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Overview:
This project is a multi-tier, distributed
web application designed to support a
wide variety of hosted client's business
needs including customer tracking,
commodities trading, and inventory /
supply management. The DSW Group assisted
in the design of the overall architecture
of the project and has created numerous
proof-of-concept projects to show our
customer's developers how to implement
this Application Service Provider (ASP)
architecture. The DSW Group is providing
ongoing consulting and development
support to ensure that the project stays
on track.
Situation:
The traditional application-based systems
employed were cumbersome and limited the
number of concurrent users at customer
client sites. Various applications,
written in different development tools,
conflicted with each other on client's
machines. These problems diminished the
benefit of each specific application
because clients could not implement them
without having problems with numerous
other applications that were already
running. Our customer desired to
eliminate the need for their clients to
install the application on their local
computers. Their goal was for the
necessary application to be hosted in a
single, easily maintained location. Our
customer also wanted the application to
provide information to both internal
company users and their external client
users, and to have the ability to collect
data from across clients to provide
statistical analyses of the industry as a
whole.
Solution:
The DSW Group developed a multi-tier ASP
infrastructure that supports every layer
of operations, from commodities trading
to inventory management. The application
is web-based and is available to anyone
with a browser. It is a multi-tiered
system where the lowest layer stores
data, the middle tier does all of the
required work for the application, and is
accessed by the client through a browser
as a third tier. It is never installed on
clients' machines and therefore does not
interact with any other applications that
the client may be running. No proprietary
development tools or practices were used,
so the application is not dependent on a
specific vendor of a specific software
package. Thus, vendor reliability is not
an issue.
This single application has met its goal
by allowing for internal commodities
traders and external users to access
information. An authentication mechanism
allows clients to access the database
with an access code and the system
delivers the appropriate information to
the client. When using traditional client
server development practices, two
separate applications would have been
required to perform these two functions.
Results: Our customer has recently
instituted a company mandate that all
applications must be web-based. The
architecture that we have instituted will
be the basis that all future applications
are built upon. The very nature of
web-based applications is such that the
application is stored at the host site,
no installation is necessary at the
client's browser locations, and the
application is both easily accessed and
secured.
Return on Investment:
- This web-based
application eliminates the cost of
local installations as well as the
costs associated with the previously
conflicting applications.
- The Open System
architecture is no longer tied to a
particular vendor. Different parts of
the system can be exchanged for similar
parts, and costs associated with
supporting specific vendors are
eliminated.
- Internal and external
clients can use the same systems,
reducing the amount of development
effort. Therefore, all users can access
information at the same time. The
authentication mechanism takes care of
rights and availability of services.
This has significantly cut the cost of
the transfer of information from
internal traders to their
clients.
- Extreme scalability
and high availability is provided.
Simply adding hardware can scale the
application -- no changes whatsoever
are required in code, and clients are
not required to purchase additional
software. The system is available 24
hours a day, seven days a week.
- Development time of
new web-based applications is reduced
because both front-end and back-end
developers can work on an application
concurrently, without having to wait
for information from each other.
- Consistency across
all new applications allows the company
to establish a common look-and-feel for
all future projects, which reduces
interface prototyping studies.
- DSW is continuously
training the in-house technical
personnel to allow the users to
maintain the application and
troubleshoot future difficulties. The
DSW Group is also available for ongoing
support of the application.
The "Extra
Mile":
Upon our arrival, the company had an
architecture in place that we flagged as
being of significant concern for future
scalability. It was determined through an
independent third party consulting firm
that our analysis was valid. We developed
numerous "proof of concept's" and
presented the pros & cons of each.
This led the client to change the
architecture and arrive at the exact
solution that met their objectives.
Due to the architecture and technology
that were employed in developing the
system, we customized our training to
focus on these aspects and allow their
staff to troubleshoot any future issues.
This enables their full-time staff to
support the system without additional
charges incurred by through a consultant.
We continue, on a monthly basis, to
provide mentoring and technical expertise
as the project progresses, including
additional training for the staff. They
have now rolled out two new projects
under this architecture with great
success, and more projects are
pending.
* Due to The DSW Group's confidentiality
policy, the names of our client are
withheld.
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