|
Q2. What is SysComSoft Automation Technology? Q5. What are the Key Advantages of Power Session? Q6. What can I use Power Session for? Q7. What's an Automation Server? Q8. How can I get more information on the Automation Technology? Q9. Isn’t Exchange the Baan tool for data migration? Q10. What are the difference between an Automation Server and a Function Server? Q11. What are the difference between an Automation Server and a BOI (Business Object Interface)? Q12. Do I need the Baan source code in order to use the Automation Servers? Q13. Will the automation work for BaanERP? Q14. How’s the performance of SysComSoft automation? Q15. What is the specification process for Power Session (from the customer's point of view)? Q16. On which platforms can Power Sessions run? Q17. Can Power Session automate customized Baan sessions? Q18. My company is outside North America? Can I get your product?
SysComSoft
is a software automation company, a Global BaanForce Alliance Partner and an
Authorized Baan Customization Provider. We have provided software tools for data
migration, system interface, process automation and consulting services for
implementation, training, customization to over 30 Baan customer sites in US,
UK, Germany, France, Japan and Singapore.
A2. What's SysComSoft Automation Technology? SysComSoft
Automation Technology is a set of software tools that allows the automation of
Baan sessions. The automated Baan sessions run on their own as if a person were
entering data into the Baan sessions.
Any Baan session, standard or customized,
or group of sessions can be automated. The best way to think of the
opportunities where Power Session can be applied is to keep in mind that ANY
procedure a person can be instructed to do manually through Baan sessions CAN
BE automated by Power Session. ERP
systems provide lots of information, but they typically require more data
entries. Sometimes even simple tasks require that the user navigate through
many different sessions. This requires a high level of knowledge on the part of
the users and increases the chance of errors. By using Power Session, users can
execute complex procedures without high level of training because Power Session
will run the complex Baan sessions for them. It allows users to spend more time
to do their real jobs and less on entering data. 4. What's a Power Session™ ? A
Power Session™ is an interactive Baan session that directs and controls the
execution of Automation Servers. Optimization can be programmed in Power
Sessions™ as add-on logic to standard Baan without changing the Baan
sessions’ logic. Power Sessions can automate complex processes for
productivity improvement, implementing workaround solutions with standard Baan
instead of customization, or providing easier user interfaces to reduce
training. Power Sessions are also highly effective tools for data migrations
and system interfaces to Baan. 5. What are the Key Advantages of Power Session?
A6. What can I use Power Session for? Process
Automation:
If running many Baan sessions becomes time-consuming or difficult to train new
users, you can have Power Session to run the Baan sessions. Power Session can
provide simple and consolidated user interface to collect all data necessary
for running the Baan sessions. Optimization
rules can be built in Power Session as well. Power Session will reduce training
time, increase productivity, minimize user errors and enforce business
processes. System
Interface: Since Power Session can automate any Baan sessions, as long as
there is a way for external data to be manually entered into Baan, the data
interface can be built with Power Session. This means that you can have data
interfaces for any single Baan session or any number of Baan sessions as
extended interfaces. For example, web order interface does not have to be
limited to creating orders in Baan; Power Session can create the orders and
execute the necessary Baan sessions to fulfill the orders in a timely manner
with minimal human interventions. Reduce
Customization:
Many gaps between business requirements and Baan functionality can be bridged
by workaround solutions with standard Baan session. However, business users
often cannot accept workaround solutions because the workaround solutions will
result in too long of training time and too much loss of productivity.
Customization is often chosen as solutions, introducing problems and
maintenance issues. Instead of customization, Power Session can automate the
execution of workaround solutions, thus, maintaining standard Baan
functionality without lengthy training or loss of productivity. 7. What's an Automation Server? An
Automation Server is a Baan session, either standard or customized, that has
been enabled by SysComSoft Automation Technology so that it can listen to
function calls and execute automatically on its own. Once Baan sessions become
Automation Servers, a Power Session™ can be created to read data from a
variety of sources (ASCII files on Baan server or client PC, message queues,
etc.) and pass the data through a set of API function calls to Automation
Servers (automated Baan sessions) to process the data into Baan. No standard
Baan logic or functionality is changed when a Baan session is turned into an
Automation Server. Therefore, the Baan data integrity is fully protected.
A8. How can I get more information on the Automation Technology? General
information, such as customer successes, products and services, can be obtained
from www.syscomsoft.com.
For more specific information, please contact us at info@syscomsoft.com
or (407) 805-0022. Live
product demos can be provided through the Internet or dial-up networking. A set
of pre-recorded demos can be retrieved from
www.syscomsoft.com/ftp/demo.
The live demos consist of several real automation products that are being used
by our customers. You will have first-hand experience on how automation works.
You only need Windows 95/98/NT/2000 PC with BW client software and an Internet
connection or a modem.
