This project comprises an online order and stock management system for buyers of printed materials. The project was commissioned by Printass, a joint venture between eighteen graphic design companies.
| Market: | Industry |
|---|---|
| Technology: | Java, JSP, OFBiz, XML, Jakarta Tomcat, PostgreSQL, Solaris |
In a market that is constantly under pressure, the Printass partners are trying to create added value by offering valuable extra services. One of these extra services is the storage of already produced printed matter. In order to manage the company process behind this service in particular, West built a web-enabled stock management system which can be used by clients to check their stored printed matter. Clients can also place new orders, to be delivered directly or in order to replenish dwindling stocks.
The aim of the project was to realise a website that could be used to order and check printed matter by each of the Printass partners. The system had to enable the workflow of an order or check, whereby various different roles are supported. The system had to be able to provide the Printass partners with management information. Open Source Software was used where possible in order to keep the licence costs down and guarantee extensibility in the future.
Business relations can request information concerning their full or partial stock and place new orders via the internet. Printers can check order data and total overviews and export these to Excel.
An important part of the project was the business consultancy aspect that West looked after. This made an important contribution towards determining the requirements and preferences for the system.
West used the 'time-boxing' principle for the realisation of the order and stock management system, which enabled West to guarantee Printass a fixed lead time with budget control.
West also made use of the eXtreme Programming (XP) method, which is a software development technique based on incremental changes, quality control, fast feedback to the customer and the possibility for the customer to control the whole process. By performing most of the work in pairs, peer reviews can take place, resulting in better quality of the system developed.
West was made responsible for the entire life cycle of the order and stock management system. This means that West developed and built the application and took care of the managed hosting in the pre-operational phase.
The software used was based on the "Open For Business" (OFBiz) framework. This open-source software facilitates the development of e-commerce and enterprise applications by offering standard components and a framework based on XML that can combine these in a flexible manner.
Furthermore, as many open-source components as possible were used such as Jakarta Tomcat (application server), PostgreSQL (database) and Solaris (OS). Java Server Pages (JSP's) were used for the presentation of web pages. Java technology was also used.