Datatweb Productivity System
Make Business Applications as familiar and intuitive as using email.
Relevance of Datatweb Productivity.
Using the powerful technology of meta software to automate the activity of software development allows to redefine how a business application should work in order to solve major deficiencies in current business applications.
Datatweb Productivity both proves this novel technology works for real software systems and at the same time redefines the working of a business application.
Dataweb Productivity focuses on neglected aspects of business needs, so it can immediately fill in market needs.
Summary.
In short, Datatweb Productivity offers a solution for the deficiencies of current bussiness applications.
You can read on this page concrete and fully elaborated solutions for the deficiencies in business software systems that people seem to take for granted.
These solutions are made possible by using the novel meta framework technology.
But there is more :
With Datatweb Productivity the need to learn how to work with a specific business application has been eliminated.
Datatweb Productivity enables a dynamic flow of traceable company activities that fit the company way of working and is applicable for any modeling of a business sector or individual company.
By the application page notification mechanism, the dynamics of the company activities are saved and can be acted upon.
By linking relational and unstructured data, company workers have under all circumstances access to the most relevant contextual information to do their work.
Email data is used to immediately influence the company workings.
The Datatweb document management system is integrated with the company workflow processes.
Generated reports play an active role in the workings of a company : one can re-enter in an immediate way application pages of generated reports to resume company activities.
Datatweb Productivity offers a practical tool to help realising all work in the company, a tool that allows to keep track of all activities in the company, at all levels of activity, to investigate how and when all work is done, and if all the work is done.
Datatweb Productivity allows the work to be done in an efficient way.
It offers an easy, intuitive and effective way to trigger activities and register the performed tasks, the realised work.
Even more : the integrating facilities of Datatweb facilitate efficient collaboration between people and machines.
Standard features available in a Datatweb Productivity application.
Web search engine pages.
A web seach engine page consists of in input field to enter words to search for.
Datatweb contains different types of web search engine pages.
Different types of search engine pages.
One can differentiate search engine pages doing global searches, and search engine pages doing 'detailed' searches.
For global searching one can distinguish between searching on different types of data and searching on the dynamics of the data, established by the notifications.
One can search globally for all types of relational data, but there is also a search page for data in mails, a search page for data in documents, a search page for data in reports and a search page for meta information of photo's.
Because of the linking of informal data and structured relational data, finding pages with structured data, implicates finding all coupled informal data. Finding informal data of mails, documents, ... implicates finding the pages with structured data they are coupled to.
With the detailed web engine search pages, one can search for structured data of a particular datatype, or for informal data coupled to specific structured data.
Classic search pages.
Situations exist one feels more comfortable searching for values of specific properties of a specific entity. This is the classic way of searching in business applications.
This kind of searching is also fully implemented in Datatweb in an automatic way.
Notifications.
Users of a Datatweb application can send notifications to each other.
Notifications can also be sent automatically, for instance when an entity comes in a specific status.
Notifications are kept in a notification box. You can compare this with a mailbox.
One can search for notifications using a web search engine page for the type of notification.
Notifications are accessed by this web search engine page.
Depending on the permission level, one has access to all notifications or only to the notifications one sent and received.
Types of notifications.
There are 4 types of notifications in Datatweb, each with its own notification box, accessible by a web engine search page.
You could make an application entry page and a browser bookmark for the web engine search page for notification types, dependent on the importance a type of notification is for the work you do. This way these notifications become immediately accessible for you.
The different notification types are also accessible from the general web engine search page for relational data.
The types of notifications are : application pages for relational data, documents, generated reports, photo's.
Mails are another type of data that is fully integrated in Datatweb, but are not considered as notifications.
Application pages as notifications.
The most important notification type is the type to send relational data as an application page.
This type of notification steers the work being done in a company in a traceable way.
This application feature also redefines how a business application should work basically :
Eliminating the need for 'education' to work with a specific business application.
Finding one's way in a Datatweb application is experienced by users as being as simple as doing a web engine search.
But there is more :
Do users need some kind of education to use a business application and actively find their way in the application using menu's, or are they offered their work by notification application pages ?
At first the second approach seems limiting and dumbing down users in their activities, but the contrary is true.
Since contextual informal information of mails, documents, reports and possibly photo's is linked to each application page, and since users can actively send notifications from every page, users become well informed participants in the company activities. They can steer activity flows actively based on relevant knowledge.
