ERP – GTP SUPPORT AND DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
The development of high technology and the optimization of business processes is a prerequisite for company growth in the 21st century. Our team sees huge potential for optimization within the ERP system and for technological development in the GTP product. We are responsible for the full range of work on these two products. ERP and GTP are also the largest systems at Janus.
We are a young department. In the first months of our existence, we had to deal with many infrastructural tasks, some of which are not yet fully completed. However, this does not prevent us from doing a large amount of work every day.
N. Stolyarov, ERP/GTP Support and Development Department Head
Our department’s key projects are:
ERP development and support via Helpdesk
Helpdesk in our company is not just a tech support window where people apply for things to be fixed. This block of ERP is positioned and functions as a single window for all user requests. What does that mean? We receive not only troubleshooting requests, but also many suggestions for improvements, innovations, and enhancements to the system. In fact, most of the capacity for the development of the ERP product is concentrated around Helpdesk.
Reengineering ERP
Any system that exists for more than 10 years will accumulate many diverse problems. ERP is one such system, which was developed and expanded as the company grew. Reengineering is required from a technological point of view and in terms of the optimization/unification of ERP business processes. Our team is in the process of analyzing the feasibility of performing such a complex and comprehensive task. We will tell you more about it below.
The GTP licensing system has been developed
No cutting-edge commercial product is conceivable without a licensing system. Our team took a global view of the task.
A whole system was designed, including the development of a license server and its integration into the GTP data exchange scheme, taking into account the existence of independent copies of the platform. The key uniqueness control system and end-to-end indexing of clients and users create additional protection against illegal use of the product. The development of an advanced license configurator allows the flexible customization of access to the platform depending on the license period and access to the system’s functionality. In addition, there is a packaged version of the system, which will be described in detail below.
Development of GTP
The platform is constantly being improved to meet user requirements and adhere to current trends in TBSM development. New functionality is being added on both the GTP and ERP sides. Tools to improve its stability are being improved and refined. Read more about this in the article below.
Development of ILS marketing website
The department was tasked with updating the entire ecosystem of Janus sites. At this point, an active phase of redevelopment of Internet marketing resources is being implemented in accordance with the latest requirements for content and design.
Department infrastructure
We face the task of qualitatively improving the level of development of software products and the support service. To this end, we have launched several in-house projects: development of comprehensive technical documentation for key systems, self-testing of key systems, quality control of code, elaboration and regulation of SLA.
History of formation of ERP/GTP team
There was a long road to the creation of our department. We started out as independent employees who reported directly to the vice president. I used to call us “free radicals,” employees with specific goals and objectives, but falling a little outside of the company’s hierarchy. We were often referred to as the IT department, but we never worked within it.
The work began with the creation of Helpdesk. At that time, the company had no full-time 1C developers who could satisfy the needs for servicing ERP. At the same time, the development of the GTP 2 project was carried out, and new 1C developers were connected to the integrated of the GTP into ERP. This is how the strong link was established between the development teams for the two products. When the number of employees on both teams grew dramatically, the decision was made to create a new department.
N. Stolyarov, ERP/GTP Support and Development Department Head
GTP – Global Translation Platform
One of the key areas of the department’s work is the development of its own Business Translation Management System, the Global Translation Platform, or GTP.
The purpose of the platform is to simplify interaction between the client and the supplier. This is achieved by creating a single area for the creation, tracking, and analysis of customer orders and to ensure their automatic transfer to ERP.
A system of alerts and chats allows suppliers and customers to transmit information to each other as quickly as possible and facilitates interaction between the parties.
Our team strives hard to ensure that the system conforms with all current requirements for software, from the interface design to the stability and testability of the system.
Multiproject
A unique feature of the GTP allows platform users to distribute a single translation project among multiple suppliers. Now, no matter how complex a project is, and no matter how many suppliers are working on it, its performance can still be monitored on a single screen.
Platform interface
The system interface must be informative, convenient, and intuitive.
The platform has undergone more than one change in “appearance,” and it now differs greatly from the original design.
Over the three years of my work on the project, the platform has made the arduous journey to a competitive and standalone product elaborated using the most state-of-the-art technologies and architectural solutions.
D. Semenov, Senior Back-End GTP Developer
Out-of-the-box version
The GTP is a product that others can and want to use! At the moment, over 300,000 international companies around the world need translation services. We have developed an out-of-the-box version of the platform so that everyone can use a tool like the GTP. An independent, protected copy with all its features is now available to anyone who wants to use it.
Enhancements implemented
Download section
Some of our clients need to generate specific reports on their translation activities. For this purpose, the ability to download all data on translation projects has been implemented. There is a choice of more than 30 parameters in this section and the data are exported in a convenient Excel format.
