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2 PLATFORM, ENTERPRISE EDITION (J2EETM) BLUEPRINTS PROGRAM HELPS BUILD OPEN SOLUTIONS
Customer Intelligence Solutions Increase Customer Satisfaction In an age when cost-saving technologies have been broadly adopted, business-to-business (B2B) enterprises are saving money by turning human interactions into automated transactions, using voice mail, email, call centers, marketing automation, enterprise resource planning, sales force automation, and customer relationship management (CRM) technologies.
The CRM offerings are increasingly popular because acquiring new customers generally costs more that retaining existing ones. By capturing every event that transpires between customers and the enterprise -- purchases, responses to marketing campaigns, trouble tickets, support requests, and website visits -- CRM solutions create detailed customer event profiles. These profiles can then be used to automatically prompt customer-directed activities such as email campaigns, sales calls, and the like. Truis Corporation takes a different approach to customer relationship management, utilizing a more potent focus -- verbatim customer relationship intelligence. Gathered through on ongoing series of customer interviews, it creates an always up-to-date profile. By providing insight into the customer's intent -- the motivation that drives decisions to buy (or not buy) a particular product or service -- verbatim customer intelligence ventures beyond data, enabling B2B enterprises to understand ad predict present and future customer behavior. Truis Finds the Answer: the J2EETM BluePrints Program Based in San Francisco, California, Truis Corporation's flagship product is the Truis IQ Solution, a proven methodology and enterprise software that collects, manages, and distributes verbatim customer intelligence. It enables companies to place the customer at the center of all corporate decisions, plans, and actions through the use of proactive, post-sales customer intelligence management. Company developers created the next generation of its Truis IQ System application with the help of Sun's innovating JavaTM 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EETM) BluePrints program. Initially, Truis looked for a technology that would not tie them to a particular vendor. "We made a conscious decision to stick with strict J2EE components," explained Tim McNerney, Senior Server Engineer, Truis Corporation. "We also didn't want to invent the wheel when it came to putting together our framework, so we investigated those that already existed to 'stand on the shoulders of giants.'" Developing multi-tiered, distributed enterprise applications for a fast-moving economy is complicated and challenging. Companies such as Truis need help rapidly developing and deploying enterprise applications. After some research, the company chose the J2EE BluePrints program, which enables faster solution delivery time to market by providing best practices and architectural guidelines on how to utilize and take advantage of J2EE technologies. For its new solution, Truis Corporation's developers felt it was important not to use proprietary enhancements provided by application server vendors. This meant they had to write or find much of the necessary framework. As McNerney said, "we were building a web app from the ground up. We needed a robust, secure, scalable application, and we wanted to use standardized building blocks to avoid vendor lock-in. Our new system had to go far beyond what our current system did in order to make the move a reasonable option for our existing clients. Further, we needed to build something that would not only serve the needs of our users, but help guide them to take full advantage of the power of the system. Our true product is not just our web application, it is also our customer intelligence methodology. The new solution is based on the SolarisTM Operating Environment, utilizing the Apache Web Server and Tomcat Reference Implementation (a sub-project of the Apache working group's Jakarta Project), with Oracle software on the back-end and designed using resources provided by the J2EE BluePrints program. Truis felt the J2EE BluePrints program was the most mature program available to simplify the development of scalable, available J2EE technology-compatibile solutions. "The companion book (Designing Enterprise Applications with the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition) and website gave us insight not only into what was done and how it was done, but why it was done," said McNerney. "This is something that is missing almost universally. Sure, we can always guess why one method is chosen over another, but understanding the decisions made by the original authors proved invaluable. We could decide for ourselves whether the choices were justified in our case, or whether some other solution might better suit our needs." Building a Complete Customer Intelligence Application by the Book Written by Nicholas Kassem and the Enterprise Team, Designing Enterprise Applications with the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition describes the application configurations supported by the J2EE platform and presents practical guidelines for determining the best design for specific needs. Using small code samples and the Java Pet Store demo, concrete guidelines assist developers in mastering the features and benefits of the J2EE platform McNerney stated, "using a general model view controller was a no-brainer for us. Writing one from scratch, however, wasn't something that any of us felt we needed to do to prove we were capable. We investigated a number of freely available frameworks to do this. Our conclusion was that the Java Pet Store demo provided the most complete framework at the time, and would be a good match for the system we were putting together." Since Truis developers wanted to incorporate Enterprise JavaBeansTM (EJBTM) technology later, they built their Java objects to make a future migration relatively painless. Even though the Java Pet Store demo was designed around EJB technology, it was equally applicable to the Truis solution, and it runs on any J2EE technology-compatible application server. The free Java Pet Store reference application, which is available for download from http://java.sun.com/j2ee/blueprints/, is provided in both source code and binary form. As a working application for purchasing pets online, it was especially useful to Truis because it wasn't an abstract description, but a real solution that came with reusable components for inventory management, online shopping, supply chain management, as well as billing and shipping. "We found the decision-making process described in the Java Pet Store example to be the most helpful," said McNerney. "We made modifications to it, but used it as a basis for our own framework. Though we didn't use Enterprise JavaBeans components, the structure worked well for us, as our business objects were very similar." The new Truis CRM application was developed on a fast timeline and launched in May, 2001. This compressed timeframe was partly due to the guidance provided by the J2EE BluePrints program. According to McNerney, "we didn't have to start from scratch and have avoided many of the pitfalls that would have plagued us if we had chosen to make our own mistakes, instead of taking lessons learned from someone else. This saved time, money, and frustration." He concluded, "the framework has changed little since we started development. Had we built our own, we would have been working with a moving target through at least the first half of development. Though we made changes along the way, it was nice to have a solid basis on which to build our application."
The Value of the J2EE BluePrints Program The J2EE BluePrints programming model provides enterprise application developers with a methodical exploration of how the J2EE platform can support custom applications to meet a broad range of requirements, enabling faster solution delivery time to market. The J2EE BluePrints website includes a variety of white papers, recommendations, and articles. In addition, developers can ask questions through the site generating discussions with J2EE team members. The J2EE BluePrints program is designed to help intermediate developers:
For advanced developers, the program:
J2EE Technology: Defining the Standard The Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) is a key standard for developing multi-tiered enterprise applications. It utilizes standard, modular components; provides a complete set of services, and handles many details of application behavior automatically, without complex programming. The product takes advantage of many of the features in JavaTM 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SETM) software, such as "Write Once, Run AnywhereTM" portability, the JDBCTM API for database access, CORBA technology for interaction with existing enterprise resources, and a security model that protects data -- even in Internet applications. It also includes complete specifications and compliance tests to ensure applications portability across a wide range of existing enterprise systems. As a single standard that can sit on top of a wide range of existing enterprise systems -- database management systems, transaction monitors, naming and directory services, and more -- J2EE software breaks the barriers inherent between current enterprise systems. Its mission is to enable the next generation of components, tools, systems, and applications for solving the strategic requirements of the enterprise. Because it delivers the advantages of simplicity, portability, scalability, and legacy integration, the J2EE platform is ideal for building enterprise solutions. About the SunTM Open Net Environment (SunTM ONE) The SunTM ONE offering enables developers to deliver today's web services and plan for tomorrow's smart web services, which will provide a richer experience for both enterprise and end users. By simplifying the way web services are created, assembled, and deployed, the Sun ONE platform can enhance productivity, speed time to market, and increase business opportunities for enterprises worldwide. | ||||||||||||||||
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