A9. Isn’t Exchange the Baan tool for data migration? Yes,
Exchange is the Baan tool for data migration. But, exchange does not
validate data beyond the table definitions. Using Exchange to load data is
equivalent to using General Table Maintenance to enter data instead of
using Baan sessions. Obviously, Baan session program scripts have been
written to provide much more data integrity than what has been defined in
the table definitions. Also, Exchange typically updates one table at a
time without the Baan session's transaction capability to update all
relevant tables at once. Trying
to analyze Baan session programs and retrofit them into Exchange is a very
time-consuming task, not to mention the risk of data integrity problems is
extremely high.
A10. What are the difference between an Automation Server and a Function Server? If you
are familiar with C programming language, it's easy to understand the
difference. Baan sessions' execution start with a set of Standard Objects(
ottstpstandard, ottstp_stddll, etc.). These
Standard Objects functions as main() in C programming term, i.e., the Standard
Objects control what events to process, if and when each part of user program
scripts would be executed, how to handle the main table's i/o, when to commit
transactions, etc.. In other
words, these Standard Objects are the mind of execution, the user program
scripts are arms and legs to be controlled by the Standard Objects and provide
feedback to the Standard Objects. An
Automation Server is still a Baan session with its full capabilities including
100% of the Baan program scripts AND the Standard Objects that are the ultimate
control of the Baan event-driven execution and transaction commitments. A
Function Server is a 3GL object whose execution is not controlled by Baan
Standard Objects. Therefore, it is not event-driven execution. A programmer
must analyze the possible data conditions and attempt to simulate what the
Standard Objects would do, i.e., the sequences of external functions the
Standard Objects would call, the record locking and transaction commitments the
Standard objects would manage. Predetermined execution sequences are hard coded
in function servers that often miss the alternative paths that are data
dependent at run time. In laymen term, this process is like having an auto
mechanic taking apart engine, transmission, steering, breaking system, etc.
from a car, reassemble them without the original circuitry and on-board
computer modules to make a vehicle to travel from point A to point B. It
would be very difficult and unreliable, not to mention poor performance when it
does run. Also,
4GL-only functions and certain macros in the original Baan program scripts
cannot exist in function servers' 3GL execution environment. Therefore, the
creation of function servers involves removing some of the critical 4GL-only
source codes and replacing them with something that are pseudo-implementations
of the original functions. In multi-session automation process, the conflicts
in external variables and their side effects make function servers even more
problematic. In
short, function servers are not as reliable as and much less robust than their
respective Baan sessions. And they generally have poorer performance.
A11. What are the difference between an Automation Server and a BOI (Business Object Interface)? BOI
is based on Function Server technology. Please refer to the answer above
regarding the differences between Automation Server and Function Server.
A12. Do I need the Baan source code in order to use the Automation Servers?
No. Automation Servers and their API’s are delivered as objects to your system.
A13. Will the automation work for BaanERP? We
are currently upgrading our existing automation technology to support BaanERP.
As the BaanERP customer base grow, we will put more emphasis on the research,
development and support for BaanERP accordingly.
A14. How’s the performance of SysComSoft automation?
Automation servers will run as fast
as your system/network will allow. Imagine your fastest data entry personnel
working at your systems top speed. All of the automations we build have
concurrent capabilities. For example, if you run the Migrate Purchase Orders
session, you can start the process on, as many PC’s as you want. In our
experience at a 750 Baan user license site, we ran a material migration power
session on 39 PCs concurrently. In 4 hours, we populated 460,000 transactions
into Baan.
A15. What’s the specification process for Power Session (from the customer’s point of view)? At SysComSoft we try to make this as simple as possible. We ask you to identify the process that needs to be automated and to then list all of the Baan sessions involved in this process. Next, we ask that you execute the Baan sessions as if you were performing the process and entering the data manually. As you go through the process, simply do a screen print for each of the forms on the sessions required. Then, for each field on the form, tell us which of the three categories the field belongs to. A field can be a: 1. Variable field, which means that the data for this field will come from an external source. 2. Constant field, which means that the value for this field will always be the same. 3. Default field, which means this field will take the Baan generated value during the execution. For example, warehouse order field in the Inventory Adjustment automation.
Finally,
if the variable fields will be provided in files instead of user input, you need
to provide us the layout of the files. This will tell us how to get the values
for the variable fields mentioned above. Remember that you only need to provide
variable field data. This will dramatically reduce the amount of effort for data
mapping since Power Session™ will provide the constant values and
other mandatory fields in Baan tables will be populated automatically by the
Baan standard session logic. Power Session can be used over any platform on which Baan is
installed. It is a layer over the
Baan layer. A17. Can Power Session automate customized Baan sessions? Yes.
Most customization, however, can be extracted as add-on functions to be built
into Power Session instead of the Baan sessions. A18. My company is outside North America? Can I get your product? SysComSoft
is a Baan Global Consulting Partner; therefore, SysComSoft has been pre-approved
by Baan to provide product and service to Baan customers worldwide.
Power Session can be developed and installed remotely. For large
projects, on-site development and testing is optional.
|
