The End of Heartland LiquorPOS?

 

Rumors about Heartland dropping their LiquorPOS product have been around for 2 years now. Recently, several Heartland team members have shared privately that a formal announcement about the end of LiquorPOS could be coming shortly.

So, what does that mean for liquor stores who currently use LiquorPOS in their stores? Like other software programs that have gone "end of life" (like Windows 10 and Microsoft Dynamics RMS Store Operations point of sale), we need to look at the most likely outcome and recommended actions that should be taken.

Likely outcomes:

1. Heartland just flat out discontinues LiquorPOS. There will likely be a end of life support period of up to one year to allow users of LiquorPOS to find new point of sale (POS) software.
2. Heartland sells LiquorPOS to another company. This introduces more questions than answers regarding support, software updates, who can offer merchant services with LiquorPOS,  and, if the new company has their own POS solution, will LiquorPOS users have to migrate to a new POS system?
3. Heartland returns LiquorPOS to the original owner. LiquorPOS was originally not a Heartland product so it is possible that the original team behind LiquorPOS may take it back from Heartland. While this would provide a clearer support path, questions still remaining regarding updates to the software, ongoing support costs, and options for integrated merchant service.

Recommended Actions:

1. Ride it out and see what happens. Pretty big gamble and very high risk to not have a plan should outcome #1 happen. Do you have the time, energy and budget to find a new POS system under a deadline? Would at least doing some pre-planning be smart from a business perspective?
2. Watchful waiting but have a plan in place so you are ready to pull the trigger regarding any of the likely outcomes.
3. Take action now and not have to deal with waiting on any of the possible outcomes (none of the possible outcomes sound all that great anyway given the age and lack of recent updates to LiquorPOS). 

If you are in the Recommended Actions Options #2 and #3 camp:

Start searching now for a liquor store specific POS system. Liquor store specific means that the POS system has all of the unique features and functions that liquor stores require like the following (you can use the list below as a checklist and then zero in on the top 3 candidates to get demos and proposals):

1. Age Verification
2. Parent/Child or Case/Lot Inventory Tracking
3. Deal Planner and Bridge Buying
4. Supplier Integration
5. FinTech Integration
6. Restock Rocket
7. Smart Alerts
8. State Specific Sales Tax (especially if you are in a state with a spirit volume tax)
9. State Specific Reports  
10. Bottle Deposits
11. Wholesale Functions and State Specific Wholesale Reporting
12. POS is Designed ONLY for Beer, Wine and Liquor Stores 
13. Delivery Integrations (if allowed in your state)
14. Product Ranking
15. Dog Inventory Reporting
16. Physical Inventory Count Module
17. Keg Rentals (if you do this)
18. THC Product Sale Compliance  
19. Shelf Tag/Price Tag Printing
20. 24/7 Support
21. Supplier Purchase Planning
22. Multi-Store Capabilities (if you own multiple liquor stores) 
23. Market Basket Reporting
24. Customer Loyalty Program and Gift Cards (of allowed by state law)
25. Role Based Security (keep control over what your employees can and can't do) 

 

 

 

 

New Issues for Microsoft Dynamics RMS Users

 We are just a few weeks away from the July 13th, 2021 official end of life date for the very popular Microsoft Dynamics RMS point of sale software. Based on some recent phone calls and emails that I have had with companies in the US that still plan on supporting RMS, there are a few things that retailers need to be aware of:

1. Plan on support ending for the various plug ins and add-ons for RMS or plan on there being no enhancements to these plug ins and add ons (new versions, bug fixes, etc)
2. Plan on paying double for RMS support - of the few companies that I spoke with, most mentioned charging a premium service rate (eg $135 to $175/hour plus an annual support contract that costs $400 to $1500 for a typical retail store)
3. Plan on longer support response times. With Microsoft no longer offering any resources, each individual company will need to figure out support requests on their own. This could easily take longer for a tech to work through an unusual or unfamiliar support issue/request
4. Any plug ins and add ons for RMS that will not be phased out for another 1-3 years may see a price increase if there is a monthly fee involved. It is just going to cost more to maintain and support anything related to RMS.

Soooo - the idea of using RMS past July 2021 may be less appealing you if support alone costs $1500 a year plus finding someone to support RMS will become more and more challenging over the coming years.

