What is productivity solution grant (PSG)
Last update. Feb 24, 2020
For Eats365 PSG, please refer to Ultimate guide to apply PSG for digital food ordering and POS system
More than 500 retailers in Singapore have chosen Vend as their preferred POS system solution to manage and grow their business. Vend is one of the leading retail management and inventory management solutions globally and in Singapore trusted by all sizes of retailers selling from the stores or omnichannel. As the pioneer in revolutionizing retail business with cloud technology, Vend point-of-sale has empowered retailers to overcome many constraints that conventional POS systems unable to do. Find out about the comparison between cloud-based POS and conventional POS in this article.
EISOL has been appointed as a pre-approved ICT vendor (until 16 Jun 2020) to offer a total solution for Vend solution including consultancy, Vend license, POS hardware and training, and support for Vend. We have seen some retailers grow significantly in revenue and able to expand to more outlets and an increase in SKU profiles to their customers. Check out how Singapore retailer did it from the case study for successful retailers.
With the partnership with IMDA and support from Enterprise Singapore, EISOL is offering the following package to SME clients in the retail business.
This article is to help retail SME clients to evaluate the available financing option while adopting proven productivity solutions to grow their business.
Let's get started!
An overview of PSG (Grant) application process
Detail walkthrough for submitting PSG (Grant) application at business grant portal
Detail walkthrough for submitting PSG (Grant) claim at business grant portal (To be available)
Frequently Ask Questions (To be available)
1) An overview of PSG application process
Now you have a good understanding about the PSG (Grant) application process and let's have a look at the important things you should take note while applying for PSG (Grant).
i. Check your eligibility
If you have started a new business or trying to apply PSG (Grant) for your existing stores. Before you start to apply, let's check your eligibility,
Must be a SME
Must be registered in Singapore
Must have 30% local shareholding ownership criteria
Purchase/lease of the equipment must be used in Singapore
ii. Don't do before applying for PSG. Don't!
Made any payment to a supplier, vendor or third party in relation to the purchase/lease of the equipment
Signed any contract with a supplier, vendor or third party in relation to the purchase/lease of the equipment (before the application)
iii. Check out the list of POS solutions at smeportal.sg
There are 21 Pre-approved POS vendors in the list currently with total 71 POS solution packages for different requirements. (last update. 21 Feb 2020)
PDPA requirement is one of the most important criteria of the solution you choose. It is highligted at the foot note at smeportal.sg
iv. Get ready with necessary documents (for applying)
ACRA BizFile extracted less than 3 months.
Last 3 years of financial statement of your company. For new company you can enter as $0 and a blank file.
A quotation from the POS vendor as per the vendor Letter of Appointment (annex 3) issued by IMDA. Get a quote now!
Remember to sign the Letter of Intent (LOI) which is needed later for your claim. The LOI usually do not enforce SME client to commit to the vendor quotation.
v. Receive approval and commencing the deployment
It may take up to 6 weeks before your application being accepted (or rejected).
Enterprise Singapore will send email directly to the applicant to notify the success or reject of application. Or request for more information needed for the approval.
Remember to "Accept" the Letter of Offer at businessgrants.gov.sg and make sure you have "Acceptor" role with your Corppass login. Check out how to enable Acceptor role
Changing POS vendor after received approval of your PSG application is possible as long as the desire POS solutions is provided by the list of vendors in smeportal.sg but it is best to write in to Enterprise Singapore
vi. Submit your claim
You should have use the POS system for at least 1 month and able to extract the sales transaction data for the past one month before submitting the claim. You will be asked for the 1 month usage report as mandatory supporting document.
Get ready for following documents: Invoice, Bank Statement showing payment, Letter of Intend (Purchase order or signed acceptance of quotation/Contract), Receipt, Cheque, Picture of the hardware (with serial no), Software license number, Usage report (at lease one month)
Download the GIRO Form from Enterprise Singapore website. Fill up and mail to Enterprise Singapore, Finance Division, 1 Fusionpolis Walk, #01-02, South Tower, Singapore 128628.
vii. Onsite audit requirement
By receiving the PSG grant you are bound to comply to the audit requirement to ensure that the POS solution that you purchase using government grant are for the intended purposes.
It is at Enterprise Singapore discreet to raise the audit request randomly after the implementation of the POS system. In our record, we have heard from the retailers that they have receive the audit request after 1 year of using the POS system.
You are advice to keep all the necessary documents such as receipt, invoice, quotation and POS hardware and software that purchase along with the PSG grant (even if you have decided to cease operation) to ensure that the audit process can carry out smoothly.
2. Detail walkthrough for submitting PSG application at business grant portal (BGP)
2.1. Once you have receive the quotation from POS vendor, you can start the application process by going to https://www.businessgrants.gov.sg
2.2. Get ready with your CorpPass login and clikc on LOG IN or Login with CorpPass. Take note of the alert such as Scheduled Maintence and plan your schedule.
