Application Development

 

Kunde:	Raiffeisen Group
Applikation:	Raiffeisen
Technologie:	C++, JAVA; TCL/TKL, HTML5/JSON

In recent years, the Raiffeisen Group has established itself as the leading retail banking group and third largest banking group in Switzerland. Its strength is its local roots. Today, Raiffeisen customers include 3.7 million Swiss nationals. Of these, over 1.8 million are members of cooperatives and thus co-owners of their Raiffeisen bank.

The Raiffeisen Group provides its individual autonomous Raiffeisen banks with price information for foreign exchange, interest rates (e.g. mortgages) and securities. Together with Dion Global Solutions, soXes has developed a central pricing tool specially for the Raiffeisen Group, which receives, validates and calculates market data from different providers (Reuters, Bloomberg, Sungard etc.). This information is then made available to the different systems (e.g. Avaloq) or the local Raiffeisen banks.

This pricing tool was implemented several years ago and is still in daily use today. Today, soXes takes over the maintenance and support of this application. In addition, changes and improvements are regularly incorporated into the solution within the scope of small projects.

From a technical point of view, the solution consists of a backend (central computer) developed in C++/Java and a frontend developed in TCL/TKL and HTML5/JSON.

 

Kunde:	Sulzer AG
Applikation:	Sulzer
Technologie:	Access, VBA, Excel

Sulzer AG is a globally active Swiss industrial group with headquarters in Winterthur. The company was founded in 1834 by Johann Jacob Sulzer as a foundry and produced cast iron, fire tips, pumps and apparatus for the textile industry. Today, the Sulzer Corporation employs around 15,000 people and generates sales of over 3 billion Swiss francs. Sulzer now consists of the core operating divisions Pumps, Rotating Machinery Services (such as generators and motors) and the Chemical Division.

To improve the project process at Sulzer Pumps, Sulzer Pumps Ltd. has commissioned soXes GmbH to create a software solution based on Access and Excel. Sulzer Pumps is the world's leading pump manufacturer with more than 20 production sites.  The most complex pipeline system in the world is based on Sulzer Pumps and transports two million barrels of crude oil daily from Canada over 13 500 km to North America.

Today, all projects at Sulzer Pumps are coordinated via the Order Progress Room, a new service developed by soXes. The Access-based application clearly displays all orders, including order number, customer name, project name, project manager and project name, thanks to filter functions. Orders can be sorted by calculated or agreed delivery date. The core function provides a list of the order and production stages, whereby it can be defined for each order whether or not the respective stage can be kept to the planned deadline and whether or not there are any delays in delivery. Based on this order status overview, reports of up to a display size of DIN A0 can be generated and thus even printed as posters. There is also an import/export interface via Excel to the Sulzer ERP systems.

Thanks to the Order Progress Room, the project process at Sulzer Pumps was made clearer and its handling optimized. The solution is used worldwide (multi-user capable). 

 

Kunde:	Mercer Alternatives AG
Applikation:	Mercer
Technologie:	Web2Py, Python , MySQL

Mercer Alternatives AG is an independent Swiss investment advisor for institutional investments in private equity, real estate and infrastructure. With more than 130 employees at its offices in Zurich and Nyon, Mercer is one of the leading providers of pension advice, investment consulting and solutions as well as advice on human capital and compensation management in Switzerland.

The company offers individual advisory solutions and collective investment vehicles, as well as investment controlling and reporting services.

soXes has developed an application for Mercer to calculate the total expense ratio, or TER (Total Expense Ratio). The Total Expense Ratio is a key figure that puts all administrative costs of an investment vehicle in relation to the assets under management.

The calculation basis (funds and their net asset value as well as investors and their units per fund) is imported from a central system via an import interface into the Mercer TER application. In contrast, the management costs are entered manually. Based on this data, the application calculates the total cost ratio per investor for their investments at the touch of a button. The results can be output as PDF or Excel reports and distributed to the investors. A user management function allows the distribution of roles with different authorizations.

The Mercer web application is programmed in Python and the data is managed in a PostgreSQL database.

soXes developed the initial web application in 2013 and since then has further developed the TER application in the context of change requests. In 2019 soXes received a refactoring order. The data model was fundamentally revised in order to better represent fund of fund structures (multi-level hierarchy) and at the same time the technology stack was updated.

With today's solution, calculations are more efficient, significantly faster and easier. This reduces the source of errors and enables significant time savings. The documents are now stored centrally and clearly arranged at the right place and are available at any time. In addition, the proportionate total cost ratio for an investor in complex investment structures can be calculated in the desired level of detail.

