SolidBase

Overview

SolidBase is a highly versatile and scalable ERP platform, which has been streamlined solely around the requirements of business.

Customization is the key feature in the SolidBase architecture. The system is built around the idea of being able to easily change depending on the different business requirements.

Data is organized by using a single common object called ‘entity’. Every object in the company information infrastructure (e.g. customer, enquiry, invoice, network, web site and so on), can be represented by an entity in SolidBase, each with a custom list of attributes (properties) defined in the entity template. All entities in the system form a hierarchical tree structure.

This architecture means that all types of data, functions and processes can be managed through one centralized, highly available web-based interface. SolidBase’s versatility maximizes efficiency, whilst reducing development time and cost.

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SolidBase Queues

SolidBase Queues is a standard module of the platform, which offers a complete work-flow and information management solution.

Following the basic concepts of SolidBase, a queue is a container for similar items, such as tasks, enquiries, quotations, invoices, support calls, backups, anti-virus scans, site visits, etc. Each individual item within the queue represents an appropriate activity.

Every queue item shares similar properties, such as ID, Start Date, Due Date, Assigned to, Last Modified Date, Status & Priority. These properties allow all queue items to be tracked anywhere within the system.

Queues provide both the organization and its customers with a completely transparent system to operate from. Every item can be easily tracked from within the system, and this means that customers can easily follow-up on any organization activity associated to their company profile.

Ultimately, this allows all communications and service delivery to pass seamlessly through the system, informing the customer of every step of the organization activities related to them. Queues also provide organization’s employees with an advanced management solution that guarantees an extremely high-level of communication and service-delivery throughout.

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Usage Scenarios

Due to its versatile architecture, SolidBase can be applied to a multitude of requirements.

• Customer Relationship Management
• Project Tracking
• Operations Management
• Helpdesk and Call Center Management
• IT Monitoring
• Web/Intranet Site Management
• Application Integration

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Features

• Customer Profiles SolidBase is powered by 2 key entities – the company, and the individual user – for which customizable profiles are kept. The company profile contains general details about the customer company – name, contact details, billing details, enabled services, etc. The users are the individual employees of a customer company. In addition to the general details, each user has a login name and a password, though which he/she can log into SolidBase.
• Service-based Customization The different services of the organization are represented as modules in SolidBase, enabled or disabled according to the customer requirements and subscription plans. Services are also available on user level – for example, only some customer employees may access the billing details of their company. For this purpose, the services accessible to the individual users can be managed by the company administrators themselves.
• Customer Managed Relationship SolidBase is a next-generation CRM, by not only allowing customers to monitor the activities of the organization servicing them from a web-based portal, but proactively manage them. The customers are allowed to manage internal contacts, log new calls, review activities and help the people who service them with information and specific knowledge. The system enforces a partnership between customer and provider.
• Activity Tracking SolidBase allows managing all customer-related as well as internal tasks in a unified way:
  • Customer service staff can easily log phone calls, e-mails and other communication. SolidBase also provides automatic e-mails processing, in order to keep all related information within ‘threads’ related to each specific activity.
  • Customers can also create new activities, in order to log a new issue, or request a new service, and be actively involved in completing the request. They can post new messages online or via e-mail, attach documents or just monitor the progress of the activity carried out by the organization’s employees.
  • All events – new calls, updates, completion of tasks – generate notifications, which are sent to the people involved.
• Reporting Powered by SolidBase Queues, all activities contain standard information, which allows for system-wide reporting on different levels. All accessible information can be easily viewed on-screen through customized views, showing data based on user-defined criteria; then, the web-based WYSIWYG interface allows for direct printing of the results.
• Security Online availability is a risk and a security challenge, which has to be appropriately handled. SSL certificate can be installed on the SolidBase server, in order to encrypt the communication over the Internet. The information available to the different users and their interaction with the system is strictly managed through the use of roles and permissions assigned to them, defined for virtually each entity within SolidBase. A common approach for security is enforced not only for customer users, but for users within the organization itself.

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Technical Foundation

SolidBase is a .NET based technology consisting of the following components:

• SQL Server Database The back-end of SolidBase contains the data and stored procedures encapsulating data-related business logic.
• SolidBase Classes A Microsoft .NET class library, which implements classes for authenticating with SolidBase and working with the entities in the tree.
• SolidBase Helper A Windows service application providing job execution, e-mail dispatching and processing functionality.
• SolidBase Services COM+ (Enterprise Services) application including storage and other resource management components, which run within an isolated OS security context for better security.
• Web Front-end ASP.NET web portal, which provides access to the SolidBase tree and the user interface controls associated with each entity.
• SolidBase-driven Applications .NET-based web sites, applications or services, which use the SolidBase Classes to work with the entities.

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Case Studies

• Key 4 Limited (UK) have been using SolidBase since 2003 under own branding (Key4 Business Central) to manage the communication with their customers (enquiries, orders, incident tracking, project tracking), manage internal company activities and their web site (www.key4.co.uk) content and functionality.
• RME Services (UK) have been using SolidBase since 2005 to manage their web site (www.rmeservices.com) and the communication with customers and job candidates.
• 911cars.co.uk (UK) are using SolidBase technology to publish online their inventory of Porsche cars and parts (www.911cars.co.uk).

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System Requirements

Server

Client

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