VITA™ Enterprise Resource Planning Architecture

Agresso’s unique Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution sits atop what leading IT analysts describe as “perhaps the most unique and agility-focused IT architecture ever built”. VITA means living and the VITA architecture is just that – a living, agile platform ideally suited for dynamic organizations.

Getting Things Right from the Beginning

“SPI Research is impressed with Agresso’s unique ability to provide tight integration of data, processes and delivery, enabling services-driven organizations to rapidly adjust to changes in the market as well as their business.”
R. David Hofferberth
P.E., Managing Director, SPI Research

Agresso’s VITA architecture was designed from the ground up with just as much focus on getting data out of as getting data into a data warehouse. Our development priorities were primarily concerned with how people would use the data. Of course all ERP systems offer user-focused features but only VITA offers a fundamentally user-focused architecture.

Every technical decision was made in the context of ultimate flexibility so users could continually change the system and change it back again without disruption or destabilizing their system.

We used a generic data model rather than a specific data model that would have been locked in and static. “Fail-safe” mechanisms were built-in to ensure that all changes track back to the same data model. It is the best of both worlds for rapidly changing organizations – functional agility and system integrity.

System-Wide Intelligence

Agresso’s VITA business process management software architecture combines the data, process and information delivery models into a single cohesive unit. A change made in any one of these areas automatically flows intelligently and makes associated changes and adjustments throughout the system. And that change does not need to be redone or re-checked for accuracy anywhere else.

Note: this approach is not the same as bolting separate applications together in an open framework – applications that were never designed to work together in the first place. It is much more fundamental and much more difficult to achieve if you haven’t built the entire framework that way in advance.

Embracing New Technology Advancements

“Agresso is much more competitive than its mid-market competitors because of its underlying architecture that combines data, business processes and reporting/analytics into one holistic unit. Agresso customers have greater transparency into their operations and more post-implementation agility on a real time basis.”
Al Pang
Research Director, Enterprise Applications, IDC

Technology trends come and go and Agresso’s VITA architecture acts as a platform upon which you can benefit from the latest technologies. VITA has successfully embraced numerous generations of recent technology advancements, including today’s highly marketed Web Services and Services-Oriented Architecture (SOA) capabilities. Crucially, VITA sits beneath the SOA technology layer, so that the power and capabilities of VITA are inherent and not dependent on SOA; Agresso is able to make use of SOA easily and in its correct capacity – as a technology enabler, rather than as a replacement for proper systems architecture.

Each successive new generation of technology, and those yet to come, is enriched atop Agresso’s VITA platform.

Agresso VITA Compared to Other Systems

Compare:	Agresso VITA	Other Systems
Product Evolution	Designed as a single cohesive system from the very beginning.Ongoing product advancements maintain a robust application and are based on the same foundation.	Typically evolved from acquisitions – bolting together disparate applications, often using SOA as “glue”. Product enhancements tend to add further complexity and result in a fragile application that is difficult to change or support.
Data Model	Single, unified model combines data, process, and information delivery. Meta-data is shared across entire application and changes in one area flow automatically to the others.	Data, process, and information delivery are independent. Meta-data is duplicated in each area and changes must be made in multiple places.
Reporting	Large number of out-of-the-box reports that automatically reflect all changes made in business logic.	Reliance on third party reporting tools that are bolted onto main application. Changes to the business logic require costly manual re-programming to update all reports.
Post-Implementation Modifications	Data model changes can be enacted by authorized operational users via graphical user interface (GUI) based tools. New fields can be added, parameters can be modified, application extensions can be created and external data sources can be integrated without extensive IT intervention.	Simple tweaks or modifications cannot be done by operational users and almost always require external IT resources or consultants.
Longevity	VITAhas a proven track record of adapting to changing technology trends.It does not fundamentally depend on any specific trend (e.g. SOA). Rather, it makes appropriate use of them where advantageous.	Other systems are continually changing platform focus and direction, resulting in lack of clarity around support and compatibility. Increasing skepticism due to heavy reliance on SOA to hold together a fragile collection of disparate acquired applications.