The Needed Adaptability for ERP Systems - Enterprise Information Systems Design, Implementation and Management: Organizational Applications - page 206

Figure 5. Changes performed on the Record's main class

been developed on an object-oriented approach,
the required changes are not so complex as they
seemed to be initially. Basically, and editing the
method Save_Record of the Records' main class,
2 new methods that check the existence of the
User Rules and User Events have been included.
In case of existence, the XBase code is compiled
(in run-time) and executed on the user's desktop.
These changes are presented in the next image
(Figure 5).
The new methods UserRules and EventRules
validate the existence of any configured rules
(performing SQL Queries on the database). Since
user rules are “associated” to tables, it's necessary
to send the table name as a parameter (which is
an attribute from the Records' main class); in the
case of user events, the association is made by a
current screen's internal identifier.
If any rule is detected, the XBase code field is
compiled in run-time (to check if the action should
be performed or not). If the returned value of the
compiled Xbase code field is False, the action is
triggered.
User rules have an additional functionality!
Since they are executed before the Save routine,
they make it possible for a returned value from
the performed action to be validated. This means
that the XBase code can validate a condition and

enable/disable the ability to save the record (like if
a certain field cannot remain empty, for instance).

interface framework

Sharing information is essential for any organiza-
tion, as long as it is completely controlled! This
means that information should be available to
users, but only the data related to their profes-
sional role. This is always a major concern in
organizations since interfaces are standard and
(normally) display all information related to a
business process.
Our model allows a complete configuration
of user interfaces, associated to their role in the
company. For instance, the Product screen may
have important information on industrial costs
that should be only available to managers, and
not for the operational staff. This need has cre-
ated the term Customization in our model, which
refers to the availability to create different views
of an interface, which can be associated to users
or groups.
To achieve our aims, an option called “ Create
customization ” has been created on every screen,
available to implementers. When this option is
activated, all the screen objects are loaded (in run-
time) and a new interface is created (for editing),