Visual World is an easy-to-build, drag-and-drop virtual workspace filled with Visual World Business Objects you arrange to create your ideal enterprise where staff, management, customers and trading partners can work together. You construct the world to match your idea of how your business should operate.

Your company's staff can navigate through the world, access authorized areas where they can interact with the business objects and do their job. Some of the Place Objects are listed below:

Staff can work from anywhere and "virtually" go to work by entering the building and navigating to their desk.

Click on a Building and you would see something like this:

Departments are used to organize work groups. Work groups might include accounting, shipping, manufacturing etc.

Click on a Department and you would see something like this:

Desks are used to organize individual work areas. Employees are assigned virtual Desks equipped with Trays, Calendars, Keys and Cards needed to perform their tasks.

Click on a Desk and you would see something like this:

Active, Real-time World

All of the objects you see are "active" and are constantly responding to changes in their "state". You can interact with the objects and if authorized, you can use the Back Pack tool to pick objects and relocate them in the world to make the office environment exactly match the way you want your business to operate.

Web 2.0

The Visual World Platform uses the latest web technology. This technology approach is now being referred to as Web 2.0 which includes new ways of using the web to create desktop business applications that are far superior to the applications of just 18 months ago.

Key to this technology approach is the latest use of Java and XML with server side processing known collectively as AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XMLHTTP).

AJAX

This technology allows for web pages to be updated from the server without refreshing the entire page. Using this technology, we’ve made Visual World work over the internet with all of the high speed performance and user interaction required by mission critical business systems. Using just a standard browser as a client, you can operate the Visual World back office system from anywhere in the world at the same speed and richness of a Windows™ client application. This means you can take full advantage of the Visual World enterprise system with staff working from home, other cities and other countries in the world. If you are a multi-location company, you can now have one “virtual enterprise” for all of your staff. For example, a sales order can move from the sales order desk in Dallas to the credit manager’s desk for approval in Detroit, then to the closest warehouse for shipping, all within seconds. As a manager, you can see this entire process in-motion and in real time from anywhere in the world.

You can operate Visual World on you own in-house servers while remaining connected to the internet for additional resources. Your staff can use the back office functions through a local Windows™ GUI or access the system via the Internet or Intranet via AJAX technology. Your customers, vendors and other portal users can access “their view of the world” using a standard browser.

XML Repository and Object State Machine

At the core of Visual World is an XML Object Repository and Object State Machine. The State Machine is a connection engine that automatically keeps track of information and its movement through a process. The repository stages legacy data and stores Business Objects that correspond to elements of the business including information, staff, and processes - along with their locations in the enterprise. The Object State Machine places these objects “in motion” creating a real-time, “live” system that continuously updates and changes itself as new data is staged or objects are updated directly.

GUI interface

The back office staff can use a standard Windows GUI that support all expected Windows functions. The GUI is connected to the Visual World engine via TCP/IP messaging allowing for zero-client configuration. This means a standard Windows network is all that is needed to run Visual World in a local environment. No special client software. No special configurations. Simply click on a shortcut and the system downloads to the client memory automatically for the duration of the session. And because there are no files downloaded or registry updates, when the session is completed Visual World is gone from the client machine.

Portal, RSS and Service Oriented Architecture

Visual World creates meta-data objects of business relationships with customers and vendors allowing these objects to be “skinned” and displayed on secure web portal or through secure RSS feeds for access by authorized users. Additionally, server-to-server communications may be established through web service functions allowing for direct machine-to-machine transaction processing. You can tightly integrate customer and vendor systems into your business processes. They can access your system securely and automatically to get updates on any part of the business process you authorize them to access.

Composite Applications and Enterprise Workplace

This advanced business environment provides a single, intuitive user experience through stand-alone and composite applications. Information is presented in context with the goals of management, staff, customers and business partners.

Aha!

When viewing Visual World in action, people experience the “Aha” effect when seeing a business operating "live" and in-motion... almost like a shared, online simulator... but it's not simulated, it's real.