Since Punta Carretas Shopping Center early times (1993), the development tool
used in 95% of the Managing Commission IT Center has been GeneXus. The Managing
Commission provides Punta Carretas Shopping Center with management services
regarding the Shopping maintenance, security, cleaning and prevention policy.
Lately, the operating area in charge of planning and supervising maintenance,
cleaning, security and prevention policy tasks was the only one that has not
been satisfactorily automated. This was due to the market's lack of a product
enabling to cover 100% of the requirements in real time.
The challenge was finding a way to substitute the sheets stating routine and
specially requested tasks, which were daily provided to the maintenance staff,
by a tool allowing staff members, regardless of their physical location, to
receive "online" requests as well as entering incidents, comments and requests,
thus generating an information feedback.
Besides, the solution to be implemented should be integrable to the rest of
the application systems in production, specifically the Managerial Information
System (SIG), required for company managerial staff decision making.
When the IT Center knew about GeneXus .Net Mobile tool, it participated as
betatester of this product and then started the development and implementation
of the solution, which resulted in the satisfaction the mentioned challenge.
A Pocket PC system and Web Services applications were analyzed, designed and
programmed with GeneXus 9.0 for the synchronized transference of SDT's between
the Pocket PC database and one of the server databases, as well as the visits to
the latter from other applications in production.
The system implementation required the installation and setting up of .Net
Mobile and .Net generators, the implementation of Wi-Fi technology with antennas
to ensure coverage of about 100% of the building complex and the selection,
acquisition and setting up of Pocket PC Win Mobile 2003, in addition to training
the users.
Once the Mobile Technical Office IT system was installed, not only the
firstly targeted objectives were met, but also those requirements that depended
on them, such as information swift flow between working teams (shits) ensuring
24-hour operation of pre-established services and availability of statistic data
that allow planning the staff tasks efficiently, effectively and with low cost.
With the incorporation of the mobile tool to the GeneXus products already
used by the company, it has been possible to integrate the company IT systems
data, regardless of the user workstation type and physical location.
Besides, it is worth mentioning that the implementation of the mobile
technology does not require existing IT systems reengineering and is
user-friendly, thus reducing resistance to change.
A/P Alejandro Armand-Ugon