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"Full web" applicatons for Vinci Énergies
http://www.vinci-energies.com/
Human resources management, accounting, billing and financial management: Vinci Energies information system is used by 700 companies in France and across Europe. Smile supported Vinci Energies to create a new development base with enhanced user friendliness. The French leader with a turnover of 3.6 billion Euros, Vinci Energies is a major player in the energy, industrial, service and telecommunications sectors. The group develops solutions for its clients in France and abroad: design, engineering, production, operation, maintenance. To make the offer clearer, these companies are managed through a network that is made up of six brands:
- Actemium: industrial solutions;
- Axians: voice-data-image communication;
- Citéos: street lighting;
- Graniou: telecommunications' infrastructures;
- Omexom: transport and processing of high voltage energy;
- Opteor: industrial and service maintenance.
The IT department, made up of 120 people, carries out the developments and maintenance of the IT system for 27000 employees. Since 2000, a technical base and common management of the business has resulted in the following areas becoming centralised:
- HR management;
- accounting (Oracle application);
- invoicing (Winfact) ;
- cost accounting (Quartz-i).
Several years after the implementation of Quartz-i, the IT department wanted to get rid of proprietary frameworks that were too heavy to maintain. The aging application needed refreshing in order to meet Web 2.0 standards.
"Full Web" applications
The creation of a development base for web applications was posted on a marketplace site for consultation. The task focussed on two main objectives:
- Advice on architectures to meet the company's objectives.
- The implementation of a recommended framework for a top quality tool.
Smile was chosen from three candidates to rejuventate the application. Hervé Chevallier, project manager for Vinci Énergies admitted: " We liked Smile's technical skills. Their specialisation in open source solutions and their experience of Java development were determining factors in our choice. The size of the company and quality of Smile's work reinforced our decision.
From advice to the transfer of skills
Smile supported Vinci Énergies' IT team with the technical foundation, development and transfer of skills. The first part of the project took place at Vinci in May 2007. The selection of a framework requires a lot of reflective work to define the most important requirements. The choice naturally fell to Java. Java is used to produce programs independent of hardware architectures. In contrast to proprietary frameworks, standardisation of the application's code means that any service provider can carry out work on the application. The second part of the project took place between June and mid July 2007. Prior to the development phase, substantial work on the ergonomics and graphic design of the interface was required. There were serious time constraints," said Smile's project manager. The development of the interface for the first application Quartz-i, an in house financial management program, was carried out using Ajax technology in order to improve the user experience and make navigation easier. The updating and reloading of pages are totally clear for the end user. " In addition to navigation that has become simpler, the look for the application is more professional, more in line with current tastes," said Hervé Chevallier.
. After standardisation, connection to Jahia...
After gaining skills, Smile now supports companies to standardise the development of other applications on their chosen technical foundation. In view of the levels of interaction already obtained by the tool, the company is already considering connecting solutions to the Intranet via Jahia. " We will continue our collaboration with Smile, confirmed the project manager. We have been very happy with the availability, the advice and the clear information provided to make technical decisions" A project that was just as fulfilling for the Smile team who added: " Vinci is a client who is not afraid of anything. They are ready to test the latest solutions. It is rare to see this with large companies. They have put their trust in us and have paid close attention to our suggestions above and beyond the mere development of the tools."
