Hanna Philippi, system analyst, programmer and webmaster for ICECORP, has long relied on Data Access Worldwide's suite of tools - Visual DataFlex, DataFlex, and WebApp Server - as the framework for building the company's mission-critical database applications.

ICECORP, a 75-person Canadian freight forwarding company based in Ontario offering transportation & logistics services worldwide, relies on 4 major applications to power their business: Compass, an ocean/air, import/export freight forwarding system; WMS for warehouse management, Prolan for corporate accounting; and ICETRAK for customers to be able to review tracking and tracing information about their shipments online (screen shot).

Francis D'Oliveira, ICECORP's V.P. of Information Systems, has been pleased with the consistent and reliable upgrade path that the DataFlex framework has provided over the years. "First we converted our DOS app to be Y2K compliant in 1999, then we migrated the app to VDF 6, and since then we've added new features and improvements in each Visual DataFlex revision, from VDF 7 through VDF 9. VDF's been great for us, and Hanna's done a great job with managing the migration and keeping our applications on the cutting edge."

Typical of most companies, ICECORP has a mixed combination of applications running, including Visual DataFlex 7, 8 and 9 as well as DataFlex console mode apps.

"We just finished upgrading our ICETRAK track and tracing system to work with WebApp Server, and it is working absolutely great!" says Philippi.

In total, it only took Philippi and his team two months of development to rebuild the original ICETRAK system with WebApp Server 3, and re-deploy it using a combination of Windows NT and 2000, and Novell 6 server environments. The result is that customers now have the ability to track and trace shipment online, branches have been all centralized with the main office, a bulk e-mail system (screen shot) has been deployed for contacting customers using SMTP and HTML, and the company's Warehouse Management System is up and running - all achieved by using the powerful toolset and 4GL the Visual DataFlex application development framework provides.

Philippi says that the original deployment of ICECORP's first web application took more than a year to develop using a combination of JavaScript and ODBC. "With WebApp Server, I was done within 2 weeks," he said. "By using our existing DataFlex data dictionaries, business rules and WebApp Server, I was able to do in minutes what would have taken hours in JavaScript."

To centralize all branch offices with the main office, ICECORP deployed Citrix MetaFrame for direct access to the company's Compass Visual DataFlex application (screen shot), and for remote file synchronization.

"Citrix is fantastic!" D'Oliveira says. "It's allowed us to centralize all our information in corporate head office without having to have an expensive WAN or mainframe system in place. With all applications running on a central server, updates to each branch's program are so much easier.

"Before we used to have to send updates out to each branch office, now I just make my changes, compile & deploy & all branches across the country are updated immediately. All of our branches now use Citrix to connect to the Novell server and get access to the Compass VDF 9 application (fully freight forwarder/broker import/export ocean and air system) to do their transaction. Plus, I'm able to work on the server from anywhere in the world."

Increasing end-user efficiency is the Holy Grail of database application user interface design, and by using the VDF 9 MAPI and HTTP class libraries, ICECORP was able to provide for automatic e-mailing and the ability to view client website information from directly within the Compass VDF application. Now users can simply click from within their VDF session (screen shot) to send follow-up information or to learn more about a customer by visiting their website (screen shot) without the user having to start a separate e-mail client or web browser session.

Security is also a concern that Philippi's team relied on Visual DataFlex - and the VDF user community - to solve. "I've written my own security system in VDF, where each user has different rights to do different operations. The VDF forums were a great help in getting me pointed in the right direction."

To efficiently extend ICECORP's applications' functionality, a number of third-party software tools have been integrated, including Azalea barcode software, Crystal Reports, ActiveX controls, and many others.

As a Canadian company with operations in Montreal, Quebec, ICECORP is required by law to produce documents in French, as well as English. "I had to develop a way where, depending on where the order's being printed, reports are automatically printed in French or English. If in Montreal, the company can be fined for not printing reports in French. Fortunately, with VDF this was all very easy to do.

"Our operations staff - import, export department, etc. - love being able to just click an e-mail address or Web URL within the customer data screen that they're looking at to automatically send an e-mail, or review the customers website, from right within their VDF session. There's no need to launch any external mail client or web browser to do this, which makes our staff that much more productive."

Philippi, who has over 15 years of DataFlex procedural coding experience, continues to be impressed with the multi-platform, fast development, and web enabling capabilities integrated in the latest software tools from Data Access Worldwide. "I continue to choose the Data Access Worldwide toolsets because of my positive past experiences with the framework, and because I'm very comfortable with the DataFlex language itself."

Converting from the original DataFlex DOS procedural application to Visual DataFlex's OOP framework proved fairly easy for Philippi. "The original DOS application was written using a lot functions and procedures, rather than using strictly a procedural approach, so converting from DOS to VDF was a lot easier for me - all I had to do was to call the functions. It only took six months to convert to VDF what took years to develop in DOS!"

The easy integration of the WebApp Server framework into the company's corporate network was another factor contributing to Mr. Philippi's satisfaction. "I was able to concentrate on building the database part of the website while the HTML layout was being authored in Front Page, and everything tied together seamlessly."

Philippi is also involved in expanding the developer community that he and many other developers rely on for peer-to-peer support, and has started a new Toronto DataFlex Users Group. To join in, send e-mail to Hanna Philippi for more information about membership.

ICECORP International Cargo Express Corporation is wholly Canadian owned and operated international freight forwarder providing total logistics services, including international freight, transborder, projects, customs brokerage, distribution, and 3PL.

To learn more about ICECORP visit visit www.icecorp.ca. To see the ICETRAK web application in action, visit www1.icecorp.ca/toronto/password.asp and enter "DEMO" for the user name and password.

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