Retail Applications Ship Second Versions

New versions of Dynamics Point of Sale (POS) and Retail Management System (RMS) improve store operations for small and midsize retailers. POS 2.0 and RMS 2.0 share a common code base and support point-of-sales operations: POS is meant for single-store retailers, whereas RMS is intended for retailers with multiple stores. In addition, POS 2.0 comes packaged with Office Accounting Professional 2007, the latest version of Microsoft’s entry-level accounting application. By bundling POS with Office Accounting Microsoft hopes to get a leg up on Intuit, which sells similar point-of-sale software but does not package that software with its QuickBooks accounting applications.

What’s New?

A Jan. 2007 announcement highlighted several new features in POS 2.0 and RMS 2.0 and described a new product bundle offered in partnership with electronic payment processing provider First Data and OEM Hewlett Packard (HP).

Improved inventory, purchasing features for RMS. RMS 2.0 improves synchronization of store-level cost data between the product’s Store Operations and Headquarters modules, which will help large retailers with multiple store locations better track and report item costs. The release also includes several new features for managing and working with purchase orders: among others, users can export purchase orders to Word and Excel to more easily customize them.