pcsoft.us.windevCopyright 2026, PC SOFT31 Dec 2015 15:52:57 Z28 Dec 2015 18:14:00 ZAs most of you know my background is retail point of sale software. I designed and wrote a basic POS back in 1996. Shortly after I was hired by JDA Software as a systems analyst (www.jda.com) where I worked on their Win/DSS point of sale system. Win/DSS is written in Clarion. Since leaving JDA one of my jobs was a Lead Developer working for Cabela's (www.cabelas.com). Cabela's has over 50 stores, 2000 plus registers and $3.5 billion in annual sales. I then contracted with Advance Auto as a Win/DSS developer (www.advance-auto.com). Advance is the largest retailer of automotive replacement parts and accessories in the United States with over 5,000 stores and 30,000 plus registers, with about $10 billion in annual sales. Both companies used a highly modified version of JDA's Win/DSS. After my latest contract with Advance Auto was completed, instead of seeking another contract elsewhere I had the bright (or questionable) idea of building my own retail information management system. With my experience and with help and advice from contacts I have built up over the years, I knew I could design and build a decent system for medium and large sized retailers. I know what they want and need. A register (or tablet) based POS system using tablets for retail floor support, with product lookup information, prices, backstock lookup, lane busting, associated store stock, expected stock deliveries, physical inventories, etc. This system is called 'dCorims', which is short for "distributed Cooperative retail information management system". dCorims is a collection of integrated modules that do everything from ordering stock from vendors, shipping, receiving, sales, taxes, layaway, video walls, analytics... everything I've worked on for years. The object is to track stock from purchase order to final reporting and export to financials. Store systems and host all in one package. We are targeting medium and large sized business, not the smaller retailers with only a few stores (although we will gladly take their money if they like our product). I contacted a friend who has a large company that provides hardware (registers and servers) to retail businesses. For example one of his customers has over 25,000 registers. He enthusiastically supports my idea, saying many of his customers are looking for (and have not yet found) a decent system that supports their operational size that doesn't cost a king's ransom (like from NCR, IBM or JDA). He said if I got the software written and priced it reasonably he can easily market it as it would dovetail in with his hardware sales and leasing. So we started programming the system earlier this year. I am under no illusion that this project will be done soon. "Develop 10 Time Faster"... 10 times faster than what? Assembler? So the short term goal is to get a "display" (alpha version) put together in time for exhibit at the National Retail Federation Big Show in New York City next month (http://bigshow16.nrf.com/ ). We have a booth there with the aforementioned hardware company, my software will be displayed on his hardware. Attendees come from all over the world to attend this show (http://bigshow16.nrf.com/attendee-demographics) so we hope to garner some attention being one of the distributors on the floor with new products taylored to the medium and larger markets. While we cannot market the system in this show (it's alpha after all...), the idea is to get into the minds of the attendees, collect leads and contacts, and when they come back for the next show in 2017 we will be able to do some real horsetrading. My system is big and I know it is going to take time. My plan is to have a minimally viable program (MVP) consisting of register and back office modules ready and operational by the 4th quarter 2016, before the next NRF Big Show in January 2017. It won't be as complete as I want it to be, and it will always need more functionality as requested by our clients. Once the MVP is completed and I am talking to clients and installing systems, I predict my time to continually develop the system will become even more constrained. I will most likely be looking at writing specifications and contracting out a substantial amount of work to contractors, relegating myself to sales with some code review and QA. Not ideal but necessary, we all have limitations we have to deal with. Saw a post from another developer about software he was developing. His software also came from a Clarion background. He now has a lot of it done, and I noticed his software does much of the stuff that I will have in my system. And it got me to thinking. Am I reinventing a wheel? Whereas my wheel is specific and customized for larger businesses, it is still at a base level a wheel, with all the basic properties of a wheel. So should I be doing the base work if it has already been done once (or twice, or ...) before? So the question is... what would be the pros and cons if I found another company that already has a mature POS system and either 1) licensed their software and their updates on a monthly/yearly basis, or 2) do a one time buy of the source code, or 3) partner with their company for them to provide the base POS and contract