Montevideo COMM portal launched an on-line store in
November 2003 to sell products and services. Several forms of payment are
accepted, including cash payment in Uruguay through Abitab payment offices.
Customers who choose the cash option may go to any Abitab office. The Abitab
office will consult the Web Service provided by Montevideo COMM to receive
information about the sale. Once the payment has been made, the information is
sent to Montevideo COMM via Web Services. The delivery of the product or service
to the client is then triggered.
These GeneXus-developed Web Services connect the
Montevideo COMM e-commerce system -developed with GeneXus 8.0 using the C/SQL
generator and GeneXus .NET- with the Abitab payment system -developed in Java
with WebSphere.
"To communicate two independent systems one needs to do it
manually, develop a specific interface, or use Web Services," explained Víctor
Villar of Montevideo COMM. "In Web Services, everything has already been
defined. Development is faster and you just need to concentrate on the
information to transfer, not on how to transfer it," said Villar.
The e-commerce system, developed with GeneXus 8.0 in
Montevideo COMM, is also used by Tata stores in Uruguay, with almost 10,000
articles on-line, distributed through 30 subsidiaries of the company in the
country. Unlike other purchase systems, this system manages products and stock
by destiny. That is, it checks if the subsidiary closest to the place of the
purchase has the product available.
In addition to using Web Services for the integration of
applications between companies, Montevideo COMM also selected this solution to
integrate internal systems. The system that manages the products sold through
the portal is independent from the one that manages the sale of the services in
the on-line store. The communication between them is also achieved through Web
Services.
"We believe Web Services are a good solution. Interfaces
are a necessary evil and we have already tried other solutions. It's a simple
solution to a complex problem, and it works.
On the other hand, it's possible because we're connected,"
said Cecilia Poittevin of Montevideo COMM.
The portal Montevideo COMM also publishes information of
the stock market movements that consumes a Web Service offered by Paullier on
line.
http://www.montevideo.com.uy