are served from a secured FTP site requiring the customer's own login and their unique software serial number, so a site can only download files matching its installation, and the installer verifies the code signature of each file before completing.
Trace who took each card payment
A separate tab records the card numbers registered when payments were received, with the date, time and user who processed each transaction.
Send data to support without card risk
The Zip and Transfer utility packages a customer's data for support and is programmed to exclude every file that could hold card data, uploading to an encrypted site; manual pulls exclude the same named files and the copy is destroyed once testing ends.
Find out what went wrong and where
Every error is recorded with company, licence serial, date, time, user, terminal, short and long description, the active window, application and data version and a stack dump. The log is filtered by date range, error class, user and terminal.
Feed our events into central logging
Events can be written to the local Windows event log, a remote Windows server event log, or both, with an optional setting to include database and program errors, configured globally for all users.
Block tampered payment components
Every DLL, OCX and EXE used by the payment application is checked for a valid code-signing certificate before it is executed, and integrated payment processing will not run if any component is unsigned or invalid. Attempts to use untrusted components are logged.
Keep separate companies in one install
The login window selects which company dataset to open, shows the data path, and requires a terminal number, with concurrent use governed by the number of licensed terminals.
Scope what you switch on at go-live
A System Five implementation is scoped from a defined set of areas including departments, multi-currency, credit card processing, points promotions, gift cards, unit and trade-in tracking, kits, form design and labelling.
Hide cost from the people selling
Wholesale amounts and unit or vehicle wholesale amounts are separate permissions, so a salesperson can be shown cost on parts but not on vehicles. With both off in inventory and receivables, margin, profit, landed cost and sell-through allowance values are hidden everywhere, including report totals that might contain a unit.
Keep every till's clock in step
An automatic utility detects when a workstation's clock differs from the other machines running System Five, with a configurable offset for sites running across time zones, so log timestamps stay comparable.
Put my daily jobs on one menu
Users build their own Navigator menus by dragging routines and reports into Quick List, Daily, Month End and Year End lists, entered via right-click or Ctrl-Z with the menu greying out to show customize mode.
Let support in only when we say
Remote sessions run over a single-click viewer launched by the customer, connecting outward from their machine to the technician, so support can only see the system while the user is present; the tool carries a list of authorised employee addresses and staff who leave are removed immediately.
Know last night's backup actually ran
At the first login each day System Five tests the archive flag on BACKUP.BTR and warns if no backup has been taken since the data last changed, so a silently failing backup routine is caught rather than discovered during a restore.
Check and repair the data files
A three-stage guarded check verifies every data file, marks those that do not require rebuilding, and rebuilds either individual files or all outdated files at once, with a re-check pass afterwards.
Report faults without leaking our data
Error reports sent to support carry only the program version, user, time, till, message text, code location, the user's typed entry and the last ten program events, and contain no customer or cardholder data.
Stop the data being opened elsewhere
The underlying database is configured for mixed operating-system authentication with database authorisation and an engine-level security password, so the files cannot be opened outside System Five.
Stop staff copying the raw data
Database files move to a protected sub-directory that ordinary users have no operating system access to, so staff can run the application without ever being able to copy, view or delete the raw data files; only program and shared text directories stay readable.
Keep product photos safe and shared
Pictures are imported into the database rather than linked from a local drive, so they are covered by the server backup and visible to every user. JPG, BMP and WMF are supported, with an alphabetical picker and preview.
Lock out a leaver without losing history
Sign-in can be switched off for a user so a departed employee keeps their name on historical transactions but can no longer get into the system.
Correct a clocked-in time that is wrong
Stored employee time sheet records can be corrected after the fact, and Time In and Time Out entries can be adjusted for the current working day.
Keep dates the same on every machine
One date format is enforced across all data regardless of each machine's Windows regional settings.
See who did what on the system
Sixteen event types are logged with date, time, terminal, user, operation, file affected and comment, covering logon, failed logon, logoff, password changes, user security access, cash drawer openings, toolbox runs, setup wizard changes, tender exchanges, PCI setting checks, trusted program warnings and failed invoice reprints.
Get support the detail they need fast
Selected error records are exported to an XML file or e-mailed directly to technical support, who can import the same file at their end and add notes, a comment topic and a handled status against each record.
Leave readable notes on a record
Free-form comments carry a formatting toolbar for font, size, colour, intensity and alignment, giving word-processor style notes attached to records.
Track the extra details my trade needs
Up to 50 user-defined fields with your own headings can be attached to customers, suppliers, inventory items, invoices, purchase orders and units, each heading and value up to 60 characters, and the named fields appear as search criteria on Find windows.
