Press Releases
F4F Go Super Sonic With Cal Software. A strategic part of a consortium fronted by Progress Software Ltd (PSL) Cal Software is to develop a trading portal and provide support for the eHub for First4Farming Ltd (F4F). F4F are themselves a consortium created and funded by key suppliers to the Agricultural Supply Industry, whose stated aim is to drive down cost by approaching eTrading in a collaborative manner.
The Trading element of the portal developed by Cal Software, allows users to interact with the consortium members' systems in a common environment created by F4F. They are able to carry out a multitude of tasks including:
Architectural Overview
Users access the F4F portal application via a browser on their workstation that connects to the web server, which dynamically generates pages populated with data returned from the portal server. This data can come from either the portal database (held on the portal server and previously uploaded), or via a request/response process wherein the portal application queries a partner's back-end system by sending XML messages through the eHub.
The n-tier Architecture
The portal application utilises an n-tier architecture, wherein there is a separation of presentation, business logic and underlying data. This architectural approach allows the application to be built in a flexible manner, with each discrete tier performing a clearly defined function and with communication between the tiers optimised for performance and scalability.
Technologies
The user interface for this application is web-based, with the pages being generated dynamically within the iPlanet Enterprise Web Server 6.0, hosted on a Microsoft Windows 2000 Server. The portal server platform is IBM AIX running an IBM Java Virtual Machine (JVM), with the portal database services being provided by Progress 9.1C Enterprise Database. Communication with partner's back-end systems is via an eHub, utilising Progress SonicMQ.
Internally, the application is built using core components from Cal Software's Agricultural products namely Compac Gold and Generation and upon the foundations of the Cal Development Kit (CDK), a Java-based application framework, developed over a number of years, which supports countless Java technologies.
The CDK allows developers to meet aggressive deadlines by providing all the usual basic services that an application requires "out of the box". Many of these services, such as the Data Objects discussed above, can be automatically generated by the CDK from an existing database design; a feature that allows developers to be up and running with maintenance screens for the application in a matter of minutes!
The developers then create the application by "skinning" the framework, to create a customer specific implementation. The CDK allows the development team to concentrate on the functionality required utilising the framework without being concerned about how the system was put together "under the hood".
HGM Publications - Application Development Advisor
Source Agricultural Supply Industry, London
Trident Feeds at the heart of ABNA's E Commerce Strategy
For their 1998/9 campaign Trident Feeds moved their trading and contracting systems across to Compac Gold which is the Windows based agricultural package from Cal Software. Since then over 1.1 million tonnes of Trident Feeds products, have been processed through this system. So pleased are Trident Feeds and Cal Software with the strategic relationship that's developed between them, that over the summer of 1999 they have planned the introduction of Inteletrade, Cal Software's E Commerce solution. This is being implemented to provide Trident's customers with Web based services this coming campaign. Inteletrade enables customers to retrieve up to the minute information on their contract positions and associated logistics via the Internet.
It will also facilitate on line ordering directly into ABNA's business systems in a totally secure environment. Cal Software responded to the demand from ABNA for Web based solutions by developing a variety of Internet based services under the Agrenet brand.
John Heasman General Manager of Trident Feeds recognises opportunities way beyond Trident Feeds to embrace the whole of the ABNA group. "Utilising Inteletrade we will lead British Agriculture into the next millennium. Inteletrade compliments Trident Feed's strategy and the potential opportunities with this type of technology are endless. The E commerce steamroller is about to roll down the road and the Agricultural Supply Industry can lie down in front of it or leap on board " says John.
Source PJB Publications
INTERNET B2B: REALITY OR MEDIA HYPE?
In October of last year Trident Feeds Limited announced the launch of their Web based information system 'Inteletrade'. This was the Customer facing front end of their core business package Compac Gold, from Cal Software. At that time Inteletrade allowed registered users to view their current contract position on line via the Internet.
Inteletrade provides a secure interface into the Trident corporate database and provides users with an instant, real time, view of the data. The lack of any intermediate files or data down loads means that the customer is always viewing real time information via his PC Internet browser.
Cal Software has developed Inteletrade to be a flexible tool. This has meant that Trident have been able to customise what the user sees. Malcolm Myskow (Information Systems Manager) of ABNA (Trident's parent company) says "by using Inteletrade we have been able to provide accurate and timely information to our customers whenever they need it. Before Inteletrade our customers had to ring in to the customer services desk to ask staff to interrogate the database and provide the information required. Analysing the types of queries we were getting and using the flexibility of Inteletrade, we have been able to design the customer screens to answer most of the questions a customer normally asks. Inteletrade has been a great success in our business."
Malcolm Myskow - "Security is the Key"
Malcolm continues; "Security is a key issue for any system or process which allows remote users access to information which is core to the running of our business. The security module at the heart of Inteletrade allows me complete control of who has access to what information and when. Data, key and record encryption ensures that unauthorised access is detected and prevented and this, together with comprehensive logging and audit procedures, provides me with the confidence that the information is not being compromised. In a world of open systems, the need to prevent unauthorised access is paramount to any company"
Infrastructure
The implementation of Inteletrade into the business of ABNA was accompanied by some changes in the technical environment and infrastructure, which were necessary to ensure system availability. Other considerations were, not least, to ensure the complete security of the system via appropriate Internet Firewalls. The following diagram illustrates the infrastructure, which has been put in place by Cal Software for Trident Feeds.