If this is enough to prompt you to take a serious look at replacing RMS, here is a video that might help guide you to which POS system would make a good replacement:  https://youtu.be/fzqc7gmrJ58

Questions, comments, anything that you would want me to share with RMS users in the US? You can reach me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com

 

End of Life Notice Regarding: PAX Terminals & PIN pads

To our Valued Customers and Partners,  

As part of our continued focus toward providing our customers and partners the highest level of service, quality and security, PAX wants to inform you of our plans to End of Life (EOL) certain MT30, S90 GPRS, S90 CDMA and S58, S80 terminals as well as certain R50, SP30 and SP20 Secure PIN pads with PCI versions 2.x and 1.x. Here are the affected part numbers for these models:

• MT30: MT30-00L-052-01EA
• S90 GPRS:S90-SG0-031-01EA, S90-EMG2, S90-EG2
• S90 CDMA: S90-0C0-032-11EA
• S58: S58-M0L-032-01EA
• SP30:SP30-231, SP30- 211A, SP30-00L-132-12EA, SP30-00L-032-13EA
• SP20: SP20-130-4E0
• S80:S80-M0L-063-02EA, S80-EML0, S80-EM0,  S80-M0L-032-11EA
• R50:R50-101-1E0

Note: The S80 (S80-M0L-363-02EA), S90 GPRS (S90-MW0-363-01EA), S90 CDMA (S90-MC0-363-01EA) and SP30 (SP30-00L-263-01EA)with PCI 3.x are not impacted by this announcement.   The important dates listed below signify the termination of device support and availability:  

Final Order Date: PAX will cease taking orders for all configurations of the terminals listed above after April 1, 2017.   

Customers will have the opportunity to submit a final order for the product or for spare parts until the Final Order Date. 

Final Ship Date: PAX's intention is that all orders placed prior to April, 1, 2017 will be shipped no later than April 28, 2017. 

End of Development Date: There will be no new PAX sponsored hardware, application enhancements or software development upon receipt of this notice. Software bug fixes will continue until the End of Service date (below).   

Repair support will be available for customers for two years after the final ship date, as component availability permits, unless otherwise explicitly agreed between PAX and its customers. 

End of Service Date: On April 30^th, 2019, service and repair of all configurations of the aforementioned devices will be discontinued.  Spare parts will not be guaranteed to be available after this date.

PAX recommends and encourages our customers and partners to initiate plans to migrate your end-of-life products and applications to an alternative PAX product. The PAX terminals provide affordable and higher performance successor products that meet today's most stringent PCI security standards. Please contact your local sales person for additional information or visit the PAX web-site at http://paxtechnology.us/#. 

PAX is one of the fastest-growing POS terminal providers in the world. PAX has been serving the global retail marketplace for over ten years and has distribution in over eighty countries shipping over 10 million terminals worldwide in recent years. PAX offers a complete line of products and services supported by extensive R&D capabilities. In addition to a most competitive pricing model, quality assurance is the company's top priority which enables PAX to have a strong advantage in the marketplace.

New Option for RMS/HQ Users - Retail Management Hero

Updated information on Retail Management Hero as a direct replacement for RMS as of December 3rd, 2015: http://retailpospondering.blogspot.com/2015/12/updated-information-on-new-retail.html

New video discussing options for Dynamics RMS and HQ users as of December 5th, 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evVWS7dj0Bs

How to obtain a 30 day trial version of Retail Management Hero: http://www.pospondering.com/2017/01/how-to-obtain-30-day-trial-license-of.html

Wanted to let all of you using the  Microsoft Dynamics RMS point of sale software more about the new Retail Management Hero point of sale software that will be available in late 2015 or early 2016. Please keep in mind that all the information is subject to change as the software is still in development mode.

Retail Management Hero (RMH) is being developed as a solution for single location RMS users and smaller chains using HQ that don't have the size or budget to migrate to Retail Realm Essentials. RMH could truly be considered RMS version 3 as the core database will remain the nearly the same but the user interface will be completely updated and new features will be added.

This is great for RMS users as the plan is that you can transfer your data (inventory, customers, etc) from RMS to RMH.  Even better is that the current plan is to offer free licenses of RMH to RMS users who are current on their software maintenance. Users who have opted not to stay current on their software maintenance will be able to purchase licenses of RMH.

