PayThyme - a New Deal in payroll software

or

Breaking the rules of commercial software development

~

Why and how we developed a new Free Software payroll

~

John Pinner

Clockwork Software Systems

john@clocksoft.com

Why a New Payroll ?

To provide a complete Open Source Business Solution
More than That
Multi-Platform
Based on Open Standards
Independent
- (of other systems)
Predictable Costs

These next four slides are from our internal meeting in Fall 2002

They show what we were planning.

Target Market

Any Size Payroll
- 30 - 10,000
Differentiated by Service Level
- Support type/response
- Manuals
- Training
- Startup/Shutdown

It'll be interesting to see if we have achieved any of our objectives!

What are we Offering ?

Multi-Platform Capability
Long-term Maintainability
Predictable Costs
- Determined by the Client
- Independent of other influences
Hassle-free Migration
- In and Out

These were our objectives. It has to be said that these were all things we thought customers would want.

Business Model

Major Income from Support
Startup
- Import of Data
Training
Day-to-Day Support
- Level chosen by Client
  - Pay-as-you-Go
  - Guaranteed Response (size-dependent)
- Annual Upgrades
Shutdown
- Export of Data
Support through the whole life of the payroll

The question was always going to be 'How do we make a living out of it?'

What's different about PayThyme ?

No baggage
- no need to maintain compatibility with legacy systems
Technology
- a modern operating system
- latest programming techniques
  - object-oriented, modular, multi-platform
- good for long-term support
Licensing
- no restrictions on users
- business model concentrates on support

Starting with a blank piece of paper, we had no legacy restrictions, either technically or commercially.

Licensing

PayThyme is Free Software
- licensed under the GNU General Public Licence
Gives the consumer rights
- The right to use the program
- The right to study and modify it
- The right to copy and redistribute it
- The right to improve it and make improvements available
Gives the user security
- long term maintainability

PayThyme is licensed under the GPL, which gives the user rights which simply don't apply under normal commercial licenses. And it protects us, the software authors, as well.

Payroll Annoyances

You have exceeded...

the number of Client Access Licences for your system

Payroll is a natural for restrictive licencing...

Payroll Annoyances

You have exceeded...

the number of Client Access Licences for your system

annoying users...

Payroll Annoyances

Contact MegaProfit Corp to licence more users

The solution is consistent...

Payroll Annoyances

You have exceeded...

the number of Employees you are allowed

the number of Companies you are allowed

You have moved your payroll to another computer

You are not allowed to run it on this system !

even insistent...

Payroll Annoyances

It's all your fault !

Contact MegaProfit Corp to licence more stuff

it's always the user's fault!

PayThyme - the payroll

Powerful
Comprehensive
Scalable
- PayThyme grows with your business
Payroll people like it

Let's look at the payroll

PayThyme - current status

Version 1 under test since April 2003
- Durham bakery with over 600 weekly paid employees
- Smaller payrolls (3-30)
- Single company, single payroll
Version 2 now in use, since August 2004
v2 is the first full release
- Capable of multi-payroll operation
Version 2.1 will be Inland Revenue Accredited
- including Internet Filing

Getting to the point we are now has taken a while.

Marketing PayThyme

Initially we are supplying 'Payroll in a Box'
- Complete turnkey IBM hardware and software solution
- Fits in well with clients' security perceptions
- A nice way of introducing open systems
Entry-level system - less than £1500
- Support for 50 employees
Higher level systems
- Spec'd to client's requirements
Support, Training, Custom Implementation

When it comes to marketing the product, we're going for the same payroll regardless of size, then we'll get our income from supporting it

Marketing PayThyme

The turnkey system is our preferred method of delivery
- best deal for the client
- what we're starting with
Shrink-wrapped PayThyme will come later
- Red Hat/Fedora, SuSE, Debian Linux
- maybe Windows ?
  - should we support a legacy OS ?
PayThyme source is available for download
- online payment facilities for support ?

We're taking it steady in the way we sell PayThyme, starting with a complete hardware and software payroll system, which we call "Payroll in a Box". That way we maintain control of what we are delivering and supporting.

Could you make money out of it ?

By supplying PayThyme
- as part of a business system
By supporting PayThyme
- cutting us out of the loop
By selling Clockwork support
- taking a percentage

As PayThyme is available under the GPL for free download, Clockwork aren't the only people who could benefit from it.

We Broke The Rules

There are no user restrictions
- No limits on numbers of users
- No limits on numbers of employees
- No limits on numbers of payrolls
  - create a new payroll at any time
All of these are classic ways proprietary software maximises income
We are selling support and trust...
...not licences or intellectual property

Payroll is a natural for restrictive licencing...

We Broke The Rules

There are no user restrictions
- No limits on numbers of users
- No limits on numbers of employees
- No limits on numbers of payrolls
  - create a new payroll at any time
All of these are classic ways proprietary software maximises income
We are selling support and trust...
...not licences or intellectual property
And we are giving it away!
- Available for free download from www.paythyme.org.uk
Maybe we're just barking mad!

and we are breaking the rules by not imposing these restrictions.

PayThyme - a Glimpse

Let's take a look...

In the live presentation we have a look at PayThyme, you can get a feel for the product from our website www.paythyme.com where you will find screenshots, FAQ's and general information.

PayThyme Development

Started in December 2002
Deployed April 2003
- without testing!
- and yes, everyone got paid
Three main developers
- Located in Birmingham, Hexham and Durham
- Central code repository in Birmingham
- Initially CVS, then subversion

This was a first attempt at remote development, it worked well, thanks to a well-defined interface.

PayThyme Development Platform

Entirely Open
Various flavours of GNU/Linux
- Fedora
- Debian/Ubuntu
- SuSE Linux
Python
C
Qt/PyQt
Clockwork's own Thyme development environment

The fantastic development facilities of Linux and Python allowed us to get the first version running very quickly...

PayThyme Development - Tools Used

Languages
- Python - for the GUI user interface
- C - for the calculation engine
GUI
- Qt - multi-platform toolkit from Trolltech (C++)
- PyQt - wraps Qt in Python
- Qt Designer - fantastic screen designer
Filing System
- Thyme-ISAM - fast and efficient
- written in C
- API exposed to Python via C Python extension module

...and Thyme helped as well, with its data-aware widgets and program and screen generation tools.

In the presentation, we look at the tools, with a little live program development.

PayThyme Development - Tools Used

Thyme Environment - all Python
- Python filing system API
- Single master program for file maintenance
- Screen and program generators
- Makes extensive use of the table definitions (.ted)
- Set of data-aware widgets
  - Automatically linked to file data fields
Python - powerful, open, and productive

Python is a major benefit.

Finally...

Thanks for listening

Any Questions ?