
Site Sapiens: new prospects in business integration
Date: Monday, December 18 2006 Topic: Web Development
Web 2.0 Era has brought new requirements for web-applications, new tasks, new solutions and new tendencies. One of most essential tendencies is web-integration. The whitepaper narrates what that task is and how it is solved.
The ECM Era
In 1990s local information systems grew into local area networks. The enterprise information flows management was assigned to ERP class systems (enterprise resource planning systems). By the beginning of the 21st century LANs have been linked by a world-wide network – the Internet. This started a completely new technological era. It is the time when enterprise information networks are integrated into common information space that is managed by ECM systems (enterprise content management systems).
The currently relevant integration type (web-integration) allows for two approaches. The first one is corporate business optimization. This implies complete reconstruction of enterprise business processes for them to comply with ECM supplier infrastructure. Under the second approach the integration into common information environment does not require changes to the enterprise business processes. Such integration is only possible if we use a flexible, scalable platform capable of structuring any type of content and featuring a service-oriented architecture. Site Sapiens 3.0 is exactly the platform for this.
Following Web 2.0 Trends
One of the crucial points of Web 2.0 concepts reads: Internet is a platform while applications are its services. This means new requirements to software architecture. Now software components may be located in different servers and yet interact with each other and other applications using universal SOAP protocol. This is the architecture featured in Site Sapiens. Another innovation point to Web 2.0 are the Rich Internet Applications (RIA) – web-based interfaces equal in capacities and usability to desktop applications. Site Sapiens has an own AJAX Framework which features a wide range of next generation interface elements. Intuitive model of interactive user interfaces can be used in enterprise information network applications. The platform applies an own technology for separating content from logic and representation – XML Sapiens. This provides possibilities for flexible adjustment of web-interfaces for display and management of data acquired from the external applications.
Site Sapiens Advantages
Advantages in Use
* Ground-breaking user interface: hierarchical trees, interactive records tables, file and user managers, plug-in third-party management interfaces, data transfer without restarting current windows
* The platform developed using open and universal standards (XML, UML, XML Sapiens, Unicode, SOAP) and promising programming technologies (OOP/AOP, SOA, RIA, TDD, AJAX)
* Scalability and high efficiency
* Easy integration: the platform is capable of receiving data and hand it on to external applications
* Multi-level administration: the platform supports additional administration areas with varying access levels
Content Development Advantages
* Visual content editing
* Flexible content structure management
* Tools fro shared access to documents (version control, administration events audit)
* Content import
* External applications data import
Content Management Advantages
* Centralized management for any type of content
* Support of different languages within one project, on-the-fly switching between languages of user interface
* Search within the whole of the registry
* Management of documents, records, files, multimedia
* Shared security policy for all information types
Content Delivery Advantages
* Content delivered in HTML, XML, RSS, WML (WAP), PDF, SVG, WSDL(SOAP)
* Delivery of content directly to the recipient’s application
* Multi-level cross-cutting caching
* Customizable user interface: different groups of site users are provided with access to specific interfaces and information
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