Smart Point of Sale & Inventory System (AI Integrated)

Desktop retail point-of-sale and inventory control software built on Visual Basic .NET, with a DeepSeek integration that turns the sales ledger into plain-language business analysis without leaving the till.

Highlights

• AI analytics inside a WinForms application — the ModuleAI component calls DeepSeek directly from the desktop client, so sales trend forecasting and stock insight appear in the same window as the transaction screen rather than in a separate reporting tool.
• A database that is a file, not a service — Microsoft Access over OleDb means no database server to install, license, or keep running on a shop counter. Backing the system up is copying one file, and moving it to another machine is the same operation.
• Newtonsoft.Json because of the runtime it targets — .NET Framework 4.7.2 has no built-in modern JSON serializer, so the API payloads are handled by the library that fills that gap on this platform.
• Accountability built into the data model — every operation against inventory and cash is written to an audit log, so a stock discrepancy can be traced to an operator and a moment rather than argued about.
• Waste tracked as a first-class category — spoilage and expense are recorded distinctly from sales, which is what keeps inventory reconciling in a retail context where not every item leaves through the till.
• Reporting kept optional — Crystal Reports is supported rather than required, so the application still runs where that dependency is not installed.

Key Features

1. Cashier operations — sales transaction logging and receipt generation.
2. Inventory control — master item records, stock intake, and waste/expense tracking.
3. AI business insights — conversational analysis of business trends drawn from the recorded transactions.
4. User authentication — operator accounts controlling who can perform which operations.
5. Audit trail — a complete operational log across inventory and cash movements.
6. Optional printed reporting — Crystal Reports as a supported output path.

Tech Stack

• Visual Basic .NET (.NET Framework 4.7.2)
• Windows Forms (WinForms)
• Microsoft Access (MDB via OleDb)
• DeepSeek API (ModuleAI)
• Newtonsoft.Json
• Crystal Reports (optional reporting engine)

Status & Maturity

In progress — an internal development branch with the core cashier and inventory functionality verified, and the AI analytics module integrated. It is the only project in this catalogue on the .NET stack, and the only one using a file-based database, both chosen for deployment onto ordinary Windows machines in shops with no server and no IT support. There is no automated test suite.

Measured Metrics