This article describes the history of the NextGen project at Dutch SaaS provider Connexys (www.connexys.eu). It outlines common challenges for SaaS applications - such as customization and cross-cloud-integration - and describes how these were addressed. The article brushes upon the technology used (Oracle Database, SQL/PLSQL, Oracle ADF (ADF BC, JSF/ADF Faces, JDeveloper, JHeadstart).
From Oracle Classic into the Cloud - Connexys and AMISLucas Jellema
Presented by Gijs van Heijst (CEO Connexys) & Lucas Jellema (CTO AMIS); describing the route into the future for Connexys, coming from a classic Oracle environment. The presentation demonstrates that people are the essence in this successful project and furthermore that the only real drivers are business drivers (not technological) and that the database is the foundation.
ODTUG Technical Journal - The Reusability Test - Fusion Column July 2010Lucas Jellema
This article discusses reuse. Why would we want reuse and what do we have to do to realize the potential benefits of reuse? What are important considerations around reuse that we should pay attention to? How does a structural approach to reuse impact our organization? Which types of reuse should we discern? And which mechanisms are available to us in general and in Oracle Fusion Middleware (FMW) in particular? We will take a close look at the ADF Taskflow - one of the primary vehicles in FMW for achieving reuse.
Soaring through the Clouds - Oracle Fusion Middleware Partner Forum 2016 Lucas Jellema
The Oracle ACE team has a new mission: complete a complex end-to-end business flow across at least ten Oracle PaaS Services – in front of a live audience. This session will demonstrate how a document driven human workflow triggers an integration flow to update a 3rd party application that in turn emits events that are processed in real time resulting in findings that are published through a REST API in a user friendly front end. Expect guest appearances by an interesting Oracle PaaS cast, including Doc CS, PCS, OSN, Sites CS and ICS and also featuring DBaaS, JCS and SOA CS, Application Container Cloud with a touch of MCS and IoT CS and finally a JET [app] cruising through the clouds. Our flight plan depends a little bit on the weather forecast: we do need a cloudy sky to realize our full potential. The team will perform some live hacking in the various cloud services to complete and tweak the end-to-end flow. We will divulge some of the behind-the-scenes challenges and our findings beyond slideware and C-level promises. A very special guest star will be participating in this session – demonstrating an important attraction of cloud based development.
Slides for Oracle OpenWorld 2015 Tuesday Keynote by Thomas Kurian - Software ...Lucas Jellema
New Applications, Platforms, and Tools, Offered as Online Services, Help Round Out Oracle’s Complete Enterprise Cloud
Oracle President Thomas Kurian discusses how Oracle's cloud services "help people solve real business problems."
Oracle has introduced an impressive list of cloud services in all three major cloud categories in just this year—infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS). “We’ve had a really busy year,” deadpanned Thomas Kurian, Oracle president of product development, during a presentation at Oracle OpenWorld 2015 on Tuesday, October 27. Oracle’s cloud services “help people solve real business problems,” Kurian said, and represent a compelling combination of performance, ubiquity, and simplicity. “Any person anywhere in the world, with just a browser, can access our cloud and get access to all these amazing new product innovations,” he said.
Fontys Lecture - The Evolution of the Oracle Database 2016Lucas Jellema
Lucas Jellema presented on the evolution of the database and its role in application architecture. Key points include:
- The database has evolved from decentralized silos to a centralized, consolidated layer providing data, business logic and interfaces.
- The Oracle database introduced capabilities like PL/SQL, high availability, compression, and flashback queries.
- Recent trends include multitenant databases, in-memory processing, and temporal/versioned data in the cloud.
- Engineered systems optimize hardware and software to improve performance.
Review Oracle OpenWorld 2015 - Overview, Main themes, Announcements and FutureLucas Jellema
This presentation (part of the year AMIS Oracle OpenWorld Review session) discusses the main themes for this year's conference and introduces the all encompassing cloud strategy. It highlights some major changes at Oracle Corporation. It lists the major announcements, the hot terminology and the product roadmaps.
Systems on the edge - your stepping stones into Oracle Public PaaS Cloud - AM...Lucas Jellema
Adoption of the cloud will not start with the core enterprise applications. There are several ways to start the adoption. One is to move in from training environments through development and test to production. Another takes the importance of applications into consideration, starting with secondary, supporting systems. The approach discussed in this session is to start with edge systems that are already in the DMZ, on the fringes of an enterprises, where they engage in interaction with the outside world.
Systems on the edge of an enterprise have special challenges regarding availability, scalability, security and external interactions with systems or people. This applies for example to external portals, B2B interactions, workflows that involve external actors, mobile APIs and integrations with SaaS instances. These systems are obvious candidates to move to a public cloud - and handle these special requirements on the PaaS platform. This session discusses and demonstrates a number of Oracle PaaS Cloud Services, their mutual interaction and how they can be leveraged to move these systems over the edge and into the cloud: Java Cloud Service, Integration Cloud Service, Process Cloud Service, IoT CS, Mobile Cloud Service, SOA Suite Cloud Service and Message Cloud Service. We will go over a number of scenarios for moving edge systems from on premises to the public cloud. Essential in this discussion is of course the integration from the edge system in the Oracle Public Cloud to the on premises backend systems.
From Oracle Classic into the Cloud - Connexys and AMISLucas Jellema
Presented by Gijs van Heijst (CEO Connexys) & Lucas Jellema (CTO AMIS); describing the route into the future for Connexys, coming from a classic Oracle environment. The presentation demonstrates that people are the essence in this successful project and furthermore that the only real drivers are business drivers (not technological) and that the database is the foundation.
ODTUG Technical Journal - The Reusability Test - Fusion Column July 2010Lucas Jellema
This article discusses reuse. Why would we want reuse and what do we have to do to realize the potential benefits of reuse? What are important considerations around reuse that we should pay attention to? How does a structural approach to reuse impact our organization? Which types of reuse should we discern? And which mechanisms are available to us in general and in Oracle Fusion Middleware (FMW) in particular? We will take a close look at the ADF Taskflow - one of the primary vehicles in FMW for achieving reuse.
Soaring through the Clouds - Oracle Fusion Middleware Partner Forum 2016 Lucas Jellema
The Oracle ACE team has a new mission: complete a complex end-to-end business flow across at least ten Oracle PaaS Services – in front of a live audience. This session will demonstrate how a document driven human workflow triggers an integration flow to update a 3rd party application that in turn emits events that are processed in real time resulting in findings that are published through a REST API in a user friendly front end. Expect guest appearances by an interesting Oracle PaaS cast, including Doc CS, PCS, OSN, Sites CS and ICS and also featuring DBaaS, JCS and SOA CS, Application Container Cloud with a touch of MCS and IoT CS and finally a JET [app] cruising through the clouds. Our flight plan depends a little bit on the weather forecast: we do need a cloudy sky to realize our full potential. The team will perform some live hacking in the various cloud services to complete and tweak the end-to-end flow. We will divulge some of the behind-the-scenes challenges and our findings beyond slideware and C-level promises. A very special guest star will be participating in this session – demonstrating an important attraction of cloud based development.