Learning how the application works has become obsolete. Learning how to work with a software application, does not contribute to company performance.
Application menu's still have their value, but they should be used with care. If you need to use a menu for your work, at least make it an entry page for the application, so that you have direct access to it.
Application page notifications to generate a dynamic flow of activities obeying the company structures.
Company workers actively sending application data as notification pages to each other, generate a dynamic workflow in the company that remains within the structures the company works in, and is fully traceable within a Datatweb application.
Performance bottlenecks can be traced down and procedures or even the structure model of the company could be tuned or updated.
Working this way, making company workers responsible for their work and offering them the relevant knowledge to make motivated decisions, seems to have a motivating effect on people and has by consequence a positive effect on company results.
Documents as notifications.
Documents can be imported to a Datatweb applications and coupled to an application page.
Within the Datatweb application, users can send these documents to each other as notifications.
This is not an indispensible feature, since the documents are coupled to application pages that can be sent as notifications, but if you are in the middle of an activity and need some information, performance can be enhanced if a document pops up on your screen, sent to you by a coworker.
Document notifications are accessible by a web engine search page for these document notifications.
Reports as notifications.
Reports generated in a Datatweb application, can be sent as notifications.
It can be helpful if a report sent to you by a coworker pop's up on your screen.
Report notifications are accessible by a web engine search page for these report notifications.
Photo's as notifications.
Photo's and their informative metadata can be coupled to application pages and also be sent as notifications.
It can be helpful if a photo sent to you by a coworker pop's up on your screen.
Photo notifications are accessible by a web engine search page for these photo notifications.
Delivery of notifications.
When a notification is sent, it is stored in the notification box of the receiver.
This notification box is accessed by a web search engine page for notifications.
Notifications can be filtered by the text entry field on the page.
When you send a notification, you can choose to also send an email. This way the receiver knows he received a Datatweb notification if his Datatweb application is not opened. Pointing with his device to the mail content, opens the notification, after authentication if the application was not open.
Opening an application page notification in fact opens the Datatweb application with the sent page as entry page.
You can choose how the notification must be shown at delivery.
Either a message field appears on the currently opened page. Tapping the message opens the notification.
The notification can also immediately open on the receivers device. For a document, report or photo notification, this means a document, report or photo pops up on the screen of the receiver.
Depending on the urgency of the notification, you can choose to let the delivery of the notification be accompanied by a beep or even an alarm signal.
Example of usage of notifications.
Notification usage at managerial level.
Imagine you have to keep track at the managerial level of a certain kind of activities and help steering them.
Because you need to actively manage the activities at a certain level modeled by a specific Datatweb Productivity Application, you have access to the web search engine page to find all notifications sent by all your collaborators.
You can filter the notifications as you feel it to find out relevant actions.
These notifications correspond to application data, reflecting registered delivered work.
You can track the flow of delivered work, when it was performed, detect where activities delay or are not yet delivered.
You can proactively react to improve productivity.
Depending on the detail of modeling and consequently on how detailed the generated application follows performed activities, you can follow performances at the wished level of detail.
Applications can help in steering the results of detailed specialistic modeling.
Company workers can play a managerial role in one application and an execution role in a more high level application.
Other applications can be more high level and track the end results of performances modeled in other Datatweb applications.
For one application containing very detailed modeling you may play a manageral role, while at the higher level application you perform only a participating role where you send notifications to inform of progress of work at a more global level. For this application you only have access to your own sent and received notifications.
Relevance of notifications in Datatweb. The role of notifications in Datatweb.
Imagine a classical business application.
A typical user might have the responsibility of some specific types of pages, accessible via specific menu's and submenu's. The work to be done may be directed by the content of these pages.
Application page notifications to preserve the history of the dynamics of a company.
The bottom line is : by entering data in classical application pages, the history of the dynamics going on in the company is lost.
What triggered the user to enter some application data ? What activities resulted by entering these data ? What problems occured before the user was able to enter the data ? Was the situation after entering the data adequate to continue the further processing ?
Most of the time, one has no clue of the answer to all these questions, just looking at the entered data. Only the results are registered.
By letting activities be steered and follow each other by a notification mechanism for application pages with relational data, one can gain insight in the problems that occur following the used procedures. Procedures can be adapted dynamically.
More even, since every data page can be sent as a notification, the receiver of a notification can sent the page he received, after editing some data, to someone else. This way processes can be adapted in a very flexible and trackable way.
