ViaData

ViaData Featured on 5FM (National Radio)

ViaData Team — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:10:30 +0000

ViaData was featured on 5FM Mind You Own Business.

Technical Director, Alister Main, told DJ Fresh about the key thing that makes ViaData different – we build systems that WORK. Listen to the interview here Interview on Mind Your Own Business or read the post on 5FM’s website at http://www.5fm.co.za/djs/Fresh/blog/mind-your-own-business-thursday-8-03-12

This is what Alister said:
“At ViaData, we design, build and support computer systems that WORK – essentially getting businesses running better.
It might seem obvious that a computer system should ‘WORK’ – but for most of our new customers THEIR reality is that their systems DON’T WORK… and their IT people often frustrate them with jargon and technical explanations.
Our existing customers will tell you…WE CHANGE THIS REALITY!!
To make sure we get it right, we listen carefully to our customer’s requirements – clarify what they want…. and then build just that – nothing more…and nothing less.
ViaData is Cape Town based. We have been building systems for over 20 years. Our clients include local and national SME’s and also some large multi-nationals. They all have one thing in common –
…They just want their IT systems to work.”

Catalyst over HTTP

ViaData Team — Mon, 09 May 2011 08:21:28 +0000

Catalyst over HTTP.

Catalyst, the powerful business systems engine from ViaData, has been enabled for HTTP connectivity. Until recently, Catalyst provided a client server solution to its users. However, the latest version of Catalyst (version 3) now includes support for connectivity across a standard HTTP connection. This new functionality has paved the way for a new business model with customers able to opt for a hosted server environment rather than purchasing dedicated server and database technologies.

Two of ViaData’s customers have already opted for the hosted solution. IBTC (www.ibtc.co.za) and Avision (www.avision-africa.com) will be migrating their Back-office booking and CRM databases to the dedicated Catalyst server and will soon be experiencing the benefits associated with this hosted option including:

Reduced operational costs
Improved data security and disaster recovery
Improved accessibility
Improved support – as ViaData technicians can easily see the same view of the data seen by the client.

ViaData is planning to implement other hosted applications soon and will also use hosting as a quick and easy prototyping solution for clients needing to test ideas and concepts in a production-like environment.

For more information on hosted Catalyst solutions, contact ViaData on info@viadata.co.za or 021-674-3682.

What is CRM – and what should it be?

ViaData Team — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 18:00:20 +0000

What is CRM really? Customer Relationship Management should be about managing our relationships with our customers. Simple! It should be focused mainly on the information we need to manage these relationships. What it has become is the latest buzz word for providing mountains of functionality that few businesses really need.

Much like smart phones offer some very useful features but tend to be only used to a small portion of their capacity by most users, CRM software today often goes way beyond the needs of the average business. Sure, this software unlocks new business opportunities and practices for the business able to commit the time and resources to exploit them – but for the majority, the simple task of keeping track of their leads, customers, marketing activities and interactions is only a fraction of what the software can deliver. Yet it is this information that usually is very specific to the business involved and when the powerful CRM tool cannot meet the simple business requirement the business owner is faced with two options; change their business or spend time and money having the software changed to meet the need – neither is very attractive.

Is this progress? Is this IT responding to the needs of the business community? Or is this an IT community delivering technology for it’s own sake?

Craig Byren, MD, ViaData

2D barcodes & .mobi

ViaData Team — Thu, 06 May 2010 11:47:46 +0000

In preparing some posters for the CSSE software expo, we were introduced to a fascinating new(ish) technology that is being used across the world to make sharing web addresses and information far easier and to utilize the power of the internet. We thought we’d would share it with you, as it is the first time we’ve have seen it.

