Jim,

>Hi Doug,
>
>>Jim
>>
>>
>>
>>>Oops. Let me try that again...
>>>
>>>Al,
>>>
>>>>>>>>Hi,
>>>>>>>> I am developing retail Point of Sales System. I have a question that, How should I manage stock. Should I keep my stock status base on invoice basis or summary basis
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Invoice Basis
>>>>>>>>Every item from each invoice will be recorded in table which store the current item's qty. Therefore, item will be sold base on invoice or FIFO basis, all return, transfer, and etc have to refer to invoice no and supplier no.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Summary
>>>>>>>>One record per item.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>How would u design it in real world? Is FIFO here is very important? DO you think design it in invoice basis is too troublesim.complicated for user and also developers? What do you think about both method, or do you have other suggestions?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>The main question you have to answer here is, "Am I reinventing the wheel?" There are literally hundreds of POS software systems out there, for almost every conceivable industry.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Al,
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Well if I got a contract to do a POS, I'd take it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I wonder how there got to be "literally hundreds" otherwise??????
>>>>>
>>>>>I wouldn't, if there already was an industry-specific package available. To me it's just not right to charge $5 or $10K for a custom package when you can get one off-the-shelf for under $1K.
>>>>>
>>>>>As for how literally hundreds got to be, "industry-specific" is the key again...
>>>
>>>I'd look for an appropriate one first (if the client hadn't already and made the decision to have their own) and discuss it. If that suited them, fine.
>>>
>>>As for "industry-specific"... there truly are not "literally hundreds" of industries. I would say there are less than 50 in fact, off the top of my head.
>>>
>>>Cheers
>>
>>Indeed. I think it's almost unethical to charge to write something already 'out there.' OTOH, in that case I'd have no problem at all for charging for my time to find, research, possibly install & support a 3rd party solution. Only fair and I'd think the client would appreciate you watching out for their bottom line and I'd bet you'd get future business as a result.
>
>Well maybe (in fact, certainly) I chose my words badly. I should have said "If I knew of an appropriate one..." rather than "I'd look for...".
>The trouble I have with "I'd look for..." is that I have often encountered products that claim certain things in their marketing literature but turn out to be significantly different/constrained in actuality. The last thing I'd want is to suggest something then have to backtrack (or struggle like hell, adding to cost).
>I'd not hesitate to suggest to the client that it might be a good idea to look around. He could do it or pay me to do so. That way there is a better opportunity to try to discern potential problems at the start.
>
>JimN


Don't misunderstand.. I wasn't trying to 'get on you' at all. I just thought that there's a line here somewhere that I'd want to be careful about. For example, I've often recommended a client go get QuickBooks when they've asked about accounting systems for small businesses. It's not worth two hours of my time to get professional for goodness sakes and in that case QB has, by virtue of having seized the small business accouting market and by selling their product so inexpensively effectivelt squeezed the market dry of cometitors - as they should IMO.


Perhaps I wasn't clear.. I'm just suggesting that if I know of a better alternative I should, for ethical reasons, at least let the client know about it I'd think. That's all really...