Possibly adaptations to the modeled way of working must be done. Since Datatweb applications are generated out of models, this requires no costly, risky and rigid software maintenance and could be executed smoothly.
No need to learn how to work with a specific Datatweb application.
Another aspect to use a classical business application is that the user needs to be given at least a minimum of education to be able to work with the application.
This need is eliminated by the use of the Datatweb application page notification.
Because all data to act upon, is presented to the user, no courses about how to proceed to use the application, are needed.
An application data notification is just an application page.
The user receives these pages in a similar way he receives his email.
The difference is that his notification box contains application pages that facilitate to execute and/or register the work that needs to be done and also its outcome.
Access to all contextual information.
Every received application page may have informal contextual information, like emails and documents coupled to it.
The user also has access to the data related to this page by its entity relationships. He has both access to data/pages this page depends upon, as data/pages that are dependent of this page. In other words : there is bidirectional navigation between related application pages.
The user has all info needed to perform his work, and each particular activity step can be placed in the chain of activities by looking at the notifications for this data and related data.
Search engine page for notifications as a starting point to examine performed activities.
How to track activities.
Imagine you want to track related activities to a specific notification you are interested in. There are two tracks you can follow :
You can either search for notifications that are related, either by searching for specific related words or by searching for notifications of a specific datatype.
You can also follow the related data in the dependency tree of the notification page : for every data page you can navigate to related data (related in the meaning of entity relationships) in a bidirectional way.
One needs managerial permissions for an application to be allowed searching for all notifications. Executing users only have access to the notifications they send and receive.
This does not implicate users at the execution level necessarily have limited access to the application data, both relational data and informal data (mails, documents,...).
Executing users still have access to the web search engine pages for globally searching all structured and informal data, and also to the 'detailed' search pages. This way executing users have access to all relevant data to take motivated decisions.
Even users with the most restricted permissions are capable to take motivated decisions : These users have no access to web search engine pages, they have only access to their own notifications. They can navigate to related pages of the application pages of notifications and have access to all its unstructured coupled data.
Instead of following up their emails, they need to follow up their notification box.
The difference is that entering data in notification pages, makes them part of a traceable workflow in the company. Even triggering production activities is a possibility.
An application page of a notification always contains the bidirectional navigation possibility to related data, and always gives access to the informal data coupled to it.
Search notifications of a specific entity type.
To track activities related to a specific entity type, application data notifications for a specific entity can be searched for, possibly filtered by extra entered words.
Web search engine page for structured data.
This is the most general web engine search page where one can search for any relational data.
This page also gives access to all other types of search pages and to the main application menu.
Typically, this page can be chosen as the entry page for the application.
Search engine page for a specific entity type.
If you are mostly concerned with data of a specific entity type when performing your work, you can choose to make the web search engine page for data of that type, an entry point for you application.
So, if you have a special interest in following up a specific type of data, just make an application entry page for the web search engine page for its entity type.
If you have the permissions, you can do the same for the notifications of this entity type. This gives you a view on the activities related to this entity type.
Making a webbrowser bookmark for this page, it is like this page is an/the application you are interested in, and you have immediate access to it in your webbrowser.
Emailing as a subsystem of the notification mechanism.
Implementing a way to use email data for improving efficiency of the company working flows.
Emailing is a fully integrated part of a Datatweb application. You can send mails from any data page in an application. The sent mails are also kept in the Datatweb system and are automatically coupled to the page they are sent from.
Mail replies from a regular mailbox, are also kept in the Datatweb system and are coupled to the same page. However if wanted, replies can be kept out of the Datatweb system.
Addressed persons don't need to have access to the Datatweb system. Their replies are also kept in the Datatweb system.
Once a mail is sent from a data page, replies can be done completely separated from the Datatweb application. These replies are also archived in the Dataweb system. However, replies can also be sent from within the application.
Informal correspondence becomes fully integrated into the Datatweb system.
Searches over a lot of mailboxes at the same time becomes possible - only for the data kept in the Datatweb system of course.
It becomes irrelevant if a specific person is still part of the company or if his mailbox still exists.
His mails that are linked to a Datatweb application page, are archived in the Datatweb system.
Using the web engine search page for email data, one can search in all emails archived in the Dataweb system.
Using email data to influence the company workings in an immediate way.