All you need is a camera phone. Many of the newer phones include a bar Code scanner but if yours doesn’t, you can download the software to install on your cell phone from http://www.neoreader.com. (On the newer Nokia phones you’ll find it under your Tools menu). If you have a Blackberry, you can use the NeoReader but it is a little clunky – you could also try ScanLife from the Blackberry Applications available from the AppWorld store on your phone (free)
Once you have the software on your phone – start up the Barcode scanner and point your phone at the image above. Your phone should home in on the image or simply allow you to take a snapshot of the image. The code will then be scanned… then you can follow the link to a website. You can also save the link, send it to someone else or simply make a note of it. You can put almost anything into these bar codes (eg. messages or phone numbers) and they are easily scannable. Apparently this technology is being used extensively overseas – on bus shelters or train stations to give the time of the next bus or train, on ads to give the location of the nearest outlet, at places of interest to give more information. Clever! With this and the likes of geo-location all sorts of possibilities emerge.

ViaData’s Catalyst business systems engine featured at 32nd International Conference on Software Engineering

ViaData Team — Tue, 04 May 2010 12:05:14 +0000

As a result of our involvement in the recent Software Engineering Colloquium, we were asked by CITi to tell the story of Catalyst at a exhibition showcasing the local software industry. With many of the top software engineering brains in the world attending the 32nd International Conference on Software Engineering at the CTICC, it was an ideal opportunity to place an innovative development in the limelight, especially one that so aptly demonstrates what is achievable through the Agile philosophy of software development.

The exhibition is open to all – details can be found in CITi’s open invitation below.

We’re very honoured to have Catalyst featured and would love to see you there!

—————

The Cape IT Initiative (CITI) would like to invite you to visit an exhibition showcasing our Cape Software industry – its entrepreneurs and success stories, innovative companies, universities and research projects and venture capital landscape. The exhibition also includes a section on agile development in the Cape and case examples of successful Agile implementations; and much more. Funding support was kindly provided by the Department of Economic Development of the City of Cape Town.

This exhibition runs concurrently with the 32nd International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE2010) but you do not need to be attending ICSE to visit the exhibition.

DATES: Wednesday 5 May to Friday 7 May 2010
VENUE: Ballroom West, Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC)
COST: Free
RSVP: No need to RSVP. Just arrive and sign in.

TIME:
INDUSTRY: 09H00 – 17H00: The exhibition is open to anyone who works in the Cape technology industry or its supporting industries, from 09h00 – 17h00 on Wednesday 5th and Thursday 6th May and from 09h00 – 16h00 on Friday 7th May.
STUDENTS: 11h00 – 12h00 and 14h00 – 15h00: Students are invited to attend between 11h00 – 12h00 and 14h00 – 15h00 on Wednesday 5th, Thursday 6th and Friday 7th May.
SCHOOL LEARNERS: 16h00 – 17h00: School learners, their parents and teachers are invited from 16h00 – 17h00 on Wednesday 5th and Thursday 6th May.

We have invited a number of people from industry to be present to answer questions. For example, Vinny Lingham will be present at the exhibition from 11h00 – 12h00 on Thursday 6th May.

The exhibition closes at 17h00 on Friday 7th May.

We hope to see you there and hear your feedback and comments. This is a project that was proposed and given the go-ahead at the Software Engineering Colloquium held on 16 March 2010. We would very much appreciate your support.

ViaData MD, Craig Byren features in Business Day article

ViaData Team — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:41:09 +0000

Our Catalyst Business Systems Engine received great coverage in Business Day this morning with the publishing of a rather punchy commentary by Craig Byren, our MD. Read the article here: Business Day.

UCT Tech Students Receive ViaData Award for Excellence

ViaData Team — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:28:03 +0000

Prize-giving for top UCT information systems undergraduate project: winners scoop coveted ViaData Shield and earn the opportunity to represent UCT at the national Microsoft Imagine Cup

29 October 2009 – The “unEarthed” team at the University of Cape Town has been awarded the annual ViaData Shield, a floating trophy for “Best Systems Development Project”. This project is a requirement for the third year Information Systems degree, and the shield considered a prestigious award for young IS graduates.

Their winning submission was an advanced Business Management System for local design firm, Mielie Handcrafted Products, which turns reclaimed materials into functional works of art.

From left to right: Kopo Masome, Prof. Jean Paul Van Belle (Head of Department – Information Systems), Amaanullah Parker, Jeandre De Klerk, Craig Byren (ViaData MD), Nicole Butcher, Kim Westcott and Prof. Derek Smith (Department of Information Systems)

ViaData is a proudly innovative software development company that is leading the systems development world with its “business systems engine” approach to enterprise software development. It has sponsored the Award for Excellence for 18 years now.

