Designed for use by end users, other ISVs, and system integrators alike, Formativ’s powerful GroupWise development environment encompasses applet creation and recording, simplified yet full-featured GroupWise programming, and extensive 'point and click' integration capabilities with the GroupWise client. Formativ is also certified under the Novell "YES, Tested and Approved™" Program.

Klagenfurt University had long relied on an outdated, error-prone purchasing system of manual checks and balances that often included lengthy delays as purchase requests were printed and then routed interoffice from person to person, building to building, and desk to desk. It wasn’t unusual for an individual order to take up to three months to complete, and errors were common.

Automating and streamlining general procurement activity is a significant undertaking for any organization. Assistant Director Michael Menard and other members of Klagenfurt University’s Software Management team learned there were few out-of-the-box solutions available for implementing procurement workflow. Notes Menard, “Our goal was to develop a campus-wide purchasing workflow that was to implement, easy to extend, and easy to use for end users. We considered pre-packaged workflow solutions, but they were expensive and far too complex to be an interim solution for connecting to a SAP MM (Materials Management) Module. We needed something simple, that our users already knew. We also needed an extensible, easy-to-use connection with the ordering system and the university’s SAP system. We recognized that many of the core services provided in GroupWise, such as messaging and task management, could be used in the procurement solution. In addition, our users were already comfortable using the GroupWise environment, and it made little sense to introduce another layer of complexity. GroupWise was the obvious choice, but we needed a way to customize it to meet our needs. So, we went shopping for a GroupWise-compatible solution and found Advansys Formativ.”

“Formativ is the ideal tool for creating collaborative business solutions and enhancing the value of our GroupWise implementation,” says Menard. “With everything in one folder in the user’s inbox, it is a much better approach that reduces ordering expenses, telephone calls, and confusion about order status. We minimized the wait for ordering and routing deliveries of equipment to the campus. After just 3 months, we went from a month for fulfilling an order to three or four days. In fact, the system performs so well that the whole university is now using it. This was easy to achieve using Formativ's integrated GroupWise development tool, which enabled rapid construction and delivery of the solution without the need for additional programming languages or installation programs.”

“Today, all of our ordering is indexed and maintained on a single GroupWise server, which is very fast,” says Menard. “For example, we currently have around 4000 orders in spreadsheets stored in a search folder. We used Formativ to provide check boxes for users who have a specific responsibility, such as order checking, completing empty fields, or inserting cost figures. We also know at a glance which orders have arrived, or are finished. A Formativ applet goes through all the current orders, looking in the spreadsheets for all the procurement details, converting the data to an Access database, writing data from GroupWise to the Access library. We can then filter the data for expenses, delivery dates, and specific costs.”

“Each person authorized to open an order has the ability to create new jobs in GroupWise Document Management. Individuals who “own” orders can view and change docs, but when the order has been forwarded the order can’t be changed by the order owner. We then fax orders to vendors, which require departmental signatures. When we order PCs and other supplies and they arrive, we add them to inventory, and allot individual items to departments. We do all of this in GroupWise using Formativ applets and Custom Fields in the DMS. We will also connect this new system to SAP when it is ready to integrate campus-wide. In the future all our data will be going into the SAP database to help us look at trends, expenses, and contracts with vendors,” says Menard.

Formativ's native Novell eDirectory support delivers fast, secure solution deployment. Its capabilities on the desktop are manageable via eDirectory. Formativ solutions can be stored inside the directory and made available to users, groups, departments or across the entire organization. “Integration with Novell eDirectory enables fast and easy solution deployment, and the Formativ documentation is excellent in this regard,” concludes Menards.

“Novell DeveloperNet® services and support staff are instrumental in helping make Advansys products a reality for Novell customers such as Klagenfurt University,” offers Gregory Bell, Managing Director of Advansys. “Easy, low-cost access to the GroupWise APIs and Novell products are essential ingredients for enabling Advansys to develop valued-added solutions such as Formativ. When you work with low-level GroupWise APIs, as we do with Formativ, developer support is also a critical factor,” continues Bell. “In this regard, researching the community and Novell moderated newsgroups is the first step in addressing problems or knowledge gaps. Beyond this, direct access to a Novell developer support engineer is sometimes required. In every case, the support Advansys receives from Novell is exemplary.”

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