 

Kunde:	Hypothekenzentrum AG
Applikation:	Hypothekenzentrum
Technologie:	VBA, ASP.NET, SQL

HypothekenZentrum AG is an operationally independent company of the VZ Group. It specialises in the management of mortgages for private and institutional clients. Its organisation and work processes are lean and computer-supported, which minimises administrative costs and enables it to offer cost-effective financing for mortgage borrowers.

HypothekenZentrum AG is supported in handling of their core processes by a modular application. This is based on an SQL database and is a further development of an old MS Access solution. soXes ensures the maintenance and support of the complex application environment. On the other hand, soXes supports HypothekenZentrum AG in reacting to changing customer requirements by developing extensions or new modules.

Thanks to its specialist knowledge in a wide range of development environments from VBA to SQL and ASP.NET, soXes can not only guarantee the smooth operation of the existing application modules, but also provide individual further development based on the latest technologies.

 

Kunde:	Diocese of St. Gallen
Applikation:	Diocese of St. Gallen
Technologie:	ASP.NET, Java Script

The diocese of St.Gallen, which has existed since 1847, is one of six dioceses in Switzerland. The territory of the diocese comprises the cantons of St.Gallen, Appenzell Innerrhoden and Appenzell Ausserrhoden. The central task of the diocese of St.Gallen is the pastoral care of the people and that the Catholic Church thrives and remains alive in the more than 142 parishes.

The personnel data of the Diocese of St.Gallen used to be managed in a simple Access application. Within the scope of this project, soXes was commissioned by the Diocese of St.Gallen to create a software solution that would allow the user-friendly collection and management of data from internal, external and freelance employees.

For this purpose, soXes developed a new web-based solution based on ASP.NET and Java Script. Thanks to the new application, a simpler, faster and more sustainable use of the personnel data within the Diocese of St.Gallen is made possible. Duplications can be eliminated and the technical basis can be raised to a modern level. Within the application different functions (e.g. chaplain) can be assigned to a person and this person can be assigned to one or more organizational units (e.g. parishes). Furthermore, clever filter functions allow users to create analysis lists and simple reports themselves. The application also offers the possibility to export data for an Outlook import or a file readable for Adobe InDesign.

Today's solution has significantly simplified the work with personnel data for the Diocese of St.Gallen. Because the personnel database is stored centrally, users can access it from different locations. Thanks to the different user rights, usage can be controlled in detail. Based on this new solution, the diocese now creates the printable version of the personnel directory with little additional effort on the part of the graphic designer.

 

Kunde:	DION Global Solutions GmbH
Applikation:	DION Global
Technologie:	C/C++, Java, TCL/TK, mySQL DB, Oralce, Neartime processing

Dion is a global company active in the technical finance industry. It offers tailor-made solutions for the financial industry. soXes is a development partner of Dion and supports them in the development and integration of software solutions for the financial market. Thanks to the joint cooperation, many projects in this area have already been successfully implemented. These include the integration and development support of X-Gen (a workflow management system) and I-Pricer (a multi-asset-class pricing solution) and RateStream (a dynamic FX and money market calculation engine). Technically, these applications are based on C/C++, Java, TCL/TK, mySQL DB, Oralce and neartime processing.

 

Kunde:	Inrate SA
Applikation:	Inrate SA
Technologie:	ASP.NET, MS SQL, Angular, KendoUI

Inrate is an independent rating company and evaluates the environmental and social sustainability of companies, institutions and countries worldwide. These ratings are used to create investment universes and theme indices or baskets that provide asset managers and financial service providers with a basis for making decisions on how to create sustainable and financially attractive portfolios and investment products.  

In close cooperation with Inrate, soXes has designed and implemented a new web solution to create the sustainability ratings and make them available to clients for online download via web account. An MS Access database was replaced by an MS SQL database with web front-end (Angular/KendoUI). The ratings are based on a complex versioned rating model that is scalable through Inrate. The rated investment universe is regularly updated via interfaces to MSCI and Thomson Reuters. For individual clients, data feeds for their core banking system (Avaloq) can be retrieved.

Since the application went live, soXes has been providing maintenance, support and individual development within the framework of a maintenance contract.

One of the main objectives of the new application was to enable analysts to further develop the rating model without IT support. This was achieved through an administration front-end that allows the analysts to adjust the several hundred rating criteria at any time.