The team that wins the award is recognized by an engraving on the shield, together with a cash prize.

“The project is a really big deal for these students. It not only contributes a large portion of their year mark, but is also vital for them to learn to work together as a team when designing and implementing complex software. This is what they’ll face when they enter the working environment, above and beyond their academic skills,” says Craig Byren, MD of ViaData. “We have always been impressed how the students throw themselves into this project, with some of them putting in over 2,000 hours of effort. The standard is exceptional, and they should be very proud of their achievement.”

To do well in the project, students have to learn real-world skills that will stand them in good stead for their professional lives: requirements definition, project management and team work, as well as intellectual skills in technical programming and documentation. Finally, there are the people skills they will need: presentation of their solution, and establishing the training requirements.

In previous years, several of the student teams went on to post-graduate studies, with ViaData mentoring their projects, providing support, insights, guidance and sometimes even a place for the project team to work.

“Some of these post-graduates have won further awards, and participated in international competitions – or even launched a business based on the project work they did at varsity. We find this incredibly rewarding, because the growth and success of our local technology industry is based on this advanced study and hard work,” adds Byren.

“The award (and getting your name on the shield) is held in high regard, and is something all of the Information Systems students strive to achieve. Competition is fierce and often fractions of a mark separate the first few groups,” says Prof. Derek Smith of the Department of Information Systems.

“When the award is presented we get a chance to say a few words to the students. Normally we talk about issues currently facing the business that they will enter. It’s a tough business, but there is a desperate need for good people with very solid training – without these graduates, our ability to develop innovations that impact on modern business systems, like ViaData’s business systems engine, will not flourish. Congratulations to Nicole Butcher, Jeandre de Klerk, Kopo Masome, Amaanullah Parker and Kim Westcott for their winning project, and all the students that worked so hard for the prize,” concludes Byren.

Business Systems Analysts wanted.

ViaData Team — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:59:12 +0000

Here at ViaData we need people who have what it takes to become extraordinary Business Analysts.
In fact, we’re looking for ViaData Alchemysts*.

(* – An Alchemyst? We have an amazing Business Systems Engine we call Catalyst, but for it to make SysDev magic it needs extraordinary Business Analysts – we like to think of them as Alchemysts.)

Do you have what it takes to become a ViaData Business Systems Alchemyst? If you’re interested in joining the ViaData team, tackle these four tasks and let us have your answers.

Task 1:

Write a 1,000 word discussion on the pro’s and con’s of a Data-based approach vs a Process-based approach to Systems Development.

Task 2:

Develop a data model to represent a car hire business. If you make assumptions, state them in a footnote.

Task 3:

Using the Northwind database supplied with SQL 2000 (Request a DB backup from us if you don’t have this) write SQL to do the following:

Input Parameters:

Date From (allowed to be null in which case return all)
Date To (allowed to be null in which case return all)

Output required:

Each employee who took sales order during the period.
For each employee return
- Total orders taken
- Average order value
- Product name of product generating the most orders (value)
- Value of order from highest valued product
- Customer name of customer generating the most orders (value)
- Value of order from highest valued product

NB: You may use any combination of views, functions and stored procedures (with or without cursors and temporary tables). Please supply the script to create all the necessary objects and to execute the query from query analyser or SQL Management Studio. Also note, we will review your answer for function and form (i.e. use of comments, indentation and which space).

Task 4:

Identify what you believe to be the most important success factors in a Systems Development project.

We’re looking for original thought here; you are welcome to use whatever means you like to research the answers to the problems, but remember to quote your sources and make sure you are able to defend the positions you take.

Send your answer (with your name, email address and phone number, but no CV please) to knocking@viadata.co.za and we’ll let you know what the next step is once we’ve had a chance to give your work serious consideration.

We know it is not easy, but if you’re Alchemyst material, you’ll be up for the challenge.

Have we been ripping off our customers for years?

