We met yesterday and decided:
- POS is overkill for his restaurant today, but a desirable long term objective. Last week I spoke with an IBM 'business partner' who specializes in POS systems, and he said a restaurant really needs to gross between 3/4 and a million/year to justify the expense of POS. The bulk of his business is with large chains, not small restaurants. [note: I think this is an opportunity for VFP] - we'll use a (Gateway) workstation as a 24x7 server. He'll get the longest possible parts replacement warranty (3 or 4 years). It will be placed in a secure room in the back of the establishment, protected by a UPS. It will have a single, large hard drive so to avoid any problems with switching drives while receiving the video feed. It was decided that hardware failure outages will occur, but so infrequently as not to represent a significant exposure. - I'm a little concerned over the Ethernet 100mbs limit. I need to better understand the load coming in from multiple cameras against this limit. - a router will be used as a hub for the cameras and to support an internet connection for remote access/control to the cameras. Wireless access will be turned off, at first anyway (he doesn't like wireless). I looked at the d-link doc on setting up the router, and it looks pretty comprehensive. In fact, so does all their doc. - camera over the register is intended to make people think twice about stealing by it's presence. Videos will not be poured over each day, but on an exception basis. The motion detector feature will keep down the volume of video when the business is closed. - we'll start with one $349 d-link dcs-5300 model, and if it proves inadequate, move that camera into a less important location and replace it with the $899 model. I have located testimony that says the $349 model is adequate. - we'll need to decide between QuickBooks and MS's SBA. This is a hard one, but I'm inclined to give MS the benefit of the doubt because I expect more seamlessness of their product with Office et al, which for right or wrong is on the vast majority of desktops today. While I can accuse Intuit of trying to put their hand in my pocket at every turn, truth is that MS does the same thing. - inventory will not be part of this project. He'll continue doing it as before (printed lists and a manual process). Eventually, with a POS system in the future, this can be revisited. - for database, he doesn't really understand database programs, but reacted well to my demo and will gladly accept a free copy for his limited needs (contacts). Thanks to all who wrote about this. He was very impressed that I have this support system. I mentioned that he might be able to find an email list for restaurant owners, but my own searches keep coming up with email lists that are really just promotional devices, not information sharing/exchanges. Bill _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