Slides for Oracle OpenWorld 2015 Tuesday Keynote by Thomas Kurian - Software ...Lucas Jellema
New Applications, Platforms, and Tools, Offered as Online Services, Help Round Out Oracle’s Complete Enterprise Cloud
Oracle President Thomas Kurian discusses how Oracle's cloud services "help people solve real business problems."
Oracle has introduced an impressive list of cloud services in all three major cloud categories in just this year—infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS). “We’ve had a really busy year,” deadpanned Thomas Kurian, Oracle president of product development, during a presentation at Oracle OpenWorld 2015 on Tuesday, October 27. Oracle’s cloud services “help people solve real business problems,” Kurian said, and represent a compelling combination of performance, ubiquity, and simplicity. “Any person anywhere in the world, with just a browser, can access our cloud and get access to all these amazing new product innovations,” he said.
Fontys Lecture - The Evolution of the Oracle Database 2016Lucas Jellema
Lucas Jellema presented on the evolution of the database and its role in application architecture. Key points include:
- The database has evolved from decentralized silos to a centralized, consolidated layer providing data, business logic and interfaces.
- The Oracle database introduced capabilities like PL/SQL, high availability, compression, and flashback queries.
- Recent trends include multitenant databases, in-memory processing, and temporal/versioned data in the cloud.
- Engineered systems optimize hardware and software to improve performance.
Review Oracle OpenWorld 2015 - Overview, Main themes, Announcements and FutureLucas Jellema
This presentation (part of the year AMIS Oracle OpenWorld Review session) discusses the main themes for this year's conference and introduces the all encompassing cloud strategy. It highlights some major changes at Oracle Corporation. It lists the major announcements, the hot terminology and the product roadmaps.
Systems on the edge - your stepping stones into Oracle Public PaaS Cloud - AM...Lucas Jellema
Adoption of the cloud will not start with the core enterprise applications. There are several ways to start the adoption. One is to move in from training environments through development and test to production. Another takes the importance of applications into consideration, starting with secondary, supporting systems. The approach discussed in this session is to start with edge systems that are already in the DMZ, on the fringes of an enterprises, where they engage in interaction with the outside world.
Systems on the edge of an enterprise have special challenges regarding availability, scalability, security and external interactions with systems or people. This applies for example to external portals, B2B interactions, workflows that involve external actors, mobile APIs and integrations with SaaS instances. These systems are obvious candidates to move to a public cloud - and handle these special requirements on the PaaS platform. This session discusses and demonstrates a number of Oracle PaaS Cloud Services, their mutual interaction and how they can be leveraged to move these systems over the edge and into the cloud: Java Cloud Service, Integration Cloud Service, Process Cloud Service, IoT CS, Mobile Cloud Service, SOA Suite Cloud Service and Message Cloud Service. We will go over a number of scenarios for moving edge systems from on premises to the public cloud. Essential in this discussion is of course the integration from the edge system in the Oracle Public Cloud to the on premises backend systems.
The True State of the Oracle Public Cloud - Dutch Oracle Architects Platform ...Lucas Jellema
Why does Oracle want to be a cloud provider? And how is it going about it? What are the challenges facing Oracle along that path? Where does it currently stand with its Public Cloud service offerings - and what lies around the corner? How can organizations get started with the Oracle Public Cloud? What architectural considerations come into play?
Introducing Node.js in an Oracle technology environment (including hands-on)Lucas Jellema
This presentation introduces Node.js in a few simple, straightforward steps. First, Node.js is presented as just JavaScript on the browser, then HTTP handling is discussed with core module http and subsequently using Express. Running Oracle JET from Node.js is explained. The implementation of APIs - REST services supporting various [operations on] resources is discussed. The single-thread nature of Node.js is presented, along with the essentials of asynchrous programming, working with callbacks and using the async module. The Node Oracle DB Database driver is introduced and demonstrated. Finally, further steps are suggested. This presentation is supported by a set of resources that constitute a three hour hands on session - sources are in GitHub https://github.com/lucasjellema/sig-nodejs-amis-2016.
Introducing Oracle Real-Time Integration Business InsightLucas Jellema
as presented on the Oracle Fusion Middleware Partner Forum 15-18 March in Valencia, Spain.
This presentation introduces the new Oracle complement to the SOA Suite that enables real time business monitoring in a strictly non-invasive way.
This presentation is part of the Oracle OpenWorld 2016 session: EOUC Database ACES Share Their Favorite Database Things: Part II. In this session (UGF-2632) ACE Directors share their favorite database features in our now traditional quick-fire sessions (of 5 minutes per speaker).
What is the Oracle PaaS Cloud for Developers (Oracle Cloud Day, The Netherlan...Lucas Jellema
The promise of the cloud is substantial. Oracle's public cloud promise goes beyond the generic promise. This presentation describes the promise of the Oracle Public Cloud specifically for developers. It describes the current state of the PaaS Platform, the actual and coming services and what they could mean to a developer. From same platform, different location (DBaaS, JCS) to cloud native stack (ICS, MCS) and services for Citizen Developers, the presentation touches upon virtually all services relevant to developers. The presentation concludes with first the steps enterprises can start taking to move to the cloud and second the steps individual developers could and perhaps should take in order to conquer the clouds.
Oracle Management Cloud - introduction, overview and getting started (AMIS, 2...Lucas Jellema
Oracle Management Cloud provides seven services that collect metrics and logging from all tiers in the stack and from clouds and on premises systems alike and provide various levels of insight in what is going on or what went on. To find performance bottlenecks, browser incompatibilities, application health issues, infrastructure problems at runtime , OMC provides dasboards, alerting, synthetic tests and log watchers. This presentation gives an overview of OMC, highlights some key features and describes how AMIS got started with APM, Log Analytics and Infrastructure Monitoring.
One key area of Oracle OpenWorld 2016 was data in various shapes. Big Data, streaming data and traditional transactional data. The power of SQL to access and unleash all data - even data in NoSQL databases. The advent of the citizen data scientist. Streaming data analysis in real time on vast and fast and vast data, data discovery. And the new Oracle Database 12cR2 release. Forms, APEX, SQL and PL/SQL.
Oracle OpenWorld 2016 Review - High Level Overview of major themes and grand ...Lucas Jellema
Overview of the highlights, main themes and grand announcements during Oracle OpenWorld 2016. Cloud, Big Data, Machine Learning, Infrastructure, raging against AWS and the Oracle future strategy are the chief topics.
Handson Oracle Management Cloud with Application Performance Monitoring and L...Lucas Jellema
This presentation gives an overview of the steps in the workshop labs for Oracle Management Cloud APM and Log Analytics. The labs themselves and all sources are found at GitHub: https://github.com/lucasjellema/APM-Demo-App-WorldView .
AMIS SIG - Introducing Apache Kafka - Scalable, reliable Event Bus & Message ...Lucas Jellema
Introduction of Apache Kafka - the open source platform for real time message queuing and reliable, scalable, distributed event handling and high volume pub/sub implementation.
see GitHub https://github.com/MaartenSmeets/kafka-workshop for the workshop resources.
Waarom Bedrijven Kiezen Voor Drupal Voor De Ontwikkeling Van Futuristische We...Rasin Bekkevold
De out-of-box functies en functionaliteiten van Drupal maken het de eerste keus van moderne bedrijven. De ontwikkeling experts van Drupal leggen uit waarom het de CMS van de toekomst is.
