developing customer portal with oracle apex - a case study
Post on 19-Oct-2014
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Presented at Toronto Oracle Users Group meeting on Feb 26, 2014TRANSCRIPT
Developing Customer Portal with Oracle APEX: A Case Study
Chandra Movva
Synerz Technologies Inc.
& Ed Kloosterboer
EastGen Inc.
Presenter Bio
• Ed Kloosterboer • 32+ years exp. in Agri. industry
• United Breeders, Gecor & EastGen Inc.
• 16+ years exp. In IT • Subject Matter Expert • Field Systems Help Desk & System Admin. • IT Manager, EastGen Inc.
• Implemented Field Web, Field Mobile Handhelds, Member Login Access (MLA) a.k.a Customer Portal, Field Mobile Tablets
Presenter Bio
• Chandra Movva • Founder & President , Synerz Technologies Inc. • Board and Exec. Member, TOUG • 20+ Years of exp.
• Leadership • IM/IT Consultant • Developer & Architect
• Trainer • Oracle, SQL, PL/SQL, Oracle Reports, Discoverer and APEX
• Presenter • ODTUG APEXposed’13 • TOUG
About EastGen
• Agriculture Co-Operative with 8500 members/customers from Ontario to PEI
• Retail vertical
• Headquartered in Guelph, Ontario
• Products & Services • Semen products
• Farm, Agri. and IMV products
• Artificial Insemination & Training services
• For more info. check out http://www.eastgen.ca
About Synerz Tech.
• Founded in 2001 • Headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada • Oracle Partner since 2006 • Services
• Software Licensing – Consulting and Resale • Value Added Reseller (VAR) of Oracle, Microsoft, VMware, Symantec
etc.
• Database development, migration and integration • DW & BI Reporting • Enterprise web and mobile applications • Project Management • Training
• For more info. check out http://www.synerz.com
Agenda
• Overview
• Why Customer Portal?
• Solution Options
• Methodology
• Live Portal Demonstration
• Summary
• Q & A
Overview
EastGen Business & IT Environment
• Head Office System • Oracle Forms and Reports 10g
• Field System (Web based) • Oracle Designer 10g/PLSQL Cartridge
• Field System (Mobile)
• Progen System (.NET/SQL Server)
• PlanetPress – To generate and produce monthly statements
• Oracle 10g Release 2 – Dev, Test and Prod instances
• Oracle AS 10g Release 2 – Dev/Test, Prod instances
• Small IT team
Why Customer Portal
Business Case
• Driven by members/customers • Request from Board of Directors, delegates and are nothing but customers
• Business opportunity • Competitive edge as none of the competitors offer
• Showcase products • Ability to offer products and info online • Target advertising by customer segmentation • Facilitate customers to empower their staff by
providing access to portal • Ordering and request for dispatch of technicians
Key Requirements
• Simple to use • Reasonable response • Minimal or No latency • Easy to customize and maintain • Fast deployment • Avoid synchronization and/or replication • Avoid/Minimize perpetual software licensing and
support costs
Solution Options
Solution Options
Oracle APEX
.NET
PHP
J2EE
Evaluation Criteria • Application Type
• Query Information
• Application Size • Small, Medium, Large
• Based on functionality, # of pages
• # of users
• Budget • Capital • Maintenance
• Timeline • Security • End user customization • Ease of Maintenance with in-house skills
Chosen Solution & Why?
• Oracle APEX 3.2
• Leverage existing skills
• Familiar with SQL & PL/SQL
• Tight integration with Oracle DB
• RAD tool
• Declarative
• Easy to develop and deploy
• No additional software licensing costs
Methodology
Methodology
• Architecture • 3 tier – Oracle DB, Oracle AS(HTTP Server), Web Browser
• Review Licensing • Oracle 10g EE
• Concurrent users to Processor based • Downgrade to SE one
• Oracle AS 10g EE • Concurrent users to Processor based
• Estimate Performance and Sizing • Hardware - # of CPUs • # of users • Anticipated performance bottlenecks, if any
• Bench Marking • SDLC - Combination of Waterfall & Agile
• Agile – Phased approach with 3 phases/sprints • Waterfall – Each phase comprised of analysis, design, construction, test and deploy
Methodology Cont’d
• Phased Approach • Phase 1 –
• Core functionality – Security, Ordering products and services, Account activity and Monthly statements etc.
• Custom corporate look and feel • Pilot Implementation • Get feedback and refine • Go live
• Phase 2 • Mating Reports • Price List • Application Administration
• Phase 3 & beyond • Targeted Marketing, etc.
Live Demonstration
Landing Page
Signup Page
Home Page
Ordering/Dispatch Page
Account Activity Page
Summary
Benefits
• Account info. and reports online 24 X 7 • Reduced call volume to Head Office
• Alternative for ordering services/supplies 24 X 7 • Reduced call volume to dispatch call centre
• Facilitated Targeted marketing based on customer segmentation
• Self serve portal. • Update account information – including address, phone#,
email address and various preferences resulted in reduced call volume
• No overhead to handle username or password related help desk support
Present Status
• 520 customers signed up
• Upgraded DB to 11g
• Upgraded to APEX 4.2 in 2013
Future Plans
• New development of Forms and Reports with Oracle APEX
• Convert existing Oracle Forms/Reports based applications to Oracle APEX as required.
• Additional features/functionality will be added to Member/Customer Login Portal
[email protected] @SynerzTech https://www.facebook.com/SynerzTech http://www.synerz.com/apex
Thank You