Testimonial

Dear Alpha Software,

I had built PrecastIT!, a manufacturing management system, for a local precast concrete manufacturing company using Access in 2006. The system received the National Precast Concrete Association's (NPCA) prized Pinnacle Award as the most innovative management tool in the precast industry in February 2007 (http://www.bargerandsons.com/site/barger_release.pdf). PrecastIT! provided cradle-to-grave management of precast products manufactured by the client, and during a three year period was used to successfully manage thousands of discrete precast products. PrecastIT! was a major factor in the client being honored by the NPCA in February 2008 as one of the three top-scoring plants in the U.S. in its Quality Control certification program for 2007. Several companies inquired about purchasing PrecastIT!, but because of the Microsoft Access desktop architecture, I did not believe I could provide adequate support and politely declined to sell.

During the intervening years, the client moved to a total Mac environment except for the server on which PrecastIT! was installed. However, this also meant that Windows had to be installed in a virtual machine on each Mac to use PrecstIT! As an avid Mac user, the client longed for the opportunity to eliminate Microsoft products from his network. With the release of Alpha 5 Version 10, I saw the opportunity to transform PrecastIT! into a web based application that would eliminate all Windows requirements except for the server. Additionally, a web based version of PrecastIT! would allow the client to monitor inventory in real time on his iPhone from any location. The client eagerly bought into the idea, and during the latter part of December and early January, I developed PrecastIT! Online using A5V10.

While I had briefly explored A5V9 a year earlier, this was my first real web application. To say I converted the Access application would be a misnomer. I simply imported the data tables and junked everything else. I did take the opportunity to clean up the Access data structures and optimize them for some client changes in business practices. The application is totally re-engineered from top to bottom. I concluded that web based applications require a totally different paradigm - approaches previously taken with the desktop Access application simply weren't effective in a web environment.

The client provided a Mac Mini with VMWare Fusion and Windows XP installed for use during the development. This was the same system he planned to use as the production A5 server, which really proved to be beneficial during development and eased the transition to production. The client wanted to maintain the OSX operating system on the Mac because of the backup software that he uses, as well as the ability to use his standard Mac approach for remote desktop access. I was able to work out all of the issues associated with running the A5 server on a virtual machine on the Mac, particularly with configuring the shared internet connection. We were also able to access the server, located on my home network, from external locations, which provided an early opportunity to validate the acceptable performance of the Mac Mini.

As one who detests writing code, I must say that A5 is a dream! I consider myself an application designer rather than a programmer, and found myself in hog heaven with A5. For those not familiar with hog heaven, it is somewhat akin to a blissful state of being fat, dumb, and happy. I was able to complete PrecastIT! Online with only having to create a few Action Scripts, and A5 did most of that work for me. Having spent about 17 years developing desktop applications with Access, I am now resolved never to either turn or look back. I am firmly committed to A5 for future development.

Oh, by the way, to say the client was delighted is an understatement! Not only the client, but every user in his manufacturing plant is now much more enthused about inputting the required data and using the system to retrieve operational information. Because the previous Access application offered limited support for data retrieval, it was considered a chore by many to input the required data. The client is now rapidly moving to a paperless environment. While many of the new data retrieval features, such as robust searching, sorting, and filtering, could have been implemented in Access, my experience suggests that it would have required 10X more work. Now, if I could only get the client to quit dreaming up new features to add to the system faster than I can implement them!

Whereas I previously did not feel that I could adequately support the Access desktop application for geographically dispersed clients, the converse is true for PrecastIT! Online. We are now looking forward to offering the application as a hosted service to other clients on a virtual private server. This approach will allow me to provide the required support from any location, and will certainly facilitate distribution and installation of software updates. The reality is that A5V10 has enabled us to apply an entirely new business model to sales of the software - a business model that offers a sustainable level of revenue.

One last item that deserves mentioning is the selection of the underlying data base. I built PrecastIT! Online using dbf tables, only to find that maintaining referential integrity with cascading updates requires writing code! While sets may be used in A5 to maintain referential integrity in desktop applications, this feature is not available in web applications. As a result, I plan to convert the data base to MySQL before moving to a larger client base.

Waiting in the wings is re-engineering an educational application that was originally written in Access and that has 27 installations in a single school. Converting this to a web application using A5, with the appropriate changes to the data structures, will enable a single application to serve either a school or a district and provide central monitoring and reporting from the application. I would never attempt this without the advanced capabilities provided by A5.

Sincerely,
Terry Futrell