The second edition of AMUG was a great opportunity to gain additional knowledge on Module Suite, and, most importantly, to learn how other customers are leveraging this technology in their specific business case directly from them.
During the event our CEO Patrick Vitali also took the opportunity to outline the latest advancements and what the future has in store. For those of you who couldn’t make it in person, we’d like to share with you overview of the key take-aways.
An on-going commitment to class-leading solutions
Our R&D team has continuously invested time and resources to improve our solutions and stick to a 3-month release schedule.
What are the latest achievements?
- OT Certification for deployment in the cloud: Once again, we were the first OpenText Solex Partner to be certified for the deployment and usage on OT container-based cloud. With Module Suite v3.2 (Locarno), installing and configuring Module Suite on a containerized cloud environment is even simpler.!
- PWA Mobile Webforms:we have recently introduced the possibility to use mobile forms to collect data from anywhere, on any device, even offline, as well as, leverage mobile device’s functions for data entry (ex: camera, video, GPS, etc.). Mobile forms can be easily designed according to the different business requirements and adopted to any business sector where users need to work in the field.
- Extended ECM for Everything: our Extended ECM for Everythingis what makes expanding the concept of Extended ECM to any leading application, system or data sourceincredibly easy.
In fact, this functionality allows you to create a connector in a fraction of the time usually requested with Oscript or Java, with no need to restart or interrupt the system when modifying the connectors.
This means that you’ll be able to smoothly create your own connectors and effortlessly repurpose the existing ones to configure them for other leading applications.
Besides making it easier and faster to connect with leading applications, this new feature allows you to fully personalize the Extended ECM widget in order to perfectly match the leading application’s UI.
And once again, there’s no need to use the SDK or custom developments.
If you want to know more about Extended ECM for Everything, we have a webinar on this topic: webinar.
Our R&D team aims to implement a connector for a SaaS solution in the near future, which target solution would you prefer? Let us know!
Extended ECM for Everything – Browser Plugin
The functionalities and benefits of Extended ECM for Everything do not end here, in the next Module Suite release 3.3 (Montebello) will include a further step.
Indeed, not all applications provide a way to extend their native functionalities (i.e., an SDK to add visual or functional content within the application). But this issue can be easily solved with the new Extended ECM for Everything – Browser Plugin.
Generated directly from the Extended ECM instance through Module Suite automation, this plugin allows you to integrate and inject the Extended ECM Business Workspace widget into virtually any web interface that can be accessed from your browser.
What’s the benefit?
There is no need to deploy add-ons or extensions on the leading application or any other development. Indeed, in just a matter of hours a new application is targeted and integrated.
During the event, our sister company AnswerConsulting presented a use-case example specifically on this topic. In the use-case example a browser plugin had been developed to integrate the Extended ECM widget into the application Timely.com.
Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solution:
Yet, our greatest effort has been in our Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solution: our first t vertical solution built with Module Suite and Extended ECM for the creation of contracts, their negotiation and full lifecycle management (archiving, reviewing etc.)
CLM was presented at OT World 2022 – Las Vegas during a virtual breakout session. A recording of the breakout is available to watch at your leisure: breakout session.
The new Module Suite 3.3 (Montebello) will also include…
SyncFusion component library
As part of the ongoing effort to boost both the UI and UI design capabilities of our solutions, we selected an enterprise-grade component library, powered by SyncFusion, to be integrated into Module Suite.
The selected widgets library includes a vast set of basic UI building blocks, but, above all, several advanced, full-fledged tools to handle common user interaction and data visualization tasks.
Below are some examples on how you can present information with Data Grid, Scheduler, as well as with Tree Grid, Pivot Table, Excel-like spreadsheets etc.
Content Script REST API oData – New Support
As you might know, Module Suite can be used to extend the set of REST APIs exposed by Extended ECM. The new Content Script REST API extension capabilities will be boosted to provide better, out-of-the-box support in the creation of OData compliant endpoints. In addition to that, it will further simplify inbound integration efforts.
What is more, Content Script will provide built-in support to consume ODATA RESTful APIs, closing the loop to create a complete integration toolkit.
Content Script DocBuilder upgrade
The current DocBuilder Content Script will be reworked to significantly enhance its current capabilities. The existing API has always been suitable for programmatically building simple documents (including basic elements such as headings, paragraphs, images, tables) in PDF and Word formats.
After the rework, the APIs will be capable of handling more complex document elements, along with comments, review markings etc., thus allowing a lot more to be done.
Module Suite Administration & Configuration pages
As part of the effort to support Cloud deployment and containerization, major changes have been made in Module Suite configuration and management.
- Introduction of Business Administrator permissions: users can now perform operations with no need of System Administrator permissions, for greater flexibility.
- Module Suite Base Configuration can now be exported / imported using the same platform tools available for Content Server configuration. This comprises the Module Suite Activation Key, which can now be applied by importing a configuration file including the key.
- Easier configuration change: the scenarios requiring a restart of cluster node services upon configuration changes have been significantly reduced. Restart is currently only necessary for a handful of configuration options, clearly marked in the Base Config. pages.
To finish with a flourish: Module Suite 3.4 (Rancate)
This 2022 has being characterized by great improvements and new features that allow our tagline “Module Suite’s value grows over time” to continue to hold true. The latest release planned for this year (Module Suite 3.4) will include significant changes that will positively influence next year as well.
Beautiful Webform Studio update
In order to simplify the creation, maintenance and administration of the complex applications built with Module Suite, we aim to extend the capabilities of the current Beautiful Webform Studio app to turn it into a full-fledged Application Builder. Among the others, the main features of this tool will be:
- Ability to quickly bootstrap new applications based on predefined templates
- Easy, integrated access to configuration settings and editors throughout the whole app, with no need of handling each element separately
- Simplification of the packaging and transport process for the application
Stay tuned for more!
Script Console upgrade
Script Console has always been a unique element in the Module Suite ecosystem. Mainly because it is a separate and stand-alone component, as opposed to a tightly integrated suite of internal modules, Script Console has always posed specific challenges.
In order to simplify its adoption, boost security and address various issues related to this unique tool, we are currently rethinking the core Script Console architecture.
Due to the many technological touchpoints, the current plan is to deploy the Script Console as a plugin for Grails platform, an emerging standard solution for developing and managing rule-based applications.
Introducing AnswerModules Academy
We are working very hard to extend our traditional in-person and remote live training proposal to include online, self-paced and self-service courses, as well as access to additional content that will be made available for the next releases.
Our Academy portal is the official learning center for Module Suite technology and will be the first step in a consolidation and rationalization of the existing resources.
