Pocket PC Sales System

The project involves creating a Pocket PC / PDA sales invoice system. The solution is required for a client which delivers goods to customers via vans. The customer is allowed to buy what ever is on the van or ring up before hand to pre order. All the information at this moment in time lies in Sage Line 50. This includes the warehouse stock (this is where all the vans get the stock from to sell), the different stock lines, customer details, customer accounts and all the sales invoices and payments. The system required will synchronise with the Sage Line 50, to obtain stock and product categories, and the customer account status (i.e. how much is owing, and what bill's are still payable.) The van operators will then go around doing their daily rounds selling products. The Pocket PC software should allow itemised sales invoices to be saved in the Pocket PC for the customers, and the taking of payments, and also for it to generate a receipt via a portable thermal printer. At the end of the day the data needs to be synched with Sage Line 50, so that all the stock levels are updated, and the sales invoices are transferred. The possibility of a van going to a new customer should also be allowed, so the Pocket PC software should also allow creation of new customers. These new customers would also need to be transferred to Sage at the end of the day. The Sage Line software we know can import and export data via CSV. The Pocket PC software will be installed on multiple Pocket PC’s, so some way of maintaining the synchronicity of the data will be required. The above are the main requirements, but it is open to discussion on how it can be implemented effectively, so if someone has a better method, this will be considered. The only thing which cannot change is the Sage Line 50. That system has to stay. So other alternatives could be an online web based system, then this would then allow one centralised database of customers, stock and sales invoice’s, which could then be synched to Sage Line 50 on timely intervals. But this method will be reliant on internet connectivity so we are apprehensive on how useable it would be. We are based in the UK, so mobile connectivity is generally very good. Also we would need to know what hardware would be required to make the above system to work, so we can purchase it. How much would each pocket Pc cost, and what mini printers could be used, and again the costs involved. The system needs to be built using .NET 2, and preferably using VB language. The successful applicant should be able to show expertise in the field of Pocket Pc development. The system needs to be user friendly as the end users are not highly trained.