The salespeople of the Cooperativa Nacional de Productores
de Leche (National Cooperative of Dairy/Milk Producers) used pencil and paper to
pick up orders at supermarkets and large clients. After writing down the order
they sent the information via fax to Conaprole Headquarters where company
typists entered the data into the SAP system.
Currently, Conaprole
salespeople arrive at the supermarket with their Pocket PCs where they enter the
order, which is then sent via GPRS and stored directly into the SAP system.
Simultaneously, the system sends the client an e-mail with a copy of the same
order. Additionally, the order data sent from the GeneXus application to SAP is
also stored in a back-up data base.
The implementation of this system
has shortened operation time, thus advancing order preparation for delivery,
explained Gabriel Muniz, a technical employee from the Systems Development
Department who is in charge of Conaprole Sales and Distribution Area. The
shorter time taken by orders to reach Conaprole from the supermarkets became
necessary after the logistics restructuring which concentrated all dispatch
centres of the dairy company in one location.
Also, the use of paper
required the presence of another person to input the orders in the company,
which increased the margin of error, Muniz added.
The system developed
with GeneXus 8.0 works synchronically as was described above, and it also works
asynchronically by getting connected whenever the salesperson deems fit. The
integration between GeneXus and SAP is established through Business Connector
which operates as Proxy and publishes all the services required by the GeneXus
application running in the Pocket PC (clients, products, etc.)
GeneXus and
SAP coexist in Conaprole, SAP as an administrative management tool, and GeneXus
for system development, such as the fresh milk management system, and SAP
additional features.
With GeneXus the company seeks to lower the cost of
licensing as well as the cost of development itself, said Ricardo Schaich, an
engineer, manager of the Information Technology Area of Conaprole.
"We
are looking forward to testing the new SAP Net Weaver version which promises to
publish Bapis SAP directly as Web Services, without the need for intermediate
Proxies. With this and our new .NET Mobile generator we will continue to expand
the development of successful solutions at really attractive costs" pointed out
Luis Murillo, an ARTech consultant.
The development of the GeneXus
application took a month of work from Paula Blanco, a scholarship student who
acquired the necessary knowledge for developing this application with a two-week
training course in GeneXus.