Every Year IPMA Nederland and IPMA Certificering publish their booklet about Project management trends for that year. In 2016 professors and experts in projectmanagement were interviewed to discover the latest trends. On of the trends is Women inn project management and I was asked to write about my project including a piece on the trend.
Article (in Dutch) in the AG Connect about automating your IT organization across the entire IT value chain. Most IT organization typically lack a sophisticated plan and approach of how to automated IT activities across the service life cycle from plan, code, build, test, deploy, monitor, etc. Use the IT4IT Reference Architecture from The Open Group to guide this transformation journey.
The True State of the Oracle Public Cloud - Dutch Oracle Architects Platform ...Lucas Jellema
Why does Oracle want to be a cloud provider? And how is it going about it? What are the challenges facing Oracle along that path? Where does it currently stand with its Public Cloud service offerings - and what lies around the corner? How can organizations get started with the Oracle Public Cloud? What architectural considerations come into play?
Introducing Node.js in an Oracle technology environment (including hands-on)Lucas Jellema
This presentation introduces Node.js in a few simple, straightforward steps. First, Node.js is presented as just JavaScript on the browser, then HTTP handling is discussed with core module http and subsequently using Express. Running Oracle JET from Node.js is explained. The implementation of APIs - REST services supporting various [operations on] resources is discussed. The single-thread nature of Node.js is presented, along with the essentials of asynchrous programming, working with callbacks and using the async module. The Node Oracle DB Database driver is introduced and demonstrated. Finally, further steps are suggested. This presentation is supported by a set of resources that constitute a three hour hands on session - sources are in GitHub https://github.com/lucasjellema/sig-nodejs-amis-2016.
Introducing Oracle Real-Time Integration Business InsightLucas Jellema
as presented on the Oracle Fusion Middleware Partner Forum 15-18 March in Valencia, Spain.
This presentation introduces the new Oracle complement to the SOA Suite that enables real time business monitoring in a strictly non-invasive way.
This presentation is part of the Oracle OpenWorld 2016 session: EOUC Database ACES Share Their Favorite Database Things: Part II. In this session (UGF-2632) ACE Directors share their favorite database features in our now traditional quick-fire sessions (of 5 minutes per speaker).
What is the Oracle PaaS Cloud for Developers (Oracle Cloud Day, The Netherlan...Lucas Jellema
The promise of the cloud is substantial. Oracle's public cloud promise goes beyond the generic promise. This presentation describes the promise of the Oracle Public Cloud specifically for developers. It describes the current state of the PaaS Platform, the actual and coming services and what they could mean to a developer. From same platform, different location (DBaaS, JCS) to cloud native stack (ICS, MCS) and services for Citizen Developers, the presentation touches upon virtually all services relevant to developers. The presentation concludes with first the steps enterprises can start taking to move to the cloud and second the steps individual developers could and perhaps should take in order to conquer the clouds.
Oracle Management Cloud - introduction, overview and getting started (AMIS, 2...Lucas Jellema
Oracle Management Cloud provides seven services that collect metrics and logging from all tiers in the stack and from clouds and on premises systems alike and provide various levels of insight in what is going on or what went on. To find performance bottlenecks, browser incompatibilities, application health issues, infrastructure problems at runtime , OMC provides dasboards, alerting, synthetic tests and log watchers. This presentation gives an overview of OMC, highlights some key features and describes how AMIS got started with APM, Log Analytics and Infrastructure Monitoring.
One key area of Oracle OpenWorld 2016 was data in various shapes. Big Data, streaming data and traditional transactional data. The power of SQL to access and unleash all data - even data in NoSQL databases. The advent of the citizen data scientist. Streaming data analysis in real time on vast and fast and vast data, data discovery. And the new Oracle Database 12cR2 release. Forms, APEX, SQL and PL/SQL.
Oracle OpenWorld 2016 Review - High Level Overview of major themes and grand ...Lucas Jellema
Overview of the highlights, main themes and grand announcements during Oracle OpenWorld 2016. Cloud, Big Data, Machine Learning, Infrastructure, raging against AWS and the Oracle future strategy are the chief topics.
Handson Oracle Management Cloud with Application Performance Monitoring and L...Lucas Jellema
This presentation gives an overview of the steps in the workshop labs for Oracle Management Cloud APM and Log Analytics. The labs themselves and all sources are found at GitHub: https://github.com/lucasjellema/APM-Demo-App-WorldView .
AMIS SIG - Introducing Apache Kafka - Scalable, reliable Event Bus & Message ...Lucas Jellema
Introduction of Apache Kafka - the open source platform for real time message queuing and reliable, scalable, distributed event handling and high volume pub/sub implementation.
see GitHub https://github.com/MaartenSmeets/kafka-workshop for the workshop resources.
Waarom Bedrijven Kiezen Voor Drupal Voor De Ontwikkeling Van Futuristische We...Rasin Bekkevold
De out-of-box functies en functionaliteiten van Drupal maken het de eerste keus van moderne bedrijven. De ontwikkeling experts van Drupal leggen uit waarom het de CMS van de toekomst is.
Every Year IPMA Nederland and IPMA Certificering publish their booklet about Project management trends for that year. In 2016 professors and experts in projectmanagement were interviewed to discover the latest trends. On of the trends is Women inn project management and I was asked to write about my project including a piece on the trend.
Article (in Dutch) in the AG Connect about automating your IT organization across the entire IT value chain. Most IT organization typically lack a sophisticated plan and approach of how to automated IT activities across the service life cycle from plan, code, build, test, deploy, monitor, etc. Use the IT4IT Reference Architecture from The Open Group to guide this transformation journey.
Het doel van wyStack is een hernieuwde visie op “Model-Driven Software Development” (MDSD). wyStack is hét platform om productief software te bouwen. Bouwen met wyStack betekent enerzijds “low-code”, wat resulteert in minder onderhoud en meer flexibiliteit maar anderzijds biedt het platform ook integratie met Visual Studio (IDE), Microsoft Azure (deployment), Team Foundation Server (agile/scrum, source control) en ondersteuning voor TypeScript en C#.
Zie jij je stage als meer dan een verplicht onderdeel van je studie en wil je de ideale basis leggen voor een serieuze stap in je carrière? Dan ben je bij ons aan het juiste adres! Avanade heeft verschillende stageopdrachten ontwikkeld voor ambitieuze studenten met een passie en talent voor Microsoft-technologie. Ook staan wij altijd open voor goede ideeën en initiatieven voor opdrachten.
Introduction to web application development with Vue (for absolute beginners)...Lucas Jellema
In this slide deck I show you how you can easily and quickly create quite rich web applications with Vue 3 – without having to study complex concepts or understand many technical details. I have only recently learned how to work with Vue 3 myself and now is the best time for me to share my learning experience (and my enthusiasm) with you. I know what I found essential to understand and what most got me excited in these early steps (what was a little bit hard to grasp). I believe that I can present my steps and guide you to experience the same fun and have a similarly gratifying experience. I am not an expert in this subject – I have barely learned how to walk and that is why I can help you with these first steps with Vue.
