L'UnicaVia®
About CTL Computertechnik Lang
CTL is an IT-Solution Provider and computer manufacturer located in the Swabian Alb area of Germany. It was founded in 1983 and is moving forward into the future led by the founder's son, Joachim Lang. They are responsible for all things regarding computers and informatics in their small town. Their customers range from personal consumers to large companies with over 1000 employees. CTL has over 50 employees including 8 developers that have been using DevExpress for the past 10 years.
Project Name: L'UnicaVia®
L'UnicaVia® is Italian for "The only way". It's the name of the third ERP-System developed by CTL. The first two were written in Turbo Pascal. First for CP/M and then for DOS. Upon writing their third system, they realized it was best to have ownership of the source code. They've spent thousands of developing days on this third ERP-System and continue to work on developing new functionality.
One of the main features is a function called "Paralistik®". It's designed to combine with every item number. And it describes deeper properties of items like serial number, charge number, date code, color, size, materials, parts lists in an endless nesting depth, and any possible combination of these parameters. "Paralistik®" was created from the words "Parameter" and "Logistik" (how logistics are called in German).
Another feature is the seamless integration of the document archiving system "docuVita". Every document created in L'UnicaVia is archived in docuVita at the same moment. The functionality of L'UnicaVia starts with an offer and ends with reminders for payment. This means that all business performance indicators are available inside the ERP without being dependent on the financial accounting system. This gives more freedom for owners of small companies that often don't have a financial accountant or tax advisor.
Describe the situation that led to DevExpress
Meet Michael Lang, the founder, and Rina Saremba, a senior developer and leader of software development.
Michael Lang investigated the market of tools and components for Visual Studio and C#. After some courses at locations in Europe with the DevExpress trainers, he was sure that DevExpress would do the job.
How did they choose DevExpress Components?
They first started with our WinForms components but switched to XAF shortly thereafter.
Fortunately DevExpress offered a course for XAF at the time, and the incomparable Oliver Sturm gave the impetus to turn our efforts on XAF. This was the best decision ever and today we use XAF wherever possible.
What benefits do the DevExpress tools provide?
Michael Lang says: "DevExpress offers the best support I ever had in the last 40 years. Where we have to wait for answers (if we get answers at all) for weeks, the answer, that works, comes from the supporters of DevExpress in hours, maybe one day. Our team won't never miss this benefit. Even apprentices use DevExpress XAF. One of our developer apprentices got the award for the best thesis of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2018. Within days Denise developed an application for trading children's used clothing and toys on a bazaar organized by mamas."
How has DevExpress saved time?
After understanding the MVC developing method of DevExpress XAF, we learned to use it and experienced, that almost anything is easier to do with it, but it is really different from all other usual methods. We love it.
Michael Lang, CTL Computertechnik Lang
https://www.ctl.de
