COMDDAP DAVAO '09

COMDDAP DAVAO

Last July 3, 2009 at one o’clock in the afternoon I arrived at the Grand Ballroom of Apo View Hotel to join the COMDDAP (Computer Manufacturers, Distributors, and Dealers Association of the Philippines) Davao Expo 2009. As I entered the hall as expected there are a lot of exhibitors and participants are already inside. At past one or two o’clock we went to a room where the seminar by the Nexus Group of Companies had been held. At first, I thought that there would be a lot of people who would be gathered in that room. When I went in, the room was so small; I think our rooms in our school are a lot way bigger than that room. So much for that, after signing the registration sheet I find a chair where I would sit. I sat on the second row. After a few minutes the first exhibitor started his talk.
The product is about a Dealer Management System which had features of:
• Monitor Sales Executive Activities
• Sales lead monitoring from initial inquiry to actual close
• Sales quotation processing
• Supports sales of new and used vehicles
• Multiple pricing and discounting schemes
• Financing and insurance transactions
• Vehicle reservation and deposit collection
• Vehicle inventory
• Customer incident and resolution recording
• Interface to manufacturer system
• Reports and queries
• Highly graphical technician assignments and loading window
• Customer appointments
• Repair orders and estimates
• Customer/vehicle service history
• Technician Time-in/Time-out
• Parts requisitioning and Picking
• Control Parts and Consumables cost
ERIC DMS by Jupiter Systems, Incorporated is an end-t-o-end software solution for automotive sales, parts and service businesses. ERIC DMS covers the full range of dealer activities-from marketing to sales and services. At first his presentation was quite boring for me since I can hardly relate to this topic. When he showed some screenshots of the system I had started to have interest. My classmates and I were wondering what programming language did they use, how many employees developed that system, how many months or years have they spend before they have finished that system which had so many features. I also wondered how they put a check box in their tables. The user interface was very simple. After about an hour I guess the presentation was done. The exhibitor asked if there would be some questions, as what I have expected there are a very few questions, since most of the participants where students.

The next exhibitor talked about HP Thin Clients. I was excited about this topic since I’m fond computers. But this is not just an ordinary computer. Thin clients are made in exchange of the old school system units. It is best used for libraries, internet kiosks, companies who need a very low downtime such as banks, call centers and the like. This thin client is also eco-friendly; its size is a lot way smaller than the old school system units which require smaller boxes and minimum use of Styrofoam, it has no hard drive, fan or other moving parts, and it uses less power which is great. Viruses couldn’t attack the system since it has no hard drives. Sudden block outs without saving your work will not be a problem since the client is connected to the server. The presenter talks quite faster than a usual presenter which is great since I was getting sleepy that time. After explaining about the thin client a question and answer was held. Lots of prizes have been given away. The questions were so easy to answer I tried to raise my hand but I haven’t called even once. It is okay though I haven’t been called, I learned a lot from that presentation. After the presentation most my classmates left the room since they aren’t registered to that exhibit. I went out for awhile signed

The third exhibitor talked about Window Server 2008. I found the presentation boring for me because just like the first presentation I can hardly relate to the topic. The product is used for companies who have a lot of branches around the world. By using this system you could do your inventory remotely. When his presentation had ended another questions and answer had been done. There were only a few questions, the participants doesn’t seem have interests on that topic I guess, and also as usual the participants where students, they wouldn’t need that kind of software. It was the shortest presentation among the four, since they are running out of time and there is still one more exhibitor who have not presented yet.

The last exhibitor talked about Open Source, he is from the Spinweb Production Incorporated. I was interested at this topic since this is our topic in our Elective subject. The presentation was fun, we were asked to name some icons, some of which are new to me while some are not. A short history of Open Source had been discussed, who is the founder of Open Source. He asked the participants what comes on our mind when we say Open Source. Some answered free software, free license, free to study and a lot more. He showed some websites which they have developed. The presenter had asked the participants who among us had developed a website or who had some knowledge about doing it. Two guys had raised their hand. They were asked to estimate how many days they could finish a project doing it from scratch. After a couple of minutes, the guys were done estimating, one of them estimated for about 60 days and the other is about 30 days. The presenter said with the use of open source they could finish the project within I guess that was 15 days. He added if there would be some existing software that could help you why not make use of it. After the presentation he asked the participants if there would be some questions, an interesting question had been asked. The question is about open source versus proprietary software. For me, both answers were right, it would only matter how they would make use of the software.

About five o’clock in the afternoon the seminar had ended. That day was fun and educational as well. I’m looking forward for some seminars like this again.