Many companies continue to use legacy Delphi applications because an update can seem like a daunting and complex process. This was the case for the British company Point Four EPoS Solutions. Their crucial back-office application, EMS (EPoS Management System), ran on Delphi 6. Till now! In collaboration with GDK Software, this application has now been fully modernized.
Point Four is a market-leading software house in the UK and Ireland. “We have over 35 years experience providing Electronic Point of Sale (EPoS) solutions within the Retail Grocery and Forecourt marketplace,” says Alan Ridler, Head of Development at Point Four. “I, myself have been with the business for 25 years and now have responsibility for the development and testing teams. We design and develop our own software, including our Back Office Delphi application, as well as offering integrations to various third-party equipment and service providers.”
Point Four’s back-office application is indispensable for their customers. “Over 1200 outlets use EMS daily for business functions to run and operate their store, to manage products and prices, stock control and to raise orders,” Ridler continues. “EMS is just one part of our software suite, which includes amongst others our Head Office application (MMS), Cloud Reporting application (CMS) and Point of Sale / Self-Checkout application (TouchPoS).”
EMS has been developed and maintained for over twenty years. While the application was always well-kept, the jump from Delphi 6 to a modern version was a long time coming. “Continuing to develop in a legacy version of Delphi restricts us from utilizing newer features in the IDE, and is also a challenge when bringing in new team members who are not familiar with Delphi 6,” Ridler explains. “Upgrading is a considerably quicker and more cost-effective approach than rebuilding from scratch.”
Alan Ridler, Head of Development at Point Four
To realize the migration to Delphi 12, Point Four reached out to GDK Software. Ridler: “Initial contact was made via the website and following the initial enquiries we arranged for Marco to visit us for a consultation. Marco was very open and transparent when we discussed our options, and this gave us the confidence to decide to work with GDK on the Delphi 12 migration. We found the collaboration seamless. From Corne on the project management side to Tranquilo who did the majority of the migration, communication was clear and expectations were met.”
Ridler is highly satisfied with the execution: “It was a pleasure for the team and I to work with Tranquilo. Very friendly, knowledgeable and who clearly cares and takes pride in the work he’s providing. I think we found a good way of working together where any issues were clearly communicated meaning they were resolved quickly and efficiently.”
The new application was delivered in stages, allowing Point Four to test each component thoroughly. “The staged delivery allowed us to test incrementally on each version received until both sides were happy that any outstanding points were resolved and the project could be considered completed. The handover to our team was smooth and problem free. In our industry you can’t stand still and always need to be improving the software for our customers. Although we don’t currently have any other projects which we need assistance with, we wouldn’t hesitate to engage GDK again. Professional and trustworthy, personally and as an organization.”
Contact
GDK Software NL
(+31) 78 750 1661GDK Software UK
(+44) 20 3355 4470