In this deck, I do not explain how Vue works. I do not really know that. I will show you how to work with it and how to create web applications that are functional, appealing, fast and responsive.
The approach I am taking is straightforward:
• I will tell you a little bit about web development, browsers and reactive frameworks
• I will show the hello world of Vue applications
• I will explain about components and nesting, events, data binding and reactive behavior and demonstrate these concepts
• I will introduce Vue UI Component libraries – and with no effort at all we will launch our application to the next level – with rich components to explore, manipulate, visualize data collections
• We will publish the web application from our development environment to where the whole world could see it – using GitHub Pages
• As bonus topic – we discuss state management
At the end of this session you will be able to quickly create a simple yet rich web application with Vue 3. You have a starting point to further evolve your skills with the many online resources I am convinced that you will enjoy your newfound powers and the simplicity and power of Vue 3.
Note: a tutorial accompanies this slide deck - see https://github.com/lucasjellema/code-face-vue3-intro-reactiive-webapps-aug2023/blob/main/README.md
Making the Shift Left - Bringing Ops to Dev before bringing applications to p...Lucas Jellema
The document discusses bringing operations considerations into the development process earlier, referred to as "shifting left." It advocates designing applications with operations in mind from the beginning. This includes understanding operational objectives, constraints, and service level agreements. Application telemetry and monitoring are also important to incorporate from the start. The document provides examples of how to implement operational practices like deployments, health checks, and incident response processes in a shifted left model where development and operations work more closely together.
Lightweight coding in powerful Cloud Development Environments (DigitalXchange...Lucas Jellema
The document discusses lightweight coding in powerful cloud development environments using Gitpod. It describes Gitpod as providing a preconfigured Linux development environment in the browser or on local machine. The document outlines key Gitpod features like open source project collaboration, costs which are free for 50 hours per month, and benefits like clean environments and efficient resource usage. It also briefly mentions other tools like GitHub Codespaces.
Apache Superset - open source data exploration and visualization (Conclusion ...Lucas Jellema
Introducing Apache Superset - an open source platform for data exploration, visualization and analysis - co-starring Trino and Steampipe for providing SQL access to many non-SQL data sources.
CONNECTING THE REAL WORLD TO ENTERPRISE IT – HOW IoT DRIVES OUR ENERGY TRANSI...Lucas Jellema
Enterprise IT systems are deaf, blind and highly insensitive. They do not know what is going on in the outside world. Through Internet of Things technology, we provide eyes, ears and hands that allow enterprises to learn about and react in real time to events in the physical world. The energy transition at a major Dutch energy company (Eneco) is powered by IoT technology – to steer and sometimes curtail windmills and solar farms and to coordinate local energy production and trade. This session shows you how the physical world was connected to the customer portals and apps, asset management systems and Kafka platform through the Azure cloud based IoT Hub en Edge, digital twin, serverless functions, timeseries datastores and streaming data analysis. It is a story about technological innovation on top of existing foundations and of a vision for business and our society at large.
Help me move away from Oracle - or not?! (Oracle Community Tour EMEA - LVOUG...Lucas Jellema
I hear this aspiration from a growing number of organizations. Sometimes as a quite literal question. This however is merely half of a wish. Apparently, organizations want to quit with one thing — but have not yet stipulated what they desire instead. What is the objective that is pursued here? Only to get rid of Oracle? It will become clear why you should give a considerable thought about dropping Oracle, or any other vendors’ technology, when you’re not pleased with your current IT situation. You need to focus on the actual problems and objectives and define the suitable roadmap to fit your real needs. It turns out that the quest is usually for modernization and flexibility - and Oracle can very well be a part of that future.
Organizations with decades of investment in Oracle technology sometimes (and increasingly) express a wish to move away from Oracle. In this session, we will first explore where the desire to move away from Oracle might come from. Then we describe what the term Oracle represents — more than 2.000 products on all layers in the technology stack and in different business areas. Finally, we map out what the ‘moving away from’ consists of: defining where you ‘move to’ and subsequently actually going there.
It will become clear why you should give considerable thought about dropping Oracle, or any other vendors’ technology, when you’re not pleased with your current IT situation. You need to focus on the actual problems and objectives and define the suitable roadmap to fit your real needs. It turns out that the quest is usually for modernization and flexibility - and Oracle can very well be a part of that future.
Original storyline in this Medium Article: https://medium.com/real-vox/what-if-companies-say-help-me-move-away-from-oracle-ffbbc95afc4f
IoT - from prototype to enterprise platform (DigitalXchange 2022)Lucas Jellema
In 2019 the company started a small scale IoT project: smart meters in consumer homes, a cloud based IoT platform for device management, metrics collecting, monitoring and real time data processing. From the initial 12 devices and this single use case, the initiative has rapidly scaled, to tens of thousands devices - including entire wind parks and solar farms - and seven substantial business cases, not just for harvesting data but increasingly for real time actuation. The IoT Platform is feeding the brain at the heart of the enterprise - through an event streaming platform and an API platform. It supports complex operations with anomaly detection on metrics streams and device and communication monitoring. This session tells about the eye catching business cases - what are business objectives and results - and explains the journey since the start. It continues the story presented at DigitalXchange 2020 - discussing technical challenges and solutions as well as organizational aspects. Areas of particular interest: edge processing, data analytics and machine learning.
Who Wants to Become an IT Architect-A Look at the Bigger Picture - DigitalXch...Lucas Jellema
Pitch: The movie The Matrix made it clear: The Architect is powerful. How to be(come) and IT architect? What do you do, what do you need to know, is it fun and why? Using real world examples, core principles and useful tools, this session introduces the subtle art of designing and realizing flexible IT architectures. </p><p>Taking a step back to get and create an overview, frequently asking why to get to the real intention, bringing aspects such as cost, scale, time and change and business strategy into the design and bridging the gap between business owners, process managers and technical specialists. One way to define the responsibility of an IT architect. In this session, we will discuss what is expected of the architect and what you need to do for that and what you could use to get it done. How do you get started as an architect, how to grow in that role? We discuss a number of real life architectural challenges and solution design. And discuss a number of architecture principles, patterns, and powers to apply. Never stop programming - but perhaps rise to the architecture challenge too.
Notes: Many IT professionals aspire to become architects. Many architects wonder what it is they have to do. After 27 years in IT I find I have slowly and steadily moved into a role that I can probably use the label architect for, although still with some reluctance. What exactly does that mean - IT architect? While I may not have all answers and the ultimate truth and wisdom, I do have many architectural challenges to discuss and some core principles to share and a number of tips, tricks and tools to recommend that will help anyone get started or grow in a role as architect for software and IT systems. Elements that make an appearance include cloud, agile, DevOps, microservices, persistence, business, powers of persuasion, diagramming, cost, security, software engineering, data.
Outline: - two real world examples (one new business initiative, one running and struggling project) and how to approach them with an architect's mind - core principles to apply , patterns to us, what to unearth (the power question of WHY) - architecture products: what do you deliver as an architect; how do you ensure agility? - how to be effective? bringing your design to life - communication with stakeholders/powers of persuasion, monitoring adherence, being pragmatic but not lose grip; - anecdotal evidence from several small and large product teams - the good and also the ugly (architectural oversights and the consequences)
some specific answers to address - how much technical knowledge and programming skills does an architect require? What other knowledge is required and how to stay on top of your game? how to get going: first steps towards be(com)ing and architect?
