• Financials
• Retail and CRM
• Supply Chain Management
• Warehouse Management
• Manfacturing
• Facilities Management
• Technology

Infrastructure - the underlying framework which delivers our solution. This includes the language and runtime; the operating platforms and environments; the security structures; the menu systems; the desktop integration frameworks; the tools and techniques for development and customization; the network capability; and the adoption of open standards.

The paradox of PRONTO-Xi

We recognize that PRONTO-Xi is both very different yet substantially the same. In a real sense, PRONTO-Xi allows us to provide a new look and a new framework for open-ended future developments while retaining the functionality and traditional strengths which have evolved from our heritage values.

New customers will see a staggeringly broad and deep set of business applications encapsulated in a crisp modern-looking package with outstanding desktop integration. Existing customers will see the best of what they were accustomed to transformed into a fresh, vibrant, and adaptable package, enhanced by technically advanced tool kits for extending PRONTO's robust scope.

PRONTO-Xi features at a glance

New User Interface
A crisp new look, based upon standard Microsoft graphical user interface components where an Explorer-style menu structure, movable and resizable data grids and new-look entry forms are only the beginning.

Enhanced desktop integration
All data grids (multi-line lists) can be exported to MS-Excel at the touch of an icon on the PRONTO-Xi toolbar. Many existing inquiry functions have been enhanced by the ability to display data in graphical formats utilizing standard Microsoft components

XML-based electronic reporting
PRONTO-Xi reports are now structured in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format. This provides the ability to distribute reports electronically as email attachments, or serve them over the Internet. These reports may be viewed in a standard browser, but their full power is unlocked by the PRONTO-Xi XML Viewer which permits intelligent drill-back to underlying PRONTO data. All the new XML-enabled reports can be further enhanced via style-sheet transformation for embedding graphics, colors, backgrounds and fonts. These powerful features catapult PRONTO-Xi's reporting capabilities into a new realm of sophistication and flexibility.

Role-based security
PRONTO-Xi has removed the previous fixed security levels attached to each module. You can now tailor application-level security and access controls to administrator-defined roles. These roles may be generic (eg. Production Supervisor, Customer Service Administrator) or customized to specific users based upon existing roles, or completely ad-hoc. There are no restrictions on the ways in which a role can be constructed and templated. As the security of each nominated PRONTO-Xi function is controlled at the Application level according to the role definitions, there is no danger of unauthorized access via the Windows command line or Unix shell.

Cleansed application code
PRONTO, as a mature product with over 20 years of development behind it, places great importance on keeping its housekeeping in order. PRONTO-Xi has undergone a thorough cleansing to remove redundant code, standardize the naming conventions, render its interface styles more consistently, and consolidate its structure. This translates to a more robust, easy to maintain solution - primed to adapt to the business challenges of the next decade.

Open integration methods
The world of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems has progressed from the initial focus of improving process efficiencies and controls of the local enterprise. In the modern, inter-connected world of integrated e-business, tighter collaboration between internal branches and subsidiaries, as well as external trading partners is essential. This leads to the necessity to co-operate more tightly by sharing information between the various internal and external stakeholders which comprise the extended supply chain. PRONTO-Xi includes new methods for third-party applications to directly connect with your proven business logic to greatly enhance your PRONTO environment.

HTML-based, context sensitive Help Text
PRONTO-Xi help has been thoroughly remodeled and are now rendered in ".chm" (compiled HTML) form. Fully indexed and searchable, these user-friendly help screens include context-sensitive alignment, while also providing a straightforward framework to enable customer-specific user instructions to be incorporated. This translates into easier access for your staff leading to faster resolution on those occasions when they require help.

Retention of Thin client performance
The new Graphical User Interface (GUI), while providing enhanced levels of usability and "look and feel", has achieved its improvements without significant increase in the volume of data traffic. PRONTO-Xi retains our efficient thin client architecture, for ease of deployment, ease of maintenance and simplified upgrades. This low bandwidth method of access simplifies networking architecture while ensuring a high level of performance and low cost of ownership. (See also minimal PC hardware requirements)

Clean transition path
One of the key design elements for PRONTO-Xi was to minimize transition issues for existing customers. While we have created a new product, we are proud to say we have also achieved an easy upgrade path for current PRONTO users. This even goes as far as providing a transition tool to map pre-existing menu structures and security levels to the new role based menu and security system. This means an existing site can be up and running quickly according to their old security infrastructure, and can implement the new security methods progressively if they wish.

PRONTO more than answers the e-Business challenge

The challenge? The absolute necessity to span the enterprise and platform level boundaries of the various information systems which comprise this extended supply chain.

The goal? Lower inventories, better cash flow, tighter cost controls, compressed lead times and better customer service.

The enabler? Open systems which can communicate and collaborate via various business-to business (B2B) protocols and the Internet, regardless of their underlying architecture, or physical and logical location.

PRONTO's eBusiness products leverages the Internet for customer-self service. PRONTO's new Integration Engine, enhanced by powerful, industry-leading middleware components from Software AG, utilizes open standards such as Java, DCOM and XML to enable third-party systems access to your PRONTO-Xi business logic. And unlike direct database access tools, we do this with unprecedented levels of integration integrity.

Summary

PRONTO-Xi is very different and represents a new era in the history of PRONTO development. It offers a number of extensible features which are clearly targeted at assisting customers to adapt PRONTO to their ever-changing needs. At the same time, PRONTO-Xi retains our key strengths - its vast repositories of functional elements, its platform independence at the server level and its key performance characteristics ensure we are so easy to work with.