Snapshots in Productivity

Gary Stewart, IT Director

www.academicbookservices.com

BCD: Did you evaluate WebSphere or any other competitive products and why did you select WebSmart?

Stewart: "I looked at WebSphere and found it to be both very costly and very complicated. I also looked at Lansa and CA Fusion 2E. I spent seven years with Synon Professional Service and am the author of the Synon Made Simple books, so I have a preference for the Synon or Fusion 2E tool. I selected WebSmart because of its ease of use and cost, BCD’s support, and my comfort level with the tool. I really needed to have a product that non-iSeries and entry-level people could also use. It was the best business decision I could make. WebSmart also gave us more time to focus on the functionality of the business application rather than having to learn the peculiarities of a new language or a complicated tool."

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Susan DeFrance, Senior Programmer / Lead Analyst

http://dev.fusonet.com/

BCD: How did you come upon WebSmart?

DeFrance: " I looked to IBM’s iSeries Developer Roadmap, which we aspire to follow and saw that IBM listed WebSmart. I called BCD and they said all I really needed to do was download the tool and I would soon be developing web applications. I thought, no way! I have 25 years of RPG experience and zero exposure to web development. I downloaded WebSmart and soon found out that BCD was right! I couldn’t believe it… I went through the WebSmart tutorial and started writing web programs."

BCD: What types of applications are you developing with WebSmart?

DeFrance: "We are writing an entire new dealer service and order entry application in WebSmart, not just the Web front end. We are generating RPG-CGI programs. WebSmart is producing both the batch applications and Web based ones. In short, WebSmart writes the RPG and the HTML for you."

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Michelle August, Information Management Systems Assistant Professor/Curriculum Coordinator

www.morainevalley.edu

BCD: Is eCommerce important in today’s iSeries business computing space?

August: "Yes, definitely. Things are moving in that direction, even for those who are slow to adapt. Web connectivity has a significant impact on many facets of business. If organizations want to reach out to their supply chain they are going to have to make changes to the way their applications are accessed. From our perspective, it’s clear that organizations are recognizing that they need people who are trained in eCommerce technologies. Because of supply constraints, some organizations are going to run into a situation where they are not going to find people who know their way around eCommerce."

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Stacy Carter, Systems and Information Manager

http://www.athletix.com

BCD: What applications did you develop with WebSmart?

Carter: "We did just about everything with WebSmart. For example, we did an order entry system for stock merchandise and a custom order entry system for custom orders. Dealers can check inventory, check prices, place orders, get PDF copies of their invoices, review order status, and track it with UPS. Our sales reps can track orders with ease now; before they had to call a skilled customer service person."

BCD: How many people staff your IT department?

Carter: "It’s just me. I have to maintain all the PC’s, write RPG and do all of the web development."

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Gary Stewart, AS/400 Applications Development and Support Manager

http://www.hickoryfarms.com

BCD:What are a few things you really like about WebSmart?

Stewart: "We received excellent support and excellent training. WebSmart is easy to use and the manuals are easy to understand and no hardware upgrade was necessary. And, WebSmart produced 100% of the generated code."

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Jorge A. Machado, Manager, Applications and Programming Services

http://www.bristolhospital.org

BCD: What types of applications did you develop with WebSmart?

Machado: "They are dashboard or portal types of applications that run on the iSeries OS/400 Apache HTTP server. One application is a phone directory of all hospital employees; another provides an instant hospital census-- now management doesn't have to make phone calls to find out how many patients we have. We also developed a drug formulary inquiry system for the pharmacy. Another application front ends a Series 2000 application and lets doctors review a list of their patients currently in house. It provides links for past visits, lab results by date, lab results by type and date, allergies, etc. The VP of finance has one that lets him review daily revenue with a summary header for a 90-day average. Another program provides him with accounts not billed summary tables broken down by different key indicators."

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Thierry Gosset, Programmer/Analyst

www.kawasaki.ca

BCD: What types of applications did you develop with WebSmart?

Gossett: "We developed an ordering and communications system for our dealers-- we have about 250 dealers across Canada. They place parts orders, inquire about vehicles, register new vehicles, send warranty claims-- so basically the tool they use to communicate with us is made with WebSmart."

BCD: Was any training necessary?

Gossett: "No. I talked to Marcel over the phone. He showed us how to build up an application based on a template. After that we were on our own. It didn't take us very long, I would say a day."

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Bob Amell, Director, Information Technology

www.trainingmasters.com

BCD: What types of applications have you developed with WebSmart?

Amell: "We converted and modernized an end-to-end school management green-screen application into one that delivers software as a service (SaaS). Now, small institutions don’t have to make a big investment in hardware, software, or other IT related assets. Our solution can also be licensed to run on the school’s in-house System i computer."

BCD: Did WebSmart replace another web development tool?

Amell: “We licensed Jacada at first, however the problem was that it required additional PCs. Data came across a telnet connection to serve the Jacada page. The PC server had to have a copy of Tomcat, as well as other programs, and you had to configure isapi plug-ins. It was complicated and required lots of effort every time a new system was installed.”

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