Customizing of Umberto

With its broad spectrum of functions, Umberto already serves most of the requirements of corporate material flow management. Additional components of the program package, such as the Valuation System Editor for the creation of individual assessment systems or the functionality for material flow based cost accounting support typical tasks of environmental management.

Umberto, however, can be adapted to special work requirements and use contexts. This customizing of the software tool allows to better respond to the individual needs of the user and to provide adapted branch solutions.

Through customizing of the material flow manage­ment software it is possible, for example, to:

• implement specific additional functions in Umberto (new entry dialogs, results display, adapted import routines, ...)
• simplify complex modelling tasks (e.g. automated build-up of network diagrams, use process specifications from external sources, consistency checks, ...)
• couple third-party applications to Umberto (e.g. Office applications, simulation software, operations research tools) and work with the results delivered by them.
• realise an automatic take-over of data from other corporate IT systems (e.g. SAP R/3, databases, spreadsheets, ...).
• provide results of the material flow analysis or environmental management to every workplace
• automatically create custom print reports required based on the latest calculation results.
• apply skins in the design of the company's corporate identity.

For the adaptation of Umberto we rely mainly on Microsoft's COM/DCOM technologies as well as on ActiveX. When customizing the software the script languages VB Script, Java Script, Perl Script and Python can be used. Scripts allow to implement a variety of functions in Umberto, without modifying the main source code of the application itself. The new functions and extensions can be embedded into the existing Umberto menu structure.

By using Microsoft technologies it is, for example, possible to achieve a seamless integration of Umberto into the Microsoft Office environment. This allows a large number of staff in the company to gain access to the results of material and energy flow analyses or to relevant assessment results without actually working with Umberto themselves! An integration of material and energy flow management into corporate work tasks can be achieved, and staff members – indispensable for collection of data at their workplace – can directly get feedback and access to the results (e.g. performance indicators).

The adaptation and extension of Umberto by scripts can be done by advanced users with good knowledge in script programming. To better achieve their objectives, these users can obtain the Developer Support package. It includes documen­tation, sample code and additional tools for the programmer. Furthermore, specific questions regarding the COM interfaces will be handled competently and quickly by ifu's Developer Support Team directly.

Of course, ifu as the developer of Umberto also offers customizing of their software tool as a tailored service to their clients. No matter, if you require a special functionality to be added to your version of Umberto, if embedding of the software into the existing IT infrastructure and automated take-over of data on custom interfaces is required, or, if you look for a special branch solution of Umberto: Talk to us – we can deliver YOUR customized Umberto!

With Umberto 6 we are porting our application completely to .NET. In conjunction with the EMPINIA Framework developed by ifu Hamburg GmbH, we will be able to provide you with bespoke versions, and additional functionality tailored for your needs.

For more information contact us at info@ifu.com.