1. H o w d o I b rin g G e n e X u s to m y
o rg an iz atio n ?
Veronica Buitron
vbuitron@genexususa.com
Kim Angermeier
kima@maddenco.com
#Hashtag
2.
3. Th e R o ad m ap
S e le c t a d e ve lo p e r(s )
S e le c t a p ro je c t
D e ve lo p e r’s to o lk it
S u p p o rt s ys te m
Le t th e m s h in e !
7. S u p p o rt s ys te m
S ys te m
Image that shows support system for the racer like:
Couch, fans, somebody giving them water when they are running, etc.
9. C o m in g to g e th e r is th e
b e g in n in g . K e e p in g to g e th e r is
p ro g re s s . Wo rk in g to g e th e r is
success.
10. G e n e X u s Im p le m e n tatio n P lan
K im An g e rm e ie r
M ad d e n C o , In c .
11. M ad d e n C o h as p ro vid e d s o ftw are to th e tire
In d u s try fo r 35 ye ars .
O u r s o ftw are ru n s , h as ru n , o n S /34, S /36,
AS /400, e S e rve r, Is e rie s , an d P o w e r S ys te m s
12. 1 978 th ru 1 995 o u r s o ftw are w as d e ve lo p e d
99% In C o b o l.
In 1 995 w e re aliz e d th e ye ar 2000 is g o in g to
b e an Is s u e .
13. Th e s e arc h w as o n fo r a 4G L lan g u ag e th at
w o u ld n o t o n ly m e e t o u r n e e d s n o w , b u t als o
in th e fu tu re .
M ad d e n C o p u rc h as e s G e n e X u s fo r D O S an d
o u r p artn e rs h ip b e g in s !
14. Th is o ve rw h e lm in g p ro je c t is
n o w a re ality
1 500 F ile s
1 2,000 p ro g ram s
8 M o d u le s
All Need to be rewritten!
15. We h ave 1 0 d e ve lo p e rs , a m an ag e r an d th e
o w n e r w ith n o e x p e rie n c e w ith th is n e w to o l.
I, th e m an ag e r at th e tim e , am h e re to s h are
w ith yo u
o u r s u c c e s s s to ry!
16. M ad d e n C o ’s Te n k e y e le m e n ts to a
s u c c e s s fu l im p le m e n tatio n !
17. Train ! Train ! Train !
S e e th e tre e s an d n o t th e fo re s t
D e s ig n yo u r d atab as e
C re ate s o ftw are s tan d ard s
Train d e ve lo p e rs o n
s tan d ard s an d m o n ito r c o d e
18. S c h e d u le re g u lar w e e k ly
m e e tin g s
Te s t, Te s t, Te s t
S e le c t th e B e ta te s t s ite
S e t tim e as id e fo r fix e s an d
m o d ific atio n s .
Train th e e n d u s e r
19. At e n d o f 1 999 o u r s o ftw are is n o w 99%
w ritte n in G e n e X u s . We are Y2K c o m p lian t
an d o u r c u s to m e rs are all ru n n in g o u r n e w
s o ftw are re le as e !
H o w e ve r, w e are n o w tw o re le as e s b e h in d o n
o u r G e n e X u s s o ftw are
21. H ave a G e n e X u s e m p lo ye e o n s ite to :
∙Train o n n e w fe atu re s
∙As s is t w ith c o n ve rs io n is s u e s
∙G u id an c e o n n e w d e ve lo p m e n t
22. S e t tim e as id e fo r Te s tin g :
∙R e g e n e rate s e ve ral k e y p ro g ram s
∙Te s t to as s u re c o rre c tn e s s
24. ∙N e w re le as e c o n ve rs io n s tak e tim e
∙Alw ays h ave n e w te c h n o lo g y availab le
∙C o m p an y n o t p lac e d in c ris is m o d e
∙O n e s te p ah e ad o f th e c o m p e titio n
25. G e n e X u s h as m ad e u s m o re e ffic ie n t!
26. In 1 990 it to o k u s 5 ye ars to c h an g e s to re
num ber
Fro m 2 d ig its to 3 w ith C o b o l.
