legend Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 What VMS software do you use and why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broncho Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 100% custom made in house by us and freelancers. Reasoning is, everything out there is overpriced and is shooting as a one fits all. Our software does online and offline prekitting Dex alerts Planograms nutritional information over QR codes Spoil Tracking and estimating Profit/Loss calcualtions Money room control Handheld machine counting Coin tracking through handheld Customer login for commissions The list goes on and on Every time we feel we need something different we either make it, or if we dont have the skills for a certain task, have it made. It has cost us less then $1500 so far from outside resources and it costs less then $20/month to host it on a server for anywhere access. This idea began over 7 years ago for us, but didnt fully form until the past 2 years. We were using Cantaloupe systems for a while for everything, but they didnt interface with anything except their devices and at one point I got a call about OpenVDI and was quoted a yearly $10,000 fee to get my credit card acceptors working with their software. So much for open.... I did look into Validata, Streamware and Easitrax about 5 years ago and they all wanted to do 10+ route companies and we only had 4 at the time. We were at a very bad point were we were too big to do things through paper and too small to afford a $10,000+ software package that they had to install on site for a imposed extra fee. Remote monitoring software that is hosted online has drove this cost down, but it dosnt play well with diffrent devices and that can hurt you when price shopping. We built our software around the cloud idea, or hosted software, because I needed a way to access the software easily from anywhere for both me and my customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 where are you finding the freelancers to do it so cheap? elance? are they from india or russia? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legend Posted May 30, 2013 Author Share Posted May 30, 2013 100% custom made in house by us and freelancers. Reasoning is, everything out there is overpriced and is shooting as a one fits all. Our software does online and offline prekitting Dex alerts Planograms nutritional information over QR codes Spoil Tracking and estimating Profit/Loss calcualtions Money room control Handheld machine counting Coin tracking through handheld Customer login for commissions The list goes on and on Every time we feel we need something different we either make it, or if we dont have the skills for a certain task, have it made. It has cost us less then $1500 so far from outside resources and it costs less then $20/month to host it on a server for anywhere access. This idea began over 7 years ago for us, but didnt fully form until the past 2 years. We were using Cantaloupe systems for a while for everything, but they didnt interface with anything except their devices and at one point I got a call about OpenVDI and was quoted a yearly $10,000 fee to get my credit card acceptors working with their software. So much for open.... I did look into Validata, Streamware and Easitrax about 5 years ago and they all wanted to do 10+ route companies and we only had 4 at the time. We were at a very bad point were we were too big to do things through paper and too small to afford a $10,000+ software package that they had to install on site for a imposed extra fee. Remote monitoring software that is hosted online has drove this cost down, but it dosnt play well with diffrent devices and that can hurt you when price shopping. We built our software around the cloud idea, or hosted software, because I needed a way to access the software easily from anywhere for both me and my customers. Ok how do I find out more about this........Is there a website? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonkw Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 100% custom made in house by us and freelancers. Reasoning is, everything out there is overpriced and is shooting as a one fits all. Our software does online and offline prekitting Dex alerts Planograms nutritional information over QR codes Spoil Tracking and estimating Profit/Loss calcualtions Money room control Handheld machine counting Coin tracking through handheld Customer login for commissions The list goes on and on Every time we feel we need something different we either make it, or if we dont have the skills for a certain task, have it made. It has cost us less then $1500 so far from outside resources and it costs less then $20/month to host it on a server for anywhere access. This idea began over 7 years ago for us, but didnt fully form until the past 2 years. We were using Cantaloupe systems for a while for everything, but they didnt interface with anything except their devices and at one point I got a call about OpenVDI and was quoted a yearly $10,000 fee to get my credit card acceptors working with their software. So much for open.... I did look into Validata, Streamware and Easitrax about 5 years ago and they all wanted to do 10+ route companies and we only had 4 at the time. We were at a very bad point were we were too big to do things through paper and too small to afford a $10,000+ software package that they had to install on site for a imposed extra fee. Remote monitoring software that is hosted online has drove this cost down, but it dosnt play well with diffrent devices and that can hurt you when price shopping. We built our software around the cloud idea, or hosted software, because I needed a way to access the software easily from anywhere for both me and my customers. Do you use telemetry? Was any hardware supplier willing to integrate with your custom software? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broncho Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Do you use telemetry? Was any hardware supplier willing to integrate with your custom software? We do use telemetry from both MEI and USA Tech. We can use just about any telemetry as long as its OpenVDI. Not everything was done by freelancers so that can help keep the cost down. Its not a commercial product and isnt really made to be deployed for someone else because it has only what we need at the time. Also, if there is a bug we just fix it as we go instead of fully testing out everything like in a normal R&D cycle. I guess if we had enough interests in this we could possibly look at setting up monthly access accounts for users. I just dont know what an acceptable monthly fee would be that someone would be willing to pay and would also cover our cost of server upgrades and finishing the product for anyone to use. The only problem is support, since we are a vending company and not a software company there would be a lack of support for this product. That alone keeps me from sharing it with anyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 . The only problem is support, since we are a vending company and not a software company there would be a lack of support for this product. That alone keeps me from sharing it with anyone else. Speaking as a 15yr veteran in commercia software development u r spot on,go with ur insticts here, if u need to raise money just sell off the rights u don't want to get involved there too much liability and headaches,this decision makes u smarter than a lot of ppl I've known Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broncho Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Speaking as a 15yr veteran in commercia software development u r spot on,go with ur insticts here, if u need to raise money just sell off the rights u don't want to get involved there too much liability and headaches,this decision makes u smarter than a lot of ppl I've known Well you would also have to worry about things like patents. Its ridiculous the things they have patented in the vending world that I would consider to be an obvious use and wouldnt think that a patent would even be granted. Some of the companies we worked with in the past would brag about their 30+ patents and all I could say is there is no way that other companies do not have overlapping patents. Until they can fix patent law, I wouldnt even try and deal with commercial