Faber-Castell has selected GeneXus to assist in the integration of its new systems with SAP
Faber-Castell Brazil needed to consolidate its development platforms into a single platform; by choosing GeneXus, it also enhanced the integration of applications into the ERP system.
When choosing a Business Management Software (ERP), companies must consider how the software will impact the cultural, structural and technological aspects of their corporate environment. For this reason, when it comes to installing these tools, some companies undertake, to a greater or lesser extent, a new business cycle, redefining strategies.
It was in this scenario that in the year 1996 Faber-Castell staged a revolution in its IT area.
At first, in 1996, Faber-Castell used a management software developed in-house and two IT departments that worked separately. Later on, the company implemented the SAP ERP, which became operational in 1998. While this change entailed significant improvements in management, they were still working with different systems and developing in various languages (Cobol, Clipper, Visual Basic, Delphi). “We had a disparate assortment of things in the company,” recalls Renato Barreto de Aguiar, Systems Development Manager at Faber-Castell. He commented that in that context, maintaining tools in a wide range of languages became very difficult, and there was no set criterion to determine which platform to use for development. After completing the SAP project, the company implemented certain changes and reorganized its technology areas. However, even with the organizational redesign, the resulting scenario was highly complex, given the need to maintain different systems. The great challenge was precisely the complexity.
Faber-Castell realized that it needed to have a single platform to maximize and optimize its work, so in 2004 it decided to restructure again, this time centralizing in SAP the maintenance systems for all of its solutions. Three analysts from the support area were transferred to the development team, bringing the number of its professionals up to 16, and the team was put in charge of all of the company’s corporate software. Barreto de Aguiar looks back on this period as a very complicated time, as efforts were being made to find solutions but the workload had increased exponentially.
In that situation, the company needed to map out a scenario for the long-term. It then decided that it had to have a single platform for the development of all necessary software. And any solution found had to also guarantee that in the future the transfer of knowledge between analysts could be achieved without major difficulties.
After all of these changes and experiences, the company saw that unifying its development tool would bring a number of advantages, such as homogeneity, agility, simplification and portability. After several assessment meetings, the choice finally came down to GeneXus, which had already been used in some occasions.
Once the tool had been chosen, the programmers who were not familiar with it had to be trained to use it. This was an additional reason for choosing GeneXus: the company needed only one month to train its analysts in the use of GeneXus.
Aguiar notes that one of the greatest advantages offered by GeneXus is its ability to adapt to the SAP base and integrate with it, without creating redundancy in the ERP information base.
More than 500 users are now benefiting from the systems through an Intranet. The platform is responding intensely to human resource demands, having, above all, successfully simplified software development, while at the same time improving the integration of applications in the ERP.
* Based on the article “Longa Jornada” published inInformation Week Brazil (December 2008).
It was in this scenario that in the year 1996 Faber-Castell staged a revolution in its IT area.
At first, in 1996, Faber-Castell used a management software developed in-house and two IT departments that worked separately. Later on, the company implemented the SAP ERP, which became operational in 1998. While this change entailed significant improvements in management, they were still working with different systems and developing in various languages (Cobol, Clipper, Visual Basic, Delphi). “We had a disparate assortment of things in the company,” recalls Renato Barreto de Aguiar, Systems Development Manager at Faber-Castell. He commented that in that context, maintaining tools in a wide range of languages became very difficult, and there was no set criterion to determine which platform to use for development. After completing the SAP project, the company implemented certain changes and reorganized its technology areas. However, even with the organizational redesign, the resulting scenario was highly complex, given the need to maintain different systems. The great challenge was precisely the complexity.
Faber-Castell realized that it needed to have a single platform to maximize and optimize its work, so in 2004 it decided to restructure again, this time centralizing in SAP the maintenance systems for all of its solutions. Three analysts from the support area were transferred to the development team, bringing the number of its professionals up to 16, and the team was put in charge of all of the company’s corporate software. Barreto de Aguiar looks back on this period as a very complicated time, as efforts were being made to find solutions but the workload had increased exponentially.
In that situation, the company needed to map out a scenario for the long-term. It then decided that it had to have a single platform for the development of all necessary software. And any solution found had to also guarantee that in the future the transfer of knowledge between analysts could be achieved without major difficulties.
After all of these changes and experiences, the company saw that unifying its development tool would bring a number of advantages, such as homogeneity, agility, simplification and portability. After several assessment meetings, the choice finally came down to GeneXus, which had already been used in some occasions.
Once the tool had been chosen, the programmers who were not familiar with it had to be trained to use it. This was an additional reason for choosing GeneXus: the company needed only one month to train its analysts in the use of GeneXus.
Aguiar notes that one of the greatest advantages offered by GeneXus is its ability to adapt to the SAP base and integrate with it, without creating redundancy in the ERP information base.
More than 500 users are now benefiting from the systems through an Intranet. The platform is responding intensely to human resource demands, having, above all, successfully simplified software development, while at the same time improving the integration of applications in the ERP.
* Based on the article “Longa Jornada” published inInformation Week Brazil (December 2008).
Faber Castell |
Founded more than 240 years ago in Germany, Faber-Castell is the world's largest manufacturer of wood-cased pencils. It has 5,500 employees in 13 production plants, 17 subsidiaries and sales agencies in over 120 countries. Today, Faber-Castell is the world's leading designer and manufacturer of a varied line of pencils and writing instruments. |