Hi Tom,

Thanks for the reply. I was trying to make my initial post as short as possible, but I totally understand why details are necessary.

>What operating system will you be using and what development tools? What about hardware in use today vs when the system was first delivered? How much is the off the shelf system? What does the system do? Additional benifits expected with a new system?

I am proposing using VFP for the UI and Middle tier, and using SQL on the back end. When the system was first implemented it was run on a 386 Unix server (running SCO) with dumb terminals. All but one of the terminals have been replaced, mostly with "e-machines". We have 2 pentium class servers (one running SCO Unix, the other running NT-4). Interestingly, our company is looking for a Network administrator, a position we have been without for almost a year now. I envision this system running some sort of Windows Server OS and Windows client OS.

>I know the owners of the largest music literature store in Northern California. They have a system (DOS) that was delivered in 1986 and is still in use. Sometimes going to a new system is not required. If your company has a budget and a need I am sure we can suggest some good arguements.

I can definatly understand that point of view, but for this company, a new system is definately required. Some of our tables are getting very large and running management reports is getting very slow. A typical transation table I just checked has 2.3 million records. Also, they are asking for more and more sophisticated funcationality and I'm really pushing the edge of what Foxplus can do. Many of the PRGs are over 10,000 lines of code. One of the biggest PIAs is only allowing 10 tables to be open at one time. There is also more talk about integrating our website with the enterprise system so customers can check order status, etc. All of this, to me, are obvious good reasons to upgrade and for customization which I will include in my report. I'm hoping here to get more insight or ideas.


>This would take a dedicated person to create an application.

That's why I was originally hired. I was current with VFP 5.0 (this has been 2 years now) and came up thru x-base. So what I was told was I would get them through Y2K then, we'd start the upgrade. I made so many improvements to the system before Y2k, they haven't been in such a hurry to upgrade. The idea was that I would lead the team and we would contract other programmers to assist. Now we have a new VP whose worked with one particular enterprise system that she's highly advocating, nothing is moving, and I'm looking for another job because my skill-set is starting to slip. But if they decide to really move on an upgrade before I find a job, I'd love to lead this project!

Thanks again!

Rob