Limited Extended Support Offered for Microsoft Dynamics RMS and HQ Version 2.x

While July 2021 marks the end of all support from Microsoft for the Dynamics RMS and RMS HQ products, support will still be available for a few more years from RITE. RITE has 14 support techs and offers 24/7 support to retailers using the Microsoft RMS and RMS HQ point of sale software programs.

Of course, there are a few restrictions:

• You must be located in the US or Canada
• You must stay current on a maintenance agreement (prices start at only $214 a year)
• You must be on version 2.0 or higher of RMS
• New or replacement lane license keys are NOT available 
• EDC is NOT supported - you must be using Card Defender, a supported RMS payment processing plug in, or stand alone payment terminals

Since each retailers situation is unique, please contact RITE at 888-267-7483 for more information.

More information on Microsoft RMS/HQ/POS 2009/Dynamics Conference

The good folks at Retail Realm have posted more information on their  4th annual "‘Microsoft Dynamics’ Retail Technology Conference".

 It honestly looks like the 40,000+ users of the various Microsoft point of sale software programs will have to wait until April 2014 to hear more about Microsoft's plans related to Dynamics RMS Store Operations, HQ, and POS 2009.  Here are a few highlights of the conference:

Get ready for Retail Realm's 4th annual ‘Microsoft Dynamics’ Retail Technology Conference! Learn the latest news and updates directly from Microsoft about the future of RMS, RMS Next Generation, AX for Retail, Statement of Direction, and so much more! Utilize this great opportunity to connect with the reseller network, interact with Microsoft representatives, solution / hardware providers, and retail industry professionals. Find out about fresh new concepts in retailing and learn firsthand where the future of retail is headed! Don’t miss out! REGISTER for the conference today!

TIMELINE:

April 24 – 26, 2014 at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, NV

• Thurs. PM - Afternoon Golf Event 
• Thurs. PM - Welcome Cocktail Reception - Shadow Bar
• Fri. AM - All-day Conference Sessions
• Fri. PM - Exhibitor Extravaganza
• Sat. AM - All-day Conference Sessions
• Sat. PM - Wrap-Up / Awards Reception

You can see a video related to the conference at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5HN1rNyoDc
 
Full conference details and registration can be found on Retail Realm's website: http://www.rrdisti.com/rr-conference-2014

I'm sticking with my past advice - it you are current on your software maintenance agreement and can wait until April, keep using your current point of sale solution.

If you are not current on your software maintenance (which is a very bad thing with mandatory compliance updates coming out in 2014 and 2015 for anyone that takes credit and debit cards via a point of sale system), then I would highly suggest either getting current on software maintenance ASAP or looking for alternative solutions like Retail Pro. 

Are you in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice? I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (mountain time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com.

Tuesday Tip – Prompt for Price

Microsoft RMS Store Operations and NCR CounterPoint allow you to set up an inventory item as being open when it comes to pricing. This is generally done for items that you really don't want to track individually for inventory and sales reasons. Think of the $1, $2 and $5 grab bins that you see at Wal-Mart – it would be too time consuming to track each and every item so an open-priced item sku is used.

This may seem backwards since a major reason to use a point of sale system is for detailed inventory tracking and sale reporting. However, most stores still have some general items that generate so little profit that it would take too much time to track at an item by item level. Make sense? If not, contact me  and I can give you some additional examples.

RMS Store Operations can go to “Database” then “items” from the manager screen. You can double click on the item or click on the item and then click on “Properties”. Under the items “Options” tab is the checkbox “must enter price at POS”. Here is what the screen looks like:

From the NCR CounterPoint manager screen, go to “Items”, select the item, and the “Other” tab will have a checkbox for “Prompt for Price”:

As to whether it makes sense to use an open priced sku/plu or not depends on your own personal preferences for how detailed or generic you want to be when it comes to tracking each inventory item in your store.

Are you in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice? I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (mountain time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com.