Steampipe - use SQL to retrieve data from cloud, platforms and files (Code Ca...Lucas Jellema
Introduction to Steampipe - a tool for retrieving data and metadata about cloud resources, platform resources and file content - all through SQL. Data from clouds, files and platforms can be joined, filtered, sorted, aggregated using regular SQL. Steampipe offers a very convenient way to get hold of data that describes the environment in detail.
Automation of Software Engineering with OCI DevOps Build and Deployment Pipel...Lucas Jellema
Automation of software delivery has several advantages. Prevention of human error is certainly one. Consistent and complete execution of tried and tested build and deployment tasks as the only way to apply changes in the live environment. Once the pipelines have been set up, the engineers can focus on the software and applying the required changes to it. To bring that software all the way to production is a breeze. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure offers the DevOps service, introduced in the Summer of 2021. This service comes with git style code repositories, build servers and build pipelines, artifact repositories as well as deployment pipelines. This session introduces OCI DevOps and demonstrates how software can be built and deployed on OKE Kubernetes, Compute Instance VMs and Oracle Functions. From simple source code an application is put in production without manual intervention in the build and deployment process.
Introducing Dapr.io - the open source personal assistant to microservices and...Lucas Jellema
Dapr.io is an open source product, originated from Microsoft and embraced by a broad coalition of cloud suppliers (part of CNFC) and open source projects. Dapr is a runtime framework that can support any application and that especially shines with distributed applications - for example microservices - that run in containers, spread over clouds and / or edge devices.
With Dapr you give an application a "sidecar" - a kind of personal assistant that takes care of all kinds of common responsibilities. Capturing and retrieving state, publishing and consuming messages or events. Reading secrets and configuration data. Shielding and load balancing over service endpoints. Calling and subscribing to all kinds of SaaS and PaaS facilities. Logging traces across all kinds of application components and logically routing calls between microservices and other application components. Dapr provides generic APIs to the application (HTTP and gRPC) for calling all these generic services – and provides implementations of these APIs for all public clouds and dozens of technology components. This means that your application can easily make use of a wide range of relevant features - with a strict separation between the language the application uses for this (generic, simple) and the configuration of the specific technology (e.g. Redis, MySQL, CosmosDB, Cassandra, PostgreSQL, Oracle Database, MongoDB, Azure SQL etc) that the Dapr sidecar uses. Changing technology does not affect the application, but affects the configuration of the Sidecar. Dapr can be used from applications in any technology - from Java and C#/.NET to Go, Python, Node, Rust and PHP. Or whatever can talk HTTP (or gRPC).
In this Code Café I will introduce you to Dapr.io. I will show you what Dapr can do for you (application) and how you can Dapr-izen an application. I'll show you how an asynchronously collaborative system of microservices - implemented in different technologies - can be easily connected to Dapr, first to Redis as a Pub/Sub mechanism and then also to Apache Kafka without modifications. Then we do - with the interested parties - also a hands-on in which you will apply Dapr yourself . In a short time you get a good feel for how you can use Dapr for different aspects of your applications. And if nothing else, Dapr is a very easy way to get your code with Kafka, S3, Redis, Azure EventGrid, HashiCorp Consul, Twillio, Pulsar, RabbitMQ, HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secret Manager, Azure KeyVault, Cron, SMTP, Twitter, AWS SQS & SNS, GCP Pub/Sub and dozens of other technology components talk.
How and Why you can and should Participate in Open Source Projects (AMIS, Sof...Lucas Jellema
For a long time I have been reluctant to actively contribute to an open source project. I thought it would be rather complicated and demanding – and that I didn't have the knowledge or skills for it or at the very least that they (the project team) weren't waiting for me.
In December 2021, I decided to have a serious input into the Dapr.io project – and now finally to determine how it works and whether it is really that complicated. In this session I want to tell you about my experiences. How Fork, Clone, Branch, Push (and PR) is the rhythm of contributing to an open source project and how you do that (these are all Git actions against GitHub repositories). How to learn how such a project functions and how to connect to it; which tools are needed, which communication channels are used. I tell how the standards of the project – largely automatically enforced – help me to become a better software engineer, with an eye for readability and testability of the code.
How the review process is quite exciting once you have offered your contribution. And how the final "merge to master" of my contribution and then the actual release (Dapr 1.6 contains my first contribution) are nice milestones.
I hope to motivate participants in this session to also take the step yourself and contribute to an open source project in the form of issues or samples, documentation or code. It's valuable to the community and the specific project and I think it's definitely a valuable experience for the "contributer". I looked up to it and now that I've done it gives me confidence – and it tastes like more (I could still use some help with the work on Dapr.io, by the way).
Microservices, Apache Kafka, Node, Dapr and more - Part Two (Fontys Hogeschoo...Lucas Jellema
Apache Kafka is one of the best known enterprise grade message brokers – created at LinkedIn, donated to the Apache software foundation and used in an ever growing number of organizations to provide a backbone for asynchronous communication. This session introduces Apache Kafka – history, concepts, community and tooling. In a hands on lab, participants will create topics, publish and consume messages and get a general feel for Kafka. Simple microservices are developed in NodeJS – publishing to and consuming from Apache Kafka.
Dapr.io has support for Apache Kafka. Using Kafka through Dapr is very straightforward as is explained and demonstrated and applied in a second handson lab – with applications in various programming languages. Participants will even be able to exchange events across their laptops – through a cloud based Kafka broker.
Use of Apache Kafka in several architecture patterns is discussed – such as data integration, microservices, CQRS, Event Sourcing – along with a number of real world use cases from several well known organizations. The Kafka Connector framework is introduced – a set of adapters that allow us to easily connect Kafka to sources and sinks – where respectively change events are captured from and messages are published to.
Bonus Lab: Apache Kafka is ran on Kubernetes as is Dapr.io. Multiple mutually interacting microservices are deployed on the same local Kubernetes cluster.
Microservices, Node, Dapr and more - Part One (Fontys Hogeschool, Spring 2022)Lucas Jellema
This session does a quick recap of microservices: why do we want them, what problems do they solve and what are the principles around designing and implementing them? The Dapr.io runtime framework for distributed applications is introduced. Dapr provides a sidecar (almost like a personal assistant to a manager) to an application or microservice, a companion process that handles common tasks such as storing and retrieving state, consuming and publishing messages and events, invoking external services and other microservices as well as handling incoming requests. Participants will do a handson lab with Dapr.io and learn how to quickly implement interactions with various technologies, including Redis and MySQL.
Node(JS) is introduced – a server side JavaScript-based programming language that can be used well for implementing microservices. Some of the main characteristics of NodeJS are discussed (functional programming, asynchronous flows, NPM package manager) as well as common use cases (handle incoming HTTP requests, invoke REST APIs). In the second lab, Node and Dapr are used together to implement microservices that interact with databases and message brokers and each other – in a decoupled fashion.