with them for specific large market dCorims functionality, basically giving them a piece of the pie for a piece of the action. Thought is I could take their basic wheel... er, POS system, use it as the MVP we start with, then continue building the larger dCorims environment around it. I realize there would have to be some modifications I would need to make to meet US retail requirements - tax compliance, PCI DSS, etc. Or maybe not, as things really should not be that much different from the US. If so the modifications will be minimal. Thoughts? Comments? I am open to suggestions on getting to market faster, as I am not getting any younger. :rp:30WEBDEVen_UShttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel/read.awpmoderateur@pcsoft.fr (El moderador)webmaster@pcsoft.fr (El webmaster)vcs.fgarciapcsoft.us.windevhttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55703/read.awp31 Dec 2015 15:52:57 ZHi, Why are you concerned about "Reinventing the wheel..' ? Your goal must be "Reinventing.." BETTER ! It's ALL about …https://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55703/read.awphttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55703/read.awpReinventing the wheel...guestpcsoft.us.windevhttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55684/read.awp30 Dec 2015 12:59:00 ZHi Art, One important thing to note, if possible find the POS software that does not depend on hardware drivers (like printe…https://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55684/read.awphttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55684/read.awpReinventing the wheel...guestpcsoft.us.windevhttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55675/read.awp29 Dec 2015 18:08:00 ZHi Guenter, Ich sprechen sie Deutch, aber nicht zufiel. That is just off the top of my head, based on my zwi yaren of taki…https://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55675/read.awphttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55675/read.awpReinventing the wheel...guestpcsoft.us.windevhttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55673/read.awp29 Dec 2015 16:48:00 ZHi Yogi, I have looked for open source options. Magento is the one that I found. Never saw Odoo, will have a look at it too. …https://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55673/read.awphttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55673/read.awpReinventing the wheel...guestpcsoft.us.windevhttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55672/read.awp29 Dec 2015 16:42:00 ZHi Art, we have matured POS system, see: http://www.touchextra.info/ It connects via web to a back office, there's a "repo…https://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55672/read.awphttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55672/read.awpReinventing the wheel...guestpcsoft.us.windevhttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55671/read.awp29 Dec 2015 16:37:00 ZHi Mike and thanks for the insight. About the only thing I can do now is sit back, continue programming, and wait to see if a wh…https://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55671/read.awphttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55671/read.awpReinventing the wheel...guestpcsoft.us.windevhttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55670/read.awp29 Dec 2015 16:24:00 ZArt, I would advise you to reinvent the wheel. Reprogram the whole POS as per your requirements from scratch. It is time c…https://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55670/read.awphttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55670/read.awpReinventing the wheel...guestpcsoft.us.windevhttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55669/read.awp29 Dec 2015 16:24:00 ZGreetings CCC2, thanks for your input, it got me to thinking (damn, I hate when that happens... it usually gets me in trouble). …https://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55669/read.awphttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55669/read.awpReinventing the wheel...guestpcsoft.us.windevhttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55667/read.awp29 Dec 2015 15:59:00 ZHi Art, Your problem is similar to the "Build or buy" decision that companies face. "Build" allows the client to ensure that …https://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55667/read.awphttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55667/read.awpReinventing the wheel...supportpcsoft.us.windevhttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55660/read.awp29 Dec 2015 11:25:43 ZHi Art, A long time ago we have stopped to show software in alpha phase. If there is a lot of interest, then you get a lot of…https://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55660/read.awphttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55660/read.awpReinventing the wheel...guestpcsoft.us.windevhttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55661/read.awp29 Dec 2015 11:06:00 ZHi Art, First , Which platform ? . no point to buy POS system that can only run in windows if you want it to run on android/i…https://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55661/read.awphttps://forum.pcsoft.fr/es-ES/pcsoft.us.windev/55654-reinventing-wheel-55661/read.awpReinventing the wheel...