A worthy candidate for the role of Front-office?

    Not so long ago, in one of my previous notes, I considered some technical aspects of trade automation. The topic aroused quite frisky interest in the community, but many questions arose specifically regarding software, not hardware.



    I had a lot of questions with me, especially considering the fact that the opening of a new company store is planned in the coming weeks.

    Regarding the back office, everything is quite simple. But what to use as a front office? What to choose? What to work with? What is the price of the question? (Caution, traffic!)

    Requirements that (in my opinion) such software should meet:
    • maximum simplicity and accessibility for the user, friendly and pleasant interface;
    • high performance;
    • high reliability;
    • work with ECCA and barcode scanners;
    • flexible system of discounts;
    • export-import data;
    • the possibility of "sharpening" for the client;
    • adequate price;

    About a week was spent searching, in my spare time. And now I am ready to share the results with the habrasociety.

    Among all the applicants, my eyes fell on one small company, which is located in the Ukrainian town called Vinnitsa.



    MiniSoft LLC entered the market quite recently, at the beginning of 2010, founded by a group of professionals. “MiniSoft” works according to the B2B - Busines-to-Business model, the main goal is to provide the client with a simple, but functional product at an affordable price.

    The MiniSoft Shop software can be used in different ways: locally at the enterprise, in network mode between branches, in terminal server mode with RDP.

    Reliability and data security are provided by the free edition of MS SQL Express.

    The base price of the product is 1200 UAH. / 4900 rub. This price includes 5 licenses, staff training and consultations.

    But enough theory! Let's get down to practice.


    We are registered on the official website of the company - MiniSoft (I hope the site does not suffer a habraeffect), from here we will also send a request for activation / receipt of the key from the profile.

    Profile on the MiniSoft website

    Having signed the contract, I received the installation package, as well as 1 key. I want to note that the contract clearly spells out additional services for finalizing the software, as well as their cost, terms and terms of reference.



    This size is due to the “sewn” into the MSSQL Express installer. By default, the 2005 edition is included in the package. The installation was successful on both XP and Windows 7 x64, although Windows wrote about possible compatibility problems. Upon completion of the installation, Windows suggested installing SP3 for MSSQL.

    They promise to include the 2008 edition for the future. Although there are still many workstations with installed XP, the choice of 2005 is quite justified.

    True, there is a slight limitation. Those who are familiar with MSSQL probably already understood what was the matter. But the fact is that the Express version is limited by the base size of 4 GB and can use no more than 1 CPU core.

    If you have large amounts of data - you have to buy a full version of MSSQL.

    By installing the program, you will be surprised how much space it takes.



    Although, in fact, this is a client for SQL, written in Delphi, therefore the size is the same.

    The program can work in client and server mode. In both cases, a key is required for each copy, which is tied to the hardware. It is also possible to work in terminal mode, in which case, you only need 1 key on the server itself.

    Launch


    Run the program. We see the welcome window.



    By default, 3 users are Administrator, Director and Seller. Administrator - official user of MiniSoft.

    After 3 incorrect attempts to enter the password, the program terminates and needs to be restarted.

    We go under the Director, using the password 111. We see approximately the following.



    As you can see, the interface is very simple and quite logical. Do you need customers? Here they are, in a separate group! Do you have a list of suppliers? They are also in a separate group! And so everything is grouped into categories.

    And there is no “front” of buttons from the army, as in 1C. Everything is brilliantly simple - the standard top menu, the operation panel (add, change, delete, exit), the section tab bar and the workspace.

    The number of tab panels directly depends on the permissions set.

    The first tab is “Check”




    This layout has already become a classic of the genre and combines all the advantages of functionality and simplicity. There are discounts and balances - no need to go anywhere.

    There is the possibility of returning the goods by the buyer, there are indeed such cases.

    The difference between the Save and Post buttons is that in the first case, the goods are reserved in the warehouse, but the check does not break through.

    It is possible to set the option "rounding without cents", in the case of using discount cards - it will be very convenient.

    After you connect the FR, the functions of working with the device will appear, among which I liked “Copy of the last check”. Those who worked with the FR probably faced the problem of paper jam, as well as its completion at the moment the check is printed - no more problems, press one button and the question is resolved.

    Customers Tab




    You can attach a discount name card to a client. The “additional” masonry contains the fields address, website, mail, EGRPOU, bank details, etc.

    Card Product




    It contains all kinds of product parameters. Of the additional fields - sizes, weight, analogues - certainly a bonus for logistics.

    A nice bonus is the picture / photo of the product.

    This feature was introduced with a view to the future - developers pamper us with a promise in the near future to work closely on the development of an export system for an online store.

    On the left you can also see the grouping by category - very convenient.

    Parishes




    At the moment, there is a more modified version - with VAT, written specifically at our request. In the future - it will be in the basic delivery.

    The workspace is divided into two parts. The first is a list of invoices, the second is the content of the invoice itself, which is very convenient for quick searching and viewing.

    The arrival can be carried out both in manual mode and by exporting from an electronic invoice in xls or dbf formats.

    In addition to all this, there is also an inventory, write-off from the warehouse, return to the supplier. Using a barcode scanner greatly facilitates the work.

    Suppliers




    This tab is only slightly different from Customers.

    discount cards




    The tab contains information about issued discount cards. Here you can quickly issue a new card, and also, if necessary, deactivate the old ones, set the type of discount.

    Types of Discount Cards




    With fixed discounts in% and in the amount no one will be surprised. Recently, accumulative systems have become especially popular when, when a certain amount is reached, the percentage changes.

    Using this section, you can set as many systems and tariff networks as you like.

    Cashbox




    The program implements a basic set of cash desk operations - receipt, collection, X / Z reports.

    Access rights management




    The system of differentiation of rights is very flexible configured, similar to mysql access rights, only here checkboxes opposite sections.

    By default, only the “Checks” section is available for sellers.



    You can teach practically anyone to work at the checkout, over an extremely short period of time.

    Reports


    The program includes a basic set of reports, presented in the figure:



    According to the developers, the functionality will be constantly updated, and you can quickly update the version to a newer one.

    Parameters


    Of the parameters that can be configured through the program interface are the company name, address, details, sorting order, rounding, etc. In a separate tab - the fiscal registrar is configured, the list of supported models is also promised to be constantly expanded.

    In the latest version, an option was added (at our request) to select the exchange rate for the COM port.



    That's basically all, more expanded, in fine details it makes no sense to tell features - anyone interested can go to the MiniSoft website, see a presentation, screenshots, read the help.

    Today I was informed about the completion of software development for our needs, it remains to pay and get to work.

    Thanks to those who had the interest to read to the end. Good luck!

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