6Reinventing Oracle Systems in a Cloudy World (RMOUG Trainingdays, February 2...Lucas Jellema
The cloud is changing many things. Even the decision to not (yet) adopt cloud is one to make explicitly. Now is a time for any organization to reconsider the IT landscape. For each system we should make a conscious ruling on its roadmap. The 6R model suggests six ways to move a system forward.
This session uses the 6R model and applies it specifically to Oracle technology based systems: what are the options and considerations for Oracle Database, Oracle Fusion Middleware, custom applications, and other red components? What future should we consider and how do we choose? The paths chosen by several Oracle-heavy users is presented to illustrate these options and the decision making process. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Autonomous Database play a role, as do Azure IaaS and Azure Managed Database as well as on premises systems. Latency, recovery, scalability, licenses, automation, lock-in, skills, and resources all make their appearance.
Help me move away from Oracle! (RMOUG Training Days 2022, February 2022)Lucas Jellema
Organizations with decades of investment in Oracle technology sometimes (and increasingly) express a wish to move away from Oracle. In this session, we will first explore where the desire to move away from Oracle might come from. Then we describe what the term Oracle represents -- more than 2.000 products on all layers in the technology stack and in different business areas. Finally, we map out what the 'moving away from' consists of: defining where you 'move to' and subsequently actually going there.
It will become clear why you should give considerable thought about dropping Oracle, or any other vendors' technology, when you're not pleased with your current IT situation. You need to focus on the actual problems and objectives and define the suitable roadmap to fit your real needs. It turns out that the quest is usually for modernization and flexibility - and Oracle can very well be a part of that future.
DevOps is a term used in many places and unfortunately also to mean many different things. This presentation (largely in Dutch) paints the DevOps picture. While it may not give a clear cut definition (there does not seem to be one) it certainly makes clear what DevOps is about, what objectives and origins are and which factors enable and drive DevOps.
Conclusion Code Cafe - Microcks for Mocking and Testing Async APIs (January 2...Lucas Jellema
Microcks is a tool for API Mocking and Testing. In this presentation an overview of the support in Microcks for asynchronous APIs - the event publishing and consuming behavior of services and applications
Cloud native applications offer scalability, flexibility, and optimal use of compute resources. Serverless functions interacting through events, leveraging cloud capabilities for persistent storage and automated operations take organization to the next level in IT. This session demonstrates polyglot Functions interacting with native cloud services for events and persistence (Object Storage and NoSQL Database) and leveraging the Key and Secrets Vault, Monitoring and Notifications services for operational control. A lightweight API Gateway is used to expose APIs to external consumers. Infrastructure as Code is the guiding principle in deploying both cloud resources and application components, through OCI CLI and Terraform. This session leverages many cloud native (enabling) services in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. The session will introduce concepts, then spend most of the time on live demonstrations. All sources are shared with the audience, to allow participants to create the same application in their own cloud tenancy. What is so great about Cloud Native Applications? How do you create one? I will explain the first and demonstrate the second. On Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, using services that anyone can use for free, I will live create a cloud native application that streams, persists, notifies, scales, monitors Benefits: - get to know many different OCI services - understand the meaning, purpose and benefits of cloud native development - learn how to take your own first steps in OCI - for free!
1. Forms2Future presentatie op OBUG 2010:
Castle in the clouds – Building the Connexys
SaaS application with Fusion Middleware
Tijdens de OBUG 2010 conferentie op dinsdag 23 maart jl. in conferentie centrum Papendal was
'Forms2Future' een van thema's, zowel in de presentaties als op de expositie. Dit thema betreft niet
uitsluitend over Forms - het beschrijft in het algemeen een omgeving met klassieke Oracle ontwikkel-
technologie en bijbehorende applicaties, werkmethodes en medewerkers in organisaties die op de
toekomst willen inspelen. De toekomst voor deze organisaties omvat verschillende uitdagingen en
mogelijkheden. Bijvoorbeeld nieuwe wensen van de business - en de eis om een kortere time-to-market
te realiseren voor toekomstige nieuwe wensen, nieuwe gebruikersgroepen en nieuwe kanalen
waarlangs applicatie-functionaliteit moet worden aangeboden. En ook een verdergaande integratie
binnen de organisatie - koppelingen tussen systemen, bruggen tussen technologieën - en tussen de
organisatie en business partners en overheidsinstanties.
De presentatie van Arne van den Ing (architect bij Connexys) en Lucas Jellema (technisch consultant bij
AMIS) ging in op de reis die Connexys heeft gemaakt in het licht van een aantal van deze uitdagingen
van een klassieke Oracle omgeving naar een op de toekomst voorbereide situatie. Deze reis omvat
zowel technologie en applicatie als werkwijze en veel betrokken medewerkers en klanten. De Connexys-
applicatie is een SaaS-applicatie (Software as a Service) die vanuit 'de cloud' door meer dan 150
organisaties wordt gebruikt. Dit stelt specifieke eisen aan de applicatie, ondermeer op het vlak van de
dynamische aanpasbaarheid, het operationele beheer en de integratie (across the cloud). Het lijkt er
overigens op dat veel van de voorzieningen die ten behoeve van het SaaS karakter van de applicatie zijn
ontworpen eigenlijk in iedere applicatie van waarde kunnen zijn.
2. Figuur: Gepersonificeerd Dashboard voor de Connexys NextGen applicatie
Dit artikel geeft een beeld van de presentatie van Arne en Lucas - achtereenvolgens van de
uitgangssituatie bij Connexys, de keuzes die zijn gemaakt en de overwegingen daarbij, de belangrijkste
elementen in het "NextGen project" en de specifieke voorzieningen die voor 'customization' en 'cross-
cloud service ontsluiting' van SaaS applicaties ontworpen zijn.
Connexys - een paar jaar geleden
Aan het begin van het decennium startte Connexys met een browser gebaseerde applicatie die Werving
& Selectie en HRM-processen ondersteunde voor kleinere en vooral grotere organisaties. In een paar
jaar bouwt Connexys een groot marktaandeel op met ruim 100 klanten en superieure functionaliteit.
Figuur: Screenshot van Connexys OldGen - de applicatie van voor 2008
3. Dan doet de wet van de remmende voorsprong zich gelden: nieuwe partijen in de markt bieden visueel
rijkere, modernere applicaties en verleiden daarmee nieuwe klanten. Andere aandachtspunten voor
Connexys zijn de groeiende kosten van implementaties, de inspanning voor het onderhoud van de vele
klantspecifieke aanpassingen en het te beperkte vermogen snel nieuwe functionaliteit te realiseren.
Het marktaandeel van Connexys groeit niet meer en het bedrijf staat voor een belangrijke keuze: de
bestaande applicatie handhaven, verder uitmelken en een langzame maar zekere teruggang accepteren
of de applicatie en de organisatie moderniseren en het leiderschap in de markt terugpakken en
uitbouwen. Dat laatste scenario vergt actie en een substantiële investering.
De directie van Connexys is niet toe aan de rol van Cash Cow en op termijn een nachtkaarsscenario. Er
wordt besloten tot het NextGen project dat de toekomst zal binnenhalen.
