Strategic Positioning of ISM*RIS/3
The integrated package ISM*RIS/3 Relational Information
System (called RIS/3 from now on) has
been designed with the following objectives:
- Create a 24 – 7 application for the
core functions of accounting: available 24 hours 7 days a week
for financial accounting, cost accounting and fixed assets,
etc.
- Target towards large customers
- Create a data model which is transparent
to the end user and administrator
- Offer an environment which as a whole offers the lowest
Cost of
Ownership
- Take care of language support
- Open interfaces to other (primarily Oracle)
applications
- Implement a State-of-the-Art Browser front-end technology
1. Create a 24 – 7 Application: available 24 hours
7 days a week
At all installations of our major customers the database normally
never has to be stopped to perform any maintenance task for RIS/3.
Online Backup is used by the customer to perform the backup tasks.
As soon as a set of documents has been entered completely without
errors the accountant transfers it to a background process (the
pipe) which performs additional checks and marks it as “booked”.
In the same transaction not only the current balance is updated
but also the balances of all future “accounting years”.
Also, to “virtual accounts” are updated (i.e. the
“Balance Account” and the “Profit and Loss Account”)
in order to show the company status.
The reporting of balance sheets additionally allows the consolidation
of client companies to groups or holdings.
2. Target Towards Large Customers
Every database access has been analysed and tuned to provide
optimal response times, even with large data volumes. In the set-up
phase, one or more “Substitute Clients” are defined
who own the different basic data for the actual client companies.
3. Create a Transparent Data Model for End Users and
Administrators
We have put special emphasis on the naming convention of tables
and table columns. Upon introducing new objects we carefully decide
for the name of these items. The users may use the standard SQL-language
of Oracle® or a graphic tool for accessing
the data base and the whole data model may be accessed by the
“qualified user” in read-only mode.
4. Lowest Cost of Ownership
This target has been the main reason why client-server mode has
not been chosen for RIS/3 and we immediately
switched to the Browser Front-end Technology.
5. Language Support
From the very beginning, we have provided the possibility of
supporting any
language that is
- Supported by the Oracle® RDBMS, and
- Supported on the PC
6. Open Interfaces to other Applications
We have designed a special set of interfaces to import and export
data to other applications inside or outside the customer’s
business world. In the typical realworld customer situation, about
90 to 95 % of the accounting transactions are performed in the
background as batch processes. Our largest customer is the largest
food retailer in Austria who owns almost exactly one hundred companies
and the various companies run several thousand retail stores in
Austria and Eastern Europe.
7. State-of-the-Art Browser Front-End Technology
The major difference between RIS/2 and RIS/3
is the front-end. Whereas RIS/2 has a character-based
front-end and only needs a terminal or PC with terminal emulation,
RIS/3 uses an internet browser as the display
tool on a PC.
