All Access Package of Embarcadero

6^Th July 2009

Hosted By:

Embarcadero Technologies and Saltmarch collaboration

Speakers:

1. Philip Rathle (Director of Product Management, Embarcadero.)
2. Manish Gupta(CIO of Healthcare Global Enterprise)

As an important member of industry, Embarcadero Technologies invited to an exclusive dinner presentation by Mr. Manish Gupta, the CIO of Healthcare Global Enterprise Inc and Philip Rathle, Director of Product Management, Embarcadero in collaboration with Saltmarch media on 6^th July 2009.

Having affordable access to the right tools at the right time has never been more important, especially with today’s intense scrutiny on budgets and expectations to do more with less. Theme was further split into three sessions where Mr. Philip Rathle started with an opening speech which focussed on the impact of Global Business by the changing IT environment.

The second session focussed on the strategies for reviving from the current recession where a detailed elaboration of making right decision at right time for the corporate success which was given by Mr. Manish Gupta, CIO of healthcare Global Enterprise Inc.

In this current scenario where every industry has been affected by some or other ways during recession times. This has also resulted the IT industry and research and developments to come under scrutiny. This has further led to handle more roles and responsibilities for every individual. Major challenge faced is requirement of right tools for ensuring that the responsibilities are handled in a better way. So, the process of requiring the tools is time taking and costly. The major challenges faced for this are:

1. Giving Right tools to Right people.
2. Complexity of the systems.

In the product life cycle where major time required is in the implementation phase or the development phase, the developers roles come into key feature. Some of the facts or the parameters are listed below that maximizes the productivity of the developer:

1. Architecture and Design.
2. Coding and decoding.
3. Performance Tuning.
4. Change Management.

After the development phase, the roles and responsibilities of architectures and testers come into limelight where the application needs to be tested and the architecture has to be defined.

To manage the synchronization of the work we need the following tools:

1. Commercial tools
2. Open source.
3. Home-grown tools.
4. Manual work or ad-hoc works.

These all above have lot of challenges involved. Some of them are listed below:

1. Budget.
2. Evaluation.
3. Procurement.
4. License Management.
5. Provisioning.
6. Upgradation and Maintenance.

Once an organization faces these challenges the results are unexpected and unwanted. Some of the results are mentioned below:

1. All people can not have all access due to the hierarchical constraints
2. Due to the point above separate tool has to be given at every hierarchy level hence this leads to cost overrun.
3. This further leads to creation of paradox where in quality might reduce the cost but “it itself is a cost”.

Here it’s necessary to know how to reduce cost and ensuring the productivity remains the same. Basically there are 4 ways of controlling cost.

1. Vendor consolidation. This approach basically symbolizes of getting the right vendor at right time.
2. Product Consolidation: This approach mainly focuses on choosing the right product.
3. License Management: This approach mainly concentrates on centralization and optimization of the applications and segregating at one place.
4. Improving the software delivery model.

To overcome all these challenges Embarcadero All-Access provides all the application development and database tools you need-when you need them-across all major platforms, frameworks, and programming languages. It’s the single, cost-effective toolbox solution for developers, architects, performance testers, and DBAs.

All-Access provides you with industry-leading database tools, including DBArtisan®, Rapid SQL ®, ER/Studio®, and many more. It also provides powerful application development tools, including Delphi®, JBuilder®, C++Builder®, the InterBase® SMP database, and more. Embarcadero package is cost effective as it needs only one time installation and is a one time purchase and license.

All-Access is designed to help you reduce both the costs and complexity of acquiring, using, and managing your tools. For the first time, you can get a multi-platform toolbox that’s complete enough and flexible enough to serve multiple roles, empowering users to design things right, build them faster, and run them better-regardless of their target platform. Supported database platforms, programming languages, frameworks, and roles include:

Databases:	Oracle, IBM® DB2, Sybase®, Microsoft® SQL Server, InterBase® SMP, MySQL®
Languages & Frameworks:	C++, Delphi®, Java™, PHP, Ruby™, ANSI SQL, Procedural SQL, UML®, HTML, XML, BPMN, Data Lineage, ERD
Application & Database Roles:	Developers, Architects, Performance Testers, and DBAs

The major advantage of All-access is that it has only one pass which unlocks al products and all languages and all roles for better administration. Moreover, it is “On Demand” software with “Instant On”. It has instant application availability hence reduces the cycle time to run and deploy in the systems. It is cost effective as the installation cost is zero and its just “click and run” package. Moreover it is self continued and inherently built for avoiding any conflicts.

