Web UI Strategy for Modern Progress OpenEdge Applications

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Application Evolution:

Web UI Strategy for Modern

Progress OpenEdge

Applications

Table of Contents

1. Summary / 3

2. The OpenEdge Platform / 4

3. Application Evolution Journey / 5

4. User Interfaces for Cloud Enterprise Applications / 6

5. OpenEdge Application UI Options for Cloud Applications / 6

Kendo UI Builder Migration / 7

Mobile applications / 8

Single-page and other browser-based applications / 8

Content management systems / 8

Chatbots / 9

IoT devices / 9

6. Progress Services Application Evolution Approach / 10

Summary

Over the course of almost 40 years, our mission at Progress has been the same: provide

the platform and tools that enable you to build the best strategic business applications.

Evolving an OpenEdge application is top of mind for many enterprise businesses.

Companies across the world are looking to modernize applications built many years ago,

back when the technology landscape was a single platform running on a single machine.

The ever-evolving technology landscape has introduced several technologies—elastic

cloud infrastructure, serverless, event driven architectures, responsive UI, mobile form

factors, and predictive analytics, to name a few—that must be considered when delivering

modern, competitive business applications today.

For Progress® OpenEdge®, we continue to introduce new capabilities and solutions for

modernizing the backend, including support for REST, microservices and enterprise

messaging. However, new user interface requirements demand a user experience that is

available anywhere, anytime and on any device. To help you to capitalize on the latest UI

technologies and UX paradigms and deliver a state-of-the-art user experience, we provide

market leading tools and frameworks, such as Progress Kendo UI® and Progress Telerik.

We also support community-driven, open-source solutions (not vendor specific) that are

widely adopted with a large pool of developer resources.

This paper will provide a review of the recommended OpenEdge architecture for

delivering modern applications with a primary focus on UI technologies to consider when

modernizing the application front-end.

The OpenEdge Platform

OpenEdge is a platform for development, deployment and execution of enterprise transactional-

based business applications. The power of the platform with its domain-specific Advanced

Business Language (ABL) minimizes the complexities of managing relational data and business

logic. Concepts such as database connections, transactions and multiple record error handling are

built-in to the runtime and make writing enterprise-level business applications using OpenEdge

simpler and more productive.

Today users expect access to information 24x7x365 making continuous availability one of the

primary themes for the OpenEdge 12 series. The OpenEdge RDBMS, the Progress Application

Server for OpenEdge (PAS for OpenEdge™) and the ABL Virtual Machine (AVM) are designed

to support the security, high-availability, continuous operations and scalability necessary for

enterprise business applications. OpenEdge supports the latest web application architecture

paradigms and UI technologies by providing access to business applications using standard

protocols like REST, JSON and HTTPS easily and without changes to the core business application.

This image shown below provides a detailed view of a modern enterprise application architecture

with load-balanced PAS for OpenEdge application servers, OpenEdge RDBMS with Replication and

enterprise authentication. It demonstrates various UI options where the UI clients communicate

with OpenEdge through HTTP requests.

UI Connectivity

Options

https://hostport/

webapp/transport/

Service/Resource

InternalPerimeter

OpenEdge

Client

OpenEdge Business Application

PAS for OE

Load

Balancer

WEB

REST

SOAP

APSV

OE Auth

Gateway

Cloud-Hosted

DMZ

External

Systems

External

Identity

Provider

OEDB

Replica

OEDB

Audit

Processing QueueREST API

Admin

Access

Web

Hybrid Apps

Native Apps

B2B Apps

HTTP Request

Sitefinity

Kendo UI

or 3

party

Progress JSDO

External

Framework

API

Gateway/

Router

Authorization

Layer

SSO/Direct

Application Evolution Journey

Application Evolution is a continuous journey through six application focus areas:

Architecture, Cloud, DevOps, Security, Data Integration and Management, and User

Interface/User Experience. Modern enterprise applications are a combination of new

architecture patterns, UX changes such as web, mobile and IoT devices, AI/ML workloads,

batch processing, microservices and more.

