Built on modern platforms, Forum™ offers the latest in technology. Concepts central to its design are Scalability, Interoperability, Security and Robustness. These are what make it possible:
1) Extensive Data Interchange
Forum™ uses data interchange, which is accepted as the world-wide standard for information exchange. Standards are defined for document exchange that would enable easy integration with disparate systems within and outside organizational boundaries. This coupled with the use of WCF, help Forum™ offer unique value.
2) Corporate Group/Supply Chain Network
The concept of a Corporate Group has been created. A corporate group has an owner or a sponsor and has many members in it. The members include the owner company as well as other companies that participate in the owner companies supply chain. For example a manufacturer can define their supply chain group and invite dealers and distributors to be part of it.
3) Robust Database
Forum™ uses MSDE, which is a version of Microsoft SQL Server. It therefore offers a very stable database with the possibility of seamless upgrade to an enterprise class database server as and when database size grows. Technical issues related to row-level locking etc. which are commonly seen with other databases in the SME application segment are resolved to produce enhanced performance. Data corruption is unheard of. Further, this database server is viewed as the long-term alternative to MS Access, support for which is widely perceived to be in the process of being reduced.
4) API-based Integration
Custom published APIs make integration with disparate systems including the ERP very simple. Applications remain isolated from each other and therefore secure, even while enabling seamless integration.
5) Secure Infrastructure
Forum™ has the benefit of Sify's expertise in internet-related security matters, being the leading consultant in India in this area. Sify's subsidiary, Safescrypt is the leading Certifying Authority for Digital Certificates in India. Data interchange on Forum™ is in encrypted form and is conducted in a secure environment. Further, Forum Central ™, which co-ordinates information exchange is protected by state-of-the art security tools to assure maximum security.
6) Application Stability
Forum™ has been designed with a view to ensuring maximum stability. Commonly encountered problems like internet connection breakdown during data transmission are handled with minimum loss of data.
7) Extensibility
Forum Central is inherently extensible thanks to the plug-in approach to its design and the abstraction of the communication from the information communicated. Multiple document formats and schemas are supported.
8) Recovery Mechanisms
Forum™ has a remarkable way of protecting users from other common problems like data loss on account of power failure etc. For example, if the application is abnormally terminated on a transaction screen, data is recovered till the last entered Item detail. Imagine the effort saved if a 40-item Goods Receipt is being prepared and power fails towards the end of the transaction!
9) Scalability and stability of Forum Central™
The central server that co-ordinates information exchange between trading partners has been built to scale up and handle a large number of users, new document types and different applications. It uses BizTalk Server 2000 for document routing and gives enormous scope for data mapping and transformation when integrating Forum™ with other business applications including ERP.
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