Furthermore, completed ratings were to be available for publication in real time.

The ratings are worked on decentrally at several locations in Switzerland and abroad in parallel, which is ideally supported by the web technology.

 

Kunde:	Novelis
Applikation:	Novelis
Technologie:	SQL Server with ASP.NET MVC 5, Angular JS Framework

Novelis is the global market leader in the field of machining aluminium into customer-specific materials. For the production of aluminium in the automotive sector, Novelis has developed an individual solution by soXes specifically for production planning, price calculation and forecasting of the aluminium volume with interface to SAP.

Functions:

• Management of projects and aluminium parts
• Forecasting of aluminium volume, unit and project price
• Excel interface to SAP for import of effective bookings at project level, export of forecast at project level for subsequent re-import into SAP
• CRM for recording customer contacts with Outlook connection

 

Kunde:	Swissplan AG
Applikation:	Swissplan Webseite and App
Technologie:	Phonegap, Javascript, PHP, Yii2, MSQL, HTML 5, Wordpress 5.x

swissplan.ch offers management information in the financial sector of the public sector where the focus is on individual customer needs. In order to facilitate and digitalize internal and external company processes, a Wordpress website with its own Content Management System (CMS) was developed. This allows the website administrator to manage and expand all website content. The website, with a new design, was equipped with a customer portal. The design and implementation are responsive, so that mobile users can use the website easily and intuitively.

The customer portal is also available as a free app on iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. The app enables quick and easy access to the customer portal of swissplan.ch. To view or download new files swissplan.ch uses the Internet connection (mobile data or WLAN) of the mobile device. No Internet connection is required to view the files already downloaded (offline function). In order to inform the user promptly about changes in the customer portal, swissplan.ch sends APP Push messages to the corresponding device.

 

Kunde:	STEPcom
Applikation:	SYNCworks
Technologie:	C#, MS SQL Server Express

The company Contentis AG operates an EDI Service Center and thus supports its customers in the automatic processing of business data. To ensure that article information from the respective suppliers or customers is available in a validated form, Contentis AG offers a solution called STEPsync. With this tool, suppliers are actively supported in the creation and processing of their information.

STEPsync is a tool developed on MS Access, which is used offline. Contentis AG is planning a new development of the STEPsync solution, which will be broader and deeper in terms of data and functionality. The new application will be called SYNCworks. The new SYNCworks solution is an offline solution. A migration to a web-based online solution is not supported. For the programming language of the "fat client" C# was chosen. MS SQL Server Express is used as database technology.

 

Kunde:	Testex
Applikation:	Testex ULU
Technologie:	ASP.NET, SQL Server, C#

TESTEX AG, headquartered in Zurich, is a privately organised, independent Swiss testing and certification company with worldwide operations since 1846 and specialises in the textile sector. The range of services offered extends from classic textile physical and textile chemical testing through analytical residue and pollutant analysis to the factual clarification of damage claims. As an accredited testing laboratory, TESTEX certifies all types of textiles. The most well-known certificates include Confidence in Textiles, Made in Green by OEKO-TEX®, Oeko-Tex® Standard 100, STeP by OEKO-TEX®, UV Standard 801, Eco-Passport, Product certification of PPE.

TESTEX's testing facilities are designed in such a way that a comprehensive test programme can be provided for all textile raw materials, intermediate and end products. In addition, TESTEX acts as a consultant on environmental and quality issues.

To make its processes even more efficient and faster, TESTEX wanted to provide seamless support for all processes from order placement and planning through to execution by means of a comprehensive software system. As part of this project, TESTEX asked soXes to implement this wide-ranging project, which could be divided into several areas.

The core of the UniLab solution consists of order entry, planning (forecast) and order execution for sales and production (single and batch processing). This also includes the process chain definition and checking the execution by means of checklists.

The customizable product design of all services (physical and chemical tests, assessments) in the sales process is possible, whereby the solution supports a wide range of languages and country-specific units of measurement.

UniLab supports the automatic processing of test data from the laboratory. Static as well as dynamic data and evaluations can be exported in a uniform form/layout to various file formats and data can be transferred in uniformly structured interface files to downstream locations for further processing. Key figures and test data can be individually adapted.

Statistical evaluations in the areas of finance, sales and production are based on a real-time transaction system.

Business process-specific documents can be created with a document creation system (Document Factory) based on the rich data sources. 

The development of UniLab is based on the .NET programming language using the Telerik framework.

