Intentia Sings Praises of SOA, Introduces Movex3

Published: April 11, 2006

by Dan Burger

Many companies with investments in RPG-based applications are at the integration crossroads. They know platform interoperability is the destination, but they are unsure of the best route. Sometimes when you are lost, the best thing to do is follow the guy in front of you. Following Intentia International is not a bad idea. One of the largest software vendors in the IBM midrange market, it made a decision years ago and the latest version of its enterprise software, Movex3, shows how far down the Java and XML development road it has gone.

Movex3, which was announced Monday at the Movex User Conference in Orlando, Florida, is designed so users get beyond the tunnel vision of "mechanical efficiency." Not that mechanical efficiency is the wrong goal, but Intentia prefers to see it as one of many goals. The decision-makers at Intentia say its customers benefit in terms of mechanical efficiency based on their long-term investments in Movex, and regardless of whether they choose to remain with the RPG version of Movex or convert to the Java- and XML-based version, that efficiency will remain at a high level. However, Beyond mechanical efficiency lies business efficiency and the bridge between them relies on interoperability, which, they say, is best served by portal technology (IBM WebSphere as middleware) and service oriented architecture (SOA).

For those who believe SOA adds unnecessary complexity and therefore becomes a drain on other priorities, Intentia points to its Active Document Adapter, which provides a business process layer for Movex3 applications to interoperate with other SOA-based Web services and applications. Because the interoperability takes place at the business logic level, rather than at the code level (as it does with traditional enterprise application integration), the brain trust at Intentia says it will dramatically improve a company's capability to change processes and connections as they become business requirements.

"Breaking down bulky enterprise applications into individual services delivers the flexibility benefits of SOA, but in its purest form, implementation complexity and cost is too high for mid-sized companies and would more than offset any gains," says Henrik Billgren, president of Intentia research and development. "Conversely, larger applications are simpler to deploy but are too rigid for today's dynamic business environment. We believe that Project ADA will enable us to take a sensible approach to SOA that's right for the mid-market by providing both business agility and implementation simplicity." A portion of that agility comes from a company's new opportunity to choose and change business partners based on the ability of those partners to deliver the best product or service, rather than resisting such changes because of the IT hurdles they create.

Companies can fit into several categories, says Intentia's CEO David Rode. There are companies that look at this as an IT challenge of converting green-screen applications to Java. "The mistakes that some companies make," Rode says, "are trying to copy what they are doing in RPG and make it the same in Java. The biggest reason for the move to Java is to make fundamental and dramatic change to the business processes that are being automated. Companies that recognize this upfront see the impact it will make in the bottom line. It's a shift in mentality. Those that want to mimic the old system using Movex are making it tough on themselves." Rode says the move to a new technology like Movex3 is about business processes as much as it is about converting RPG to Java or obtaining WebSphere middleware.

"The middleware is part of it," he says. "The less time you have integrating things into the system will factor into both more time and money, but it's equally important to consider the configuration of the system so that it maps to the way the company wants to automate its business processes."

With Movex3, Intentia also set out to improve the user experience. "We're declaring war on the traditional ERP user experience," Billgren said. "People should want to go into the system." This is a case of good information going to waste because users' access is cumbersome or balky. One of the objectives of Movex3 is to "eliminate the rigidity prevalent in the user experience of most ERP systems on the market." This lack of flexibility causes workers to use spreadsheets and other tools that are disconnected from the information in the ERP system. Enhancements to navigation within workflows, customization of forms, and a cleaner visual design are aimed at helping users complete core tasks.

The company, as soon as its merger with Lawson is complete (expected to happen before the end of April), will have an installed base of approximately 3,500 organizations. Approximately 400 of those customers are using the Java-based Movex. Approximately 95 percent of those 3,500 are iSeries shops that are heavily invested in RPG.

Intentia also chose this occasion to announce a product called QuickStep, which is designed to reduce the implementation time of pre-configured solutions for the company's primary industries, which include apparel, food and beverage, and distribution. And as a pathway to what the company says will be simpler and quicker upgrades to the Java-based product line, it added a roadmap called the Stepping Up program.

For more information on Intentia and Lawson, click here.