It is important to point out again that Epicor True SOA considers both server business logic and client business logic as abstracted “business services.” Few other ERP systems are written using SOA concepts that consider both client and server business logic. In fact, many other systems tend to use SOA or Web services for patchwork enterprise application integration (EAI) purposes only.
While Epicor ICE is the encompassing name for Epicor’s technology framework, Epicor True SOA™, which is a subset of ICE, is Epicor’s way of describing its approach to SOA. Namely, SOA should not just be a means to easier integration, but also an approach to enterprise business software development (just as client-server computing was an approach per se).
Epicor calls its SOA approach True SOA, and the vendor referred to “100% SOA” in the Epicor Vantage 8 release a few years ago. What is the difference? Epicor Vantage offered a C# smart client and then a services-based middle-tier business logic. There were over 600 business services, and each was then delivered as Web services with anything from 5 to 40 methods each for easy discovery, integration, and re-use.
Epicor 9 builds on the approach used in Vantage but extends service-orientation to the client-side, and converts all of the C# code to XML metadata services. From this single source of metadata, Epicor 9 is able to generate various client-side experiences for users.
True SOA for Epicor Everywhere
Furthermore, the technology that allows this diverse UX design is called the Epicor Everywhere™ Framework. The Framework is a concept that is enabled by Epicor ICE and encompasses the capabilities to access the application from a Microsoft Windows client, a Web client, or a mobile Web client.
The Epicor Everywhere Framework is a byproduct of the True SOA technology that epitomizes what Epicor means by SOA on the client side (by ensuring that all client-side code is stored as tagged XML metadata). Web forms are then generated from XML metadata that describes the client business logic.
The framework provides a single source of client code to be used to generate multiple yet similar user experiences. In contrast, most enterprise systems need to create and maintain different code lines for Windows desktop, Web, and mobile forms.
With Epicor Everywhere, users can use Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint, AJAX, Windows Internet Explorer, Apple Safari or Mozilla Firefox browsers, Web store front applications, and you-name-a-technology-or-gadget. The framework supports virtually all commercial mobile devices (Symbian OS, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, iPhone, etc.) using the Web as opposed to a particular mobile operating system (OS).
The Epicor Everywhere Framework also refers to the underlying application architecture that allows for localization layers to comply with regulations and best practices in countries around the world. To that end, another related technology, Epicor Layered Client Stack, separates and stores client attributes for the purposes of personalization, customization, localization, verticalization, etc.
The client stack provides a means of extracting UI elements into different self-contained layers to cater to the need of differing user roles, sizes of business, types of industry, and even country requirements effectively, without differing code lines. With Epicor Layered Client Stack, one only sees what and when one needs, by user and by role. It is quite easy for users to personalize their experience and modify their UI without recourse to source code.
In other words, with these two technologies (Epicor Everywhere Framework and Epicor Layered Client Stack) users can bring ERP data to whatever roles they need and in whatever format they want. Ray Wang’s recent blog post provides a number of screen shots, to provide some of the flavor of Epicor 9.
While Epicor ICE is the encompassing name for Epicor’s technology framework, Epicor True SOA™, which is a subset of ICE, is Epicor’s way of describing its approach to SOA. Namely, SOA should not just be a means to easier integration, but also an approach to enterprise business software development (just as client-server computing was an approach per se).
Epicor calls its SOA approach True SOA, and the vendor referred to “100% SOA” in the Epicor Vantage 8 release a few years ago. What is the difference? Epicor Vantage offered a C# smart client and then a services-based middle-tier business logic. There were over 600 business services, and each was then delivered as Web services with anything from 5 to 40 methods each for easy discovery, integration, and re-use.
Epicor 9 builds on the approach used in Vantage but extends service-orientation to the client-side, and converts all of the C# code to XML metadata services. From this single source of metadata, Epicor 9 is able to generate various client-side experiences for users.
True SOA for Epicor Everywhere
Furthermore, the technology that allows this diverse UX design is called the Epicor Everywhere™ Framework. The Framework is a concept that is enabled by Epicor ICE and encompasses the capabilities to access the application from a Microsoft Windows client, a Web client, or a mobile Web client.
The Epicor Everywhere Framework is a byproduct of the True SOA technology that epitomizes what Epicor means by SOA on the client side (by ensuring that all client-side code is stored as tagged XML metadata). Web forms are then generated from XML metadata that describes the client business logic.
The framework provides a single source of client code to be used to generate multiple yet similar user experiences. In contrast, most enterprise systems need to create and maintain different code lines for Windows desktop, Web, and mobile forms.
With Epicor Everywhere, users can use Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint, AJAX, Windows Internet Explorer, Apple Safari or Mozilla Firefox browsers, Web store front applications, and you-name-a-technology-or-gadget. The framework supports virtually all commercial mobile devices (Symbian OS, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, iPhone, etc.) using the Web as opposed to a particular mobile operating system (OS).
The Epicor Everywhere Framework also refers to the underlying application architecture that allows for localization layers to comply with regulations and best practices in countries around the world. To that end, another related technology, Epicor Layered Client Stack, separates and stores client attributes for the purposes of personalization, customization, localization, verticalization, etc.
The client stack provides a means of extracting UI elements into different self-contained layers to cater to the need of differing user roles, sizes of business, types of industry, and even country requirements effectively, without differing code lines. With Epicor Layered Client Stack, one only sees what and when one needs, by user and by role. It is quite easy for users to personalize their experience and modify their UI without recourse to source code.
In other words, with these two technologies (Epicor Everywhere Framework and Epicor Layered Client Stack) users can bring ERP data to whatever roles they need and in whatever format they want. Ray Wang’s recent blog post provides a number of screen shots, to provide some of the flavor of Epicor 9.
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