Tuesday, November 11, 2008

RPMS Version 7.9 in 2009, and Beyond

In 2009 our company will hit a couple of milestones worth mentioning.

Our very first PC based software system was delivered in 1985. So in September of 2009 we will begin our twenty-fifth year of support and updates to rep software for manufacturers reps.

2009 will also see the final updates and enhancements to RPMS Version 7, in preparation for 2010 and the new RPMS Version 8.

When we re-wrote RPMS from the ground up back in 2000 and 2001, the idea was to create a version that was both easier to use and easier to support. Mission accomplished. RPMS V7 is the most popular version of RPMS ever, but even better, takes far less support per installation than any previous version. V7 has continued to change and improve over the last several years - you can look back at a history of those changes here.

And there are still some enhancements we want to make in 7.9 this year to finish off this version of our system. Some of our plans include...
·                                 Adding a ship-date oriented line item report, much like the open order reports but regarding shipped items
·                                 Making improvements to the Inventory system, including allocation verification and better status change management from stocked to non-stocked; and kit/assembly management
·                                 Adding the ability to print a range of purchase orders by date range, principal, customer, sales rep, or combinations
·                                 Adding the opportunity to 'auto-add' products during short form data entry, for products that are not found
·                                 Completing the TeleNotes to RPMS interface
...and likely other ideas that come up as well.

As in other times with other major version changes, we will have a dual-development schedule. Work will continue on enhancements and improvements to V7, while work begins in earnest upon RPMS V8.

And what, you may well ask, does Version 8 have in store? Plenty, of course, necessitating the major version change, including...
·                                 File and record handling changes that will provide major speed improvements for reports, snapshots, and data entry
·                                 Architectural changes to databases that will greatly improve product (part number) versatility
·                                 A major system-level change that will provide two incredible new advantages:
o                                                        Automatic off-site backup and database auditing, for daily guarantee of database reliability and integrity, on RPMS-hosted servers
o                                                        Simple, powerful, secure remote access for field sales reps, including reports, customers, order entry and more, from RPMS-hosted servers
·                                 A license management change that automatically configures your system for optimum usage. If you don't use a feature, you won't pay for that feature.
...and probably more that will become apparent as the new software takes shape.

Will V8 look different? For remote accessing field sales reps, yes. For the rest of us, not much. We should all be very comfortable with the look and feel on the first day.

Is it Internet-based? No, not completely. More like Internet-enhanced. While there are some things that are done best on a web-based product, the day to day management of a rep system is not necessarily one of them. Rep software operators want speed, reliability, ease-of-use, and suitability to task. Where the software operates is not nearly as important to them as how it operates.

Is it priced differently? We're not sure. But we do expect that our 2010 pricing will not create any heavy financial burden on customers that stay under our maintenance program from year to year.

Is it licensed differently? Yes, it has to be. Once we cross into the world of hosting - even in the narrowly limited way that we will first do so - we will recognize new and on-going commitments that will have to be passed along.

So in 2010, we dip our toe into the software as a service water. Much like our migration from DOS to Windows back in the late 1980's, RPMS will support multiple styles of system for a while. The desktop-based client-server RPMS V8 will continue to provide outstanding speed and ease of use for day-to-day operation, in a familiar and practical environment. The V8 database, regularly backed up to and audited by RPMS servers, will provide a stable, secure off-site backup. And the new code we write to run on our servers for your authorized remote users will provide a simple, powerful way for field-sales reps and remote offices to access their corporate data.

This 'best of all worlds' approach has served us well in the past, and is, we believe, our best means to move forward to new models of software delivery. Until then though, RPMS Versions 7.8 and 7.9 will continue to set the standard for rep software. We're looking forward to this next journey in software development, and hope that you are too.