Het NextGen project
Het uitgangspunt voor Connexys is een deels met de Oracle Designer WebServer Generator gegeneerde
PL/SQL applicatie - op basis van de Web PL/SQL Toolkit die vanuit de Oracle Database met behulp van
het HTP package en de MOD_PLSQL module voor Apache HTML pagina's oplevert. De applicatie is in de
loop der jaren enorm verrijkt, middels handmatige aanpassingen op de gegenereerde code. Het
fundament van de applicatie wordt gevormd door een solide data model en een laag die bedrijfsregels
en data integriteit afdwingt met triggers en packages. Een dozijn medewerkers werkt aan het ontwerp,
de ontwikkeling en het beheer van de applicatie.
Keuzecriteria voor de technologie die voor NextGen werd geselecteerd waren met name:
functionaliteit - kan de stack de functionele (en vele non-functionele) eisen implementeren
productiviteit - is de ontwikkeling van toekomstige functionaliteit mogelijk binnen tijd en budget
time to market & flexibiliteit - biedt de stack voldoende 'agility'? Kan nieuwe functionaliteit snel
ingepast en bijgebouwd worden
licentiekosten - de directe out-of-pocket kosten voor het inzetten van de stack
haalbaarheid voor team - in hoeverre kan het bestaande team van ontwikkelaars en beheerders
maar ook ontwerpers, testers en andere betrokkenen, de stack adopteren binnen redelijke
termijn en tegen redelijke kosten
Daarnaast was een uitgangspunt dat de bestaande Oracle database ook de nieuwe applicatie zou gaan
bedienen - ondermeer omdat gedurende een overgangsperiode zowel OldGen als NextGen actief
zouden zijn.
Het selectietraject, waarin ondermeer naar Open Source Java en .Net oplossingen werd gekeken,
resulteerde in een keuze voor Oracle's ADF framework. Om grotere productiviteit en een vlakkere
leercurve voor het ontwikkelteam te bewerkstelligen werd JHeadstart ingezet als extra
ontwikkelgereedschap. Ook werd de kracht van de database nadrukkelijk ingezet: bij gelijke geschiktheid
werden operaties met behulp van SQL en PL/SQL gerealiseerd in plaats van ten alle tijde Java in te
zetten.
4. Figuur: van oude architectuur naar de nieuwe NEXTGEN situatie
Connexys beoogde twee belangrijke doelstellingen met het NextGen project. Allereerst de ontwikkeling
van een applicatie die de leidende marktpositie zou herbevestigen en voor de toekomst zeker stellen.
Direct daaraan gekoppeld en voor het bestendigen van het succes net zo belangrijk de ontwikkeling van
de hele organisatie - van ontwikkelaar tot secretaresse was op een of andere manier bezig met of op zijn
minst bewust van NextGen - en ook de klanten die al in een vroeg stadium werden geïnformeerd over
het project en konden meedenken over de functionaliteit en het uiterlijk van de applicatie. Connexys
zocht een externe partij aan om de reis naar de toekomst te helpen plannen en daarna
achtereenvolgens als gids/reisleider, reisgenoot en uiteindelijk steunpunt te fungeren. Enthousiasme- en
kennisoverdracht leidend tot zelfstandigheid van de eigen medewerkers waren de sleutel voor succes.
Rijke functionaliteit
De NextGen applicatie is aantrekkelijk en plezierig intuïtief om mee te werken. Klanten moeten vroeg in
salescycli in een oppervlakkige kennismaking geïnteresseerd raken. En vervolgens bij nadere
beschouwing en toetsing door kandidaat-eindgebruikers maar met name in het dagelijkse gebruik moet
de applicatie functioneel rijk zijn, taak- en procesgericht zodat gebruikers zonder steile leercurve of veel
zoeken doelgericht en productief hun werk kunnen doen. Rijke web-applicaties van verschillende
leveranciers zoals SalesForce.com inspireerden het ontwerp van NextGen.
De basis voor het ontwerp werd gevormd door een user interaction design - een consistente
beschrijving van de meest voorkomende acties en interacties in de applicaties met antwoorden op
vragen als: welke stappen zet een gebruiker, wat zijn de mogelijke keuzes op ieder punt in de applicatie,
welke informatie heeft de gebruiker nodig om een actie te initiëren. Dit ontwerp omvat de structuur van
applicatie-pagina's en de vaste interactie-gebieden - zoals tabs voor modules (1), broodkruimelspoor
voor de flow binnen een module (2), navigatie-historie voor (short-cuts naar) de recent bezochte
kandidaten, vacatures en contactpersonen (3), knoppenbalk voor transactie controle (Opslaan, Opslaan
& Specifieke vervolgactie en Annuleren) en navigatie door gegevensset (4) en het wellicht meest
opmerkelijke onderdeel: de relevante acties (5).
5. Figuur: de vaste interactie-gebieden in het NextGen interaction ontwerp
De applicatie kent geen globaal menu zoals we dat van oudsher in veel applicaties tegenkomen. In plaats
daarvan wordt in NextGen op iedere pagina in de 'Acties-box' een lijst van acties (hyperlinks) getoond
die op dit moment beschikbaar zijn. Op basis van de huidige pagina, de huidige gebruiker (rechten) en
het huidige record (status) wordt door de applicatie aan een PL/SQL gebaseerde workflow engine
gevraagd welke operaties beschikbaar zijn. Dit dynamische lijstje vormt voor gebruikers een heel
intuïtieve manier om snel de meest voor de hand liggende actie in het kader van een logisch
samenhangende workflow (die door de klanten zelf kan worden ingericht) uit te voeren.
Daarnaast wordt de look & feel - de stijl, kleursamenstelling, icoongebruik - vastgelegd in dit interaction
design.
Kenmerken van SaaS applicaties
NextGen is een applicatie die wordt aangeboden via het SaaS model (Software as a Service). Dit model
kent een aantal karakteristieken en uitdagingen waarmee bij het ontwerp en de bouw nadrukkelijk
rekening moet worden gehouden.
Er is sprake van een 'single instance' van een standaard applicatie die door veel gebruikers binnen
meerdere (bij Connexys meer dan 150) klantorganisaties wordt gebruikt. SaaS applicaties draaien
binnen een centrale en centraal beheerde infrastructuur en zijn (nagenoeg) 24/7 beschikaar, zeker bij
internationaal gebruikte applicaties. De applicatie wordt aangeboden via een web browser. Het licentie-
model is gebaseerd op gebruik - zowel hoeveelheid gegevens en transacties (diepte) als de gebruikte
modules en afgenomen functionaliteit (breedte). Service Level Agreement leggen de gegarandeerde
dienstverlening vast - zoals beschikbaarheid en reactie-snelheid van de applicatie.