A modernized web application architecture sets the foundation to update your

application’s UX, since most modern UI technologies require a well-architected set of

business logic, APIs and data. As discussed in the article “Top 10 Requirements for

a Modern UI System” from On Point Technology LLC, the key considerations for a

modern UI revolve first around the architecture of the application. These are the top 10

considerations you need to account for to assure your modernization is truly modern:

• Microservice Architecture

• A Viable, Sustainable Fiscal Model

• Configuration, Not Code

• Rules-Driven Business Processes

• Extensibility

• Reporting

• Enterprise Service Bus

• Integrated Change & Version Control

• Data Migration

• Legacy Integration

Progress products support modernization of both the behavior, integration and UX

including:

• Progress Application Server for OpenEdge: REST, Web, SOAP (Microservice

Architecture)

• Docker Containerization for PAS for OE (Configuration, Not Code)

• OpenEdge Pro2™ (Data Migration)

• DataDirect® Hybrid Data Pipeline (Data Access)

• Progress Corticon® (Rules-Driven Business Processes)

• Progress Sitefinity® and Sitefinity Insight (UX and DX)

• Progress MOVEit® (Secure File Transfer)

• JavaScript Data Object: JSDO (Legacy Integration)

User Interfaces for Cloud Enterprise

Applications

An enterprise application is different than a commercial one. Commercial users have

choices—if the application doesn’t work (or if it works poorly), they can simply uninstall it

and use a different one.

On the other hand, enterprise users are often required to use specific applications. These

applications are critical to their daily work, and they can’t just switch to another if they

don’t like how it’s working. They need to use the application to do their job.

For enterprise applications, user needs must be considered. These applications must be

state of the art so they can compete in today’s market.

As described in the article “Designing a powerful UX for enterprise applications — a UX

case study” by Atishay Goyal, the UX principles for enterprise applications are:

• Simple

• Intuitive

• Consistent

• User control and freedom

• Visibility of system status

• Error prevention and cure

In summary, any modernization of a user interface needs to meet the demands and

expectations of the enterprise user and their work environment.

OpenEdge Application UI Options for

Cloud Applications

With the fast-paced, ever-changing nature of UI, properly defined backend services and

data in an OpenEdge application keep these services future-proof and available to new UI

components. Today’s web UI technologies include:

• Mobile applications

• Single-page and other browser-based applications

• Content management systems

• Chatbots

• IoT Devices

Kendo UI Builder Migration

With the end of life status of OpenEdge Kendo UI Builder (KUIB), customers are faced with

a question of the best direction forward.

With its perpetual license, you can continue to use Kendo UI Builder with the

understanding that there is no future product support. If it has worked for your application,

you can continue to use the product. KUIB was designed with customization and

extensibility in mind, so if the specific functionality you need is missing, you might be able

to add it yourself—for example, new or custom UI controls.

The generated code from the Kendo UI Builder is a fully functional Angular or AngularJS

web application that follows Angular best practices and core concepts to bring UI richness

and structure to the web application. The generated code uses Angular’s prescriptive

model of separating code blocks into individual modules.

At any time, it is possible to generate a final version of your code from Kendo UI Builder

and move your future development outside of the tool. This takes advantage of all the

generated code which avoids a costly rewrite. Experienced Angular developers should be

able to get familiar with the code and extend it by hand in JavaScript or TypeScript.

Every modernization project is unique based on the existing business strategy, application

development architecture, integration requirements and more. Let Progress help you

determine your best path forward.

Talk to an Expert

Mobile applications

Most mobile apps are small, auxiliary apps to a larger business enterprise application due

to the limited screen real estate on a device. Mobile apps can be native, hybrid or browser-

based and work seamlessly with well-architected OpenEdge services.

Our recommendation is Kinvey which helps to minimize lengthy modernization projects.

It starts with a patented serverless architecture engineered to work with existing on-

premises enterprise assets, without requiring any changes.

Single-page and other browser-based

applications

HTML5, CSS and JavaScript are the core technologies for delivering rich web applications.

They are supported by major browsers and fully integrated with web programming.

