Technology Profile
- J2SE 1.3/1.4
- Swing, customized Look & Feel
- MS JET
- MS Access
Scope and Duration
40'000 hours,
development — 7 months,
support — 57 months.
E+H Applicator
Selection Tool
Customer
Endress+Hausser — an international group of companies, offering process control devices and systems for all major parameters in industrial measurement and automation technology.
Challenge
To automate the selection of available measurement devices from the database with more than several thousand of units, Endress+Hausser needed the software system able to handle huge amount of data very quickly. The selection was required to be done in real-time based on plenty of interconnected parameters. All parameters depend on each other, the dependence is sometimes given as a formula where changing any correlation leads to different results. According to the input criteria the software searches all available equipment in the database and offers it to the user.
Solution
In 7 months the first version of the software was developed as a real-time java-applet. To start the selection user sets the type of the requested equipment. Then he chooses the required criteria of selection. The list of available equipment meeting the input parameters is changed interactively. At any given moment the user can see how many devices are available and how many of them satisfy his requirements.
After all parameters are set and the list of the available equipment is fixed, all technical specifications of the selected devices can be seen. Selected devices can be also compared by the most important features. When the selection is done, the required equipment can be ordered.
After the first version of the software was released, Sunbay was supporting the system for almost 5 years. Several new report forms and additional modules were developed to extend the functionality of the tool.
The solution was released as an application on CD-ROM. It was provided to Endress+Hausser distributors and dealers and put on the market. Till nowadays the CDs are being successfully sold.
The parameters of selection are easily customized to any business. So the system can be effectively used to automate the selection from any list according to the set of interconnected criteria.