APEX Day 2011

Northgate Revenues and Benefits

Forms migration to APEX

22nd March 2011

APEX Day 2011

Introductions

• Tony Andrews – Independent Apex Developer• Nigel Blair – Product Director – Northgate Public Services

Why we did itNigel Blair

“Unpopular Front End”

Late 2004……

Internal Focus Groups

Guide Site Project

Results….

Version 6Integrated Workflow

Performance Management

APEX Day 2011

.......how we got there

APEX Day 2011

Ambitions - Technology

• Move from Oracle Forms in Browser to pure HTML Front End

• Fully Transactional Web Site– Same model as Amazon, eBay, Tesco

• Builds on iWorld Project • Improvements in Accessibility

– W3C Level 1 (possibly level 2)• Any Browser Features

– Skinnable / Style Sheets– Colors / Large Print / Proportional Resizing/ Text

Only– Light / Quick

• Can run alongside existing UI during phased migration

APEX Day 2011

Ambitions – Presentation (Enquiry)

• Faster Enquiries• User Friendly• Technical Jargon Free• Business Focussed• User Driven• Liaise / Consult with End Users

– Learn from previous roll-outs– Look at weak areas

• Flatter Presentation of Data– Quicker Access to Data – Quicker Link to Update

APEX Day 2011

Ambitions – Performance (Update)

• Quicker– Speed of Response– Less Clicks– Multiple Update of data– Enquire / Create / Update– Multi Row

• Benchmark Existing Application– Address Weak Areas– More Organic Approach

• Improved Service / Productivity• Improved Quality• Integrated Workflow / Scheduler

APEX Day 2011

Timeline

October 2005Launch Of Prototype at IRRV Conference

November 2005V6 Prototype Installed On Customer Portal

December 2005Management Board Sanctions Version 6V6 Development Commences

Jan - May 2006Development ContinuesConsultation ContinuesUser Group Executive Approve Roll-out

APEX Day 2011

Timeline

May – July 2006Recruitment Of 6 Beta SitesBeta Programme CommencesV6 Beta Release – July 2006

December 2006First Production Release of V6

December 2008All forms and processes available in V6Announced De-support of V5 from December 2009

December 2009First All-V6 ReleaseAll customers live on Version 6 Only

APEX Day 2011

TABSQuick Access to all main work Areas through use of Tabs

CONTEXT BLOCKHolds the main details of theitem in context (Applicant, Task)

REGIONSBreaks information down intoclearly defined regions

KEY DETAILSShows the user the main details and current status of the item in context (Account, Property, Claim etc etc)

ACTIONSGives quick access to the actions (updates etc.) associated with the current page.

LINKSUser-defined links to other applications, internal and external web sites (e.g. DWP)

Version 6 – today!

APEX Day 2011

Outcomes.......

APEX Day 2011

Outcomes.......

Central GovernmentOpportunities

InternationalOpportunities

Improved Performance

How to migrate 1500 Forms to Apex

Tony Andrews

APEX Day 2011

• UK-based Oracle developer for 20+ years• User of Apex since Project Marvel• Developer at Northgate 2002-2010• Active on:

– tonyandrews.blogspot.com– stackoverflow.com– forums.oracle.com

Tony Andrews

APEX Day 2011

• Update of 1500-module Forms application• Preserve large existing database• Preserve large existing code base• Preserve large existing body of role-based security

and navigation metadata• Use 20+ developers who know Forms, PL/SQL and the

application (but don't know HTML, CSS, Javascript)

Aims

APEX Day 2011

• Will Apex scale?• Is Apex robust enough for a serious product?• Is Apex good for developers?

– Why not Java?!

Concerns

APEX Day 2011

• Migrate 1500 forms quickly, consistently and correctly

• Some Apex built-in features not useful:– Form region– Tabular form region– Tabs– Validations

• Requirements for “Rich UI”• Management of large Apex project

Challenges

APEX Day 2011

• Reports with “overflow” area• Tabular forms over APIs• Dynamic hide/show, enable/disable, validation and

population of items– In other words, Dynamic Actions!

• Configurable item, region and report column labels

Rich UI

APEX Day 2011

Report with Overflow

APEX Day 2011

Report with Overflow

APEX Day 2011

Report with Overflow

APEX Day 2011

Tabular Form

APEX Day 2011

Tabular Form

APEX Day 2011

Tabular Form

APEX Day 2011

Tabular Form

APEX Day 2011

Tabular Form

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Tabular Form

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Defined via data in tables

Applied automatically via page 0 region(no developer code)

“Dynamic Actions”

APEX Day 2011

• Report overflows, tabular forms, “dynamic actions” etc. all defined declaratively via data

• This data needs to be maintained by the developer, and deployed via version control

• Creating all this data via SQL Plus scripts or Toad (or SQL Developer) is tiresome

Q: What can we do to make the developer's life easier?

Rich UI

APEX Day 2011

A: Give them an Apex application to maintain the data, with a facility to download all data for a page as a SQL script ready for deployment.

Rich UI

APEX Day 2011

• Forms module definitions in Oracle Designer– Generate first-cut Apex pages and our “metadata”

from these• Security/navigation data

– Render navigation tabs from this– Base page authorisation scheme on this

• Business Logic APIs– Generate first-cut code to map Apex page to API

Reuse Legacy

APEX Day 2011

Apex Page Generator

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• Build Standards• Generator• Skeleton pages to copy• Reports to check Apex pages for adherence to

standards

Consistency (Quality)

APEX Day 2011

• Many small applications– One per logical business area– Between 5 and 50 pages per app– Assign applications to development teams– Version control export files (app or page)– Version control our metadata

• Master Application– Common Components, published to other apps:– Templates, Authorisation and authentication

schemes– Shortcuts, Application processes

Manageability

APEX Day 2011

• Apex on OTN• Apex Forum• Apex Blogs• Apex Development Team

Apex Resources

APEX Day 2011

• Successful replacement system• Satisfied customers• Productive and satisfied developers*• A foundation for developing future applications

* well, mostly!

Outcome

APEX Day 2011

• Can Apex be used for large projects?• Is it a good idea?• Would we do it again?

Conclusions

APEX Day 2011

• Can Apex be used for large projects? Yes• Is it a good idea? Yes• Would we do it again? Yes – and we have

Conclusions