I've always been interested in POS software since the early 90's and tried to roll my own a few times. Reality is that there are so many out there and everybody believes theirs is the next killer app. There are companies with teams of developers with 1-3 decades experience each on POS systems, its going to be tough to outdo these guys.
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These are all questions I currently ask when looking at a POS solution for my wifes small business. End of day I've got to roll my own but her needs are basic and the data will be exported to Pastel (would have gone Pastel POS but I run Ubuntu on her work PC).
Not looking to outdo anyone, its mostly just a personal project (good for portfolio) that might work out to be worth spending time on. Also, the following are just "thoughts" on what you said which I think would work well (or give a slightly better thought direction), there are no doubt better ways and better systems (which is why Im asking around).
Are you planning your own system or are you looking at a plugin for an existing one?
- Own system, but as a learning excercise
How auditable will your system be?
- Im planning on complying with the current IAS and use an accrual system for the design (with a simplified system to allow people to easily manage their own accounts on it)
How easy will it be to deploy it?
- Ease is relative to who it is doing the deployment (the average user needs help to install/get used to any modern POS system Ive seen so far), but this will definitely play a role in the design (the easier the better).
How powerful must the server be?
- Low-end servers will be the target
How will training be offered?
- In-program tutorials, and video tutorials (if it ever gets to that stage, everything is purely theoretical for now)
What OS / Browser will it support?
- In an ideal world it would run anywhere, so it would be likely that I would use java for this, and as for browser support, if there is a browser based interface it should work on anything from IE6 (eugh) and better (everything else)
How will remote management be handled?
- How would you define remote management? adding items, etc?
Can I run my server at one office and the POS at my other branches?
- Well ideally there would be a server-client set up for the POS system that allows per-computer settings (so internal/external connections would be easy to manage)
What happens when my server goes down?
- Daily backups? 24h support? I dont know, I dont feel there is a 1 size fits all solution for this, but there HAS to be a back up system for you to use your own remote servers (so if you have 5 offices you could have 4 backup servers that are kept up-to-date daily to either fall back onto, or you could automatically back up onto an external drive)
Can I purchase the code?
- In an ideal world yes, but if I ever do anything like this I would probably end up making it open source (mostly because then when I get bored someone else could easily take up the reigns if it is worth keeping it going, but also so more people can contribute, 1 man alone will not make a full POS system in any reasonable time frame)
Do I have to pay an renewal fee?
- Open source ftw! Otherwise I'm a fan of the once off payment per major version (like free updates for your current version for as long as we support it, if we do a completely new iteration there may be an upgrade fee or something).
IF I ever start working on this I would rather have better ideas, thoughts on what to avoid and know more about what ticks people off about POS systems currently, and if I dont ever do anything, this could (potentially) help the current POS developing companies improve their products.
(above questions/answers also assumed that I have some sort business plan/model Im comparing against, but you have to know what it is you are going to be doing before you can choose a solid direction)
. it will probably go open source in about june.