About the only bummer in all of this (for RMS users) is that it appears that RMH will not be available in time to meet the October 1st, 2015 EMV Liability Shift Date in the US. This means that RMS users still need to make arrangements related to EMV along with the associated hardware and software costs.

You can always contact me with any questions related to RMH, RMS or point of sale in general. All advice is free and unbiased (up to 1 hour of my time).

I'm working on getting some screen caps and more details related to RMH and will post more information as it becomes available as I personally know about 700 stores in the US using RMS of which around 15 also use HQ.

Based on the interest from end users as well as Microsoft Partners it looks like the folks at Retail Hero have a goldmine on their hands!  Now they just need to get the software ready for deployment.

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 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.

Future Option for Microsoft Dynamics RMS Point of Sale Users

Update July 2016, Retail Management Hero demo and overview: http://retailpospondering.blogspot.com/2016/07/new-version-of-rmsretail-management.html

Updated information on Retail Management Hero as a direct replacement for RMS as of December 3rd, 2015: http://retailpospondering.blogspot.com/2015/12/updated-information-on-new-retail.html

New video discussing options for Dynamics RMS and HQ users as of December 5th, 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evVWS7dj0Bs

Looking towards the end of 2015 or early 2016, it appears that users of the Microsoft Dynamics RMS point of sale software will have the option to trade up to new point of sale software. The new point of sale software is currently being written with a target release date towards the end of 2015.  This new software will offer features and functions similar to what RMS offers and will be marketed towards single location and small chain retail businesses.

The good news is that the intention is to offer free licenses of the new software to RMS users who are current on their annual software maintenance. If you are not current on your annual software maintenance then licences of the new software can be purchased at $250.00/lane plus required first year maintenance at $215/lane.. The new software licenses are slated to have a license cost similar to an RMS license.

The bad news is that this new point of sale software will not be available until after the EMV Liability Shift Date has passed so current RMS users still need to make plans related to EMV and chip based credit and debit cards.

Of course, if you have not been staying current on your annual RMS software maintenance then you are behind the eight ball already.

My advice remains the same - now is the time to look at your options related to replacing RMS or continuing to invest in RMS.   Don't wait too long or you will end up end the back of line with the thousands of other RMS users who waited until the last minute.

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 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.

Take Aways from the 2015 Retail Realm Conference for Microsoft Dynamics RMS and HQ Users

Updated information on the upcoming Retail Management Hero Software (or what I am coining "RMS 3.0 for 2015 and beyond") can be found here: http://retailpospondering.blogspot.com/2015/06/new-option-for-rmshq-users-retail.html

The recent Retail Realm Conference in April of 2015 helped clarify the current situation related to the Microsoft RMS and HQ point of sale programs. Here are the highlights:

• Sales of RMS to new users will end July 2016
• Extended support for RMS will end July 2021
• Right now complying with the October 1st 2015 EMV Liability Shift Date in the US can only be accomplished using paid third party payment gateways or using payment terminals that are not connected to RMS
• If you do not stay current on your annual software maintenance agreement, you will not qualify for any updates or license swap options for new point of sale programs
• Retail Realm Essentials is a new point of sale program that is a possible replacement option for stores with multiple locations that also currently use HQ.
• Retail Management Hero is a new program under development that is designed for single location RMS users and they will be offering license swap options to RMS users who are current on their annual maintenance. No word on when Retail Management Hero will be available other than that the software presently is about "40% complete". 

There are obviously some trends that you need to be aware of based on the above information:

• If you are not current on your annual maintenance for RMS and/or HQ - your options are very limited for EMV/Chip Cards and switching to Retail Realm Essentials or Retail Management Hero.
• It does not make sense to invest in RMS at this point if you are searching for a point of sale system for your business or organization (would you buy a car if you knew that you could no longer obtain service for it after a specific date?).
• If you are current on your software maintenance then Retail Realm Essentials might be an option if you presently also use HQ and have multiple store locations.
• Retail Management Hero may be a good option for single stores using RMS or stores that do not use or need HQ and are also current on their annual maintenance agreement. However it is not clear when Retail Management Hero will be available.

My advice to RMS and HQ Users:

1. Make a plan for EMV/Chip Cards
2. If not current on software maintenance, look at either replacing RMS or look at the cost to renew your software maintenance
3. Make a plan as to whether you want to keep investing in RMS/HQ, for how long, and whether Retail Realm Essentials or Retail Management Hero are possible replacement programs
4. Look at other point of sale options just to see what might be of interest to you - a lot has changed over the last couple of years and you may find that a much better option exists for your business or organization that is well worth the cost to switch point of sale systems.