The complete package becomes advantageous in the long run as it requires only one license and hence reduces the licensing cost. Moreover it enhances the productivity of the organisation as it gives all access at each hierarchal level. Not only this, it also makes deployment easier as it’s a “one time” installation and is a just “click and run” package.

To avail all access packages, it has been further categorized into four types of membership namely:

1. Gold
2. Silver
3. Bronze
4. Platinnum.

Year 2009 faced heat of recession which in turn led every organization to think on different measures to survive and overcome from the situation across each industry verticals. In this economic climate, making the right decision at the right time has never been more important for corporate success – or even survival. In the current scenario every verticals has been hit in different manner hence they have to re-think and re-look on their IT spending. This has directly affected the IT industry and various cost cutting approaches had to be taken like reducing the cap-ex and op-ex of the organization. Many companies also focussed on innovation and coming out of new methods and techniques for cost optimization.

IT spending by any organization has to be re-looked and more focus has to be given on the value gained by IT spending. IT might be looked as a spent but it also plays a role of strategic contributor. It also acts as an enabler of business improvement and the process efficiency.

In present days where technology has been moving at its par, its essential to focus on data security and compliance because the data breaches are increasing in frequency every year. Moreover the compliance requirements are soaking up IT industry. Security and compliance becomes essential at every phase of SDLC. This can be achieved by various methods like SOX/COBIT which provides a list of 34 high level IT control objectives. Another approach for continuous compliance is to follow PIT guidelines where one should know what all the necessary data which has to be collected and this would further lead to minimization of collection and storage. One of the major approaches is of PCI where one can build and maintain a secure network. It also enables in protecting the card holder where it become easy to track, monitor and maintain the security policy.

Architecture of Open Source ERP Tools.

There are probably as many definitions of software architecture as there are people defining it. Most of them begin by stating that software architecture is the general structure of a system, or that it maps the requirements of a system onto specific design or implementation decisions. From the very beginning of any project, it is extremely important to maintain fluent communications among the various stakeholders in a software system. During the requirements analysis and subsequent reviews, the stakeholders are able to specify their most significant requirements. But, this can be an unstable basis for the project if each group of stakeholders is unsure whether its needs have been understood correctly. Average users, for instance, might not be able to understand use-case specifications in enough detail to offer feedback on them.

The system architecture is often the first project phase at which an overall picture of the requirements emerges. This overview can allow all stakeholders to discuss the system in the same terms. With the help of a good architecture, project owners can be more confident that the requirements they’ve defined are the right ones and in the right format.

Before implementing an open source ERP tool, it is essential to know its architecture. The architecture not only tells the business logic but also defines process work flow. It determines the robustness and flexibility of the tool.

Architectures of some open source ERP tools are discussed below:

1. Open Taps:

Opentaps have a robust and simple architecture. It basically follows a 3-Tier Web Architecture and the application server layer  contains three layers namely

1. Presentation layer.

2. Business Logic Layer and

3. Data layer.

The Data layer consists of an entity engine for handling the data access and persistence via data models which is defined in XML files which can act as an interface with the database. In the Business logic layer, small reusable pieces of code which can be written in various high level scripting language or XML which acts as services. One can define a workflow in an XPDL (XML programming defined language) format. Various services are then integrated to form a service engine. This service engine can be then called directly via web services using SOAP and RMI (EJB or enterprise Java Bean is a type of RMI).

Above the business logic layer consists of presentation layer which uses Model View Controller (MVC) pattern which then allows reusing the design elements, viewing the logic and forming an action.

2. Compiere:

Compiere’s architecture is a mixture of fat client 2-tier and 3-tier architecture. It uses a fat Java Client (Java Webstart). In the client tier, web interfacing has been done. After interfacing is done, business logics and the process workflow is defined in the application server (say JBoss). The application server has been further divided into three sub parts ie; Presentation layer, Business Logic layer and a data layer. In the presentation layer, code is generated by taking JSP and swing. The purpose of taking JSP is to make a function globalise and accessible to everyone.

Swing technology is generally used for standalone function. Hence Compiere gives robustness to data security and maintaining the hierarchy. Let’s understand this by taking a small example. Assume a Sales manager is having few team members under him. So the functionality or dashboard of the sales manager would be defined using Swing so that the team members can’t access his data. While the team member’s data is defined in JSP which makes a Sales manager to have the privilege to view the performance of its team.

