Service: custom software development
Solution type: desktop application
Business area: retail, sales automation
Client: an Australian software development company
Period: 2003
Key problems
The client proposed an “open” solution for sales automation. It addressed order entry, point of sale (POS) operations, and data collection & management using mobile or stationary devices. The unique aspect of this solution was application of remote CE devices for storing, processing, remote data access, and synchronizing data with the host system as required. The solution enabled the head office network to share the synchronized data between multiple remote devices.
The described POS System facilitated order entry, invoicing, purchasing, and inventory management for the wholesale, retail, foodservice, and hospitality industries. The proposed solution was targeted at the global market, with the language, currency, taxes, and other local settings easily configurable.
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 Client needed to find developers with good programming skills and strong knowledge of different operational systems and devices involved — and Arcadia's team met these requirements.
Solution
Arcadian developers designed multi-user, multi-lingual distributed Point of Sale (POS) computer system. The POS System features included:
- order entry via PPC
- order processing via PPC and PC LAN
- data storage and handling
- synchronization/updating of all remote field data to the corporate or home/office-based LAN.
Due to embedded load balancing and fault-tolerance, the system was 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 allowed to achieve a high degree of customization for different industries.
The main principle of the technical solution offered by Arcadia was flexible architecture that could be modified according to the changing requirements. Eg, business level components were separated from the database, and a unifying interface was provided between them. This allowed to switch easily to new database drivers, to reflect quickly the changes in business and database components, and to adjust the architecture to support wireless LAN communication.
Arcadia's task also included specifications design at the project start.
Technologies used
- 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 and scope
14 months / 70 person-months