If you need some unbiased advice, please visit my contact page for information on how to reach me. I've worked extensively with QuickSell 2000, QuickSell HQ, QuickSell Commerce, Microsoft Dynamics RMS, HQ, and multiple other point of sale programs and apps. Currently I'm offering  advice and information to around 700 stores in the US using RMS of which around 15 also use HQ.

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 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.

Microsoft Dynamics RMS and HQ End of Life

Update July 2016: Since many Microsoft RMS point of sale software would like to keep using RMS for another couple of years but still need to deal with the EMV Liability Shift Date, visit this post for more information on the Card Defender EMV add-on for Microsoft RMS versions 1.3 and higher (and HQ as well): http://retailpospondering.blogspot.com/2016/06/card-defender-emv-add-on-for-microsoft.html

Update July 2016, Retail Management Hero (version 3.X of RMS) demo and overview: http://retailpospondering.blogspot.com/2016/07/new-version-of-rmsretail-management.html

Updated information on Retail Management Hero as a direct replacement for RMS as of December 3rd, 2015: http://retailpospondering.blogspot.com/2015/12/updated-information-on-new-retail.html

New video discussing options for Dynamics RMS and HQ users as of December 5th, 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evVWS7dj0Bs

As you might be seeing some conflicting information related to the status of the Miscosoft Dynamics Retail Management Systems (RMS) and Dynamics Headquarters (HQ) point of sale programs, here are the links to the end of life dates for these programs right on  the Microsoft web site:

For RMS: http://support2.microsoft.com/lifecycle/default.aspx?LN=en-us&x=7&y=14&p1=12198

For HQ: http://support2.microsoft.com/lifecycle/default.aspx?LN=en-us&x=5&y=13&p1=12218

And here is a link to an explanation of what the various lifecycle terms mean: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/LifeBizSolFAQ

1. RMS and HQ will no longer be sold to new customers after July 2016
2. Any product enhancements, updates, fixes, or compliance updates will only be available to users who maintain a paid annual maintenance agreement (your Microsoft Dynamics Partner can provide information on costs - normally the annual fee is around 18% of your initial license cost so if you originally spent $2800 on software license fees then your annual maintenance agreement cost would be 18% of $2800 or $504/year)

I will repeat what I have posted before related to RMS and HQ:

1. If you currently use RMS and/or HQ and are current on your annual maintenance agreement then you have the option to keep using RMS/HQ as long as you stay current on your annual maintenance agreement. I would personally recommend  looking at other point of sale solutions instead of continuing to invest in a point of sale system that is end of life.
2. If you are currently using RMS and/or HQ and are not current on your annual maintenance agreement then you need to explore switching to other point of sale solutions or you need to contact your Microsoft Dynamics Partner to see what the backdate/lapse fee is to bring your annual maintenance agreement current. For example, if you originally spent $2800 on software licenses but have not renewed your annual maintenance agreement in 3 years then you would be looking at spending $1512 (estimate only) to bring your annual maintenance agreement current. While you could technically continue using RMS/HQ without a maintenance agreement, it is extremely likely that some sort of compliance or technology shift will occur (EMV anyone? ) that will render RMS/HQ unusable without incurring significant costs (to the point that you will be spending nearly the same amount as the original cost of the software licensing).  You also have to keep in mind that updating the RMS/HQ software may also render other hardware to be in need of updating (based on real world experience this ends up having a snowball effect and suddenly you are looking at spending $5,000+ to update an outdated point of sale system).
3. If you are searching for your first point of sale system then I would strongly advise against purchasing RMS and/or HQ. As much as I have found RMS and HQ to be amazing point of sale solutions, I would never recommend investing in something that is 'end of life' - especially with EMV coming up in October of this year (2015).

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 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.