2.3. Business Grant Portal will require 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) which you can choose to get the One time pin (OTP) from SMS or using SingPass Mobile App to autheticate your login.
2.3.1. We choose SingPass Mobile App to autheticate.
2.4. User with either Acceptor or Preparer role are allow to submit PSG application.
2.4.1. Click Get new grant to start the application.
2.5. Choose Retail sector for Vend POS
2.6. Select second option Upgrade key business areas, such as adopt technology, improve business processes or raise service standards.
2.7. Select first option Pre-scoped Productivity Solutions.
2.8. Scroll down to the center of the page and you should see the APPLICATION FORM. Click Proceed to start the application.
2.9. If you are first time login to the Business Grant Portal, you may encounter the alert message showing in the red banner on top of the screen. Please click on Refresh now to update your ACRA profile and financial record for your compay.
2.9.1. Once you have refresh the ACRA profile and finish updating company details including last 3 years financial statement, return to My Grants and resume at application page. Click Yes on the question Does the applicant meet the eligibility criteria?
2.9.2. Click Next
2.9.3. Fill up Main Contact Person, Mailing Address and Letter Of Offer Addressee. And click Next.
2.10.1. [1] Choose IT Solution
2.10.2. [2] Type "Vend" and select "VEND Pro Advanced RMS - Package (Standard)". For SME client who need integration with eCommerce, select "VEND Pro Advanced RMS - Package (Omnichannel)"
2.10.3. [3] Select the date that you wish to start using Vend
2.10.4. [4] Provide the reason that you need Vend solution, some example as below,
Lacking of visibility of the inventory currently and need a system to manage that to provide real time inventory tracking and cost.
Want to expand to sell online and need an integrated POS system to manage the inventory for the store and online shop.
Enhace the current process with CRM for better understand about our customer and build customer with Vend build in Loyalty function.
Need a cloud POS system to provide real time reporting for better decision making and simplify management for all the outlets.
Redesign our IT system by adopting integrated solution for POS + accounting system (XERO) + eCommerce (Shopify)
2.10.5. [5] Select ICT vendor who appointed to provide this solution. (i.e. EISOL Pte Ltd)
2.10.6. [6] Upload Vendor quotation
2.10.7. [7] Provide the location that will use the PSG POS system. Make sure that this information is accurate
2.10.8. Select Yes for the question Does your buiness operate from this address?
2.10.9. Select No for Is your address a shared office?
2.10.10. [8] Click Next to proceed to next section
2.11.1. [1] Select Subscription/Lease option
2.11.2. [2] Enter 12 month(s) of the subcription
2.11.3. [3] Enter the total amount of Professional service + Training provided in your quote
2.11.4. [4] System will automatically calculate this
2.12.1. [1] Provide some write up about the overall impact after implementing the new POS system. Some example as below
Reduce the time require to complete the transaction
Reduce the task for manual reporting
Increase in sales due to better customer engagement and marketing strategy
Increase the sell through rate due to optimise stock level
Reduce inventory cost with analytic report to keep track of popular items and slow moving items
2.12.2. [2] Provide several aspect that the solution may bring more efficiency. Some example below,
Inventory management
Customer management
Sales management
Accounting managment
Omnichannel management
Promotion management
2.12.3. [3] Provide an estimation productivity gain after using the new POS system. i.e. 50 ~ 200%
2.11.4. Answer the list of question, acknowledge the Terms and Condition and click Review
2.12. After review you can proceed with submission and you have completed the PSG application now.
3. Detail walkthrough for submitting PSG claim at business grant portal (BGP)
3.1. Email notification from Enteprise Singapore about your PSG approval
Congratulation if you receive email from Enterprise Singapore stated your PSG application for POS system is successful. 😃
3.2. Login to Business Grant Portal (see step 2.1. ~ 2.3.)
You login must have Acceptor role [1] with your CorpPass to accept the Letter of Offer (LOF). See how to enable Acceptor role
3.2.1. Click to the approved grant from [3] Updates Required tab on the [2] My Grants page.
3.2.2. Click on the Letters and Documents section obtain your Letter of Offer (LOF).
3.2.3. Download and read the LOF, and click Accept to agree and accept the terms and receive award of the grant.
3.3. [1] Click on the Claims tab
3.3.1. [2] Click on File new claim if you have not create any draft claim before. Otherwise you will see a [3] draft claim exists
3.4. [1] Create draft claim for VEND PRO Advanced RMS - Package (Standard) or VEND PRO Advanced RMS - Package (Omnichannel). Pay attention to the Claim Due Date which stated the last claim date of your PSG application.
