Successful GeneXus-SAP Integration at Faber Castell.
Faber-Castell Brazil needed to integrate its platforms into a single language in order to make development a routine where the great demand for software creation could be solved through a more agile and simple task.
By choosing GeneXus, it simultaneously enhanced application integration in the ERPsystem.
At first, the company's Brazilian subsidiary had a management software developed in-house. It later implemented the ERP system developed by SAP, which became operational in 1998. While this change entailed a significant improvement in management, the company was still working with different systems and developing in various languages (Cobol, Clipper, Visual Basic, Delphi). In that context, maintaining tools in a wide range of languages became very difficult, and there was no set criterion to determine which platform to use for development.
After all of these changes and experiences, the company saw that unifying its development tool would bring a number of advantages, such as homogeneity, agility, simplification and portability. A single platform for the development of all necessary software had to be implemented. And any solution found had to also guarantee that in the future the transfer of knowledge between analysts could be achieved without major difficulties. After several assessment meetings aimed at finding the best platform, the choice finally came down to GeneXus, which had already been used in some occasions.
Once the tool had been chosen, the programmers who were not familiar with it had to be trained to use it. This was an additional reason for choosing GeneXus: the company needed only one month to train its analysts before they began developing applications.
The fact that GeneXus adapts to the SAP base, without creating redundancies in the ERP information base, was another major advantage.
More than 500 users are now benefiting from the systems through the Intranet. The platform is responding intensely to human resource demands, having, above all, successfully simplified software development, while at the same time improving the integration of applications in the ERP.
At first, the company's Brazilian subsidiary had a management software developed in-house. It later implemented the ERP system developed by SAP, which became operational in 1998. While this change entailed a significant improvement in management, the company was still working with different systems and developing in various languages (Cobol, Clipper, Visual Basic, Delphi). In that context, maintaining tools in a wide range of languages became very difficult, and there was no set criterion to determine which platform to use for development.
After all of these changes and experiences, the company saw that unifying its development tool would bring a number of advantages, such as homogeneity, agility, simplification and portability. A single platform for the development of all necessary software had to be implemented. And any solution found had to also guarantee that in the future the transfer of knowledge between analysts could be achieved without major difficulties. After several assessment meetings aimed at finding the best platform, the choice finally came down to GeneXus, which had already been used in some occasions.
Once the tool had been chosen, the programmers who were not familiar with it had to be trained to use it. This was an additional reason for choosing GeneXus: the company needed only one month to train its analysts before they began developing applications.
The fact that GeneXus adapts to the SAP base, without creating redundancies in the ERP information base, was another major advantage.
More than 500 users are now benefiting from the systems through the Intranet. The platform is responding intensely to human resource demands, having, above all, successfully simplified software development, while at the same time improving the integration of applications in the ERP.