[seul-edu] Fw: Re: Open Source Financial Management and HR Software for School Districts

[Douglas Loss <dloss@suscom.net>]

Here's a response from Dave Davis to the message I posted here
(which was a response to his initial contact).  If you reply to
this, please include Dave (ded@smtp.rdasys.com) as a CC.

On Fri, 02 Mar 2001, Dave Davis wrote:
> Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2001 09:52:37 -0500
> To: dloss@suscom.net
> From: Dave Davis <ded@smtp.rdasys.com>
> CC: David Tidd <dctidd@rdasys.com>, Barry Marshall
> <bjm@rdasys.com>
> Sender: ded@smtp.rdasys.com
> Subject: Re: Open Source Financial Management and HR Software
> for School  Districts
> 
> Douglas Loss wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, 01 Mar 2001, Dave Davis wrote:
> >
> > > Mr. Loss;
> > >
> > > RDA Systems recently (01/2001) licensed its
> MicroBUDGET-GUI
> > > and Xpert
> > > software under the open source model.  Our web address is
> > > www.rdasys.com.
> > >
> > > RDA has been providing software for school districts since
> > > 1980 and
> > > currently has around 250 districts in 20 states from ME to
> AZ
> > > using our
> > > products.  In addition, in 1989 RDA was awarded a contract
> to
> > > provide
> > > financial management and hr software to LEA's in VA by the
> > > VADOE.
> > > Currently we are in the 5th contract extension with the
> VADOE.
> > >
> > > RDA is interested in supporting open source software for
> > > school
> > > districts and would like your input on how we might
> > > participate with
> > > SEUL/EDU to this end.
> > >
> > > Looking forward to hearing from you.
> > >
> > > Dave Davis
> > > President
> > >
> > >
> > I've completely quoted your message because I've copied it
> to
> > the seul-edu mailing list.  I'm happy to hear from you! 
> When
> > you say "interested in supporting open source software for
> > school districts," how do you intend that?  Do you mean
> > specifically the open source software that you've developed,
> or
> > all open source software that might be useful to schools?  I
> > haven't had a chance to look at your website yet, but I
> think
> > having some sort of data interchange format that is widely
> used
> > between open source software could be useful.  One of our
> > subscribers, Bruno Vernier (a teacher from British
> Columbia),
> > has been following the IMS and SIF efforts at developing
> such
> > formats, and has done a good bit of work on wuch a format of
> his
> > own (EduML).  Bruno, could you give you thoughts here too?
> >
> > I hope the members of the seul-edu mailing list will have
> smoe
> > useful and interesting ideas on how we might be able to work
> > with RDA to foster the use of Linux and open source
> applications
> > in the schools.  Let's hear from you, folks!
> >
> > --
> > Doug Loss           The art of medicine consists of amusing
> the
> > dloss@suscom.net    patient while nature cures the disease.
> > (570) 326-3987             Voltaire
> 
> Mr. Loss:
> 
> Thank you for your quick response.
> 
> In regards to your question about supporting open source
> software for
> schools, our resources, at least during business hours, will
> need to be
> focused on our products.  We have made a committment to our
> current
> client base to support and enhance MicroBUDGET-GUI and Xpert
> that we
> will honor.  As you learn more about MicroBUDGET-GUI and Xpert
> you will
> appreciate the scope of the project.  I am open to RDA
> contributing in
> other projects, though as president of a for-profit company, I
> am sure
> you can appreciate that I must consider RDA's roi.  This open
> source
> concept is still somewhat new to us.
> 
> Another way we might be of service would be to provide casual
> email
> linux support.  RDA has invested in linux and have a
> substantial
> knowledge base.  We  know and use samba, vnc and suse.  Most
> districts
> do not have linux trained staff so RDA does the server setup
> and much of
> the networking.  And as you know, once a linux server is
> configured and
> installed it just keeps on ticking.  Those nt folks just have
> not quite
> grasped that concept.  We use Hummingbird's Exceed X-server
> software on
> the wintel workstations, though I am looking for an open
> source or less
> expensive alternative.
> 
> Though RDA is well established, it is not a large company and
> I would
> like to get the word out to the school districts about our
> offerings.
> I think this can be a win/win situation.  Do you have any
> suggestions?
> 
> Our developers are already researching the EduML and XML data
> interchange formats.  Our applications are built using our
> open source
> 5GL tool set and the plan is to develop a generic tool that
> creates data
> imports/exports in the XML format.  Our VP of Research and
> Development,
> David Tidd, has joined sourceforge and his investigations are
> ongoing.
> Currently, we are not getting any requests from our users in
> this area,
> though I understand  this is the direction of the industry and
> RDA strives to be on the leading edge.  The release of our GTK
> version
> (vs. motif)  is one of our  priorities at the moment.
> 
> Our web site was recently redone and not completely finished. 
> Are they
> ever?  April is the target for having our download facility
> functional.
> In the meantime, if someone is in a rush, for a small admin
> fee we could
> burn and mail a cd.
> 
> Thanks for your help and I look forward to working with you in
> the
> future.
> 
> Sincerely
> Dave Davis
> 
> 
> 
-- 
Doug Loss           The art of medicine consists of amusing the
dloss@suscom.net    patient while nature cures the disease.
(570) 326-3987             Voltaire