Actian > Case Studies > Actian Zen Empowers TAIFUN ERP: A Case Study

Actian Zen Empowers TAIFUN ERP: A Case Study

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Databases

Applicable Industries

Buildings
Cement

Use Cases

Building Automation & Control
Inventory Management

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

TAIFUN Software AG is a Hannover-based company that has been developing commercial software for over 30 years. The company specializes in creating software to meet the unique needs of firms involved in the German and Austrian construction and specialty crafts trades. TAIFUN’s portfolio includes a complete ERP solution with mobile extensions as well as solutions for document management, email archiving, and more. The company's ERP system is designed to meet the needs of firms operating in the building trades, including carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers, electricians, and HVAC installers, among others. These professionals excel at building and maintaining structures and infrastructures but typically have little interest in building or maintaining a database, even when that database is central to an ERP system designed to meet their needs.

The Challenge

TAIFUN Software, a Hannover-based company that has been developing commercial software for over 30 years, faced a significant challenge. The company needed a high-performance database with a small footprint for its ERP system, specifically designed for firms operating in the German and Austrian building trades. The database needed to be user-friendly and require minimal management, as most of the companies TAIFUN was targeting did not have access to an IT team or a skilled database manager. Many databases that were capable of providing a touch-free experience typically sacrificed performance for ease of use. Conversely, those that could provide the high performance TAIFUN wanted often came at the cost of ease of use, requiring ongoing management for optimal performance.

The Solution

TAIFUN found the solution in Actian Zen, a high-performance, small-footprint system that users never have to manage. TAIFUN’s use of Actian Zen actually predates the existence of Actian Zen itself. TAIFUN began using Zen’s progenitor, Btrieve, back in the late 1980s. Btrieve provided the power and small footprint TAIFUN needed to drive its fledgling ERP system. Over time, TAIFUN continued to rely on the power of the Btrieve database to facilitate high-performance execution as it added more functionality and services to its ERP system. The Btrieve database itself evolved into today’s Actian Zen, and TAIFUN’s ERP system has evolved alongside it. Today, TAIFUN’s ERP system offers modules for everything from job costing and accounting to materials management, time tracking, document management and archiving, email, and much more. The system interacts with mobile- and tablet-enabled ERP applications too which enable users on a job site to process orders, capture customer signatures, check inventory, and more throughout the course of their workday. All data sent from the field is remotely passed to the Actian Zen database.

Operational Impact

Actian Zen delivers the combination of high performance and low touch that TAIFUN wanted for its ERP system. Customers in the German and Austrian building trades have a powerful, integrated ERP system that they can use to run all their operations—without the aid of an IT team. The benefits of Actian Zen, such as power, performance, and stability, are effectively embedded in the TAIFUN ERP system, and that’s what customers see. The small size of the data set and the recently-enhanced database encryption features appear to be just another benefit delivered by TAIFUN ERP. This allows TAIFUN's customers to focus on their core business operations without worrying about database management.