Rea modernizes its customer experience with a new QAD-integrated web responsive app

Rea considered Servoy’s rapid application development platform because of its ability to tightly integrate with QAD and Progress and because its mature offering includes deep and rich features, out-of-the-box frameworks, and full development capabilities. In response to Rea’s inquiry, Servoy produced a proof of concept (POC) demonstrating its integration with QAD, through reuse of the Progress business logic and database, and its handling of document attachments and workflows.

Rea selected Servoy for its new development. Ron Mihavics, project manager at Rea, says, “Servoy truly wowed us with the POC. It was amazing to see a modern web app using all the concepts we had sketched and have it delivered in only a couple of days. Servoy added features we didn’t even dream could be done. 

The look and feel was so skillful and visually appealing.” Dennis Rausch, vice president of information technology at Rea, adds, “Most vendors do a demo with a few screenshots from other projects, but Servoy created a POC using our own data. We were much more comfortable knowing that we could actually build this.”

The six-month project ran using agile methods. Rea had no experience with this development environment, so it hired a consultant from Servoy and a consultant from Progress Services. Both were invaluable. Because of his expertise in QAD, OpenEdge and Servoy, the Progress consultant was able to contribute immediately. 

Mihavics adds, “Tapping into the experience of the Servoy consultant saved us a lot of time. He showed us how to get started, create a menu structure, put application security in place, call the business logic and connect the database in Progress. He provided many good ideas throughout the project and even helped with some of the developments. He was always willing to go the extra step to make sure we got what we needed.” Rausch adds, “In fact, this is true of the whole Servoy team; they do anything they can to help us succeed.”
 

Rea is proud of how sophisticated and robust its new solution is. It includes richer features than the team had imagined and Servoy can closely match user requirements. The tight integration with QAD and the Progress backend delivers accurate and reliable data, and the validation workflows safeguard against errors. Crucially, user feedback has been excellent.

The project, which is almost complete, will go live by the end of 2018. As Dennis Rausch says, “We’ve all experienced poor customer service, but when it’s done right, it makes all the difference. Our new application takes the customer experience to a new level.” By tightening its processes and eliminating wasteful errors, Rea also saves money. 

Rea’s IT team is exploring other applications based on the Servoy platform. Thanks to Servoy, Rea can now tackle projects that involve business processes. The team’s list of future developments includes a system for processing supplier corrective action requests and an application to manage internal and external audit findings. 

The same visual appeal that seduced the IT team after the POC also works wonders for internal customers. A developer can create a prototype of an application in four days in response to new requirements. Mihavics comments, “Before, it used to take a couple of months, by which time users had moved on to the next problem.” 

Rausch concludes, “Time is money, so we needed a development platform that is fast and easy to use for maximum productivity. It makes more sense to take advantage of outside innovation rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. We also mitigate the risk by doing something that is repeatable and reliable. With Servoy, we know it’s going to work because we use components that already work for others.”
 
Servoy offers a low-code, high productivity platform that is deeply integrated with QAD and Progress to dramatically lower the development time and cost of building custom applications for organizations running on QAD ERP.