With G e n e X u s a m ajo r d atab as e c h an g e n o w
w ill
Tak e u s tw o to th re e m o n th s
27. To d ay w e h ave 3 d e ve lo p e rs an d are m o re
e ffic ie n t th an w e w e re in 1 990’s w ith te n !
28. G e n e X u s h as k e p t u s o n th e fo re fro n t o f
te c h n o lo g y!
29. 2002 C re ate d We b s e rvic e s to allo w
c u s to m e rs
to re c e ive au to m ate d o rd e rs fro m M ic h e lin
We b s e rvic e s c alle d e x is tin g p ro g ram s to
c re ate
th e o rd e rs . N o R e w ritin g o f c o d e
G e n e X u s w ro te o u r firs t w e b s e rvic e an d w e
u s e d it as an e x am p le .
30. 2004 ad d itio n al w e b s e rvic e s w e re ad d e d
R e trie ve C o d e s
In q u ire o n c u s to m e r p u rc h as e s
In q u ire o n re tre ad in ve n to ry
In q u ire o n c u s to m e r b alan c e s
Th is allo w e d o u r c u s to m e rs to c re ate ro b u s t
w e b s ite s w ith o u t an y in te rve n tio n fro m u s .
31. 2005 Th ird P arty We b S e rvic e s w e re
consum ed
C re d it au th o riz atio n fro m M ic h e lin
C re d it C ard P ro c e s s in g
Wh ite P ag e s p h o n e lo o k u p
P arts c atalo g
Th is allo w e d u s th e ab ility to u tiliz e o th e r w e b
s e rvic e s an d in c o rp o rate th e m in to o u r
G e n e X u s C o b o l g e n e rate d p ro g ram s .
32. 2008 B e g an d e ve lo p m e n t o f p o in t & c lic k
Ve rs io n o f o u r p ro d u c t.
Ag ain , e x is tin g p ro g ram s are c alle d , n o
R e w rite o f s o ftw are .
33. 201 2 b e g an d e ve lo p m e n t o f Ap p s fo r s m art
D e vic e .
E x is tin g w e b s e rvic e s are u s e d , ag ain n o
R e w rite o f s o ftw are .
34. G e n e X u s , alw ays o n th e fo re fro n t o f
Te c h n o lo g y!
G e n e X u s , N o re w ritin g o f s o ftw are , s am e
cod e used
o ve r an d o ve r!
M ad d e n C o , alw ays a s te p ah e ad o f th e
C o m p e titio n !
35. Th an k yo u
Kim Angermeier
kima@maddenco.com
Veronica Buitron
vbuitron@genexususa.com
#genexususa
Editor's Notes
Hi my name is Veronica Buitron and I was to first and foremost thank you for your participation in this event. In this presentation we are going to cover how a company can plan starting to work with GeneXus.
Many times when we talk to customers and prospects a common question comes up. GeneXus sounds great and promises an increase productivity and to cut costs in an organization, but how can I guarantee that it will happen to me, to my organization? When would I will see that productivity gains? In other words how do I start? To answer those questions is why we created this presentation. So I will walk you through a roadmap to guarantee a successful adoption of GeneXus and then you will hear from Kim Angeimer CEO of Maddenco who represents a real life example of a customer, that successfully train their developers over the years in GeneXus and help them adopt new technologies with GeneXus all the way from green screen to smart devices.
So let’s start with the roadmap. We need a developer, or developer(s) and we will see the characteristics we will be looking for, we need to select project and again we will talk about what should be the first project, we will talk about what toolkit to provide the developer. The support system that needs to surround the adoption, and the importance of highlighting the achievements.
Like anything in life, when we start with a new product, it is a relationship and like any relationship you need to be ready to embrace it. GeneXus will without a doubt cut your development costs and allow your developers to develop robust applications in a fraction of time than before and maintain them even faster, however that will not happen by itself and you need to also put your part on it. GeneXus is a development tool thus needs developers, so the first step is you see whom in the development team will be the ones selected to start with the product. For that there are certain characteristics that will make a developer better suited for GeneXus than others. The developer selected to use GeneXus needs to be committed to achieve the benefits of this process for the company over their personal goals. He or she needs to either want to prove something in the company, want to advance in the company, or be committed to the company. The reason for that is that experience dictates that the first successful GeneXus developer in the company will increase his/her value inside the company. They start to do more things, they start seeing applications from the business perspective, basically they become more valuable. Overall the person needs to not be afraid of change and on the contrary ready to embrace a different thought process that if assumed will allow him/her to shine. In other words, GeneXus will become their best friend and they will become the tool advocates. They will love the tool but more importantly they will feel that the tool loves them too.
