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Continental Art Supplies' Testimonial
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Continental Art Supplies

Several months ago I promised the people at Responsive Data Systems that I would write a letter outlining our experience with the new Competitive Edge 2000 Product. As you read further you will understand that I had compelling reasons for making the conversion from a S36 to at least the Advanced 36. 1 was impressed by the fact that what appeared to be all of the right reasons to make this change became insignificant.

We became the very first RDS user to go onto the new "RISC" box. If you are running your business on an older System 36, please read on. What you read may surprise you. Like you, I was entirely satisfied with "Retail 2000." Lets face it, we are all smart people ... why else would we already be operating on perhaps the finest retail software package.

Listen up folk...... Retail 2OOO" is great..."Competitive Edge2OOO"is remarkable. love to hold on to things. One of my favorite things in this world is my l967 Buick. Its big, its comfortable and its very, very fast. I felt the same way about our old system. I traded in a 1954 Chevy Pick-up when I bought the Buick, and actually on a daily basis I drive another 4 & more practical" car. Before we had the S36 we had another computer system. Its an evolutionary thing.

Continental Art Supplies, Ltd. has been in business for 37 years. We are a single location art materials store in the Los Angeles area. We have approximately 32,000 line items. We operate with three dedicated cash registers, and process invoices to our accounts receivable customers on two other work stations. In total we process an average of 175 transactions each day,

Nearly a year ago I began the process of evaluating replacement products for our Retail 2000 System. We had been operating on the old System 36 model 5363 for almost eight years. The motivation for the change was limited exclusively to the fact that we had an aging system which was nearly at capacity and that the year 2000 was rapidly approaching. I reconsidered briefly the opportunities presented by software companies who base their solutions around PC networks ... I won't get into this except to say I was unimpressed.

I spoke with a number of IBM Business Partners who claimed to specialize in retail installations. Frankly they for the most part believe that a solution begins with good hardware and that most software packages need to be custom tailored for retail applications ... that effective, retail software simply doesn't exist, Interestingly enough, most of them had heard "good things" about Responsive Data Systems, but had not actually seen a demonstration of the product. The experience was pretty frustrating. In fact, our only real objection to the continued use of RDS software was it's reliance on DMAS. I kept the review of RDS for last. I visited in Mid-Spring with the demand that they prove to me just how much less I need to rely on DMAS, and how they had solved the issues related to data entry. Lets face it, DMAS Inventory Control is cumbersome.

Along with my main Data Processing person we reviewed the changes which RDS had made on Inventory Control Screens. We also reviewed what were likely to be the primary changes which DMAS had planned for Purchasing. We put together a list of changes we wanted to see on the upcoming Release 7 of DMAS as it relates to Purchasing. The folks at DMAS acknowledged our inquiry in two ways. First they confirmed that many of the requested enhancements were already in the works. Second, they were excited with a number of the ideas presented. This reconfirmed to us that the problem with most software packages is that the designers and engineers are everything or anything but users... if they built cars they would install the seats backwards, and won't have a driver's license!

Okay, now the part you've been waiting for. We decided to remain with RDS and ordered the new IBM equipment and DMAS Software from Rob. To be completely honest ... ]IBM financing stinks, (if I were talking to you face to face and not just writing I would use slightly difference words to describe this). My suggestion, work with your banker.

We received our new box and related software in about 3 weeks. The new AS400 Model 40e was immediately "fired-up" and we began the process of learning some of the new commands. Our desire was to "bum-in" the new box for about a month.

RDS sent us conversion programs to run along with a binder which contained instructions on some data entry stuff which needed to be done on the new box before the actual conversion could be done. In total, including hardware set up, two man days.

Rob came down to us to do the conversion. This actually took a single day of preparation, and the conversion was done overnight. Along with doing the software conversion, we also changed out one of our registers and upgraded the PC there ... in anticipation of the release of "stand-alone". The conversion really went without a hitch, and frankly both Rob and I were surprised. This was the first conversion which had been done onto the RISC box.

We began the conversion at 6:00 pm and were up and running at 8:30 am, (with a bit of time to spare). Frankly I think it was all of my wonderful coffee ... the best to be had in the San Fernando Valley. I will briefly say that on the AS400, hardware configuration is a thing of the past. Just plug in devices, and the 400 figures out the rest. Change a cable layout, just delete the address, and plug it in again.

Our staff, although confused at first by some of the new screen formats took immediately to the new programs. Yeah there was some belly aching ... but from the idiots who always belly ache. That's Management's problem, not Rob's, so I had to tell a few of my staff people they get over it or they could quit ... and after 24 hours on the job... they knew I wasn't kidding.

So you all are probably wondering if after six months it was worth while. Hmmm let me think about this for a second .... Okay I'm done thinking. Lets make a quick review. We wanted a new system because of the year 2000, and because the old S36 was getting too expensive to maintain. I guess you could also say that we were worried about system failure on a box that had not been turned off in a bit more than eight years. Boy are these really stupid reasons to switch boxes and upgrade software. It's three years to the year 2000, for crying out loud don't wait! And if the damn machine cost three times what it did it would have been the same price as the S36. Dumb Dumb Dumb. The S36 by comparison is as worthless as dirt when put next to the AS400. It becomes a cumbersome, slow and limiting POS, (an acronym for Piece of Shit). Let me give you some specifics on performance.

End of day now takes oh about an hour, maybe an hour and a half I don't really know. In the past I would go home, have dinner, and then return to work to wait for it to finish before I did any other work. Ali a piece of history I won't miss.

Month End Sales Analysis for those of you who use it now takes about 40 minutes. On the S36 it was almost 6 hours.

Query 400 is remarkable. Much more flexible than on the S36. Daily Queries which we used to run in 5-6 minutes take less than 30 seconds on the 400. Queries which we previously couldn't run in an entire day, are now being processed in less than an hour. We are impressed and excited about the performance to say the very least, and like I already mentioned, we made the migration from the S36 for all reasons except performance!

The improvements to DMAS are appreciated as well. Coupled with the performance of the AS400, and well we now get along with DMAS. It still needs the "user's touch" but we have stopped waiting for that to happen.

I promised RDS that I would write this letter. I told them that I would do my best not to use foul language, (I have a reputation). I also said that I wouldn't be abusive, nor would I insult the intelligence of RDS users. I can't help myself. If you can't make up your mind to just make the change to the AS400 and Competitive Edge on your own fine, come to the User's Group in March. We will show you why, when you get there. To do nothing with system prices where they are now, and the deals being made on DMAS is just plain stupid. If you don't do it because you are sick and tired of old S36, then do it for your staff, trust me they are fed up, you just don't know it. You may even be able to convince your employees that going the AS400 is in lieu of a year end bonus. I tried it and almost got away with it.

I hope to see you in March. If in the mean time you want to schmooze with me about what is in this letter, or if you have questions, please feel free to call. I love to talk on the phone, and now I have lots more time to spend doing what I enjoy.