Enterprise applications require rich web apps or single page apps that share many

characteristics of desktop graphical user interfaces and often include the user interactive

features such as drag and drop, background menu, WYSIWYG editing, etc. These modern

web applications integrate well with OpenEdge business logic services either with the

JSDO or HTTP requests.

Our recommendation is to use Kendo UI, which is the ultimate collection of JavaScript

UI components that integrate with jQuery, Angular, React and Vue. Kendo UI facilitates

building eye-catching, high-performance, responsive web applications—regardless of your

JavaScript framework choice.

Content Management Systems

Content Management Systems (CMS) have gained popularity as an integral component

of an enterprise business solution. A CMS allows changes to your content without any

programming knowledge. Strategic business initiatives can benefit from the integration

and sharing of information from the business application to other mission-critical

applications, such as CRMs, SCMs and ecommerce. Plus, a CMS delivers enterprise-grade

security and personalized page views to various internal and external audiences.

In today’s world of multiple screens and devices, a CMS can help you maintain lots of

different types of content. From the products your company sells, to the sell sheets your

distributors use to make a buying decision, or even feeding data into mobile apps. This

can be done by using a headless environment as a central hub for multichannel content

distribution. Ideally, this enables you to deliver a seamless, personalized digital experience

to your users that is further refined through ML-based analytics.

Our recommendation for a CMS is Sitefinity, which is the core of the Progress DXP

portfolio. Sitefinity instantly delivers high-touch, personalized experiences with rich,

relevant content through the user’s preferred digital channel. With Sitefinity, you can also

manage these experiences on-premises or in the cloud.

Chatbots

Chatbots are UX components that provide automated, 24/7 self-service solutions to handle

customer support issues such as frequently asked questions and basic transactions.

Chatbots are typically found on websites, social media channels and mobile apps with

the goal of using software to simulate a human conversation. By supporting repetitive

customer inquiries with a chatbot, support organizations can significantly increase their

efficiency by greatly reducing the volume of calls their staff needs to field.

AI/cognitive chatbots are quickly transforming customer interactions. Unlike traditional

chatbots, these modern implementations are much more transactional and can be trained

like people, utilizing a set of goals, examples, and data from existing systems.

Our recommendation is to use NativeChat, an AI-powered chatbot that automates tasks

and information retrieval.

IoT devices

Through the use of IoT devices, you can obtain valuable data that can be used to populate

the user interface of a business application. IoT devices are used in manufacturing, supply

chains, agriculture, healthcare and many other industries. They provide real-time data

and analytics, enabling companies to have greater insight into their business operations

and how their customers use their products or services. IoT devices utilize networking

standards and technologies to communicate with OpenEdge backend services and data.

About Progress

Progress (NASDAQ: PRGS) provides the leading products to develop, deploy and manage high-impact business

applications. Our comprehensive product stack is designed to make technology teams more productive and enable

organizations to accelerate the creation and delivery of strategic business applications, automate the process by which

apps are configured, deployed and scaled, and make critical data and content more accessible and secure—leading to

competitive differentiation and business success. Learn about Progress at www.progress.com or +1-800-477-6473.

/progresssw

/progress-software

Learn More — Application Evolution Approach eBook

Progress Services Application

Evolution Approach

The Progress Services team can help you modernize your OpenEdge application

regardless of your technology choice or architecture, deployment goals and business

challenges. Progress Services works with you to create a unique roadmap based on the

current state of your legacy application as well as your vision for the future. We will work

with you to determine what architecture and technology best suits your company, creating

a project blueprint that’s developed in three phases:

• Assessment

Review and analyze the current state of your platform as well as the skills of your staff

to determine the best way to move forward.

• Prototype

Develop a pilot project in which your future user interface/user experience is

identified, and your workflow and application standards are defined.

• AppEvo Project

Identify the modernization path based on the pilot project and your business goals.

Our methodology and technology framework has been honed by years of experience

evolving legacy OpenEdge applications so you can move forward with confidence.

The Progress approach delivers key benefits that include:

• Minimizing UX/UI work and furnishing responsive design

• Leveraging your existing codebase investment

• Supporting both procedural and object-oriented coding

• Offering fast ramp-up using experienced OpenEdge developers

• Crafting easy to develop and debug solutions