Using DOS to collect information

[akeuler]

So here's the situation:

I work at a retailer that still uses DOS on the registers. Many people have suggested upgrading the register system to something more modern for efficiency and so we can collect useful data on purchases, but to no avail. I was wondering if there was a way we could write a program on DOS to collect a bunch of information on purchases and store them on a disk or other storage device. We're looking to collect stuff like average purchase amount, average number of items, which cashier does what kind of sales, etc. Does anyone have ideas on how we could go about doing this or have any experience with this kind of thing?

Thanks,
Andrew

[foxidrive]

DOS is a single tasking system and is probably what the registers use.
You can't run another program to collect any data at the same time as the POS system is running.

If the POS system writes data and you want to post-process it, then that's possible - if the data format is known.