Get set up without missing a setting
The Setup Wizard replaces the old master file and holds every business setting in one tree. It opens in simple mode with optional and advanced items hidden, and each section can be ticked off or marked with an X as a reminder of what is still outstanding.
Bill head office, ship to the branch
A customer or supplier can carry a head office plus separate branch names, addresses and phone numbers per contact, and a branch can be used as the ship-to address on invoices.
Record the extra details your trade needs
A permission-gated tree of predefined values attaches to inventory, customers, suppliers, units, invoice headers and invoice lines, and the same tree drives search criteria in part find. The number of free-form lines is configurable and defaults to fifty.
See the screen clearly on big monitors
The version 7 client scales correctly on high-DPI and 4K monitors instead of rendering at legacy resolutions.
Stop an unattended till being misused
Users can be logged out automatically after five minutes without a keystroke, enabled per user. Supervisors can choose to keep working in non-administrator mode so day-to-day work is not done with full rights.
Print cleaner PDFs of your documents
Version 7 ships a reworked PDF printing engine for document output.
Update the software without a technician
The server copy of the program is updated from within the application via the FTP Update option, with the update path differing depending on whether the release requires a data conversion.
Stop an unattended till being misused
Logs users out of System Five automatically after a set idle period, with a shorter window enforced for administrator-level accounts once integrated card processing is switched on.
Clean up half-posted work after a crash
On restart after a crash or power failure System Five presents any unbalanced or incomplete transactions and lets a user correct them or remove them so nothing is left half-posted.
Stop staff rewriting yesterday's sales
Separate permissions cover editing today's invoices, editing invoices from previous days and voiding invoices; without the void permission the button is disabled. The usual configuration lets staff fix their own same-day mistakes but blocks edits after the day is closed.
Keep pick lists sorted the way staff expect
The keyword pick list is defined centrally with a separate sort column, including a helper that populates leading-zero numeric sort values so numbers order correctly in a text sort.
Get licensed and running quickly
Licences are imported from a supplied file or applied for from inside the application, the same install window updates company name, address and licence information, and the software can be run in demo mode without a licence.
Turn on only the modules we bought
The licence controls which modules a business has, and each licensed option can be turned on or off in the software. The licence also sets how many companies can be run and how many concurrent workstations are allowed.
Let staff pick an easier screen to read
Users can run the application in a light theme, a dark theme, or no theme at all.
Control who can move stock between bins
Adding, editing and deleting warehouse locations, and editing the quarantine column with the right to override picking or put-away, are separate permissions, as are the rights to create, edit and delete inventory-to-location links.
Find records by my own keywords
A common tagging control lets you attach any combination of keywords to records, with separate independent word lists per module so inventory words never pollute customer or supplier words. Renaming or deleting a word updates every record that carries it.
Find out what you keep losing sales on
A predefined lost-sale comment list is selected at point of sale when a sale does not close.
Get the driver to the customer's door
A mapping provider is selected once and adds a delivery map command and a driving instructions command to the invoice options menu and the deliveries tab, fed from the customer's address.
Know which card controls are ours
A structured guide covering access control, key management, remote access, logging, wireless, network segmentation, email use and update delivery, so the merchant knows exactly which controls are theirs and which the software handles.
Stop a stolen password getting in
System Five on Cloud logins are protected by Microsoft Authenticator, using either a push approval to the user's phone or a one-time code that changes every thirty seconds, on Android and iOS.
Keep connections secure without add-ons
The version 7 platform handles HTTPS natively rather than relying on external components, and uses Microsoft Edge Chromium for embedded browsing.
Show the auditor where card data goes
Published LAN client/server, WAN remote-client/terminal-server and cardholder dataflow diagrams showing where encrypted card data travels between till, server and processor.
Stop anyone listening on our network
Traffic between server and workstation can be encrypted with a Blowfish-based wire encryption set to always-on at high level, at no measured performance cost, defending against network eavesdropping inside the building.
Message the whole team in one go
Named internal groups of users are defined once and reused for office mail.
Prove our till software is card-safe
System Five has been assessed and listed as a PA-DSS validated payment application, with a published Implementation Guide covering installation, configuration and ongoing management inside a PCI compliant environment.
Prompt for a date range before running
Advanced scripts add UserInput nodes that prompt the operator for values such as a date range before running, and can apply XSL transformation and SQL knowledge of the database structure. The Multicat report is itself built with XML scripting.