Not only one can find the relevant mails, one can enter immediately the workflow the mails are coupled to and resume workflow activities, navigate application pages, send notification pages, update data, generate reports, trigger actions in a company system.
The mailbox can be considered as complementary to the notification-box, or notifications can be handled as complementary to emailing. Anyway, using notification boxes in parallel to mailboxes, will help boost productivity of the company :
Finding relevant data in your mailbox if you have to resume some closed activity is one thing, but enter the relevant applications to resume work or find additional info is usually a lot harder. Datatweb facilitates to automatically re-enter the application at the exact right place and resume activities from that application page.
Add the web search engine page for mails as application entry page to your browser bookmarks, and you will have a valuable tool to supplement your company activities.
Datatweb Productivity makes emailing fully integrated in the daily workflow of a company in an openly traceable way, and helps structuring activities initiated or complemented by emailing.
Document management system.
Document management is an integral part of the Datatweb Productivity system.
Document management system seamlessly integrated with the company processes.
An extra benefit of the Datatweb Document Management system is that it is seamlessly integrated with the company processes.
For each action in the company, more technically formulated, in each step of a company workflow, the actor has full access to the documents that are possibly linked to the page representing the relational data she acts upon. She can also navigate to related relational data to have access to more relevant documentation.
Documents can easily be sent to a Datatweb application and coupled to a page. As is standard in Datatweb, selecting a page to couple a document to happens by use of a web engine search field. A document can be detached from the application page it is attached to and re-coupled to another page.
Using a web engine search page, one can search for words in the documents (or its metadata) attached to a specific application page.
Conversely, one can search for words in any document or for document metadata in order to find both the documents and the application data page they are linked to.
Document searching is not limited to searching for document content. Each document has metadata tags, like e.g. author, version. Custom meta tags is an easy and versatile way to allow the introduction of a custom classification of documents.
Documents can be locked for update. When a user locks a document, he is (temporarily) the only one who can update the document till he (or someone with administrator rights) unlocks the document.
Documents can be sent as notifications. You can let documents pop up on the screen of coworkers.
Photo's.
Sometimes it is useful to couple photo's to relational data.
Datatweb allows to link photo's to data pages. If the functionality is present in the webbrowser and your device has a camera, photo's can be taken from an application page and are immediately linked to this page.
Photo's can be sent as notifications and you can search photo's by the meta data information you entered for them.
Reports.
Generated reports to fulfill administrative needs.
Registered relational data serves as input for all kind of generated documentation and reports.
Generated reports in general reflect realised work.
This is no different in Datatweb, but in Datatweb there is always more.
Reports can play on active role.
Reports are coupled to specific entities or to the list page for an entity type, depending on the kind of report (a report concerning one specific entity instance or a list of entities).
For each entity type, none or more reports can be defined. A specific entity serves as entry point for the data used in the report, or a list of entity instances serves as report data. As is custom, for each report layout, fonts, images, and content are defined. Content is a combination of fixed text and relational data starting from the entity instance(s) the report starts from.
For each page that has reports defined for it, reports can be generated by an icon button on the icon bar.
Once generated, one can search for reports either for a specific entity or globally. Globally searching for reports using a web engine search page, one both finds the generated reports and the data pages the reports are (possibly) linked to. 'Possibly' since list reports are not linked to one specific entity.
Reports can be sent to coworkers as notifications. You can let reports pop up on the screen of your colleagues. Reports can be sent by mail from within a Datatweb application.
Reports play an active role by allowing to re-enter application pages to resume activities.
Generated reports are fully integrated in the workflow : they offer a way to re-enter at the data page they are generated from and to resume activities starting from that page.
By merely pointing with your device at the report, the data page it is generated from opens, possibly after authentication.
One can immediately resume activities by entering data, navigating the page for more information, consult contextual informal information or send notifications.
Or one can just correct or add data and regenerate the report.
Make specific pages as entry pages for your application.
There is a very simple and intuitive procedure to make a page an entry point of an application :
Simply send this page as a notification that is also sent to your mailbox.
Point with your tablet or smartphone to the mail content to open the application page.
The page that opens up, is all that is loaded from the application.
Just create a regular browser bookmark for this page.
Using pages as entry points for your application.
Depending on the kind of usage you want to make of a Datatweb application, you can create different browser bookmarks for entry point pages.
Every entry point page you make for your Datatweb application, can be experienced as another application for the same data it is built for.
For instance :
The most generic entry point is the page with the input field to search for anything in the relational data.
