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FPX Embeds Publishing Software in Configure-Price-Quote Solution
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Middleware, SDKs & Libraries
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Sales & Marketing
Use Cases
- Predictive Replenishment
- Process Control & Optimization
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
The Challenge
FPX's clients are in industries such as manufacturing, high-tech, and medical devices where products have myriad configurations, strict specification matching requirements, or regulatory demands. The users are sales departments who benefit from the time saved, greater order accuracy, and higher sales throughput gained from an automated workflow process for the configuration or selection of order components, the calculation of pricing based on complex volume discounts or bundles, and the generation of professionally crafted, branded quote documents. FPX did not want to perpetually expend resources on developing and maintaining reporting and publishing technologies when its core competency is developing an application that maximizes workflow efficiency and optimizes the user experience. As a provider of a SaaS application that is Java-based, FPX sought a Java-based publishing solution that could be easily integrated with its own. FPX required a very dependable, high-throughput publishing engine that had direct data access and modeling capabilities plus a strong design tool to generate ad hoc and templated documents in PDF and Excel formats.
About The Customer
FPX is the leading provider of multi-tenant, on-demand Configure-Price-Quote® applications that automate and simplify product pricing and configuration. FPX solutions provide a rapid ROI through improved order accuracy, improved proposal generation time and high user acceptance. The company’s clients are in industries such as manufacturing, high-tech, and medical devices where products have myriad configurations, strict specification matching requirements, or regulatory demands. The users are sales departments who benefit from the time saved, greater order accuracy, and higher sales throughput gained from an automated workflow process for the configuration or selection of order components, the calculation of pricing based on complex volume discounts or bundles, and the generation of professionally crafted, branded quote documents.
The Solution
FPX selected InetSoft’s Style Report Professional for a time-tested, dependable publishing engine and a powerful, yet easy-to-use report designer that would save resources associated with internal development of publishing capabilities and client customization requests. The company selected InetSoft’s Style Report Professional application, the publishing product in Style Intelligence, InetSoft’s complete business intelligence platform. Style Report Professional’s small footprint and 100% Java architecture made it an ideal solution for embedded reporting. Based upon XML, JavaScript, and other open standards technology it has allowed FPX to fully leverage its existing skills. Specific features that have been key include the ability to use page-based dynamic images and conditional formatting. FPX favored InetSoft’s report designer for its WYSIWYG environment and its ability to show live data, in order to minimize time spent on set up for new clients or fulfilling customized requests.
Operational Impact
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