A well structured organization includes the management of a large amount of data and activities. There is often the need to create ad hoc solutions, because there is nothing in the market which covers exactly what needed. The best solution would be to carry out these implementations internally, without relying on an external software house.
This Case History is about Boggi Milano. This company recently created a web application internally, named DOCS, based on 4WS.Platform and used to manage recruitments and employees career.
We interviewed Marco Benasedo, Head of Information Technology and Michele Tettamanti, ICT Project Manager of Boggi Milano, the two creators of this app. With a few days of training, they were able to start developing a complete web application, which covers the needs of their company. The starting point was the Platform provided by Sinesy.
“Which are the reasons why you chose 4WS.Platform to create your application? Which are the benefits you noticed through its usage?”
“Our company is focused on selling clothing and the IT department is composed of highly skilled technicians: that allows us to be independent in most of the cases, but not always. Since the beginning, we developed internally a wide range of applications, integrated with other commercial products added over time within our organization, including Zucchetti (for the HR) and 4WS.Trade (as a retail management system).
Consequently, many custom needs inside our company have been fulfilled internally, using programming languages and starting from scratch in many cases.
For this specific project, what we were searching for was a platform able to simplify the development process and a set of built-in tools ready-to-use.
Thanks to the partnership with Sinesy, we got closer to 4WS.Platform. A platform we heard about when using 4WS.KeepIT, a product based on it. We went into depth with Platform, because we wanted to develop an application which could fit our custom needs.
Before the adoption of the new application, the Human Resource management was based on a set of Excel documents. As time goes by, the company started growing and with it the amount of data to manage, which became too large and complex to be managed simply through spreadsheets (in addition to not allowing us to share easily this information).
After a series of meetings and the analysys and comparison over different solutions available in the market, we realized that what we had found was too complex with respect to our needs. Therefore, we decided to develop the app on our own and take advantage of the skills and knowledge owned internally. Most of all, we decided to use a tool which could allow us to use a “common language”, easy to learn, simple to use, fast to code.
Starting from this idea, which became a project, the “DOCS” application was born.
DOCS represents a document management system focused on data about employees careers, or like we usually say, a career management tool, which allows us to work with:
- candidate applications
- a calendar of job interviews
- reporting about job interviews and currently active offers
- the career progress of every employee, including tracing of any change to his contract
- attached documents (DOCS works as a documents collector, as well)
- assessment and performance forms about employees
- integration with other information systems (with 4WS.Trade to gather performance about selles and with Zucchetti to manage employee wages)
- internal training, through the academy and certifications
- after-layoff documents”
“It comes natural to ask Michele, the creator of this software solution based on 4WS.Platform, about the advantages he found when adopting this approach, compared with traditional tools.”
“For sure the windows design: the chance to embed them within a browser made it easier for me the job!
It was a bit difficult at the beginning learning how to use the tool but, with a few days of training and thanks to the professionalism of the Sinesy staff, we went into depth with the product and learn its features and potential.
Once jumped the initial through, creating windows became easy and fast.
Now, the more I work, the faster the development process is, for any form and page. Moreover, thanks to the web interface provided with the Platform designer, I have the chance to develop remotely, without even the need to work from my office.
I found it very helpful the identity management system embedded in Platform. It allowed me to assign roles to users and make it possible to restrict some areas of the app to specific groups of users, according to the permissions granted to the roles.
In this way, recruiters can see only CVs and assessment forms about job interviews, whereas store managers can access only their part of the app, like performance evaluations, and so forth.”
“Basically, you have built a sort of permissions customization, starting from what Platform provides natively, in its built-in identity management system?”
“Exactly. We customized the identity management system provided with the Platform.”
“Was the learning curve for the Platform satisfactory? How was the quality of service provided by our staff?”
“With a few days of training, it was possible to create the whole application.
I have to say that, every time we had doubts about the usage of the Platform or for any other problem we met, we have been always supported by the Sinesy staff, receiving fast and effective solutions. Therefore, a great team work.”
“Working with a Cloud Platform represents a concern that often we met in our clients. What is your perspective about that?”
“I’d say that the anwser I give you is pretty neutral and personal: in our case, the cloud environment and database have been always easily reachable. Therefore, having the whole system in the cloud was not a problem at all. It was the opposite.”
“Is this kind of approach feasible when creating custom applications? Does it allow to fit the company business at a reasonable cost and on your own?”
“The real strength of this Platform is the very short learning curve and that the tool is easy-to-use.
We created an effective web application in a short time, with an intuitive user interface and in total autonomy. Despite the availability of knowledge and skills in our department, it would have been foolish to develop from scratch an application using traditional programming languages (Java, .Net, Delphi, etc…), in terms of costs, development time and maintenance over time.
Having the chance to develop inside a ready-to-use product, with a unique language, in a unique environment, represents certainly a plus of this platform, because it allows to rationalize the internal expertise.
The professionalism proved by Sinesy working to support us represents an important and fundamental perk for who is searching for a technological partner.
We are thinking over future developments, like including the expense account in DOCS, so that we can get a complete overview of our employees. This task will require some more time.”
Customization based on company needs with 4WS.Platform
Boggi, as for Tempur, is an example of company who has been able to carry out an “auto-evaluation”, recognize an ineffective process and transform it in a growth opportunity.
They embraced change, by digitalizing the whole recruitment process and employees management, through a web application entirely developed by their IT member Michele Tettamanti.
The main perks identified when using 4WS.Platform are:
- a short learning curve
- easy and fast application development
- easy data integration with other software products (4WS.Trade – sale management, and Zucchetti – Payroll disbursement software, etc…)
- chance to customize the web platform – Boggi was able to adapt the identity management system provided with 4WS.Platform, with the authorization logic they needed, in terms of users and roles.
- rationalization of skills owned internally, thanks to the adoption of a unique platform and using a single language
- professionalism and expertise provided by the 4WS.Platform support team
Versatility and customization, when assisting the customer. Platform represents a tool which has been growing and that allows people to create an ad hoc software in a little time. You can test it!