Cal Software, in conjunction with Cable & Wireless, have provided a secure and robust service which delivers availability to users 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The infrastructure has been built utilising managed multi-routed networks and multiple level hardware redundancy (from disk through to server).
Enhanced Service
Since its launch in October of last year the features of Inteletrade have been enhanced to provide a complete service to the users.
John Heasman. General Manager Trident Feeds
"We provide the most comprehensive set of information to our customers that is available on the Internet today" says John Heasman the General Manager of Trident Feeds. "Customers can now use Inteletrade to manage their trading position with us. Not only can they review their current position but they can place contracts, arrange call off's for delivery to anywhere in the country and see when these are due for delivery and when they have actually been delivered. Customers can now email their regional manger for additional information direct from the Inteletrade Web site."
"We have been extremely pleased with the way that Cal Software has implemented Inteletrade and the way in which they have speedily and cost effectively brought on new features. It is essential in today's market place that your information service reacts to the changes that inevitably occur. They have developed Inteletrade to be flexible to meet those needs without compromising the core business philosophy."
Future
The development of Inteletrade will ensure that Cal Software remains at the forefront of systems innovation for the Agricultural Supply Industry. The deployment of the first real interactive Internet application in the U.K. Agriculture sector demonstrates that ABNA and Cal Software have a firm foundation with which to build a successful e-commerce business strategy. Throughout this process ABNA will maintain competitive advantage whilst reducing overall system costs.
"I would wholeheartedly recommend Cal Software and Inteletrade to anybody who is serious about exploiting the power of the Web" added John.
Source HGM Publications - Feed Compounder
Banks Cargill Agriculture (BCA) has chosen the full suite of software packages from specialists Cal Software Limited to upgrade its internal systems and enable a seamless link to the First4Farming (F4F) online market place in which it is a founding equity partner.
Commercial director of Cal Software, Keith Richards says his company won the contract to work with BCA as strategic systems partner, following its earlier successful bid with Progress Software to provide the whole software solution for F4F. He says the project will deliver a fully F4F compliant version of Compac Gold, Generation and Open Accounts software packages into BCA's straights feed, crop protection, fertiliser, seed, grain and retail businesses. Users will also be able to purchase from an on-line product catalogue through the F4F site.
Progress Channel Development Manager Dave Clare explains that the F4F software developed by Cal Software and Progress will be easy to use, future proof, scaleable, flexible and secure, enabling partners from the same farm or company to be linked together, and for online customer accounts to be linked to their off-line accounts. In addition, it can restrict access to sensitive information to certain individuals within the organisation. "The attraction is the need to embrace e-business to drive out inefficiencies in the supply chain by minimising manual processes, simplifying trading relationships and providing real business benefit for The Agricultural Supply Industry," Mr Clare goes on to conclude that these two major successes for Cal Software in addition to their existing substantial Agricultural client base creates the opportunity for Progress Technology to be the next standard for UK Agribusiness.
Source PJB Publications - ASI
Make Traceability work for you rather than against you
As soon as The Agricultural Supply Industry looks like it is not 'flavour of the week' something whether it is Salmonella, BSE or GM raises its head to bring it and its suppliers to the forefront of the consumers attention. The food chain from field to plate is under increasing scrutiny, ensuring that the issue of traceability is firmly on the agenda in both real terms and media newsworthiness. Every time, a supermarket states a new policy on inclusion of GM ingredients or something similar you can almost hear the feed industry asking, "How can we deliver that, we are already stretched too far as it is?"
Essentially there are three overlapping difficulties to overcome in order for the Feed Compounder to offer a credible response. The first concerns The Systems employed, usually computer orientated, from a variety of suppliers embracing both the management information aspect and the physical production processes. To provide traceability it is imperative that there is a seamless exchange of information between the business system and the process control system. Between these systems there must be the capability of retaining batch identities and correlating these throughout the storage, production, and delivery processes as is the case with Cal Software's Compac Gold business system, which integrates with all the main UK Process Control Systems. This functionality within Compac Gold is not simply a bundle of software features but part of the overall package's inherent design, giving the customer complete traceability through a modern windows interface.
The second of the three issues concerns the practicality of actually recording ingredient identities down to batch level, as movements are made into stock or utilised in production. Our experiences differ between customers who use the Compac Gold package in a variety of ways from bulk tonnage production, through bag and cash sales down to supplement and drug manufacture and distribution.
In one instance, a supplement manufacturer chose Compac Gold to replace an existing system where the disciplines for traceability were well established through the business, but unwieldy and inefficient through the old software.
Turning now to the third area of difficulty, namely feed manufacture, which is essentially a bulk-batch-bulk-process and in all probability the element with potentially the largest cost of all. Without changing the way feed is made and stored, traceability through these processes can only be an approximation, making Compac Gold with its process control integration the most efficient way of providing a cost effective 'best practice' solution to enable Cal Software's customers to process with confidence.
Source PJB Publications - ASI