ViaData Team — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:47:05 +0000

Craig Byren, ViaData’s MD takes a critical look at the state of systems development.“Physician heal thyself” is a proverb found in Luke 4:23 of the bible. It is also an apt admonition to Software & Systems Development houses everywhere. We are liable to punt IT systems as the means to a competitive edge in business, a support structure to enable a business to run more effectively and efficiently. “We’ll help you work smarter” we say. No lie there; we can and we do. At a price. A price that drives all but the larger corporates into the restrictive path of ‘off the shelf’ solutions to shoe-horn their businesses into, with the tail often wildly wagging the dog.Development of custom software takes time and developers are an expensive resource, after all you need smart people to create code that drives that software that fits your company like a tailored suit (or should I have said expensive tailored suit?). I don’t deny that it is worth being rigorous in understanding the needs of a business well before creating the IT system that enables it; I have to ask if we’re spending those costly hours on the right stuff? If we’re so smart we can fix other people’s businesses, how come we haven’t fixed our own so much more effectively? How come we charge a customer to redevelop forms, screens, reports, etc where we’ve done very similar ones for any number of other customers before? Hours spent on cosmetics that add little to Acme (pty) ltd’s top or bottom line.One reason could be that it is not in our interest to do so. Hours = Revenue. More time spent on a project, as long as they can be justified on an invoice, means income for the business and thus is welcomed. No one in the industry will confess to that attitude, but the logic lurks there like a skeleton in the cupboard. Another reason is that we have been chasing the goal of more efficient and effective programming down the seductive path of technology: Java / C# / {fill in language flavour of the year here} or methodology: Agile / SCRUM / {fill in methodology flavour of the year here!} is going to be that silver bullet. Each time we develop a system, the artist in the developer (what developer sees themselves as a technician?) wants to try a new way of building the wheel. There are benefits, no argument with that, but incremental not radical. Kaizen. Incremental improvement.Surely by now, we should have come up with software that writes software? OK, so that is reaching a bit, but how about a development framework that reduces coding to a bare minimum; that handles all that cosmetic stuff, like screen layouts; that provides a clear, controlled framework without restricting what the resulting system can do; that places in the hands of a business mind the means to build a software system to meet business needs? One that is not seduced by the Technology in “IT”, but the Information?At ViaData a few years ago the frustration levels at our inability to be more effective spawned a project code-named Catalyst. The initial aim was to eliminate 80% of the coding needed to build a custom system. The team outdid themselves, they managed 100%. Apart from interfaces to 3rd party systems and batch processing, a Business Analyst with SQL scripting skills can use Catalyst to create a fully operational CRM system, ERP system, billing system, etc. 100% custom, no coding required. In a fraction of the time – the best we’ve done so far is an estimated 80% time saving, but we’re consistently achieving 50% or more. With potentially similar savings in cost to the customer, that is leaving us with very satisfied customers and more capacity for work. We’ve forgotten what is like to justify cost and time overruns and under-delivery on functionality.We believe we have a game-changing, paradigm-breaking, market-disruptor on our hands. This is what SysDev should be and we’re having a lot of fun using a powerful tool that just gets smarter by the week. Now we just have to find smart Business Analysts who see beyond their own limitations to wield this tool aggressively.Willing to step up to the plate? Give us a call.Craig.

Sports Science Institute purchases Catalyst

ViaData Team — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 06:07:26 +0000

The Sports Science Institute in Newlands, Cape Town, has decided to purchase a Catalyst based Membership Management system. After an extensive evaluation of international packages and local offerings, the Sports Science Institute of South Africa (SSISA) eventually signed a contract for ViaData to deliver a Catalyst based membership management system. The system will replace SSISA’s existing membership management system and will position SSISA for future growth and improved integration of all their support software. A key factor in the SSISA management teams evaluation and the Board approval was the ability of Catalyst to deliver a system that meets SSISA’s requirements 100%. The configuration project commenced on 1 April and implementation of the new system is scheduled for 15 October – once again proving the power of Catalyst to deliver custom systems from a zero base, in a fraction of the time usually allocated to such projects.