Personal computers are so cheap and so powerful these days that it does not make sense to build dedicated machines for applications such as point-of-sale terminals and controllers – just use a server as the controller, put a personal computer console at the point of sale and add the retail-specific special function peripherals such as bar code readers and card swipes. Accordingly, IBM Corp is moving its 4680 and 4690 retail point-of-sale software over to OS/2 machines. This set of offerings called Storeplace use object-oriented technology designed to speed up application development times from a matter of months to days or even hours, says IBM, and also give users the ability to carry out store processing and training in addition to processing sales transactions, the main task usually associated with a point-of-sale terminal. The US Woolworths Corp will install Storeplace in 7,000 stores in 13 countries starting next year, replacing the current MS-DOS systems on 4683/4684 terminals that are currently used in some of its more esotric outfits like Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, Champs Sports and After Thoughts. They are initially running under OS/2 2.1 and eventually under Warp, but some Storeplace components will also run under MS-DOS and IBM’s AIX Unix. IBM also intends to support other IBM and non-IBM operating systems in the near future as part of its open standards drive but will not say which those might be yet.
Optional extra
Storeplace has Distributed Data Services for OS/2 to provide additional help in keeping the in-store terminals up and running. This software component, an optional extra, also enables users to run 4690/4680 controller applications on an OS/2 server and on MS-DOS terminals. Storeplace also has object-oriented processing applications that IBM intends to develop jointly with specific retailers. The initial focus for these tools will be general merchandisers but IBM believes that components within these customised applications could be used by supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandisers. To create a customised Storeplace point of sale application developers use the Application Function Library for OS/2, which contains roughly 2,000 re-usable modular object blocks. This is accessed through what IBM calls its state of the art graphical object-oriented tool set, which enables retailers to create, modify and maintain point of sale applications using the elements of the StorePlace Application Function Library. Storeplace also has a family of in-store object-oriented processing applications designed to manage and measure various aspects of store performance and productivity. Available for OS/2 and in some cases, says IBM, for AIX systems, the Storeplace in-store processing options include StorePlace Customer Notebook, which maintains a customer database and enables retailers to keep track of personalised services such as discounts to favoured customers; StorePlace Sales Analyst for OS/2 and AIX, a tool that analyses sales volumes and margins by item, item category and department on an hourly up to a yearly interval; StorePlace Inventory Management for OS/2 and AIX, to track movement and manage replenishment of store stock; StorePlace Workforce Planner for OS/2 and AIX, a staff scheduling and forecasting tool that can schedule employees in 15-minute increments; and StorePlace Time and Attendance for OS/2 and AIX, which records staff clock-in and clock-out on each point-of-sale terminal.
