Case Study: AdaptiveERP 2007

The market for accounting solutions in Brazil is currently undergoing a process of consolidation. Only companies that are capable of supplying fast, robust and adherent software solutions to the new technological demands of this market will survive in the new scene.

In the past, medium and small size companies in Brazil have faced a challenge in finding management and accounting solutions for their business. The complexity of our tributary system is such that the majority of software developers provide systems only suitable for larger companies, thus forcing small and medium companies to adopt solutions that are often inappropriate for their business needs.

AdaptiveERP 2007 is being developed with the objective to provide these companies with an accounting solution that is tailored to their business needs, using technologies that, up until now, were only available to larger corporations.

The basic premises of the system, since its inception, have been:

• to be adaptable to the customer's business needs
• to be developed with a rich n-tier technology
• to be compatible with several databases, starting with Firebird 2.0 and PostgreSQL 8.1
• to be ASP-enabled (Application Service Provider)
• to possess browser-based interfaces for special accesses

Beyond these basic premises, we also needed to choose a technology that could guarantee high efficiency, since time and development costs are paramount factors for the success of our enterprise.

Initially, we considered using Java, but we soon realized that it was too difficult to find qualified professionals as well as appropriate productivity tools, which would have raised our costs and delayed the project.

After evaluating costs, available technologies and productivity tools, we decided to use a combination of Visual Studio 2005, RemObjects SDK and Data Abstract, and PostgreSQL 8.1.

The end result was a user friendly solution that is fast, robust, adaptable and that was developed in record time.

Specific benefits

Our decision to work with the RemObjects products paid off with a number of substantial benefits.

First and foremost, AdaptiveERP runs in different physical locations that need to exchange information among each other using the Internet. RemObjects SDK and Data Abstract vastly simplified this process, allowing all information to be passed in only one remote method call. Furthermore, communication between client and server became faster and more secure due to the fact that we could exchange data in a binary and very compact form.

Schema Modeler greatly simplified the organization and mapping of queries and tables, and in the future, Hydra will make it possible to add customized modules to AdaptiveERP, in a transparent manner.

Other important benefits were the possibility to deploy the application server in a Linux environment, which opened new business opportunities, and use of the business processor, which enabled us to implement a generic log mechanism to track all the changes carried through in the database.

Overall, we are very pleased with the benefits provided by RemObjects SDK and Data Abstract, as they allowed us to stop worrying about the technology and start concentrating on our business and customers.

Adaptive Way is a company dedicated to developing accounting software for small and mid size companies in Brazil. Since its inception in February of 2004, the company has been committed to produce quality software solutions for its customers.

© Adaptive Way — reprinted with kind permission.