The GTP is unique as a project primarily because it integrates several systems all at once. We have to work with a wide range of diverse specialists and find solutions to sophisticated challenges, which makes it impossible to lose interest in the project.
V. Bolshakov, GTP Project Manager
Subject area
This is also known as Domain. It is one of the frequently used parameters when creating projects. A corresponding parameter was added to the official description of the project then transferred to ERP for more accurate project data transfer between systems.
Future tasks
MTPE lvl
Our department strives to promptly reflect changes to ERP introduced by the R&D department.
On implementing the MTPE parameter in projects, we realized it should be added to ERP and GTP data exchange. This issue is being resolved at the moment.
Notifications section
Upon analysis of the notifications functionality, it became clear that it lacks flexibility and transparency. The department is now working on changing the interface to set up notifications. In effect, we will provide our employees with the opportunity to set up notifications for themselves and for their clients with respect to almost any change in a project.
Training webinars
To popularize the platform and promote it to potential customers, the department held a series of webinars demonstrating the basic functions of the platform. A recording of the webinar can be viewed on our YouTube channel.
Feedback
The GTP is a handy tool for tracking the progress of translation projects. The system displays the necessary information about the volume, cost, and current status of an order. It is no secret that, with project managers high workload, it is possible that some deadlines will slip out of control. The GTP system helps prevent such situations.
– Sportmaster
The platform helps to keep track of project deadlines as well as to see how many projects are now in progress, and even to calculate budgets.
– Office for communications
with Moscow authorities
We have small, relatively private tasks from a large number of different managers, so it is very convenient for us to assign tasks “contact-free” in one “window.”
– Gamigo
Statistics
Janus ERP – moving ahead
To date, our most ambitious task is the Reengineering ERP project. Reengineering is a concept that applies to all industries, especially information and communication technology projects, regardless of the type, size, or culture of an organization, or its location. The company tried to launch the project five years ago. But the linear tasks of development and servicing the system had first priority every time. As a result, the project never received the green light. Our team decided to return to this issue and prepare a theoretical basis beforehand based on an analysis of the current state of ERP and the company’s business processes.
N. Stolyarov, ERP/GTP Support and Development Department Head
What are the benefits of reengineering?
- Consolidation and optimization of business processes
- Update of the visual design of the system
- Enhancement of the user experience when working in the system
- New technological solutions that were previously unavailable
- Reduction of time and development costs
The updated system will be more user-friendly and more visually appealing. The reengineering of business processes in the system will reduce the number of routine operations and provide new tools for work. The optimization of particular functions of the system will reduce the number of “clicks,” which will significantly speed up the work of each employee. The visual part of the system is very important. It is difficult to find a person who enjoys using programs with outdated and ugly designs. It is particularly important for new employees, who have to get used to the design of the 1990s. The new design in the 1C environment exists within the “managed interface” and contrasts with the outdated “normal interface.”
The developers will get the opportunity to use new technological solutions. It is no secret that ERP is available not only as a desktop application, but also in a web version. But the number of functions in the web-version is significantly limited. This is due to their obsolescence. Our task is to make all objects of all business processes available in the web-version to provide all company employees with access to ERP via a browser, which will be accessible even from a smartphone.
We are currently working on two areas of the reengineering project: documentation of ERP subsystems (linking of business processes) and calculation of the time required for reengineering based on the number of code modules and forms used.
Department infrastructure
Autotest coverage
As the systems grew, it became apparent that our testing department needed to focus on automated testing to save time and increase the stability of operation. At this time, it takes about two days to conduct a simple manual check of the two platforms. Now, the daily check for 95% of GTP functionality is carried out automatically and takes no more than 30 minutes. This allows the quick identification and fixing of bugs and failures in the system.
We use the Vanessa Automation tool for automatic testing of ERP. Automatic tests for the user interface of the GTP platform were written in the C# programming language using the Selenium library.
N. Stolyarov, ERP/GTP Support and Development Department Head
Quality control of code
We use the SonarQube automated system to control the quality of development in ERP.
SonarQube is an open-source platform designed for continuous code quality analysis and assessment. The tool was originally developed for other programming languages. Support for 1C came later and is now actively developing. Since Sonar is an open and modular system, its support for programming languages is organized on the basis of plugins.
SonarQube permits the resolution of issues on:
- Finding bugs in the configuration based on standards and general development principles
- Calculation of quality criteria
- Tracking the dynamics of changes related to code quality on the project
- Displaying the coverage of code with tests
GTP data exchange monitor
Another essential tool for error detection is the data transfer monitor between ERP and GTP. It displays all data transfer between the platforms and allows the detection of errors in one of the most important parts of the platform. With its help, even an employee who does not have knowledge of programming can track the place and time where the error occurred and quickly draw the developer’s attention to it without wasting their time.