Get a locked-out user back in
Administrators can configure how a locked-out user regains access, alongside enforced password strength rules and scheduled password expiry. Introduced in System Five 6 to satisfy PCI requirements.
Run every card-security job in one place
A single console for the card-security jobs: encrypt database files, re-encrypt, delete or truncate sensitive data, scan for stray backup files, view the event log, view user information, verify code-signed controls and manage encryption keys.
Meet card password rules without thinking
When integrated credit or debit card processing is detected, a minimum password length is enforced automatically and cannot be turned off, and passwords must change every 90 days with a 14-day grace period before the account is suspended. Complex password rules can also be forced on businesses that do not process cards in the software.
Let each person do only their job
Security is set as individual switches rather than a single permission level, covering what a user can do on an invoice, in customer and supplier maintenance, in accounts payable, in the ledger, in inventory and in warehouse locations.
Show each rep the right profit figure
Each user can be given a nominated price level to be treated as cost, which drives the profit figures on their reports and on the invoice discount dialog.
Keep a record of what was emailed
Each user can send through the built-in email screen, which logs the message against the record, or through an external client such as Outlook, which bypasses that logging.
Show each user what matters at login
The startup page is an HTML file with graphics and styling that can differ by user, or be one company-wide page with content that changes based on the clerk signing in, and it can be re-displayed on demand after being closed.
Show each user what matters at login
A dashboard.ini file in the data directory points System Five at an HTML startup page loaded at login, which can be company-wide with content that changes by the clerk signing in, or a different page per user, with optional template and XSL processing.
Keep phone numbers tidy and dialable
Area code and exchange tables format phone numbers system-wide for display and reports, drive promotion of seven-digit numbers to ten-digit dialling, and configure auto-dialling.
Rebuild a till without breaking the PIN pad
System Five, the PIN pad and the processor each hold a transaction sequence number used for PIN encryption, and the sequence store can be moved out of the Windows registry to an alternate location when a workstation is rebuilt.
Stop clerks typing the same note twice
Libraries of predefined comments for invoice lines, lost sales and inventory invoices, organised into topics so clerks pick from a navigable list rather than typing.
Work the counter without touching the mouse
Fixed shortcut keys cover the highest-volume actions: Ctrl-F2 new sale, Ctrl-F3 quick cash, Ctrl-E find invoice, Ctrl-I edit inventory, Ctrl-N new part, Alt-L labels, F1 context help, F2 calendar, plus screen-specific keys discoverable via hints, underlined letters and menu labels.
Stop staff using prices they should not
Users can be restricted to the price schedules they are allowed to see and use at point of sale, in part lookup and in inventory records; supervisors are exempt. Restricted price fields print blank on labels and form designs.
Get security fixes quickly
The vendor states it monitors payment-industry security advisories and aims to publish a patch within 10 days of identifying a relevant vulnerability, with merchants expected to apply it within 30 days.
Stay on top of quarterly card checks
The PCI Security Wizard audits System Five settings and users, prompts every three months and whenever integrated payments are switched on, and blocks all access to card data if it has not been run within three calendar months.
Stop staff changing exchange rates
Separate user permissions control whether a clerk may edit today's rate and whether they may edit all historical rates.
Shrink your PCI compliance burden
Because the application no longer processes credit card data itself, the PCI compliance footprint of a System Five installation is significantly smaller.
Decide who can reprice and report
Access to the inventory report designer is granted per user through the Inventory tab of Users and Security, so report building and bulk repricing can be restricted.
Alert supervisors, not the whole counter
Visibility of the unbalanced and incomplete transaction warning is controlled per user in security settings, so supervisors can be alerted while counter staff are not.
Get a clean backup every night
Users can be forced out of the system and prevented from logging back in during a scheduled daily window, so backups run against files that are not locked or in use.
Get a locked-out clerk back to work
Users can answer randomly offered recovery questions to generate a temporary password that expires the same day. Alternatively an encrypted string can be sent to support, who verify identity by phone and return a temporary password without stripping the user's administrator rights.
Apply a new licence without calling support
A Check for License Upgrade function in the Utilities menu pulls down and applies a new licence code, showing the current licence details before it is applied, so licence changes no longer require a support call.
Pass a record to a colleague internally
The window currently in focus, such as a customer, supplier or inventory record, can be sent as an attachment through internal office mail, with an inbox check from the same menu.
Run one system across different business types
A series of questions in the Setup Wizard reconfigures the same product for different business types, which is why one manual covers retail, wholesale, service and dealer operations. Features built for one vertical remain available to others.