software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cvending Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 While we are on the subject of software, does anyone recommend a basic software for recording sales from snack, soda, coffee machines? All we need is something to calculate what we have collected against what we should have collected via meter readings. I am not very tech savvy but am willing to learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broncho Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 While we are on the subject of software, does anyone recommend a basic software for recording sales from snack, soda, coffee machines? All we need is something to calculate what we have collected against what we should have collected via meter readings. I am not very tech savvy but am willing to learn. I would just use a spread sheet if that is all you are needing. There is no need to make it difficult for something like that and you could use google spreadsheet to have it accessible anywhere. Its pretty simple to make columns total up automatically or do comparisons for something like a meter reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 I guess if we had enough interests in this we could possibly look at setting up monthly access accounts for users. I just dont know what an acceptable monthly fee would be that someone would be willing to pay and would also cover our cost of server upgrades and finishing the product for anyone to use. The only problem is support, since we are a vending company and not a software company there would be a lack of support for this product. That alone keeps me from sharing it with anyone else. I could test it for you for free if you like? In all seriousness i am thinking of going down the same road as you & am looking at developing my own software. I have a friend of mine that thinks he will be able to it as long as I only want to keep it simple & only use it for translating DEX information. But the more & more I here about yours & the features you have - Offline prekitting, Dex alerts, Planograms, nutritional information over QR codes, Spoil Tracking and estimating, Profit/Loss calcualtions, Money room control ,Handheld machine counting, Coin tracking through handheld, Customer login for commissionsThe list goes on. The more complicated I want to make it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broncho Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 I could test it for you for free if you like? In all seriousness i am thinking of going down the same road as you & am looking at developing my own software. I have a friend of mine that thinks he will be able to it as long as I only want to keep it simple & only use it for translating DEX information. But the more & more I here about yours & the features you have - Offline prekitting, Dex alerts, Planograms, nutritional information over QR codes, Spoil Tracking and estimating, Profit/Loss calcualtions, Money room control ,Handheld machine counting, Coin tracking through handheld, Customer login for commissionsThe list goes on. The more complicated I want to make it! There is always going to be something new to add. In fact we just finished up fixing a new feature this weekend to make the pulling or prepicks a little faster. The bad part is it is very time consuming to get everything tested fully because we have so many different types of machines, products and people. Also, our hiring pool is so bad in my area that the drivers seem to get worse daily. I had one that has been there for 6 months and I got a call on one of his accounts that a lot of the product was out of date. Apparently hes been filling his glass front by just shoving the new product in the front of the machine. We go over stuff like this constantly and I am just one small screw up from firing this kid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Just make sure you document his performance issues so you can successfully defend yourself against the inevitable unemployment claim. But you already knew that, right?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broncho Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Just make sure you document his performance issues so you can successfully defend yourself against the inevitable unemployment claim. But you already knew that, right?? Oh we do! This is just the latest in a very long string of issues with this guy lately. I also found out he was leaving his truck started while servicing accounts. I tore into him on that one because he left all his doors unlocked as well and I happened to go to that account while he as there. His response was, "Did I leave it started?" with a dumb look on his face. All I said is, Im not stupid and this is your only warning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 There is always going to be something new to add. In fact we just finished up fixing a new feature this weekend to make the pulling or prepicks a little faster. The bad part is it is very time consuming to get everything tested fully because we have so many different types of machines, products and people. You did mention in a previous post that the only problem with your software was that "it doesn't work well with ice cream machines as the alert are only twice a day" is there a reason for this? Is this because you are not using a separate temperature sensor? You also said that the code you were using was php & python.. is it not possible to write the software program only using php or was their another reason why you are also using python? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broncho Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 You did mention in a previous post that the only problem with your software was that "it doesn't work well with ice cream machines as the alert are only twice a day" is there a reason for this? Is this because you are not using a separate temperature sensor? You also said that the code you were using was php & python.. is it not possible to write the software program only using php or was their another reason why you are also using python? Yes, there is not a separate temperature sensor. Someone like Cantaloupe or Inone use a hardware temp sensor that is checked every 5-10 minutes by their hardware and sends accordingly. Mine just checks the dex data every 12 hours when it comes in. It tends to work great for drink machines, but isnt robust enough for ice cream machines. Online software is a mixture of things and php isnt really capable of everything we do. We also use jquery scripts and the such in order to have things work better for our tablet software. Depending on what you are trying to do and what hardware you are using, I can let you take a look at a portion of our softwares frontend and see what you think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Depending on what you are trying to do and what hardware you are using, I can let you take a look at a portion of our softwares frontend and see what you think. Basically what I am looking at doing is running credit card readers on my machines. The credit card readers will also transmit DEX information in real time so I am considering having a friend build me a basic software program to decode the DEX. I don't know how easy this would be as I am not an IT geek but my friend seems to think he should be able to do it. He also has his own server that I can run it off & I don't think he will charge me very much if anything. I would like to also take a look at your software if you don't mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 We do use telemetry from both MEI and USA Tech. We can use just about any telemetry as long as its OpenVDI. Can anyone tell me if InOne/Nayax telemetry hardware is OpenVDI? I have tried searching but am unable to find if it is or not... Thanks Depending on what you are trying to do and what hardware you are using, I can let you take a look at a portion of our softwares frontend and see what you think. Mate... is the offer to take a look at your software front-end still available? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Streamware is what we recently converted to from Compuvend. We also moved all of our OCS Billing from Peachtree to Streamware. Best decision we have ever made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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