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n 1964, Bob Dylan wrote, "The times they are a-changing." Change is inevitable. To remain competitive it is imperative
that organizations change with the times, incorporate new technologies, and meet customer’s needs. Considering today’s
economic climate, productivity is particularly important in the automotive industry. Specifically, this means providing an
intuitive application that is easy-to-use, cost-efficient, and automatically performs routine tasks to improve employee
productivity. Midata Service GmbH understood this industry and developed an application
to satisfy their needs and deliver productivity advantages to the Mitsubishi car dealers in Germany. Midata built their new
dealer management application using BBj®, the latest generation of BBx®.
Midata Service GmbH, located in Flörsheim, Germany, and founded in 1992, set their goal to provide a complete business
solution for German Mitsubishi car dealerships, which includes application software, maintenance, hotline support, and onsite
assistance and consultancy.
Where the First Journey Began
Auto dealers depend on Midata to provide a business solution, which extends new technology to their dealerships and keeps
them competitive in their market space. Dealerships require stable operating systems, and a robust, dependable, and platform
independent development environment because they do not employ significant IT staff members. These requirements led Midata to
choose UNIX operating systems and the BBx development language, both well-established choices in the German marketplace.
Over the years, Midata expanded their deployment options and now deliver UNIX and Linux systems (servers) and continue to
develop the current solution in the PRO/5® version of BBx. The use of this platform independent language enables them to
migrate their customers from one platform to the next without any changes in the application. Midata’s customer base ranges
in size from a single desktop to networked installations with over 90 workstations. Therefore, the solution must provide wide
scalability for the large installations. Fortunately, the continuing improvement in size and speed of computer hardware
allows Midata to install their software on a single server, which simplifies installation and reduces maintenance
requirements for their customer base.
Midata designed their solution in software modules. Each module processes and manages all major aspects of the daily work for
each individual department. The Midata application handles different car manufacturers, so that existing Mitsubishi dealers
can sell more than just the Mitsubishi brand of car. The basic modules include:
Stock Control – controls all stock movements including order recommendations and price adjustments, allowing several stock
depots, and ordering via file transfer.
Repair Shop – consists of order processing, spare parts, work timing, cost estimates, service packages and workshop planning
along with the necessary warranty processing, reports, and statistics, which interface with the accounting module.
New and Used Car Sales – manages all functionality needed for the dealer’s sales people including access to information such
as sales codes, accessories, and current pricing. The software records and allocates all car entries according to their
pricing, whether new or used, giving sales representatives the ability to automatically create proposals, process orders, and
transfer necessary data to the Vehicle Registration Office.
Additional application modules include a Cash Desk with interfaces to the Accounting Package, and Work Time
Control.
Midata developed their original solution as a CUI application, shown in Figure 1. Midata knew they had to move their
application to a graphical user interface to remain competitive. The industry was content with the robust functionality of
the CUI application, but the changing needs of the sales force demanded GUI. This new technology offers tremendous
advantages. Sales people could show the available cars through video images on the screen, and the look and feel of the
application would match what users expect a modern application to look like.
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Figure 1. The legacy CUI customer maintenance screen
Where the Journey Resumes
In the fall of 2001, the Midata development team wrote the requirements for their move to GUI. They understood the marketplace, which provided the knowledge and expertise to design a new solution. The major goals were to:
- move the dealers to a graphical interface, gradually
- set a reasonable upgrade price
- maintain ALL DATA structures without time-wasting
- file conversion or re-keying
In which language would they write this new application? The main goal was a soft rollover, meaning a gradual change from the
existing solution to the new software, improving the customer’s acceptance of the new modules. A low cost solution was
important to Midata as well as their customers. There was a great reliability advantage in maintaining their legacy business
rules and data structures. There is also a great financial advantage if Midata minimized the costs associated with the
software upgrades. One of the greatest advantages to the Midata strategy is their ability to upgrade their customers
incrementally, to minimize business disruptions during the migration process.
In preparation for their new development effort, the Midata development team investigated the various generations of BBx
available from BASIS. While Visual PRO/5® was the most mature GUI option; they also investigated BBj, then available at
revision 1.0. The team recognized the immense potential of BBj, even at its initial release. With Java rapidly becoming the
new standard, BBj was truly the choice for their future. This advanced BBx solution preserved the value of their data
structures, gave them a jump-start on their new application because they could reuse existing code from their CUI
application, and assured them of same robust foundation offered by a time-tested development platform. Midata concluded that
the BBj development environment gave them the lowest risk with the highest rate of return.
To accomplish these goals, the team began defining their network architecture and deployment options. First, they decided to
use a peer-to-peer network for installations of 1-5 workstations with the clients running Windows XP. For installations with
six or more workstations, they decided to use a client-server network with Windows XP clients and Linux servers, a reliable
operating system easily capable of supporting their largest customers.
