I've often wanted to do systems integration work on Point of Sale (POS) systems and I've finally been given a chance on a short term project. A common POS system used by a bistro chain needs to be wired for a third-party program and, since the system is Progress-based, I was chosen to do the work.
So far there have been a number of challenges appear, but nothing entirely prohibitive. The POS uses Progress's cheapest product available, Personal Database, which is the bare-bones Progress run-time engine. This product alone doesn't allow compilation of normal Progress 4GL code, a development license is required to do that. I don't have a version 9 license, but fortunately there is a "trick" which I'll explain.
You can use a Run-time version of the prowin32.exe executable to compile code encrypted using Progress's source encryption program. This program is not probably not going to be included in a Progress Personal Database install, so you are going to have to find it somewhere else. I have it as a holder of a Progress OpenEdge OE Studio 10.0A license, so that's how I get stuff to compile. The logic hasn't changed between versions 9 and 10 and has never been altered since its inception as far as I know.
This is 100% legal in terms of Progress licensing and has been used as a backdoor for developers since I learned it back in 1994 using Progress RDBMS Version 6. It even works across platforms, and a file encrypted on a Windows PC will compile on an AIX, Linux or other Unix system with a run-time version of the Progress executable (_progres). Just remember that wherever you encrypt your code, the ensuing file is binary so you don't want to use ASCII mode when transferring it using FTP. That's usually trouble-shooting tip #1 in my experience when the code won't compile.
If you would like to know more about how to accomplish POS system integration with Progress when source is not available, please contact us for a quote. We can handle all your Progress DBA and Progress Programming needs.
Email: paul.fry@flexresourcing.com
Phone: 216-496-9915
Showing posts with label Progress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Progress. Show all posts
Monday, February 07, 2011
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Telecommuting Sensibilities
As the need for Progress and QAD professionals heats up – and it is heating up – contractors are once again trying to sell their services remotely, i.e., the "telecommuting" option. There are many facets to landing a telecommuting gig, and the biggest two are value and trust. Following is my advice to contractors in marketing their remote services based on my understanding of these two critical issues.
Many contractors are extremely poor sales people to begin with and their attempts to snag remote work are nothing short of laughable. One guy's pitch to me was that a stipulation of his joint custody agreement was that he remain within a certain geographic area. That alone does not merit throwing his résumé into the "when hell freezes over" pile, but it does earn a trip into my "don't call us, we'll call you" stack, maybe not at the bottom, but certainly not the top. It's simply too difficult to remarket skills when they are attended by certain kinds of baggage.
I usually try to explain to remote contractor hopefuls that trust is a big issue and that anything that might call said trust into question is a deal killer. It's different if you've already worked for the firm to whom you are marketing your remote services. But even then, there remains the expected and actual level of service and availability which is lower with a telecommuting professional by nature. This affects perceived value for the good reason that, for most consultants, working remotely usually impacts actual value. Even assuming absolute conscientiousness on the part of the consultant, usually he/she cannot react just as quickly to user demands nor contribute as effectively in meetings and conversations outside a facility. Simply put, there is a certain "X factor" missing where X can be loosely defined as "being there." This is true even if the firm is utilizing state of the art online meeting technology and the managers aren't shy about calling teleconferences and video conferences and the consultant is and extremely good communicator.
To make up for what is lacking in a telecommuter's virtual presence as opposed to his/her actual presence I've only heard one good recommendation. It came by way of a contractor and it is simply that he would be willing to accept a 25-35% rate discount for doing remote work. I didn't have an opportunity to place the consultant with the client, unfortunately, but I did notice that the proposal has a double-effect. First, his lower amount became competitive even with off-shore rates which gets the attention of the hiring firm very quickly. Offer someone an off-shore rate deal with no cultural or language barriers and you might be accused of selling a pipe-dream to an IT manager.
Secondly, it tacitly acknowledges the value/availability discrepancy and shows the willingness to adjust the rate accordingly. After all, the decrease in drive time, mileage and travel costs are lower for the contractor, sometimes markedly so.
The dramatic "off-shore" comparison will not always be there; the rate still may be higher than the client firm wants to pay, for senior consultants especially, and the price difference may have little effect in those cases. But regardless, when contractors learn to implicitly say "I want to add value to your IT department" rather than "I want to charge a market (read: high) rate" they will have more success at landing a remote gig.
Many contractors are extremely poor sales people to begin with and their attempts to snag remote work are nothing short of laughable. One guy's pitch to me was that a stipulation of his joint custody agreement was that he remain within a certain geographic area. That alone does not merit throwing his résumé into the "when hell freezes over" pile, but it does earn a trip into my "don't call us, we'll call you" stack, maybe not at the bottom, but certainly not the top. It's simply too difficult to remarket skills when they are attended by certain kinds of baggage.
I usually try to explain to remote contractor hopefuls that trust is a big issue and that anything that might call said trust into question is a deal killer. It's different if you've already worked for the firm to whom you are marketing your remote services. But even then, there remains the expected and actual level of service and availability which is lower with a telecommuting professional by nature. This affects perceived value for the good reason that, for most consultants, working remotely usually impacts actual value. Even assuming absolute conscientiousness on the part of the consultant, usually he/she cannot react just as quickly to user demands nor contribute as effectively in meetings and conversations outside a facility. Simply put, there is a certain "X factor" missing where X can be loosely defined as "being there." This is true even if the firm is utilizing state of the art online meeting technology and the managers aren't shy about calling teleconferences and video conferences and the consultant is and extremely good communicator.
To make up for what is lacking in a telecommuter's virtual presence as opposed to his/her actual presence I've only heard one good recommendation. It came by way of a contractor and it is simply that he would be willing to accept a 25-35% rate discount for doing remote work. I didn't have an opportunity to place the consultant with the client, unfortunately, but I did notice that the proposal has a double-effect. First, his lower amount became competitive even with off-shore rates which gets the attention of the hiring firm very quickly. Offer someone an off-shore rate deal with no cultural or language barriers and you might be accused of selling a pipe-dream to an IT manager.
Secondly, it tacitly acknowledges the value/availability discrepancy and shows the willingness to adjust the rate accordingly. After all, the decrease in drive time, mileage and travel costs are lower for the contractor, sometimes markedly so.
The dramatic "off-shore" comparison will not always be there; the rate still may be higher than the client firm wants to pay, for senior consultants especially, and the price difference may have little effect in those cases. But regardless, when contractors learn to implicitly say "I want to add value to your IT department" rather than "I want to charge a market (read: high) rate" they will have more success at landing a remote gig.
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