From: JamesBritt <james@...>
Date: 2002-10-27T01:28:21+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby for an outlet business


-----Original Message-----
From: Dat Nguyen [mailto:thucdat@hotmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2002 8:32 AM
To: ruby-talk ML
Subject: Ruby for an outlet business


My relative is going to launch a dry cleaner outlet and I am going to develop a
program to help her managing her business. Visual Basic or Tcl/Tk would be fine,
but I am thinking of Ruby and Linux.
What are the established requirements for such program that runs businesses like
dry cleaner, shoe repair, clothes alteration and would Ruby be fine for this?

Thanks all,
Dat


Dat,

First, how much experience do you have with Ruby, or any language, for that
matter?  I hate to discourage anyone from using Ruby, but business software
requires a high degree of reliability.  It is quite non-trivial.

Second, I do not know of any formal specifications for business software for the
areas mentioned, but in any event it may depend on what you mean by "managing
her business".  Does this include payroll? Inventory? Customer tracking?
Marketing?

I used to work in a dry cleaner many years ago.  (Learned a fair amount about
pressing clothes and the chemical process for removing stains, and *almost*
learned some Chinese from my boss but never got the hang of it.)  Having enough
supplies and making sure the machines got proper maintenance were important.

You may want to start with an inventory system that tracks what supplies you
have, when they were last ordered, their cost, usage, and so on, and use this to
create a re-ordering schedule and to track costs.

I would strongly urge, though, that your relative buy a professional
accounting/payroll system if doing the books by hand is too troublesome.


James