Microsoft RMS/HQ End of Life and EMV

Update July 2016: Since many Microsoft RMS point of sale software would like to keep using RMS for another couple of years but still need to deal with the EMV Liability Shift Date, visit this post for more information on the Card Defender EMV add-on for Microsoft RMS versions 1.3 and higher (and HQ as well): http://retailpospondering.blogspot.com/2016/06/card-defender-emv-add-on-for-microsoft.html

Update July 2016, Retail Management Hero (RMS version 3.X) demo and overview: http://retailpospondering.blogspot.com/2016/07/new-version-of-rmsretail-management.html

Updated information on Retail Management Hero as a direct replacement for RMS as of December 3rd, 2015: http://retailpospondering.blogspot.com/2015/12/updated-information-on-new-retail.html

New video discussing options for Dynamics RMS and HQ users as of December 5th, 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evVWS7dj0Bs

Update August 8th, 2015: Blog post and video covering all the options available for RMS users related to EMV: http://retailpospondering.blogspot.com/2015/06/options-for-microsoft-dynamics-rms-and.html

Updated information on the upcoming Retail Management Hero Software (or what I am coining "RMS 3.0 for 2015 and beyond") can be found here: http://retailpospondering.blogspot.com/2015/06/new-option-for-rmshq-users-retail.html


Update January 1st, 2015:

Based on recent conversations with Microsoft and Retail Realm, use of EMV hardware with Microsoft Dynamics RMS Store Operations and HQ will only be available via third party software add-ons (subject to change of course). While this does provide a way for RMS/HQ users to comply with the EMV liability shift, it also means that you will need to pay to use the third party EMV software.

Of course, RMS and HQ are end of life so it make more sense to start planning to replace RMS/HQ with a new point of sale program.

Confused? Contact me for free and unbiased advice.


Since I have been receiving multiple calls and emails related to Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management Systems Store Operations (RMS) and Headquarters (HQ), I wanted to pass along some updates based on what I know so far related to RMS and HQ 'end of life' as well as EMV compatibility.

First, on EMV compatibility:

A forum response from a Microsoft Representative states that there are no plans to upgrade RMS to work with EMV hardware.  However, there is a good chance that a third party will step in and offer some sort of add-on so RMS users can use EMV hardware.  I have heard of some third party RMS EMV apps becoming available but they take a percentage of each transaction.

It is starting to look like RMS and HQ users need to start looking at other options as I question whether it makes sense to invest in a point of sale product whose end of sales and mainstream support date is July of 2016.

Which brings up another possibility related to RMS and HQ:

Given the sheer number of users, as well as all the companies that sell RMS and HQ or offer various enhancements for RMS and HQ, I am hopeful that someone might acquire the rights to coding and database design for RMS and HQ.  I have not heard anything but it seems really strange that a point of sale program used by 40,000+ stores would just be completely retired.

Like I said, I've not heard anything yet but a companies like Retail Realm and New West Technologies stand to loose a lot of revenue if RMS and HQ are retired.

The upside (if a company acquired the rights to RMS and HQ) would be an extremely large existing user base - the downside is that a lot of RMS and HQ users are pretty upset with Microsoft and already making plans to switch to different point of sale programs before October of 2015.  And I don't just mean small single stores but stores with hundreds of locations in the US.

So - anyone interested?  Of course, Microsoft may not be interested in selling the coding and database information for RMS and HQ so this could be a mute point in the end...

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 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.

More Information for Microsoft RMS Users

A quick reminder that sales of Microsoft Dynamics RMS and HQ to new users as well as mainstream support ends next year (2016) so please keep that in mind if you are thinking of purchasing RMS or HQ as point of sale software for your business or organization (not a wise investment at this point).

Another great article related to the recent 2014 Retail Realm conference and the future of Microsoft RMS Store Operations point of sale software:

http://msdynamicsworld.com/story/microsoft-dynamics-retail-essentials-offering-smbs-met-optimism-questions-rms-phase-out-nears

Again, the advice that I am passing along to the folks that I have provided RMS to in the past is to consider these options:

1. If you are current with your annual maintenance agreement, then you can wait and see if switching to Microsoft Retail Essentials makes sense or if you want to look at other point of sale solutions.
2. Aside from support for RMS ending in 2016 or 2021 (depending on your agreement with your Microsoft Partner), there is nothing that would prevent you from continuing to use RMS unless RMS will not be EMV complaint (which would mean that you have until Oct 2015 to replace RMS).
3. If you are not current with your maintenance agreement, then now is a great time to start exploring other point of sale options. 

Note that I am in the process of negotiating some point of sale software and support discounts for all RMS users - whether you continue to use RMS or not. 

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 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.