In a contract with Marsh Supermarkets, SE ported Videmation 4.0 (our video store rental management system) to a UNIX operating system, and designed and wrote drivers for accessing cash drawers and printers directly from store terminals.  Solutions Engineering also designed and wrote the Central Office Management Facility (COMF) and all interfaces and hooks in Videmation 4.0 for communicating with the COMF; and performed several customizations after delivery.  The COMF provided the distributed database communications and continuity services required for a central office to maintain a virtual presence in every store of the chain without having to connect to any store.  All communications were completely automatic.  The central office could run very high-level summary reports, or focus down to the level of the individual transaction.  All components and drivers were written in ANSI standard C for high portability and durability.  SE wrote all of the methods for synchronizing the Central Office data warehouse with all 138 stores containing a Video Rental department.  Synchronization is bi-directional and scheduled to occur nightly.  The synchronization is fully automatic and fault tolerant.  At the time, the client was reliant on teleco-modem connectivity from the stores to the central office.  The geographic area spanned central Illinois to central Ohio to northern Kentucky.  An on-site technical personnel in the stores was extremely limited.  There were many who doubted the ability to construct and maintain a data warehouse in the context of the risk factors inherent in the project.  Any problem with data coming from the stores was logged in an event log on the central server.  All transaction records for every action in every store were transmitted to the central office and the COMF database was automatically updated to reflect the actions across all stores.  The COMF exported from the central office to the individual stores the Purchase Order information.  On arrival of the merchandise, the store level system would reconcile the quantity received against the quantity ordered.  Shipment Exception reports were compiled for transmission to the Central Office, providing “next day” summary exception reports ­ resulting in critical prompt resolution with shipper/suppliers.  The Purchase Order also provided a uniform data reference and automated data entry for the store level.  This saves thousands of man-hours per year and provides for a more reliable system overall.  The inventory performance analysis assists in defining what types of films will perform and what types will not.  Automated analyses of Customer and Employee actions across all stores has enabled theft detection and swift, confident action on the part of management.  While business plans including video rental operations are increasingly less profitable, Marsh Supermarkets has been able to maintain high profitability and clear management in the context of this market trend.

SE was asked to evaluate alternatives to running multiple RS422 long drop lines from the ISP (“In Store Processor”) to the Video Department in  order to support the data terminal, printer, and electronic cash drawer.  As these are  250,000 to 300,000 square foot stores, these wire runs were of considerable expense.  They were also failure points.  SE designed and wrote device drivers for the printers and electronic cash drawers so they could be daisy chained off of the AUX port of the terminal.  Signal tagging allowed the cash drawer and printer to “know” what messages were for each.  The savings to the client of this code alone paid a tremendous return to the client.

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