Microsoft RMS connection validation blueprint

What is the proposed RMS pilot boundary?

No StoreRounds RMS driver is available today. A future pilot agent would use a build-specific schema map and named read-only SQL Server user, minimize approved daily totals locally, and send them outward over an encrypted connection. The controls below are acceptance criteria, not deployed behavior.

Where does RMS keep its data, and why can't a cloud tool read it?

Microsoft Dynamics RMS, sold as Store Operations for the store and Headquarters for the chain, is built on the Microsoft SQL Server database platform.¹ In a typical shop that database lives on a back-office computer in the store, often on the free SQL Server Express edition, with the registers writing transactions to it over your local network. Your sales are in a database on a machine you control, not in a vendor's cloud with an open connection port.

RMS is also discontinued. Microsoft ended mainstream support in 2016 and extended support in 2021, and it is no longer sold.² That is exactly why the cloud cannot help you here. The platforms that pull reporting from their own hosted systems were never going to build a modern connection into a Microsoft product Microsoft itself retired. The data still works, it still runs your registers, and it is still yours. It just sits somewhere a cloud dashboard cannot reach. A read-only database user is the honest way to read it.

How could a future pilot work in a store with several registers?

A possible pilot topology would place an approved RMS-specific edge agent near the back-office SQL Server database and allow outbound-only transport to StoreRounds. The diagram is a design target, not a deployed connection.

Two facts worth repeating, because they are the whole security story:

• A future pilot agent would have to read over the local network and send only reviewed, minimized fields.
• The connection to StoreRounds is started from inside your store, going out. Your firewall does not need a new inbound rule. There is no port for an outsider to knock on.

What would a future RMS pilot have to validate?

Five stages. Each ends with a verify step, so you never move on wondering whether the last part worked. Stage 1 is the database login and is the only stage that touches SQL. If your IT person handles the database, send them stage 1 and do the rest yourself.

-- 1. Create a server login with a strong password.
USE [master];
CREATE LOGIN [storerounds_ro] WITH PASSWORD = '<STRONG_PASSWORD>',
     CHECK_POLICY = ON;
GO

-- 2. Map it to a user inside your RMS database.
USE [<RMS_DB>];
CREATE USER [storerounds_ro] FOR LOGIN [storerounds_ro];
GO

-- 3. FUTURE PILOT ONLY: grant SELECT on the tables a validated adapter would read.
--    These are the RMS transaction and store objects from your
--    setup screen. Do NOT add this user to db_datareader (reads all).
GRANT SELECT ON OBJECT::dbo.<SALES_DOC_TABLE>  TO [storerounds_ro];
GRANT SELECT ON OBJECT::dbo.<SALES_LINE_TABLE> TO [storerounds_ro];
GRANT SELECT ON OBJECT::dbo.<TENDER_TABLE>     TO [storerounds_ro];
GRANT SELECT ON OBJECT::dbo.<STORE_TABLE>      TO [storerounds_ro];
GO

-- 4. Belt and suspenders: explicitly deny anything that changes data.
DENY INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, EXECUTE, ALTER, CONTROL TO [storerounds_ro];
GO

How would an RMS pilot prove it read the right store and numbers?

A founder-assisted pilot would select one approved store and closed sales day, retrieve totals through the build-specific driver, and compare them with the owner's trusted RMS report. The driver must remain unsupported until those values match and the owner confirms the definitions.

To pass the read-back test

1. A future pilot operator would initiate one approved closed-date read-back for a named store. That control does not exist for customers today.
2. In RMS, open that store's Z-report or Sales Summary / batch report for the same date.
3. Compare gross sales, transaction count, and the cash and card split. They should match to the cent.
4. If a future pilot matches, the owner would confirm the reconciliation. Only then could the connection be marked verified and a first Morning Flash be scheduled.

What if something goes wrong?

The common failures and what fixes them. Open the one that matches what you see.

How must a future RMS pilot prove revocation?

Access is yours to end at any time, with no notice and no call. You have two independent switches, and either one alone stops the flow of data. Use both to remove every trace.

Switch 1: turn off the connector

The future pilot would need a verified pause, unpair, and uninstall path that removes its working credential. No such customer control is live today.

Switch 2: drop the database user

Dropping the dedicated read-only SQL Server login is the source-side stop. A future pilot must prove that an attempted read then fails closed.

USE [<RMS_DB>];
DROP USER [storerounds_ro];
GO
USE [master];
DROP LOGIN [storerounds_ro];
GO

Frequently asked questions

Status for every answer below: no production RMS adapter is live. These answers describe the intended pilot boundary and must be proven on a real store.