| Vcrew |
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Vcrew – Integrated
Suite of Web based applications
Today Inc., planned to develop a groupware of Web enabled
applications for information and knowledge sharing between workgroups.
Its intended targets were medium & large sized organizations.
Today Inc required a comprehensive enterprise computing solution,
providing multi-platform, multi-protocol support. Icreon developed
Vcrew for Today Inc., to provide enterprises with high-end tracking
and management capabilities, along with the ability to synchronize
and manage activities for mobile workers. As an integrated groupware,
Vcrew enables workgroups to reduce project costs, improve staff
efficiency, and foster an appropriate change in business culture
and profitability.
Customer Profile
A leading IT consulting organization based in Japan, Today Inc.,
provides consultancy services to organizations in the field
of content management, online education systems, broadband,
e-commerce and mobile communication.
Business Requirement
To manage operations efficiently, enterprises require coordination
of activities, schedules, and knowledge among team members working
on various projects. Today Inc, recognized this requirement
within medium and large sized organizations, where large teams
need to coordinate while working on turnkey projects.
Solution
Benefits
 Enhanced
monitoring and management of operations
Fully
customizable
Cross-platform
(Mobile Devices/PC) portability, accessibility and support
Centralized
management driven by reliable & high-speed database access
Multilingual
(English/Japanese)
Integrated
e-mail services that provide multiple POP3 access
Technologies & Platforms
PHP
HTML
MySQL
i-mode
EZWeb
WAP
Jphone
Windows
Linux
Solaris
Macintosh
Apache
Server
IIS
Server
Requirement
Today Inc is a leading IT consultancy services organization
based in Tokyo, Japan. The company observed the growing need
among medium and large sized enterprises to coordinate and synchronize
internal operations among large teams for efficient manageability.
The larger the team size greater is the probability of mismanagement
and lack of coordination. In its effort to prevent this situation,
Today Inc. conceived the idea of a groupware that would allow
team members and co-workers to manage and schedule tasks, proactively.
The solution had to be developed as an integrated Web enabled
groupware that could be ported on mobile devices as well as
PCs. This would allow enhanced manageability of operations through
continuous and global data accessibility. Workgroups would be
well informed about the regular tasks that they would need to
perform. With increased coordination, managers would be able
to track and manage projects effectively, at reduced costs.
With these considerations, Today Inc., ventured with Icreon
to develop a comprehensive groupware to perform enterprise critical
operations. The objective was not only to develop an integrated
groupware, but also to make it accessible over multiple platforms.
Enterprise Computing for Effective
Manageability of Operations
During the initial stages of the project, we at realized that
data was required to be accessible over public channels or the
Internet. Consequently, security was a major concern for this
project. Besides this, we had to ensure that Vcrew was customizable
by end-users to suit their business requirements. For us, the
key areas of focus were:
Seamless and secure data access
Multi
platform support
Multi
lingual and multi terminal support
Net-ready
mobile phones support
Highly
secure & reliable data access
Customized
and user-friendly front-end
After extensive research on the technology alternates, the teams
at Icreon and Today Inc decided to setup a 3-tier architecture
for Vcrew using HTML, PHP and MySQL to retrieve, store and present
data. |
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| Front-End |
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Backend |
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Multi-byte
String
Support |
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The front-end is the
HTML presentation layer and the backend is the open-source MySQL
database. PHP is the business logic control unit layer, which
is the middleware used to control the request-response functionality.
The PHP business logic control unit includes the PHP extension
“mbstring” for multi-byte string support. Multi-byte
string enables Vcrew to support Japanese characters and alphabets.
In addition, Vcrew employs the IMAP extension for supporting
a Web based e-mail client, used to access the POP3 server.
We developed Vcrew to be compatible with PCs as well as mobile
phones, providing similar level of security and interoperability.
Vcrew can be accessed using ‘Net-ready’ mobile phones
like i-mode, jphone, WAP and EZWeb. These phones are developed
exclusively for users in Japan only. Vcrew can be easily deployed
within disparate operating system environments like Windows,
Linux, Sun Solaris and Mac using Web servers such as, Apache,
IIS or Xtami.
Vcrew comprises of two modules – Administrator and User.
The administrator creates users, assigns rights and privileges
to each user, and manages the overall activities performed by
users, who work on the Vcrew user module. The User module provides
tools that allow users to:
Schedule
Tasks
Track
& Manage projects
Store
Contact Information
Manage
Files & Folders
Setup
To-Do Lists for Personal Use and for Others
Save
Useful Weblinks
Setup
Bulletin Boards and Conduct Polls
Create
Forms & Questionnaires for Defining Workflows
The modules available in the Vcrew user and administrator interfaces
are: |
| User
Interface |
Administrator
Interface |
| Scheduler |
Holiday Manager |
| Project Management |
Facility Manager
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| Address Book |
Address Book Manager |
| Mail |
Message Manager |
| Private Groups |
User Manager |
| Workflow |
Templates Manager |
| To Do List |
Rights Manager |
| Weblinks |
Weblink Manager |
| Whereabouts |
Whereabouts Manager
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| Announcement |
Announcement Manager |
| BBS |
BBS Manager |
| File Manager |
File Manager |
| Polls |
Poll Manager |
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Summary
Enterprise computing is a concept that is increasingly
gaining the attention of top managements for managing business-critical
operations. The idea is to exploit technology to develop an
integrated repository of proven business value. Vcrew has been
developed with precisely these considerations & parameters.
The concept and design of Vcrew has been directed to allow medium
and lower level managers to supervise, monitor, and coordinate
day-to-day operations of enterprises along with secure and seamless
data access of multiple platforms. Streamlining organizational
procedures, Vcrew ensures the technical edge that enterprises
require to administer tasks proactively without incurring extra
costs for managing internal operations.
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