PCA Smart Client Foundation System
The PCA Smart Client Foundation System (SCFS) is the product of many enhancements to the Microsoft SQL Server/.NET stack — capabilities that are generic to any distributed Internet database system. Implemented over 20+ year period of designing, developing (and supporting) custom database solutions to meet our Clients demanding and diverse industry needs, SCFS serves as the baseline for all custom Smart Client database solutions — to deliver robust, enterprise-scalable solutions at a significant cost-savings to our Clients.
 | STANDARD FORM LAYOUTS & CONSTRUCTS |
| Pre-built Browse Forms, Add/Edit Forms with Filters, Detail TabsStandard developer API to implement Save, Save & New, Save & Clone, other common create/edit functionsUser Interface best practices ensure consistency and ease-of-useSignificant engineering efficiencies (lower cost to develop) | |
 | INTELLIGENT COMMUNCATION PAYLOAD |
| Full, bi-directional binary encoding of the communication payloadLocal client-side binary data caching controls, stored in memory, and/or persisted to diskSignificantly reduced network traffic while improving application responsiveness, even over thin/slow network connectionsData compression (Google Protobuf) greatly reduces network load resulting in much faster application operation and response times, and geared toward the return of large data setsEncryption easily activated and piggy-backed onto existing secure communications layer using pre-existing certificates while leveraging the resources of the web server | |
 | MULTI-TENANT DATABASE SCHEMA |
| Single, distributed database architecture capable of supporting multiple, discrete organizational data setsOrganization data sets can be logically defined to support any type of enterprise boundary e.g. business units, office/plant locations, product lines, geographic or political regions, etc.Admin ability to associate/disassociate Users with select organizational data setsAdmin ability to control access to select organization data sets to facilitate “roll-up” reporting and data analysis functionsFirewall between organizational data sets — can be shown or hidden based on Users’ specific roles/privilegesCost effective — leverages single SQL database license and server investment to support enterprise-wide needsScalable — provides underlying data model separation necessary to support SaaS subscription offerings from a single database instance | |
 | FLEXIBLE ROLE-BASED SECURITY FRAMEWORK |
| Flexible Administrative controls to define/manage user roles and associated privileges at the application module, form, field and data levels, with the ability to create complex configurationsBusiness roles and associated privileges are 100% Admin controlled — no need for additional programming to accommodate changes as your organization evolvesRoles integrated with multi-tenant database schema — users can have different roles/privileges based on organizationTwo-tier structure: SuperAdmin ability to establish enterprise-wide privileges, and authorize Admins to define and manage independent organization-level business roles and privileges | |
 | ROBUST SECURITY |
| Full data payload obfuscation, unintelligible to packet sniffStrong 1-way MD5 message-digest algorithm 128-bit cryptographic hash function, for sign-in passwords and other non-recoverable data typesStrong 2-way MD5 with session-GUID key, for data types that need to be stored securely but recoverable (such as SSN#s)Fully compatible with standard secure communications (encryption/ authentication) using HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Sockets Layer)User Access Credentialing, with password reset via email or security question/responseAdmin-defined User ID / password strength and specification: min/max length, caps, lower-case, special characters, numbersAdmin-defined lock-out policy settings: X attempts and age expirationSingle-sign-on integration e.g. Active Directory, OpenAuth, LDAP | |
 | AUTOMATED MAINTENANCE |
| Automated version detection and streaming updates eliminate the need to manage application updates (latest version always available)ClickOnce Install operates efficiently across Internet/Intranet security boundaries and firewalls — no need for unusual I/T intervention, software/security policy modifications, or additional hardware changesPromotes clear role delegation between I/T and Developers — independent responsibilities, with little to no need to coordinate application updates/enhancements | |
 | LOCALIZATION / INTERNATIONALIZATION SUPPORT |
| Ability to localize the application interface on a per-form or application-wide basisAuthorized end-user ability to redefine labels and text on formsAdministrative edit control over system-wide error/warning and associated confirmation messagesLanguage preference uses translations to redefine text and messages for usersAbility for authorized users to set languages available, specific users’ language, and ability for users to change language | |
 | INTEGRATED PROJECT MANAGEMENT & SUPPORT TOOLS |
| ProjectCentral Ticket Management system fully-integrated with PCA development environment and testing toolsAbility for authorized users to enter new request tickets, with automated screen capture, document attachments, and associated request detailsAdmin ability to triage ticket requests e.g. visibility, status, priorityFull Audit Log of all ticket changesAutomated exception recovery handling and reporting — directly into the PM and engineering queues | |
 | BASIC AUDIT TRAIL |
| Integrated Session Monitor tracks End User statistics for every session, with filtering and search capabilitiesConnection speed/routing traceability, to ID user- or site-specific Internet connection issuesFoundation Audit Trail that can be extended to support HIPAA-compliant system requirements | |
 | W3C STANDARDS COMPATIBLE |
| Proprietary web service, fully compliant with W3C definitionWCF webservice supports HTTP/HTTPS/FTPUses standard W3C HTTP 1.1 (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)Standard XML 1.0 (Extensible Markup Language) supportStandard SOAP 1.2 (Simple Object Access Protocol)Fully compatible with standard secure communications (encryption/authentication) using HTTPS (Secure Sockets Layer)Compression with standard GZIP (GNU Zip, RFC 1952) or DEFLATE (ZLib, RFC 1950), fully compliant with HTTP 1.1 standard | |
 | HOSTING ENVIRONMENT INDEPENDENT |
| Single architecture can be deployed on-premises (self-hosted), with hosting provider (managed-hosted) or in cloud-based production environmentsOn Premises, Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, SoftLayer, RackSpace compatible) | |
 | SMART CLIENT API |
| Smart Client libraries combine multiple database calls into a single server call, reducing development time and network traffic with increased application responsivenessConcise programming paradigm ensures high quality code reuse among different developersSeamless pass-through calls onto the server, providing server-side code execution | |
Client Project Briefs