Building Security

Since its widespread

adoption by businesses around the world, the internet has held the promise of being the

next great business communications medium, linking companies to their partners, suppliers

and customers. Technological innovations make ecommerce over the internet viable, yet

companies continue to be unsure about conducting business over the net.

According to Findhorn

Ltd, a UK-based Progress Partner, commercial use of the internet will increase when

companies realize the advantages or reengineering business processes and incorporate

internet, intranets and extranets to foster true ecommerce. Findhorn uses Progress

Software's newest product, Apptivity, as a core technology to build multidiscipline,

Java-based business.

Critical database

applications



Companies want to use the internet for business-to-business commerce but get discouraged
when a technology-only solution fails, explains Duncan Sperry, Findhorn's Chairman and

CEO. "We work with companies to help them understand the underlying processes of

their businesses; how these processes can be improved and which technology and

communications will make it fast, easy and safe to conduct international business

electronically. Java and Apptivity help enormously in the process."

Building

trust



Located in Oxon, England, Findhorn was started in 1996. Customers benefit from the
multi-disciplinary expertise of the organization's 10-person staff. Sperry's background is

in setting up international markets for global payment systems, and he has worked for

corporations in the US, the UK and Southeast Asia.

Sperry decided to

focus Findhorn's business relationships on the banking industry initially, because a large

proportion of banks and financial institutions operate internationally. "Business on

the internet comes down to trust," he says. "People and businesses don't think

twice about giving credit card numbers over the phone to strangers, trusting that people

will apply this private information only to its intended uses. However, even though proven

internet communications and security systems are readily available, businesses are less

excited about transmitting sensitive information over the net. If we can get the banks to

be comfortable with the idea that business can be secure, then other companies and

industries will follow suit."

Findhorn's solution is

Axiom, a modular business-to-business ecommerce solution that combines a low-cost internet

web commerce server with Java-based business applications, security, connectivity and

communications. With Axiom, businesses can run remote transaction processing systems,

including payments and information transfers, across the internet using web browsers that

interconnect with existing legacy database systems.

The Axiom transaction

processing engine includes a series of Java-driven application modules and tools, which

Findhorn terms Enablets, and which address a range of processes such as transaction

processing, electronic purchases and supply chain management, as well as administration

and business analysis. The Java applications were all developed using Apptivity.

"The essence of

the Axiom engine is that it produces HTML on the fly from the database, and can mirror

existing business processes," explains Sperry. "Java enables you to quickly

develop and deploy new applications to mirror changes in your business processes. We knew

Java was the environment, but we were unsure about which tools were best to get the job

done." After researching and evaluating a number of Java-based development

environments, Findhorn selected Apptivity to develop its suite of Java-based Enablets.

Findhorn cites four

primary customer benefits to its Apptivity-based Enablets:



- Streamlining of business processes.


- Empowering individuals to make decisions on a local
level, while retaining central budgetary control and allowing the company to apply common

business standards across the whole organization.



- Implementing common business processes across MNCs
with multiple business units, multiple languages and different accounting systems and

operational procedures.



- Enabling company managers and executives to quickly
and easily view timely information about their organizations to map trends, identify new

business opportunities and respond to discrepancies as they occur.

"Platform

independence is a primary benefit of Java, and Apptivity allows us to build and deploy

applications that work the same whether you are running Windows, Macintosh or Sun,"

Sperry notes. "For our business to be successful, it has to be relevant to the needs

of global companies, which, in most cases, operate different computing platforms in their

various international locations. Apptivity allows us to rapidly customize our software to

meet specific needs of customers, and gives them the freedom to deploy Axiom on their

preferred computing environments. Using Apptivity, we were able to accelerate development

of the Axiom Enablets."

Web-powered

business-to-business extranets



Axiom was created primarily to facilitate business-to-business commerce. It allows
companies to establish extranets to link to their suppliers, for example, to order and

purchase products and to advertise goods and services. Companies can also specify

pre-authorized spending limits and volume discounts. In addition, the Axiom platform's

built-in security features, including firewalls, authentication procedures, smart

card-enabled controls and authentication, assure that transfer of proprietary information

and funds are delivered to the proper recipients safely and securely.

Axiom enables

customers to set up three-way business-to-business ecommerce environments. First, an

Administration Server allows a company to specify users, set up budgets, assign authority

levels and link to dynamic spreadsheets to provide timely updates to business events.

Next, an intranet server using Appptivity's high-performance connectivity enables internal

staff to browse and access leading databases on the fly, based on each user's assigned

level of authority. Third, suppliers databases can reside as virtual machines on host

servers at a customer's site.

Mirroring

the social system



When designing the Axiom system, Findhorn engineers used Apptivity Developer to

build, test and maintain intuitive, user-friendly Java business Enablets. With Apptivity,

Findhorn and its partners can create applications that are highly interactive and using

the Apptivity Component Library allows Findhorn developers to incorporate human touches

into the software.

Any technology has to

take into account what we call the social system-the ergonomics of the way people work and

interact. Sperry explains, "For example, if an individual has limited access to

information, we display only the material he or she is entitled to, rather than displaying

all the information that others in the company may be authorized for, but which he or she

is not allowed to see. You have to be able to customize the solution right down to the

individual, to think of how he or she interacts with the system and with others. You also

need a powerful and flexible tool to design these types of features into the GUI and

applications, and Apptivity allows us to do just that.

Findhorn anticipates

that businesses and banks can glean significant cost reductions and operational

improvements as a result of implementing business process reengineering and the Axiom

solution. "Using the web and our Java-based Enablets, companies can automate many

business processes and eliminate the need for others," says Sperry. "For

example, generating and routing one purchase order from beginning to end, including all

reconciliation, typically can cost a company between $70 and $150. With Axiom, we can

bring the cost down to less that $20, providing companies with significant ROI and cost

savings."

Findhorn continues to

work with Apptivity and the Progress team to add functionality to Axiom and to develop

additional business reengineering disciplines for MNCs. The company is moving forward on

establishing a US presence this year, and is actively looking for prospective partners.

Says Sperry, "The companies that we work with are trading on a global basis. In terms

of its core organization and technology, we see progress providing us with a strategic

platform to market and support companies international ecommerce needs now and in the

future."

PHIL LANDA.



Courtesy Progress Software.