The automation of sales becomes one of
the most actual problems now. An Australian
software development company proposed an
"open" solution for sales automation. The
solution addresses order entry, point of
sale (POS) operations, and data collection
& management using mobile or stationary
devices. The unique aspect of this solution
is the application of remote CE devices,
which store, process, and remotely access
data, and then synchronize data with the
host system as required. This solution enables
the head office network to share the synchronized
data between multiple remote devices.
The above POS System facilitates order
entry, invoicing, purchasing, and inventory
management for the wholesale, retail, foodservice,
and hospitality industries. The proposed
solution is targeted at the global market,
with the language, currency, taxes, and
other local settings easily configurable.
Key Problems
Serious problems arose from the need for
data synchronization between multiple devices,
such as PDA, bar code scanners, customer
displays, magnetic stripe readers, smart
cards, EFT/POS, telephone caller IDs, etc.
The Australian company needed to find developers
with excellent programming skills and a
strong knowledge of different operational
systems and devices involved. The Arcadia,
Inc. team meets all the requirements,
plus it is able to find the needed solution
on time and within the budget.
Arcadia, Inc.
Solution
The Arcadia, Inc.
team designed the multi-user, multi-lingual
distributed Point of Sale (POS) computer
system. The POS System features: order entry
via PPC, order processing via PPC and PC
LAN, data storage and handling, and synchronization/updating
of all remote field data to the corporate
or home/office- based LAN. Due to the embedded
load balancing and fault-tolerance, the
system is scalable for different configurations
ranging from a few remote devices to hundreds
of them.
Multi-platform development technique was
used, so the distributed system can support
specific devices (such as printers, smart
card readers, bar code scanners) from different
producers. The implemented technique of
plug-in modules allows to achieve a high
degree of customization for different industries.
The main principle of the technical solution
offered by Arcadia,
Inc. is that of the flexible architecture
that can be modified according to the changing
requirements. For example, business level
components are separated from the database,
and a unifying interface is provided between
them. This allows to easily switch to new
database drivers, to quickly reflect the
changes in business and database components,
and to adjust the architecture to support
wireless LAN communication.
Arcadia, Inc.
team participated in the system engineering
starting with the specifications design.
Employed Technologies
Windows 98/NT/2000/CE 2.11/CE 3.0; C++,
MFC, XML, TCP/IP level communication, HTTP
level communication, CE driver for native
CE database, OPOS-based access to POS specific
software, object-oriented database, distributed
database synchronization, system service
level programming, object-oriented design
and implementation.
Duration of the project: 14 months
or 70 person/months. Location of work: Saint Petersburg,
Russia.
