Reuse
extends application life by
20 years!
Background
As a leading force in construction
in Southern Africa, WBHO Construction
[Pty] Limited was
established in 1970 and is principally involved in Building
Construction, Civil Engineering, Roads and Earthworks.
The group is additionally engaged in an expansion programme
into greater Africa as well as internationally and has
around 7,500 employees. It is presently one of the largest
construction companies in Southern Africa and is listed
on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The group’s turnover
for the past year increased by 40% to R8.1 billion (US$1.2b
approx) and attributable earnings increased to R318 million
(US$46m approx), an improvement of 39%.
WBHO's offices are strategically located in Sandton, Cape
Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and East London. Construction
activities, which cover the full spectrum, are divided
into three main operating divisions, Building Construction,
Civil Engineering and Roads, and Earthworks. Their Australian
subsidiary, Probuild Constructions, has its headquarters
in Melbourne, looksoftware’s home town!
The driving force behind WBHO is a core of dedicated,
hands-on management professionals whose experience spans
decades of major construction projects in southern Africa,
the Middle East and various Indian Ocean islands. The fact
that the management and staff have a significant shareholding
in the company means that clients can be assured of 100%
commitment.
Challenge
BLU ( system application ) had been developed some years
ago and of course was a great example of good old green-screen
technology! Fine for the 80’s but very unappealing
today. Progressively, the users started seeing the limitations
of the application with a growing sense that it was outdated
and very limited in flexibility for change. There was
no ability to interface across platforms and no opportunity
to really improve the look and feel and navigation capabilities.
Solution
The team at WBHO evaluated several different options,
and their research
lead them to looksoftware. newlook
had the fastest turn-around time for transforming and modernizing
existing applications with the newly defined interfaces
that were required. All this, whilst still maintaining
their usage of applications on the network to a minimum.
By simply transferring the 5250 data stream, newlook’s
ease of use made it simple to train the developers in
the
use of the product. The easy-to-use scripting features
made PC integration a breeze.
There was no need for intensive training and it took only
480 hours to convert the whole application with newlook – roughly
5 weeks effort for two people!
Benefits
With newlook’s web deployment feature, real savings
have been achieved with regard to reduced desktop maintenance.
There’s no need to have technical staff running
around installing emulation software on the users’ PCs.
Another
major benefit is that the users
are now actually reading the
screens! Previously, the green
screen was very busy – with
data that was not often required.
The antiquated look, caused
users to pay less attention
to the screens, and this could
lead to errors and time lost.
Now with the modernized application,
the users are actually paying
more attention to the information
on their screens because it
is just so more easy on the
eye! This has lead to a major
reduction in training time
of new users because the application
is much more intuitive and
has reduced the number of “how
do I” calls
to the support desk!
Nick Barnes said, “More than one user has actually
commented on how much “faster” the system runs
on this new software. It’s amazing from a user perspective
that they think it’s a whole new machine with totally
different software! They’re saying it’s so
much faster than the old one! ”
Great stuff - this is what the team were hoping for!
"Not only is the new user interface better, newlook
provides a fast, easy-to-learn and intuitive development
interface, and now our main challenge is to get the
developers
to think more about the graphics, so as to provide a
greater
user experience ”, said Michael Armstrong.
Summary
WBHO are confident that they have extended the existing
application and architecture for at least another 20 years.
This will save the company from the distraction – and
therefore time & money – of having to look at
alternative solutions. Re-writing the application in another
language is just not necessary. And as the team at WBHO
has discovered, that means enormous savings by not having
to reskill staff, re-write applications, project manage
the development and then handle the difficult task of swapping
out the old for the new.
"newlook
has changed the perception of our users. They are now
more eager to use the application and to learn the various
facilities
that are now available to them. newlook has definitely
created a more positive vibe within the company for
both
users as well as developers."
That commitment to professionalism is being tested yet
again. It's all systems go for WBHO as they move full steam
ahead with the development of three FIFA World Cup stadiums
in preparation for the 2010 Soccer World Cup!
An opportunity to literally kick a few more goals!
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