TIA Newsletter

The December edition of the TIA customer newsletter was just sent out to subscribers. If you would like to receive the newsletter, please send an e-mail to support@tia.dk and we will add you to the distribution list.

The newsletter contains various information about the TIA product, company and community in general.

Configuration management

I'd really like a bit more feedback from the TIA community on my blog postings. Sometimes I am wondering if anyone is actually out there :-). I did see some of you on our International Partner Symposium Thursday/Friday last week, but there has to be more of you with an opinion!

To stir things up a bit - let me introduce a pretty interesting topic - configuration management.

In TIA we have the Workbench. This is a tool designed for many things (maybe too many actually). Among other things we are currently using it internally to manage the source code and configuration management of our releases.

Now - my question is - who amongst our customers and partners cares about the workbench? if so - what are you using it for - managing source code, customization and deployment?

Right now we are having many discussions internally in TIA about the Workbench and configuration management in general. Partly because we are growing significantly in terms of people involved in development, and partly because new Java components (other than PL/SQL object) are being introduced (which not necessarily are closely related to the Workbench).

What are your thoughts and comments to this topic? Do you care about the Workbench? Please post your comments to this article...

5.2 Service Pack 1 released

Just a quick note that service pack 1 for version 5.2 is now available for download at the TIA website.

The service pack contains a broad set of fixes as well as a significant update to the batch system.

Partnering for success

The TIA business model relies on strong partner alliances for implementing the TIA solution. One of the key reasons for the success of TIA can be contributed to this model, which provides the necessary scalability in terms of skills, resources and geographical spread.
In order for this model to work, we need our partners to be constantly up-to-date with our products, sales and services. We are seeking to achieve this in various ways, for instance by arranging specific events where we inform our partners about sales strategy, upcoming new product features and product development plans in general. Such an event is taking place this end of October in Copenhagen, where we expect a significant number of partners attending to learn about our plans in details.
If you are a TIA partner, please contact us if you would like to attend this event.

Software localization and TIA

A key part of our strategy at TIA – and one of the things which I believe differentiates TIA from many competitors is the uniqueness of a standard solution which can be used across many geographies. The reason for this is of course the ability to customize TIA, but just as important the level of localization of the product to fit local requirements.

Localizing a product as TIA, which is targeted at business processes is much more than merely translating the software. In fact, this is just the beginning. For a vertical solution targeting the insurance business, it is a key requirement that it fits well with local standards. This includes support of common interfaces, legislation, practices etc.

In order for TIA to handle this, the solution has from the beginning been architected in such a way that it is possible to create and maintain what is called “country layers”. A country layer is a collection of features supporting the requirements in a certain country or region.

The creation and design of a country layer is not a trivial exercise. It requires deep knowledge about the local practices combined with a solid insight into TIA. We are currently expanding our work in terms of building and supporting a number of country layers. This work is being carried out by TIA and selected partners providing local knowledge and product development skills.

Another aspect is specifically how these local features are developed and implemented. There are different strategies you can apply when doing this. One strategy, which we see happening with many competitors, is the development of local features in a one-off exercise with individual customers as an integral part of the customer implementation. By doing this, the customer will typically end up with a legacy product where the implemented code is not generic. There are many concerns about this method like no re-use, no portability of the code and low upgrade possibility of the standard solution.The right approach is to build a country layer in a generic way to be used for all customers in a certain country/region. This key to this is local functionality being coordinated and built into the standard solution. This in effect means that the standard solution eventually will include local functionality for all supported countries/regions - and it will enable the use of different local features across several countries/regions within one implementation. Only by having this approach you ensure re-use and eventually a lower cost and upgradeability. This approach is what we apply at TIA.

IUG report #2

After spending two days in Riga with customers and partners I have a very good feeling about where TIA is going as a company as well as a product.

Delivering a conference with broad content focusing on the TIA solution was a deliberate choice from our side in TIA. Considering the feedback we have received so far it was a right one.

During the two days TIA employees delivered presentations describing new features relating to insurance specific processes as well as new technology advances for our Service Oriented Architecture. Based on the very positive reactions from the audience during the sessions, we definately believe we are moving in the right direction and doing the right things for partners and customers.

If you were in Riga, let me know your comments and thoughts as comments and stay tuned to my blog, which in a near future will have new topics around localization as well as insurance specific features.

IUG report #1

The 7th annual TIA International User Conference has kicked off in Riga with presentations by the chairman of the board, Lars Lysdahl, CIO Alm Brand, Evalds Trucksans /IT and Operations Director AAS Balta and finally Morten B Stener, CEo Tia Technology who is currently speaking.

With a record number of participants of 180 people the scene is set for two very interesting days.

Lars Lysdahl opened the conference commenting on the past year seen from a customer and user group perspective. Some of the things Lars mentioned was focused at making this a fresh start with increased interaction between the user group and TIA technology in terms of product feedback and new development. The coming year will be dedicated to an effort revitalizing the regional user groups and strenghtening the community.

Evalds trucksans gave a very good introduction to Balta, the leading insurance company in the area and a user of the TIA solution. Evalds also gave a good insight into Latvia demographics and the historic perspective of the 800 years old town in Riga.

Morten Steiner is currently speaking giving an overview of TIA Technology's strategy, perspectives on focus areas and a general welcome to the TIA customers and partner.

There is no doubt that people are ready for more information and two exciting days. Stay tuned for further updates from the conference as we move forward.