MODEL CONVERTER SERVICE

This case study is all about conversion of Rich Models (rich with CAD / CAM data) to Transactional Models (light weight version of Rich model file). Our Belgium client was looking for a software development firm who can provide a solution wherein, conversion of Rich Models (heavy files) to its corresponding light weight version is done easily and at a faster pace keeping in mind that the light weight version to be created should contain the same behavior as that of the Rich Model file.

When Mindfire Solutions was approached for this project, they analyzed the client’s business and technical requirements before proposing a solution. Mindfire finally developed a new standard called Transactional Model. There were few challenges faced during the course of this project, but the team did well to produce a very robust multi-threaded windows service to convert Rich Model to Transactional Model. The current model has SQL Server 2005 as the database. But, as required by the client the model also has Oracle serving as the backend for users. The project also involved some SharePoint development work of creating a log-in page.

Client: Solution Provider to Heavy Industry

Location: Belgium

Industry: Heavy Industry

In heavy industries engineering users often create the model / blue print of the sites and they need software with rich functionality to process engineering data to prepare end user information. “Rich Model” is a standard developed by our client that provides engineering user a facile way to create, read, update and delete engineering data and present them efficaciously. The client was curious in having something in place that would, be of lighter weight and have the same behavior as that of the Rich Model, with a faster approach of converting the heavy weight file to its lighter version. The requirement for such a solution was required due to the problems stated below:

• As Rich model files are self-contained, they are heavy-weight in nature.
• All engineering data reside in local file system, hence sharing data among multiple users was tedious.
• Multiple users can’t work on same model at the same time.
• The client also had couple of other requirements. They required a log-in page to be created for users in SharePoint. Also, they needed Oracle as an alternate database for users to have a choice of database.

.Net Framework 2.0, C#, SQL Server 2005, Oracle, SharePoint 2007