Infor has launched an online System i Centre of Excellence, a community populated by application development experts from within the company.

The idea is to provide a focal point for the users of the many System i-based products that the company has subsumed in recent years. This roll-call includes: Infor ERP LX, for high volume manufacturers in the consumer packaged goods, pharmaceuticals and chemical industries; ERP XA, for industrial equipment, machinery and high-tech and electronics manufacturers; ERP System 21, serving food, beverage and apparel and textile manufacturers; ERP A+, designed for distributors in the medical, food service, specialty, paper and industrial supply industries; and Infor HCM Infinium, an HR solution.

One of the focal points of the site is the Infor Development Framework for IBM System i, a common application design and development environment for all of its System i solutions. The idea is to give users the ability to create role-based user interfaces and dynamic reports through simple configurations. This development framework enables SOA capabilities for System i solutions compliant with Infor’s Open SOA framework.

This is based on Java, interacting with a metadata layer over the core application. When users configure their desktop interfaces or when the IT administrator creates a new extension or integration to another system, they don’t alter source code, says the company.

Seamus Quinn