Advansys and PuntoExe, an alliance with clear objectives, in a Web migration using GeneXus X Evolution 1

Cars Solutions is a system that has achieved great success in the automotive industry of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru and Uruguay. The product is a DMS (Dealer Management System), devised by Advansys as an ERP to solve the problems facing all companies in the automotive sector.

Originally developed with GeneXus 2.0, its most widespread version (with more than 6,000 Objects and 500 Tables) had been updated to GeneXus 7.5; however, the latest advances in the software industry posed an urgent need to migrate it to the Web platform using the latest GeneXus version: Evolution 1.

Once the ambitious project had been undertaken, Advansys submitted it to the Software Entrepreneurs Program (PES), seeking the support of its sponsors Artech, Aktio, Endeavor and IBM.

After a thorough assessment, the project was selected to benefit from the synergy of this program created to promote the growth of software companies by incorporating cutting-edge technology, training and support, and the creation and follow-up of a business plan.
The sponsorship's aim was to find the best solution for the greatest challenge: reprogram the system's entire user interface for the Web, with the further difficulty of Advansys' lack of enough programmers experienced in that platform.

Then, it was decided that the best course of action would be to follow the advice given by Nicolás Jodal during last year's GeneXus Meeting, when he suggested taking "The long short road."

Thus, plenty of time was devoted to defining the new graphic interface and choosing a massive generation tool that would provide the resources needed to facilitate the conversion of applications to this new GeneXus version. The decision finally came down to PXTools.

PuntoExe's PXTools was created as an advanced development of the WorkWith Pattern with the purpose of achieving the automatic generation of the Web interface (Web Panels) of a GeneXus system, either to apply it in a Win-to-Web migration as in this case, or to develop a full Web system.

Aware of the importance of fully complying with the demanding functional and aesthetic requirements, both companies agreed on a work schedule that has been strictly met and added new features to the PXTools tool, such as the use of Templates to provide maximum freedom regarding the graphic design of the system's screens.

Since they are confident that they have made timely progress towards meeting the objectives set, a large portion of the development completed so far will be presented as a success story during the GeneXus International Meeting.

In addition, it will be demonstrated that this development meets the need for the new Web version to be compatible in terms of structure with the previous one that is currently in production at the clients' premises, so as to be able to progressively replace the system's various modules.