You can also do web engine searches only for a specific entity. If you make an entry point for a search page for a specific entity that concerns you in particular, you can easily find whatever information interests you only for that type of data.
If you are concerned with the execution and follow up of your tasks, you can create an entry point for the search page for your notifications. This page has the same look as every page in a Datatweb application for web search engine searches : An icon bar with below it an input field to enter your search text. Below the input field you either have a list of your notifications or the list of notifications obeying the search text.
If you need to follow up all activities in the company, you can make an entry point for the search page for all notifications, not only for your own sent or received notifications.
If you are more focused on the mail conversations that occurred in the context of the different activities in the company, just make an entry point for the mail search page. Entering words you remember or guess to be used in the mail conversations, you find the concerned mails but also the application pages the mails are linked to. Since application pages are a visualisation of database data, if you find the application pages, you can start navigating to related data. You also have immediate access to all informal data linked to this database information, meaning all mails, documents, reports, photo's. Since you have access to all contextual relevant information, you can steer new actions to take by sending out notifications to collaborators.
If you are involved in the documents that have been produced to outline or justify steps or directions to be taken, or whatever the purpose of the document that you linked to an application page, make an entry point page for searching for the texts in documents. By finding the application pages linked to documents containing your search words, you can start navigating to the related pages to find out the activities that have been going on, starting from the page the document is linked to. Again, since you have accesss to all relevant information, you can steer company activities by new notifications.
For people with well defined activities, menu pages can be created in the application. Making a menu page an entry point, feels like if this page is a classic application with menu('s), and can also be more practical for repetitive tasks.
Be aware that you don't have to make entry point pages to have access to the described pages ! The icon bar on top of the main search page, gives access to different types of other pages.
Creating Datatweb bookmarks.
An alternative for fast access to pages that are regularly used, is making Dataweb bookmarks. This are bookmarks within the Datatweb application. They are not browser bookmarks.
An additional advantage of Datatweb bookmarks over entry point pages, is that you can find your bookmark pages by simple web engine searches.
This is useful if you have a lot of pages your use regularly, or for pages you put in your bookmarks not to forget there is an action you have to take for. This way you can put priority on the notifications you receive.
Datatweb as the structuring tool for you company activities.
If you abandon the classical way business applications work, and embrace the Datatweb way, you found an easy way to structure your company activities and work effectively.
Make Datatweb applications the backbone to support, structure and initiate company activities.
Input/Output.
Relational data can be exported from Datatweb by XML files or by CSV files.
Relational data can be imported by XML files.
Data can also be imported and exported by web services.
Integration with other systems.
Entities are standard defined as living on the cloud.
Entities can also be defined as being external data. External entities are obtained by communicating with company systems by web services.
This way data from company databases can be represented on a similar data page as cloud data. The search capabilities are of course limited by what the web services offer.
You can make pages for external data accessible by making an application entry point for them or group external entity types in a menu page and make an application entry point for the menu page.
Datatweb can both serve as client and as server for web services.
As web services server, data can be exported from Datatweb to other systems.
As web services client, external data can be represented just like any data page, or external data can be imported.
As client, web services can be used to trigger anything on external systems.
Since Datatweb is written as a meta framework, it is a small extension to allow icon buttons to be linked to web services that initiate anything the server system desires.
This way, the web services capabilities of Datatweb also facilitate collaboration between people and machine.
Localisation.
Some localisation features are added to Dataweb only because it is so easy to implement them.
One can ask for the current location on a map for any coworker.
On a map, the locations of all users of the Datatweb application can be shown and updated by the refresh button.
Of course, as is standard for webbrowsers, the colleagues must allow their location to be used.
When allowed, the location can be saved where data of a specific entity type is saved.
Extensions to other application types.
Two aspects of a Dataweb system must be clearly realised :
First : you often encountered the word Entity in this text since the described functionalities are generally applicable, they are implemented in a software meta framework. This is a novel way of making software. Therefore the functionalites are applicable for the way you work too. Just translate Entity to concepts/terminology applicable to how you work in your business.
Secondly : A Datatweb system is extensible in the same way a software framework is since Datatweb is a real software framework, but at another abstraction level. It is a software framework build upon software constructions. Datatweb Productivity focuses on implementing novel functionalities in the most appealing way (besides basic requirements every business system needs), but the Datatweb technology can be applied to reimplement any business software in a fully general way.