I wonder if there are any pos suites (f/oss would be preferable...) that are designed to integrate into another system. The hardware interface might be the hardest part - a frontend that handles everything else should be fairly simple.
A while back I'd looked into putting together a database to track donated parts, so that it would be easier to ascertain things like "gosh, we've ended up with a lot of crank sets but no bottom brackets". Ended up not worrying about it because some other members felt that such over-organization might hinder us (also, since we work with kids a lot, we figured keeping computers around might prove distracting.)
I wonder if we can get a spread sheet of the data that Square creates. It might be useful to develop an app that takes the data from square, and transforms it into useful data for bike collectives. I've had a look at their web page https://squareup.com/register
It's unfortunate that you must have an ipad to use Square as a POS.
The data base appears to collect this info:
date, product, price, payment method, discounts,
i've got a theory that one can use a POS for membership data base, as well as volunteer data base. But i'm not sure if Square collects data about the customer. That would be necessary. I like that you can have cash or check or credit card transactions stored. I just wish you could also have it on a desktop. A lot of our volunteers are against the use of an ipad in the shop and I understand. It sends an odd message to the people who come into the shop for help. We're already in danger of adding to the gentrification of our neighborhood, the last thing we need is is fancy chrome apple products to alienate people even further...
Godwin,
I of course support you in your effort to develop this web based app. Hopefully you/we can think of a simple solution that is flexible. I'm terrible at naming things... So i've got no suggestions there. But I've forwarded on your email to my developer friends. I'm sure we can add some sections in. I assume you'll get it up on github?
cool
we'll talk soon
-mOn Tue, Jul 3, 2012 at 12:44 PM, Jonathan Morrison <jonathan.morrison@gmail.com> wrote:
If you haven't checked out Square, you really should. It is cheap and simple, and that might be enough for most shops.At least it might provide some ideas...On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 4:00 PM, Godwin ! <goodgodwin@hotmail.com> wrote:
I’ve also had reservations about going with a web-based system but in the end I think it’s the most adaptable solution. I’m not worrying about hardware integration for now, I’m pretty sure anything is possible but I think that would be far down the list of requirements for most shops that need free software.It will be open source and modular, so there won’t be a single point person for the entire system, I’ll do my best to set up a good environment for users to interact with the developers and for developers to provide documentation. This is a bit of an experiment but I have far more faith in open and crowd sourcing technologies than I do having a long term individual or group in charge (including myself).Thanks!.gFrom: Jonathan Morrison
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2012 3:49:13 PM
To: The Think Tank
Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Shop software
Godwin,
Will it be able to swipe credit card? Interface with a cash drawer? Or scan a UPC? My concern with any web-based system is that you don't have access to the necessary lower level hardware of a useful POS system.
Also, how much will you be charging for tech support, or what level of on-going support can users expect? Or will use be at your own risk with no implied support?
Name Suggestion: PIF - Pedaling/Paying It Forward
Sincerely,
Jonathan Morrison
c: 801-688-0183
On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 2:33 PM, Ryan Sharpe <sharpe@sacbikekitchen.org> wrote:At the risk of being too family-unfriendly, gratuitously offensive to Godwin's herculean task, and over-aware of the cobbled-together nature of some of our various operations, I'd be tickled if it were named "That POS".
--Ryan S.On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 1:13 PM, summitcyclingcenter@yahoo.com <summitcyclingcenter@yahoo.com> wrote:
_______________________________________________I Appreciate what you are doing. Name-I suggest Velocomp POS.
Sent from my HTC EVO Design™ 4G from Boost Mobile----- Reply message -----
From: "Godwin !" <goodgodwin@hotmail.com>
To: "The Think Tank" <thethinktank@bikecollectives.org>
Subject: [TheThinkTank] Shop software
Date: Sun, Jul 1, 2012 6:50 pm
Trying to squeeze in the extra time this week to open up to developers soon but first:Non-technical
- Nominate a name!
- Right now the code name I'm using is 'Samara' after the fruit that a maple tree produces but I'd like to hear better ideas if anyone has them (and maybe get some sort of consensus)
- Will my shop / organization be able to use it?
- Yes. The intention is to make everything completely customizable so that it can work with the way your organization does, although I'm not going to promote it over any of the other options
- It will be web-based and (if required) compatible with Wordpress, Joomla, and Drupal and eventually hopefully IPad and Android. Setting it up to work offline will also be possible.
- What will it do?
- The focus at the beginning is to create a point of sale system, after that I'd like to implement other features from news feeds to keep everyone informed to budget planning and audit modules (everything will be optional)
- Whatever else you can dream of and find someone to help build
- Why are you doing this?
- To create a common tool that will work for everyone's needs, so that we can combine our efforts where we can and diverge when we need to
- Because I like software development and especially interesting projects
- Not to overshadow other people's efforts such as freehub
- When will it be ready?
- No clue. I've made a number of promises in the past but I realized that I really need to stop making them, we all know what volunteering is like
- Don't wait for it if you need something now, there's lots of other tools out there and if you eventually want to switch we may be able to work together to get that done.
- Check out: http://erply.com/, http://www.merchantos.com/, and of course https://github.com/asalant/freehub/wiki/
How to get involved
GIVE IT A NAME! - It's likely that your shop name will be more prominent (if this name is even visible at all) but it would be nice to have something to call it when downloading or when talking amongst ourselvesDesign a logo - You might want to wait for the name
Otherwise wait for my next email (but don't hold your breath), I'll be setting up a development environment so that people can jump on as they can. We'll be more in need of experienced PHP developers in the beginning stages to round out the framework, less experienced developers can hop on in the later stages to build modules and themes.
Feel free to send questions or feedback (critical or otherwise) directly to me if you'd like,.godwin
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