You can apply for ONE TIME extension only for your application before the Claim Due Date
3.5. Before you start to fill up the claim form, take note of the required supporting documents. Make sure you have 1 month of sales transaction for Usage report. Here are the list of documents,
Invoice
Bank Statement showing payment
Purchase order or signed acceptace of quotation/Contract
Receipt or cheque (or cheque stub)
Pictures (hardware or software screenshot)
Usage report
3.5.1. Invoice - [1] Invoice due and payable ([2] Invoice that has paid may be rejected)
Invoice that has paid without indication of date can lead to confusion of retro claim application which is a violation according to PSG terms and condition.
3.5.2. Bank Statement showing payment and company name
The statement should indicate company name, cheque no and paid amount that matched with the cheque or other form of payment.
3.5.3. Purchase order or signed acceptace of quotation/Contract, you can furnish following document,
Letter of Intent (For Vend PSG purchase you can visit http://psgloi.eisol.co for the LOI)
Signed quotation
3.5.4. Receipt, cheque or cheque stub (image below).
If you did not keep a photo copy of the cheque, you can provide cheque stub.
3.5.5. Pictures (hardware or software screenshot). See exmample below,
Photo of hardware that showing serial no
Screen shot of the software license
3.5.6. Usage report with minimum one month usage
Login to Vend and navigate to [1] Reporting
Select [2] Sales Reports
At the report filter, under [3] Report Type choose Sales Summary
Under [4] Measure choose Revenue
Under [5] Date Range choose Specify Period
[6] Select Day and the last selection enter 30(or 31) days, from 1st day of previous Month, and Year
Screen capture the full screen that show the company name (top left) and submit as usage report.
3.6. Once you have all the necessary document ready, scroll downward and click on Proceed
3.7. Verify or Update your [1] Contact Details.
Update [2] Name
Update [3] Job Title
Update [4] Contact No
Update [5] Email
Update Mailing Address by providing [6] Postal Code, Level and Unit no.
3.8. Update Claim Information
[1] Skip and leave uncheck if you did not change PSG Vendor
[2] Refer to 3.5.5. (second point) for the software license the license no should look like vend_id.vendhq.com
3.8.1. Upload PSG supporting documents
[1] Upload all the documents that you have prepared at step 3.5. into here by drag and drop files into the red box, or click on Select Files button and upload one by one.
[2] Select the document type from the drop down list.
Keep the upload file size within 5MB
You can upload hardware pictures from 3.5.5. into Other documents.
3.8.2. Update PSG vendor invoice payment details
[1] Enter 12 to How many instalments or subscription months is this claim for?
[2] Enter total invoice amount to Actual Expenses Paid (Excluding GST)
3.8.3. Update Deployment Locations, these information should automatically populated and you do not need to change them if you have not move the business address.
Select the [1] Location type
[2] Update the Postal Code, Level, Unit and Building Name
[3] Choose Yes for Does your business operate from this address?
[4] Choose No for Is your address a shared office?
Click Next to next section - Business Outcomes
3.9. Business Outcomes are the second last of the PSG grant claim form. The information here are mainly estimation of your producitivity gain and cost saving.
[1] Provide a estimate percentage for How much do you expect your costs to reduce? Typically Vend should save you at minimum of 15% man hours for most basic setup up to 200% for large scale multi outlets retail
[2] If the productivity gain is align with the estimation provided during application. Please tick the checkbox for Same as previous submission
[3] Inventory management, customer management, cashier task, reporting are the typical area that you can gain significant improvement. Or you can provide other area that Vend help to improve
[4] Give an estimation percentage of improvement for above tasks
[5] Give an estimation percentage of reduction of man-hours for above tasks
3.9.1. Provide more details if your projections have changed. You can skip this section if no major changes.
3.10. Declare and review before submission of your claim.
The declaration question are same as what you have provided during PSG application.
Go through again and ensure it is correctly answered.
Read the Consent & Acknowledgement and tick to check The Applicant hereby acknowledges and consents to the above.
Click Review to the Final step.
3.11. Submit your PSG claim.
3.12. Congratulation. You have successfully submitted your PSG claim now and remember to [1] print the receipt no of your submission for future reference. Please take note of below
The claim may take 6 ~ 8 weeks of processing time for Enterprise Singapore to response to you
You are required to submit the GIRO form if you have not done so. You can download the form from this link, Download the GIRO Form
We will be much appreciated if you can [2] provide some feedback about us
If you like our service or this step by step PSG guide, please give us a review at GOOGLE too.
THANK YOU
EISOL is a PSG pre-approved vendor for Enhanced Retail Management System. Singapore retailers who interested to adopt digital solution to increase productivity and reduce cost may consider to tap on to PSG grant to lower the cost when using the proven technology to revolutionise their retail business.
Comments