Make searches fast on a big dataset
A database connection can be enabled so searches run through SQL rather than the underlying record engine, with a connectionless option for dedicated servers configured per workstation and a switch to disable automatic text escaping for languages whose special characters break searches.
Tell every user the same thing at login
A message entered once is shown to every user each time they start the program.
See how many card numbers we still hold
The wizard reports how many non-truncated card numbers are currently on file, so the merchant can see the size of their own risk before deciding retention settings.
Let a manager fix locked-down data
A security-gated override for correcting data that is otherwise locked, toggled by right-clicking the status bar, with the word Supervisor shown and the panel flashing while it is active so it cannot be left on unnoticed.
Keep your suppliers to yourself
Supplier name, supplier part number and purchase order detail can be hidden from the inventory record for chosen users.
Run on supported, current Windows
System Five 7.0 is a current-generation build supported on Windows 10, Windows 11 and Windows Server 2016 through 2022.
Keep an audit trail nobody can edit
Logs logins, failed logins, logoffs, password changes, configuration changes, viewing of the log itself, all access to non-truncated card data, invoice reprints, cash drawer openings, deleted payments and toolbox routines, each stamped with date, time, terminal, user, operation, affected file and record, plus a checksum that reveals altered records. Logging is on by default and not configurable off.
Know which till is which
Each workstation takes a numbered terminal slot with a station name and location, and the selection list shows which numbers are already in use and who is logged into them.
Fix data problems without calling support
A guarded utility groups data-correction routines into inventory, invoice, customer and supplier, ledger, accounts payable, unit, rental and miscellaneous families, each requiring an explicit backup acknowledgement before it will run, and every run is written to the event log.
Train new staff without touching live books
A dataset flagged as training warns every ten minutes that it is not live; operators typically copy live data into a play directory to train staff with no consequence to the real books.
Email invoices without card numbers
Emailed customer copies of credit card slips and invoices, whether as PDF attachments or in the message body, never contain a full card number or expiry date, and this behaviour cannot be configured off.
Enter dates the same way everywhere
Every date field opens the same picker with month and year jump lists, one-click month stepping, a full-year view, a Today shortcut and a No Date option.
Use your own trade words on screen
Weight, volume, length and three size field labels are renamed to your trade's vocabulary and take effect everywhere those fields appear, with an optional unit-of-measure prompt when quantity sold is changed on an invoice.
Charge out a contractor's labour safely
A user record does not have to be an employee: technicians and contractors can hold logins, and employee records are linked to user records separately. A person can be flagged as a mechanic so they can be charged out for labour on invoices without being given access to the rest of the system.
Show no invoice numbers went missing
A voided invoice keeps its number, is marked as voided and is prefixed to identify it, while the sequence continues, leaving no gaps in the numbering record.
Get told what needs attention
System Five 7 raises native Windows notifications from the application.
Keep every workstation on one version
S5 Synchronize brings each workstation's program and support files up to the server's version, on System Five startup or Windows startup, prompting or running silently, and can also be run manually at any time. This prevents mismatched program and data versions across the floor.
Stop one till dating things wrong
Checks that all logged-in stations share the same date and time as the checking station and warns when one drifts.
Yes. System Five has been assessed and listed as a PA-DSS validated payment application, with a published Implementation Guide covering installation, configuration and ongoing management inside a PCI compliant environment. This is optional in System Five.
Yes. A single console for the card-security jobs: encrypt database files, re-encrypt, delete or truncate sensitive data, scan for stray backup files, view the event log, view user information, verify code-signed controls and manage encryption keys. This is optional in System Five.
Yes. Because the application no longer processes credit card data itself, the PCI compliance footprint of a System Five installation is significantly smaller. This is optional in System Five.
Yes. Wholesale amounts and unit or vehicle wholesale amounts are separate permissions, so a salesperson can be shown cost on parts but not on vehicles. With both off in inventory and receivables, margin, profit, landed cost and sell-through allowance values are hidden everywhere, including report totals that might contain a unit. This is optional in System Five.
Yes. At the first login each day System Five tests the archive flag on BACKUP.BTR and warns if no backup has been taken since the data last changed, so a silently failing backup routine is caught rather than discovered during a restore. This is optional in System Five.
Yes. Sixteen event types are logged with date, time, terminal, user, operation, file affected and comment, covering logon, failed logon, logoff, password changes, user security access, cash drawer openings, toolbox runs, setup wizard changes, tender exchanges, PCI setting checks, trusted program warnings and failed invoice reprints. This is optional in System Five.
Every capability on this page is documented in the System Five capability index. Last updated 2026-11-05.