We bespreken twee specifieke aandachtspunten voor NextGen als gevolg van deze SaaS
karakteristieken:
6. klanten en eindgebruikers willen een applicatie die naadloos aansluit bij hun werkelijkheid; ze
willen weliswaar een standaardapplicatie uit oogpunt van ondermeer kostenoverwegingen,
beheerefficiency en toekomstzekerheid, maar ook een die voelt als 'eigen', bijvoorbeeld doordat
eigen terminologie wordt gehanteerd (kandidaat dan wel sollicitant dan wel reflectant,
belangstellende, gegadigde), het menu en de workflow naar eigen inzicht kunnen worden
ingericht en doordat validaties, bedrijfsregels, veld-verplichtheid naar eigen inzicht kunnen
worden gedefinieerd.
organisaties werken aan de integratie van hun systemen en applicaties, veelal op basis van
services en soms ook events; SaaS applicaties maken dan wel niet fysiek deel uit van het IT
landschap van de gebruikende organisatie, ze zijn logisch gezien volstrekt vergelijkbaar met de
applicaties die wel on-site beheerd worden -zowel standaard als maatwerk applicaties. De
integratie en service-gebaseerde ontsluiting betreft dus ook de SaaS applicaties.
Dynamische Aanpasbaarheid
Voor klanten van de Connexys applicatie is de mogelijkheid om wat in essentie een standaard-applicatie
is - en zelfs een single, shared instance van die applicatie - aan de eigen wensen en omstandigheden aan
te passen een belangrijke eis. NextGen voorziet daarin op een aantal terreinen, zoals workflow-
configuratie, menu-inrichting, boilerplate tekst zoals prompts en error-teksten en flex-velden . Deze
hebben qua technische implementie een overeenkomst: meta-data voor de klant-specifieke
uitbreidingen/aanpassingen is vastgelegd in de database.
Java applicaties gebruiken meestal file-gebaseerde resource bundles waarin de teksten zoals prompt,
hint, titel, menulabel, domeinwaarden en foutboodschap zijn vastgelegd in mogelijk meerdere talen.
Deze teksten kunnen niet eenvoudig worden aangepast en wijzigingen vereisen een herstart van de
applicatie. De NextGen applicatie maakt gebruik van resource bundles die in de database worden
onderhouden, dynamisch kunnen worden aangepast en per klant overschreven kunnen worden.
Hiermee kunnen organisaties iedere schermtekst naar eigen inzicht aanpassen via een speciaal
beheerscherm in de applicatie.
Een andere geavanceerde voorziening in de NextGen applicatie biedt klanten de mogelijkheid om velden
uit te schakelen - onzichtbaar te maken voor gebruikers omdat ze geen relevantie hebben voor de
bedrijfsprocessen van die klant - of toe te voegen. NextGen bevat velden voor de meestvoorkomende
attributen van de business objecten. Veel klanten hebben niet de behoefte aan ál die eigenschappen -
en willen de schermen versimpelen door de overtollige standaard-elementen uit te schakelen - en
sommige klanten hebben behoefte aan aanvullende attributen voor specifieke aspecten in hun eigen
manier van werken. Beide wensen worden door de applicatie ondersteund via voor de
applicatiebeheerder van een klant zelf toegankelijke beheerschermen binnen de applicatie.
7. Figuur: dynamisch applicatiebeheer - bewerken, verbergen en toevoegen van velden
Het gebruik van JavaServer Faces (ADF Faces) voor de user interface maakt het betrekkelijk eenvoudig
om op dynamische wijze, gestuurd door meta-data in de database, velden weg te laten dan wel toe te
voegen. Vrijwel alle eigenschappen van schermelementen kunnen in JSF met dynamisch geëvalueerde
EL expressies worden gedefinieerd, zoals bijvoorbeeld:
<af:inputText id="NationaliteitKandidaat"
rendered="#{klantContext['kandidaat_nationaliteit'].enabled}" />
Wolk-waardige Integratie
Een SaaS applicatie moet kunnen integreren met ondermeer de Enterprise Service Bus van haar
gebruikers - door het aanbieden van een WebService API die dezelfde operaties ondersteunt als de User
Interface en door het consumeren en publiceren van business events. En bijvoorbeeld ook door de
mogelijkheid te bieden aan klanten om services te registreren bij de SaaS applicatie die kunnen worden
aangeroepen voor het uitvoeren van ondersteunende acties zoals het versturen van emails, het
uitvoeren van complexe, klantspecifieke validaties of het in batch uitprinten van rapportages of brieven.
8. Figuur: SOA across the cloud - integratie tussen de SaaS applicatie en de klant-omgeving
De figuur laat zien hoe de SaaS klant verschillende diensten kan 'injecteren' in de SaaS applicatie om te
bijvoorbeeld te verzekeren dat haar eigen email en fax voorzieningen worden benut voor de
communicatie met kandidaten en zakelijke partners. Daarnaast publiceren de SaaS applicaties business
events - zoals nieuwe kandidaat is vastgelegd of kandidaat heeft een aanbieding geaccepteerd, die door
de systemen van de klant kunnen worden opgepikt. Daartoe kunnen listeners (web services)
geregistreerd worden bij de SaaS applicatie die zullen worden aangeroepen als het event zich voordoet.
Andersom kan ook de SaaS applicatie listeners bevatten voor events die door de klant gemeld kunnen
worden - bijvoorbeeld onmiddellijke vacature stop.
Andere faciliteiten zijn meer op de integratie van user interfaces gericht. Gebruikers van de NextGen
applicatie maken ook gebruik van andere applicaties. Idealiter kan een gebruiker van de ene applicatie
rechtstreeks navigeren naar de andere: deeplink navigatie die de gebruiker naar de juiste context
brengt van relevant scherm en het juiste record. Zulke navigatie zou ook uit workflow-systemen en
todo-takenlijstjes van de SaaS klanten kunnen plaatsvinden.
Ook front-end integratie, bijvoorbeeld door integratie van de SaaS applicatie in het intranet (portaal)
van de SaaS afnemen is veelal gewenst. Daartoe kan de SaaS leverancier overwegen onderdelen van de
applicatie als Portlets aan te bieden die op deze manier geabsorbeerd en visueel geïntegreerd kunnen
worden.
9. Conclusies
Connexys heeft haar doelen gerealiseerd: het marktaandeel stijgt weer. Het klantverloop is gestopt, een
hoog percentage van sales-cycli wordt gewonnen en eerdere weggelopen klanten komen zelfs weer
terug. De klanttevredenheid is gestegen tot ruim boven de scherp gestelde doelen en de
implementatietrajecten duren kort: het up & running krijgen van nieuwe klanten vergt slechts een paar
dagen, zelfs als er klantspecifieke aanpassingen moeten worden gerealiseerd. Het ontwikkel- en
beheerteam is inmiddels volledig zelfstandig bezig met de technologie en de analisten en implementatie
consultants maken gretig gebruik van alle mogelijkheden die de nieuwe technologie en applicatie-
voorzieningen hen bieden om nieuwe functionaliteit te specificeren.
De reis is niet een eenvoudige geweest - een kleine twee jaar tussen eerste gedachtevorming en
overzetten van de laatste klanten, een forse investering, een aantal teleurstellingen gaandeweg het
traject - maar blijkt nu wel de moeite waard geweest. Overigens beschouwt Connexys de huidige siuatie
zeker niet als eindpunt maar als tussenstation in een voortdurende reis op weg naar een mooiere
toekomst.
Meer informatie over Connexys, het NextGen project en de samenwerking met AMIS kan je navragen bij
info@connexys.nl en vinden via http://www.connexys.eu. De presentatie op OBUG die de aanleiding
vormt voor dit artikel kan je terugzien op: http://www.slideshare.net/lucasjellema.