The project is also important because you want to select a project that is meaningful, important to the organization but that also will allow the tool to shine. The project should be a project that is interactive, thus has screens to enter or display information, that is complete in its own which means that it has user interface, business logic and database on its own, that may interact with existing database, and may mix technologies, and that if it is mobile has also the web backend included. This project should be business critical but small enough that can be completed within 1-6 months.
Now that we have a developer or developers and a project, we need to be sure we give them the right tools to succeed which that includes giving them the bandwidth. It is better to select less developers than developers that will not have the time to learn the product. Apart from the time it, they also need the elements. It is absolutely a must to given a developer the tools for them to learn. For that, there is formal training, there is online training, even distance training but after the training, however they went through it, they need to have some time with a person that already knows the tool. Workshops or pay as you go, are great tools to have a package or hours that the developer can use whenever they encounter a problem and whenever the project reaches certain milestones. The process starts with an initial meeting where the GeneXus expert upon understanding the application to be built, it creates a blue-print of the application and marks milestones where the developer(s) need to check or might need help. These meetings are two-three hour meetings to help in the specific project. This is important but not because of the technicalities to learn the new product but because GeneXus presents a new way of thinking, a new paradigm of development. Understanding, embracing and learning the new paradigm is the most important part of the learning of GeneXus, therefore you need evangelists at your arm’s reach.
The group needs to have a support system, inside an outside the company. GeneXus USA and the community will become their support system, but internally the project need to have stakeholders that are committed as much as the developers to the success of the project.
Given then right tools and following the given roadmap it just works, however it is important that the rest of the company and the rest of the team is well aware of their accomplishments, given the project and the developers their just 15 minutes of fame, let everybody else know what worked and how it worked and you will have more people in the team willing to jump to the Genexus bandwagon.
With that means that you get your reward, proven path to success, a proven way to lower your development cost and increase your team capacity! And to bring a real life example, I will now leave you with Kim Angemeier, CEO of Maddenco which will share with us her company’s experience in successfully adopting GeneXus and continuously help their developers adopt new technologies throughout the years with GeneXus.
1)Before you can design you must understand the capabilities of the tool. 2)Looking at the project as a whole was very over whelming. We broke the project out into smaller projects. 3)Next we designed our database. We looked at our existing file layouts as a start. 4)You will want your software to have a standard look an feel for your users. You will also want standards for your developers. You will want to develop standard programs. 5) Train your developers and monitor their code. A developer should be able to go into any program and make modifications without having to first analyze from beginning to end.
6)This is show and tell time. A good chance to assure standards are being followed also a good time to share tips and short cuts others have learned. 7) Make sure you set aside time for testing. It is very important to have someone other than the developer test. 8) It is best to select the beta user/customer yourself to assure your testing stays on track. This should be someone open to change. 9) It is very important to have time dedicated to fixes and modifications. Winning the customers/users confidence is key to the project.10) Train the end user on your standards. You now have to support this new development. The better trained your end user is the less time you will spend answering questions.
Just as important as keeping your customers current on your software, you also need to stay current with Genexus
Just as important as keeping your customers current on your software, you also need to stay current with Genexus
1)Having a GeneXus employee on site is very helpful during the conversion. With each new release there may be programs that will need modification in order to regenerate. The GeneXus employee can quickly assist in showing what needs to be done to handle these situations. . 2) Have the GeneXus employee train on the new features of the new release. They can also give guidance on new projects.
Regenerating several key programs will bring out any issues with your code that may need to be modified in the new release. Identifying these now will help other developers who will come across the same issues when modifying programs later.
Just as important as keeping your customers current on your software, you also need to stay current with Genexus
These web services are GeneXus generated java programs that parse out XML, call our appropriate GeneXus written Cobol programs running on an Power 6 and then generate an XML response. We have no idea what platforms are calling our web services. Wintel, mainframe, windows etc.. The original GeneXus written web services are used as templates today.