Introduction to Fluidapps

Fluidapps is an enterprise software development and deployment application with a combined and seamless integrated development environment (IDE) and integrated application environment (IAE), deployed over the web in a platform-as-a-service (PAAS) environment. The product is currently under development and will provide the capability to build rich, scalable enterprise applications at high-speed, with a clean presentation of data and logic within a distributed operating environment.

Enterprise software today is too big, too complicated and far too rigid, making it expensive to develop, implement, modify and upgrade. Fluidapps was specifically designed to address the problems with today’s enterprise software by simplifying and reducing the size, complexity and rigidity of enterprise applications. This approach will deliver the most impressive value proposition in the industry. The return-on-investment (ROI) far exceeds any other product in the industry for the development, deployment, modification and upgrade of enterprise applications.

Fluidapps fills the gap between spreadsheets and complicated software development tools by combining the productive, intuitive and simple nature of spreadsheets with the depth and power of application development tools. Fluidapps has significantly expanded spreadsheet functionality to address intensive business applications. Both novice and experienced developer can become productive instantly by defining columns within data views using either a point-and-click or keyboard method. Additional depth may be added to data views, columns and rows by defining validation, functions and events as needed.

Fluidapps was designed using a new and innovative proprietary software development approach called Singular Polymorphic Software (SPS), where a single universal device, operating on a client, will have the ability to create and deploy unlimited forms, inquiries and reports. Circumscribed within this single universal device, is the ability to handle nearly all possible enterprise data maintenance, inquiry and reporting activities. In other words, one element with unlimited forms.

Fluidapps was specifically designed with the end user in mind from the front-end back by providing a simple, natural, intuitive, consistent and relational user interface. Supporting the front-end is a unique patented technology on the back-end for the delivery of data views to the end user. Fluidapps is the first in the industry to deploy this patented technology for a truly fluid enterprise application environment.

Fluidapps is a tightly secured, multi-user application, connecting seamlessly to most databases for the storage of enterprise data. The product is scalable with the ability to deploy the application in a single client or robust multi-tiered server architecture with multiple clients, application and database servers.

Fluidapps is the most flexible and secured enterprise application in the industry, with the ability to change data selection, sorting, layout and operation on-the-fly with tight security at all levels and for all activities, where the allowance of changes and access may be controlled and monitored down to the cell level. All changes to the application may be stored for historical and upgrade purposes, significantly reducing the deployment of application upgrades.

Simple, Intuitive, Flexible and Powerful

Most of the enterprise software applications running businesses today are too big, too complicated and far too rigid. These applications are built like concrete freeways. Since every business is unique, companies are tempted to modify the application to fit their specific needs. However, the cost to modify these applications is often prohibitive. Companies who venture down the modification path end up with a tremendous cost and labor burden, which far exceeds the original cost of the software. To add insult to injury, modifying these applications produces the additional burden of managing each modification for all future upgrades. Bottom line, companies are being crushed under the weight of purchasing, altering, implementing and supporting these enterprise software applications.

Simple and Intuitive

Fluidapps extended the concept of the spreadsheet by using the same natural and intuitive navigation within one environment. At the heart of the Fluidapps product is a single device, similar to the spreadsheet, operating on the client, which provides all user navigation. Compressed within this single device is the ability to handle nearly all business activities; making Fluidapps the most simple and intuitive enterprise application in the industry.

Flexible

The primary design premise behind Fluidapps is flexibility. The product has the ability to add new functionality along with changing existing functionality on-the-fly, without the need to generate or compile code. There are over 200 dynamic data view definitions available for each data view, including layout, position, data selection, data sorting, column layout, security, visibility, column functions, events, etc. These definitions may be added or altered and saved anywhere along the application definition levels by individuals allowed to perform these operations within a tightly controlled and secure environment. All changes may be historically traced for upgrade purposes. This makes Fluidapps the most flexible enterprise application in the industry.

