The OpenVPMS VPMS product will, in the majority of circumstances, have a different look and feel compared to your current software but many of the everyday functions will look familiar.

On this basis users will need to be retrained but due to the intuitive design we believe the retraining process will be quite straight forward.

Some core training material will be available from the OpenVPMS web site and will be enhanced over time by developer and user contributions. Commercial Training services will also be available from accredited service providers.

Yes. You can customise the software.

You are free to contribute to the existing open source products that OpenVPMS provides as part of the subscription or you, or a contracted developer, can develop new proprietary applications that utilise the Open VPMS kernel information.

The only stipulation is any contribution to the OpenVPMS open source projects must remain open source and available to all parties.

No one can give a cast iron guarantee of reliability and quality but we can say that product reliability is one of the guiding principles of all of the OpenVPMS products. This is one of the reasons we have chosen an open source development model as it opens up the source code to continuous external scrutiny and by nature, tends to deliver higher quality and better performing products.

This is a difficult question as it depends on the age and architecture of your current hardware.

The OpenVPMS Server will be best installed on new server hardware, however as it exclusively uses open source software, the cost of the server will be purely hardware and setup costs.

It has been designed for network rather than serial operation, so some Netvet users will need to update some of their older workstations and cabling.

Most of the existing printers will operate as is. Due to the server operating using network rather than serial communications some users may need to purchase print servers for some of their printers (specifically label printers).

Overall the compatibility costs will be significantly lower than an equivalent upgrade to other applications.

If you wish to get a more specific understanding of what hardware your practice will need to upgrade please contact Tony De Keizer from Vertical Connect

As the support for Netvet dwindles, any practice using this software becomes vulnerable to data loss. As anyone who has suffered a hard disk crash or system failure has experienced, the damage to the practice and loss of data can be disastrous and the effects are long felt.

Netvet, whilst having a lifetime that most software products would be envious of, does have limitations in terms of its ability to change and grow in order to meet VPMS requirements into the future. For example, interacting with financial software, direct exchange with silicon chip registries, drug wholesalers and pathology labs, web interaction and heaven forbid, any changes to the tax system!