The accounting engine or the services that the tool provides is written JSP in order to make the integration between the modules and sub-modules easier and effective.

The Metadata which contains the callouts and Document having the workflow is written in JSP as well as Swing in order to give security and make the process efficient. Finally an entity engine (JSQL) is used to eliminate the need for entity specific persistence code in as many areas of a transactional application as possible.

Overview and Comparison of Open Source ERP tools

An Open Source ERP system is recommended for those enterprises whose requirements are not covered by standard application Open Source ERPs are effective for the organizations with dynamic structures. These types of ERP systems have very good market potential as they are cost effective and have limitless customization features. Some of the inherent benefits of any Open Source ERP lie in the fact that they are license free and hence investment is required only for support and maintenance. One can identify future requirements and can customize the tool accordingly, without paying any extra license fee/royalties to the vendor.

The basic question arises before implementing an enterprise application is WHY?? Is it for embracing new technology just because it’s there or a company goes for cost effectiveness in the long run or to make its processes efficient and effective.

In order to implement an ERP system, an organization needs to understand its requirements, existing process and the integration between the different processes. Once this phase is completed, then the next step is to find the open source ERP tools available and map according to the functionality fit.

The table below is the comparison of different tools according to the functionality fit, technology fit , flexibility and support and few other parameters.

Evaluation Criteria	Open Source ERP System
Sub- Criteria	SQL Ledger	Opentaps	Compiere
Size
Micro	+
Small	+	+	+
Medium	+	+	+
Large		+	~
FUNCTIONALITY
Number of Tables	45	763	385
e-Commerce	x	√	√
Accounting	√	√	√
MRP	x	√	√
POS	x	√	√ (marked as beta)
Inventory&Warehouse	√	√	√
FLEXIBILITY
Customization	~	+	+
Flexible upgrades	+	~	+
Internationalization	+ (Multi Site)	+ (Multi Site)	+ (Multi Site)
User friendliness	~	~	~
Architecture	3-tier web	3-tier web	2 and 3- tier
Scalability	+	+	+
Security	~	+	+
Interfaces	CGI, SOAP	SOAP, CSV, XML	CSV
OS independence	√	√	√
DB independence	√	√	x
Programming Language	Perl	Java,Scripting	Java
SUPPORT
Support infrastructure	~	+	+
Training	x	√	√
Documentation	+	+	+
CONTINUITY
Project structure	Company +partners	Companies +community	Company +partners
Community activity	+	+	+
Transparency	~	+	+
Update frequency	+	+	+
Other lock-in effects			migration tool
MATURITY
Development status	Stable	Stable	Stable
Reference site	+	+	+
OTHER
License	GPL	MIT-PL, GPL	MPL based
Online demo	√	√	x
Sourceforge hosted	√	√	√
CVS access	x	√	√
Download checksum	√	x	√
Project start	2000	2001	1999
HR and accounting features
Financials and accounting	√	√	√
Quote generation	√	√	√
Invoice management	√	√	√
Sales Order Management/Order Management	√	√	√
Multiple currency support	~	√	√
HR/payroll	~	√	x
Manufacturing, product, and inventory features
Advanced planning and scheduling (APS)	x	+	x
Discrete manufacturing management	x	+	x
Inventory management	~	√	√
Product and price configurator	√	√	√
Product catalog	~	√	~
Purchasing management	√	√	√
Transportation / freight management	~	√	√
Warehousing, logistics and distribution	~	√	√
Integration
E-mail integration	x	√	√
Integration with Outlook	x	√	√
Integration with MS office	x	?	√
Mobile support/integration	x	?	√
Reporting
Ability to export reports into different file types	x	√	√
Analytics	x	-	√
Custom reports	x	~	√
Pre-configured reports	x	~	√
Sales and marketing features
Marketing campaign management	x	√	~
Contact management	x	√	√
Customer support tools (eg: call centre management, FAQ’s)	x	x	x
Marketing management	x	√	~
Sales pipeline, opportunity tracking	x	√	√
Other features
Calendar	x	√	x
Customer portal	x	√	x
Enterprise asset management (EAM)	x	x	x
Media attachments	x	~	x
Project tracker/manager	x	x	√
Workflow manager	x	x	√

L egends :

√ – yes

x -no

n/a – not available

? – unknown

+ – above average

~ – average

- – below average

Note: This comparison is by no means the final wordings on the usage and functionality of the mentioned Open Source ERP/CRM tools. Requesting support and input to make a better comparison of the available Open Source ERP tools