Powerful

Using the words “simple” and “spreadsheet” when describing a software application often conjures thoughts of being trifle or limited; however, this is far from the truth. Fluidapps has blended these opposing design objectives of “simplicity” and “powerful” together. Simple becomes powerful when a software application combines ease-of-use with a broad coverage of business activities. This is why the spreadsheet was so successful. Fluidapps carries this concept even further to cover an even broader number of business activities. Even the toughest business activities have been built into the Fluidapps product providing a truly powerful enterprise application.

Fluidapps will be the most simple, intuitive and flexible enterprise application in the industry with the power to address the most demanding business activities in the simplest way. This will reverse the current trend of big, complicated and rigid.

Completion of the Spreadsheet

VisiCalc™ was introduced in 1979 as the first spreadsheet and is often considered as the application that turned the microcomputer from a hobby into a serious business tool. VisiCalc became the grandmother to all spreadsheet applications today, and is often referred to as the most successful software application in history.

The success of the spreadsheet is due primarily to the ability of combining development, application and data into a single simple, intuitive and versatile environment for the entry maintenance of business data. It is truly addictive due to high data visibility and productivity. For this reason, the spreadsheet continues to rule the day in nearly all companies, from the smallest to the largest corporations.

However, spreadsheets have serious limitations and are often pressed into business situations that far exceed their capability. These limitations have not been addressed since its inception, rendering the spreadsheet application incomplete and falling short of a truly powerful and enduring software application. The biggest limitation with spreadsheets is that they are islands of data to themselves and cannot simultaneously share data between multiple users with a back-end database. Other limitations include column label management, improved data security, hierarchy row management, collapse and expansion of columns, toggle between single and multiple records, compound cells, etc. If these limitations were addressed, a paradigm shift might occur in the enterprise software industry and forever change the way software is developed and deployed. This was the original idea behind Fluidapps.

The original design premise behind Fluidapps was to build on the success of the spreadsheet, address the limitations and extend the spreadsheet concept into a truly powerful enterprise application development and delivery tool. Fluidapps has the simple, intuitive and productive environment of spreadsheets, but has the power and depth to deliver robust enterprise applications. Users with few technical skills can become productive immediately by defining columns and entering data, adding sophistication and depth to the application later as knowledge of the product increases.

Rapid Enterprise Automation

Fluidapps is a Rapid Enterprise Automation (REA) environment and not a Rapid Application Development (RAD) environment. Enterprise automation is rapidly created with simplicity and ease. Changes to the applications are instantaneous, eliminating the need to develop, test, compile and deploy. This provides a fast and productive development process. Built into Fluidapps is the ability to handle the toughest business activities without the need to develop user navigation. All business navigation patterns are circumscribed into one device, which is replicated and injected with enterprise data and unique pieces of logic, eliminating the need to develop complicated navigation logic.

Rapid Application Development (RAD) is a software development methodology introduced in the early 1990s with the promise to rapidly develop enterprise software to address swiftly growing enterprise automation demand. Unfortunately, the methodology rapidly created a mountain of complicated and buggy code. RAD eventually ran into difficulty because software was not flexible enough to respond to the fickle needs of the users during development iterations. Rewriting code for each iteration turned out to be an exhaustive process, and not much better than the traditional waterfall methodology of gathering all requirements up-front. RAD was not solving the problem. A new flexible software application was needed to rapidly address the ever-changing enterprise business processes.

Fluidapps truly provides rapid enterprise automation (REA). It is not another framework, CASE tool, code generator, data-driven, responsibility-driven, or model-driven application. Neither is it another high-level interpretive computer language. Fluidapps uses a new and innovative technology which will eliminate the need to create or generate forms, inquiries and reports; thus, significantly improving the ability to rapidly address the ever-changing needs of business.

All development and business activities within the Fluidapps product are performed using a data view definition. The definition of a new data view is a simple two-step process. First the data view is defined with columns, format, validations and functionality. If there is any unique data validation or event outside of the standard point-and-click functionality, the second step is the addition of any unique logic using one of several traditional languages. The need to define unique business logic is more of an exception than the rule, because all common functionality for robust applications is already built into the Fluidapps product (i.e., data selection, display, sorting, editing, validations, security, relational integrity, etc.). The new data view may be accessed immediately after creation or change within the same environment; thus providing the best REA application in the industry.