Stem Software
The web-based ERP for running retailers, supermarkets and restaurants that Stem Software is built around. I built it from an empty repository as CTO: its only developer for the first four years, then the one who scaled out the team. It is still selling.
The company
Stem Software is a Cape Town company whose product is an ERP for running retailers, supermarkets and restaurants. I was its CTO from April 2003 to October 2011 and built that product, which the company is still based around and still sells.
How it was built
For the first four years I was the only developer, working with technicians I trained up. Then I scaled out the development team.
I did the requirements gathering, the design, the architecture and the development, and built the deployment and support tools. Then I taught everyone else how to support the product and work on it.
The product
A Java web application on a customised version of Enhydra, with a custom-built, high-performance ORM over PostgreSQL. The DevOps tooling was written in Python.
Its modules covered the running of the business:
- Cash-out
- Purchasing and inventory management
- Automated bank reconciliation
- Cash-flow management
- Accounting integration
- Labour tracking
- Recipe management
- Menu management
- Operational management
- Reporting