The comprehensive IT solution has been successfully in use since 2016 and is continuously being developed. 

 

Kunde:	TUS - Telecommunications and Security
Applikation:	TUS alarmDispatcher
Technologie:	Graylog Cluster, Microservices, InputChecker, System Monitoring, Redis Sentinel, Nginx, Galera Cluster, JSON, Push-pull Methodik

In the sixties of the last century, the then PTT was looking for strong partners to operate and finance an alarm transmission service in Switzerland. Securiton AG and Cerberus AG (now Siemens Schweiz AG, Building Technologies) took up the challenge. In 1968 they founded the interest group TUS Telekommunikation und Sicherheit. The pioneering spirit was rewarded: Thanks to constant technical innovations and considerable investments, TUS today presents itself as a modern and efficient multi-technology provider with interesting prospects for the future.

In line with this, the TUS alarmDispatcher, an integrated alarm management system for the systematic distribution of system faults, emergency calls and alarms, is designed and implemented using the latest technological possibilities. A high-performance IP-based network is used to transmit the messages.

The TUS alarmDispatcher is a switching unit which ensures that customer terminals (e.g. hazard detection systems) can send appropriate messages to designated alarm receivers (e.g. blue light organisations) within a few milliseconds while maintaining a specified persistence. Alarm receiving points include TUS AIN (Automatic Intelligent Notification) - the smart platform behind the alarmOBSERVER - or eAlarm (Swisscom's intelligent alarm receiving point).

At the same time, the alarm receiving point can send control commands (e.g. lock doors) to the alarm transmission points. Consequently, the TUS alarmDispatcher can function as a duplex.

In order to comply with the high availability and alarm technology compliant guidelines (EN50518, EN50136), the following technologies and solutions are used: Graylog Cluster, Microservices - among others Log Service, InputChecker, System Monitoring (PRTG among others), Redis Sentinel, Nginx, Galera Cluster, JSON, Push-pull Methodology, Split Brain Prevention

 

Kunde:	Wilux Print AG
Applikation:	Wilux
Technologie:	Delphi, C#, SQL

Wilux Print AG is a specialist in the field of labelling. It solves labelling, marking and scanning tasks for all types of companies and industries reliably, simply and cost-effectively. Wilux Print AG specialises in the customer-specific manufacture of transport, scanning, printing and labelling systems.

In this project, soXes has received an order from Wilux Print AG for the reengineering of an existing software solution for one of their customers. Specifically, this order involves a Windows Forms application that is installed locally on the relevant PCs. This application is also connected to an SQL server and, via Windows Services, to various other devices such as label printers, EAN printers, wireless hand scanners and label scanners. 

The challenge with this application was to ensure the high printing and scanning cadence at all times. It was also important to guarantee simple and intuitive user guidance. There was also a requirement for a real-time status overview of all jobs and devices or connections.

Thanks to the commitment of soXes, the project was successfully implemented. 

Today soXes is working on further follow-up projects for Wilux Print AG. 

 

Kunde:	WILUX PRINT AG
Applikation:	Various
Technologie:	.NET, C#, SQL Server

WILUX PRINT AG is a specialist in the field of labelling. WILUX PRINT AG specialises in the customer-specific manufacture of transport, scanning, printing and labelling systems. WILUX PRINT AG's solutions are reliable, simple and cost-optimised.

The individual software solutions for WILUX PRINT AG's end customers were developed in-house. In recent years, soXes has taken over the maintenance and expansion of the Delphi applications. The applications control the automated creation of labels and their verification after printing. For this purpose, the application communicates via various interfaces with the end devices used. The aim of the project was to modernise the applications to a more up-to-date technology and to prepare them for future development. The locally operated clients should be able to access a shared centralised database in the future. The applications would then serve as an interface between the job data in the database and the printing and verification hardware provided by WILUX.

In a first phase of the project, the existing applications and processes were analysed and properly documented. In the second phase, the applications were built from scratch using the new .NET technology. In addition, desired adjustments of the applications were made during the new implementation. In a third phase, the system integration of the completed applications took place on site at the end customer's premises and was also supported by soXes.

By creating a cleanly structured documentation of the applications, future maintenance can be carried out efficiently and sustainably. In addition, the modernisation of the application from Delphi to the modern .NET technology provides a solid basis for further developments and ensures operation in modern system environments. With the help of the central databases, the processes of the end customers could also be sustainably optimised.

soXes will continue to provide maintenance and support for the modernised applications to ensure long-term operation of the solutions.