Customer issue

fdipalma — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:22:27 +1000

A customer reported an issue with their Amicus PDA environment.

Amicus PDA is basically a mobile version of our Amicus point of sale software. There was Windows Server 2003, IIS and SQL Server 2005 running merge Replication. Client was receiving 503 Service Unviable Error, upon further investigation this error was logged in the event log. 'Test Pool' is invalid. If it remains invalid when the first request for the application pool is processed, the application pool will be disabled. The data field contains the error number.

I found in IIS that the application pool was disabled, so I enabled the pool but the application still wouldnâ€™t launch. As a temporary solution, I created a new application pool and gave it administration privileges.

As the clientâ€™s were now operating I could look further into the problem. Firstly, the server had run out of space. Secondly, what I found most interesting the user account that the application pool was running as was disabled, why this was disabled I wasnâ€™t sure. I re-enabled the account and changed the web site to use the correct application pool, issue resolved.

Vanuatu

fdipalma — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:28:37 +1000

Au Bon Marche has four supermarkets, three petrol stations (fuel outlets) and wholesale businesses in their enterprise. They needed a suitable product to increase business productively while reducing user error. Amicus point of sale system was the perfect candidate for the job, with a fully a scalable platform and multisite capabilities and powerful stock management Amicus could certainly deliver. Deploying Amicus POS on a large scale is quite a stressful and challenging task at the best of times. But when itâ€™s deployed 6,000 miles away from Hobart itâ€™s even more of a challenge. Everything from the System design to shipping the hardware had to be completed.

The installation, in total took three weeks to complete and included installing 25 POS Terminals, 50 Back Office Terminals, 5 Servers and networking equipment. User training was also a challenge, as majority of users werenâ€™t business or IT savvy. Trying to explain the ins and outs of stock management proved to be difficult. But after the initial hurdle, the users have picked it up quite well and see Amicus POS as a powerful business application.

The project started in January of 2006, and to date is still continuing. We have had to upgrade the majority of the Servers due to the sheer number of sales (10.5 Million sales and 37.5 Million items sold). They now operate one HP DL585 G5 Server (16 Cores in total) four HP ML350 G5 Servers and one HP DL365 to drive their Enterprise. They also have a site to site GHSDL network powered by Cisco and a Watchguard X550e to protect email/web and to also filter internet access.

In total, I have spent in excess of five months in Vanuatu over 4 years during ten trips. Working in Vanuatu on this project can be quite demanding at times, however it is extremely rewarding, knowing that Neotechnology is helping Au Bon Marche do what they do, but better.

PC-EFTPOS and 'Which Bank?'

fdipalma — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:53:16 +1000

Recently one of our point of sale customers, a not for profit organisation who has four sites throughout Tasmania required an Integrated EFTPOS solution. Prior to this, they have been running Amicus POS for four years with stock and logistics centrally managed in Hobart. Their main drive to a completely integrated solution was to elevate the double entering and in most cases incorrect values being entered into the EFTPOS machine.

The order was placed to the Bank and within a week the Terminals arrived in each location. Hobart was the first site to be installed; the first thing that was noted was the complete lack of documentation. There was no TerminalID no CAIC ID (uniquely identifies the merchant), to make matters worse, the terminal was in an un-configured state for PC-EFTPOS (completely negates the whole point of ordering a â€œPC-EFTPOSâ€ terminal). The configuration on the bankâ€™s end wasnâ€™t completed either. There were several calls made to the Bank and PC-EFTPOS to get the issues resolved.

After the first Terminal, there wasnâ€™t much hope for the other three. As it turns out, once again none of them were configured for PC-EFTPOS. To make matters worse, two terminals actually had the wrong software version which required the Terminals to be sent back to the Bank. In total, I received nine Terminals. Four wouldnâ€™t power on, two had the incorrect firmware and the others died after a couple of hours. To add insult to injury, the Bank actually issued the same TerminalIDâ€™s as the previous stand-alone Terminals, which wouldnâ€™t allow the new Terminals to log on. This issue in itself took hours and multiple calls to the Bank.

In essence, dealing with the Bank wasnâ€™t a smooth experience. In total I wasted in excess of 10 hours, 'which bank' has been invoiced for. Other Banks arenâ€™t any better, the only seamless integration has been with Westpac.

Amicus Fuel Point of Sale

fdipalma — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:24:06 +1100

Over the past 2-3 months there has been a steady increase in interest in Amicus Fuel, point of sale system, from service stations throughout Australia. Areas such as Broome in Western Australia, Cairns in Queensland and Warren in NSW. It seems that the Stock Management core of Amicus POS and the Fuel value-add is very appealing to independent petrol stations.

Recently, it was my responsibility to implement Amicus Fuel in a Petrol Station in Penshurst NSW. Their old system was lacking in reliability (only one of their two tills was actually functioning) and had inadequate stock management. The site had 5 PEC pumps that seamlessly integrated with the Amicus system. Approximately 4,000 products were also seamlessly imported into the system. The site required two touch screen POS terminals and one back office terminal for stock management and reporting.

Total implementation time was two days, this included installation, training and commissioning this system. They can make sales and manage pumps from one point of sale screen. They also now have greater control over general operations, stock management, wet stock maintenance and tank deliveries all from the one system.