The team first designed the user interface on paper and then communicated it to existing customers, making sure the look and
feel was intuitive and met their customer’s requirements. Far too often, developers add the user interface after writing the
programs or they recycle existing user interfaces. Aware of these potential design problems, Midata assigned two programmers
from their development team to first design the user interface (see Figure 2), and then program the logic behind the screens.
Using the BASIS language and development tools, they began the crucial programming phase. They had 10 months to complete this
solution and present it at a national users meeting in November of 2002.
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Figure 2. The prototype customer maintenance screen
On target and ten months later, they presented the updated Salesman's Workplace to the users and received rave reviews. All
attendees expressed enthusiasm and excitement about the module. Though not entirely complete, the new application showed the
dealers the added features and tremendous ease of use possible in the new application. Impressed sales people immediately saw
the easy availability of detailed information. Delighted dealers confirmed the validity of the decisions made by the
development team during their design phase. With this encouragement from the dealer community, the development team focused
all their energy on completing the module as quickly as possible.
Midata Service GmbH has eight developers, split between two different cities (Flörsheim and Flensburg), all working on the
same development server housed in their headquarters. They maintain their source code control through Concurrent Versions
System (CVS). The three developers in Flensburg are Java programmers, who reluctantly entered the “Business BASIC”
development community. However, following BBj training from the Flörsheim group, the Java programmers embraced the advantages
of BBj with overwhelming enthusiasm. Their greatest excitement stemmed from the increased development speed they achieved by
using the BBj environment. Another great benefit was that the BBj development environment allowed them to incorporate Java
programming, which created a synergistic programming paradigm. They truly had the best of both worlds…ease of development
using BBj, with the ability to take advantage of some innovative Java features. The ability to utilize the best features of
two different languages greatly reduced the learning curve and the risk of their choice of development language.
BBj provided many powerful new language features that Midata utilized in their application. The Multiple Document Interface
(MDI) provides the ability to multitask with more than one relevant application window open at a time. Through InterProcess
Communication (IPC), the modules exchange data between programs/windows to provide real-time information, monitor events, and
check variable values.
Using Tree controls, Midata gives users a familiar interface with which to navigate large quantities of information on
easy-to-read screens. Trees provide a graphical interface to folders and files with the intelligence that “marks” items with
a yellow question mark (?) that require
attention, and a red exclamation point (!) on
items that require urgent attention. The screenshot in Figure 3 is an example of these markings. The salesperson can
easily select the desired icon on the Tree and access the relevant information instantly. Now available from a single screen,
a salesperson accesses a full catalogue of available cars, with photos, a detailed description of the standard features and
options, the exact breakdown of repayments depending on the financing model selected, and automatic proposals. After online
credit or leasing approval through the MKG Bank GmbH, a salesperson can reserve the car and complete the transaction with
just a few clicks of the mouse. The salesperson can create bulk mailings, check on insurance, remind customers when their car
needs servicing, etc.
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Figure 3. GUI screen displaying MDI and Tree capabilities
BBj enabled so many new features and high-performing functionality that comparing the graphical version of this BBj
application with the CUI version is like comparing driving on the autobahn with commuting in rush hour traffic.
Is Midata Service ready for the future? You bet!
For more information on CVS, refer to the related article in this issue of the BASIS International Advantage.
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Peter Pausewang
This interview is with Peter Pausewang Dipl.-Ing. Informatik, Sales Manager of Midata Service GmbH. After obtaining his
degree in 1989, Peter joined a software company developing a business solution for the automotive industry. Having obtained
valuable experience in this field, he moved to Midata in 1995. As well as being responsible for the sales side of the
business, Peter is an integral part of the development team. He is married and has two children.
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Midata Service Gmbh
Midata Service GmbH and the MKG Bank GmbH are independent companies within the Mitsubishi Corporation. Together, they supply
all services to German Mitsubishi automotive dealers - hardware and operating systems, application solutions, installation,
hotline, field service, and all banking services such as leasing, credit approval, and financing.
Midata Service GmbH was founded in 1992 with the goal of supplying all-round business services to the Mitsubishi dealers in
Germany. The company has approximately 50 employees with estimated sales of € 5 million. Midata is located in the small town
of Flörsheim between Frankfurt and Wiesbaden on the banks of the River Main. This region, known as the “Gateway to the
Rheingau,” is the world-famous wine-growing area of Germany. The proximity of the Frankfurt airport and major autobahn routes
make Flörsheim an attractive base.
The Midata customers value the extensive service they receive. Of the 850 Mitsubishi dealers in Germany, 800 are Midata
customers – proof they value this service. The customers only have one company to call, for IT questions or problems,
training, and documentation. The hotline is available throughout the day and engineers are on call for field service.
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