Monday, August 8. 2005
Open Source POS With PHP
I feel the need to comment on the latest news snippet on the IPM website which claims, “the world’s first entirely free, open-source point-of-sale system” is Information Systems 4 Co-Ops. However, I have been aware of PHP POS for some time now, which makes me suspicious that IS4C is in fact the “world’s first”. In any case, these kinds of systems seem like an excellent use of the trend toward browser-based applications, and especially shared applications with centralized data storage. I have also seen effective implementations of medical records management systems written entirely in PHP. Web-native applications are coming evermore into the mainstream with applications like groupware and wikis, and software developers are starting to realize the tremendous flexibility and cost-savings associated with a web-native approach. The somewhat lesser-known and understood PHP-GTK framework can also be leveraged for increased real-time capabilities by rolling out true desktop applications with the same underlying PHP source as their web-native counterparts. These days, the power of centralized, web-enabled applications far outweighs the user interface issues involved with HTML — issues circumvented by a host of supplemental technologies including JavaScript. And PHP remains at the forefront of providing that web-native solution for rapid deployment and cost savings.
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Hello!
I have been searching and searching for something like this for my company. We are a large sign company and our current order-writing process is so awful! The office staff is having to enter things twice and sometimes 3 times - initial order is written in a pdf file that is printed (no information is saved or put into a database), then it’s entered into the production schedule (which is in MS Access), then it’s re-entered into Quickbooks for billing. Also, all purchase orders are written differently by everyone, not saved to any kind of database, and many times get lost or are never filed. It’s terribly frustrating. Now, we’ve opened another location that needs to write work orders and right now they’re being faxed over and re-entered another time. Also, we have no accessible customer database, so we have to re-enter all customer information everytime a new order is written.
Robert - Is there any way you might be willing to help us make a php POS system for us? My dream is to have something that allows us to write all new orders, purchase orders, check inventory, access customer information, and then export billing information to Quickbooks. Also, I would like it to send emails to the managers of different departments so they are notified when a new order has come in so they can order materials and check inventory. And I would like for it to all be based online on our server, so that both of our locations will be able to enter orders and anyone can check the status of an order or add information to it (like art time, material used, etc.)
We don’t need any kind of ordering capability via our website, that’s not something that our customers need right now (we think).
Am I smoking crack to think this is possible? Any help or advice from you would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Monica McFarland
I have been searching and searching for something like this for my company. We are a large sign company and our current order-writing process is so awful! The office staff is having to enter things twice and sometimes 3 times - initial order is written in a pdf file that is printed (no information is saved or put into a database), then it’s entered into the production schedule (which is in MS Access), then it’s re-entered into Quickbooks for billing. Also, all purchase orders are written differently by everyone, not saved to any kind of database, and many times get lost or are never filed. It’s terribly frustrating. Now, we’ve opened another location that needs to write work orders and right now they’re being faxed over and re-entered another time. Also, we have no accessible customer database, so we have to re-enter all customer information everytime a new order is written.
Robert - Is there any way you might be willing to help us make a php POS system for us? My dream is to have something that allows us to write all new orders, purchase orders, check inventory, access customer information, and then export billing information to Quickbooks. Also, I would like it to send emails to the managers of different departments so they are notified when a new order has come in so they can order materials and check inventory. And I would like for it to all be based online on our server, so that both of our locations will be able to enter orders and anyone can check the status of an order or add information to it (like art time, material used, etc.)
We don’t need any kind of ordering capability via our website, that’s not something that our customers need right now (we think).
Am I smoking crack to think this is possible? Any help or advice from you would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Monica McFarland
As one of the developers of IS4C, I would like to say that the indy news article on our progress was somewhat of a suprise. It was not our intention to take bragging rights for ‘first open source pos’. As a matter of fact, I am personally not sure, who authored the article. However, echoing Mr. Peake’s comments about the viability of PHP as a POS, IS4C works quite admirably under real world conditions. Currently, IS4C is operating in 2 locations with a volume of over 30 million dollars. Currently, the Wedge Co-op in Minneapolis, MN (12 lanes running, 4 years) and Whole Foods Co-op in Duluth, MN (6 lanes running, 1+ years) are running PHP/Apache/MSSQL/Win2K versions of the software. Development efforts are currently focused on the development of the Linux version and complete open-source version. However, in the process, we have proved that IS4C can be a truly cross-platform POS, running w/PHP/mySQL/Apache. Successful beta versions of the POS are running in this configuration on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows in the lab setting.
For those interested in the progress on this project, feel free to check out our Wiki at groups.coopmetrics.coop/CoCoNuts.
For those interested in the progress on this project, feel free to check out our Wiki at groups.coopmetrics.coop/CoCoNuts.
A lot has happened with IS4C. The website has been updated with current information.
