Pivotal crm architecture
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Pivotal CRM's web platform is architected for optimal performance over local and wide area networks. Its flexible architecture addresses factors that impact CRM performance and scalability, such as minimizing server round trips, caching frequently used data and metadata, load balancing application servers, and leveraging local workstation resources. Ultimately, Pivotal CRM aims to improve user productivity by streamlining navigation, enabling one-click access to common tasks, and personalizing the interface for each user's role and needs.
Pivotal crm architecture
- 1. W H I T E P A P E R Pivotal CRM Architecture Built for Enterprise Performance and Scalability Executive Summary Performance and scalability are important considerations in any CRM selection and implementation process. Pivotal CRM’s web platform is architected from the ground up for optimal performance over local and wide area networks. This white paper examines the factors that impact CRM performance and scalability and looks at how Pivotal CRM’s flexible architecture addresses these issues.
- 2. Introduction Application Speed Performance and scalability are important considerations The first key performance measurement factor is the speed in any CRM selection and implementation process. These at which an application can retrieve data and access issues can be quite complex, and a proper investigation of functionality over a local or wide area network. The following performance and scalability should extend beyond simple Pivotal CRM design attributes address this challenge. questions regarding how long it takes to open a form or what kind of hardware is required for a given number of users. Minimization of Server Round Trips Description: Pivotal CRM is based on a three-tier Pivotal CRM’s web platform is architected from the ground architecture that offers clear separation of its foundation up for optimal performance (database layer) from the middle tier (application server) over local and wide area and the presentation tier (user access tier). Pivotal CRM Pivotal CRM’s web platform networks (LANs and WANs). can enforce business logic, data integrity, rules, and is architected from the This white paper examines workflow both at the middle tier and at the presentation tier. ground up for optimal the factors that impact CRM performance and scalability performance over local and Benefits: The ability to delegate enforcement of some of and looks at how Pivotal CRM’s wide area networks the business logic and workflow to the presentation tier flexible architecture addresses allows for some client-side processing, offloading certain these issues. tasks from the Pivotal application server. This benefits the user by minimizing server round-trips, which results Key Application Performance Factors in a faster, more responsive application for the end user. Application performance is typically—and most For example, validating certain tasks or enforcing some practically—determined by measuring how quickly a rules on the client device—before a request is sent to user can complete an end-to-end business task. This the middle tier—can avoid extra round trips between the measurement depends on two factors: application server tier and the presentation tier, thereby improving performance. 1. Application Speed: How quickly the user can retrieve data and access functionality over a local or Middle-Tier Caching wide area network (for example, how long it takes Description: The Pivotal Business Server, upon start, to open a form) reads and caches the metadata definition and all 2. Business Productivity: How quickly the user can components in the middle tier. complete a business task once they are in the Benefits: As more users use the CRM system, the application and the information has been retrieved. metadata, procedures, and execution methods get Factors that affect application speed include bandwidth, cached in the middle tier and the system becomes latency, server round trips, hardware, compression, and more responsive. performance optimization. Factors that affect business Deployment of the Pivotal Application Server in productivity are screen design, navigation design in Server Farms relation to the business context, number of clicks required to complete the task, ability to multi-task, availability and Description: The Pivotal Business Server can be load- presentation of information, number of applications the balanced across multiple servers in a farm. user has to access to complete the task, and so on. Benefits: If a Pivotal Business Server is busy processing a request or is unavailable, the request is automatically Pivotal CRM: Designed for Performance routed to the next available server in the farm. By load and Scalability balancing the Pivotal Business Server across multiple A high-performing enterprise application must adhere servers, Pivotal CRM is able to support thousands of to all aspects of the performance measurement factors concurrent users, as well as provide failover redundancy. described above. Pivotal CRM’s architecture was Upon the first version release of the Pivotal CRM web designed to take into account the various factors that architecture, CDC Software and Microsoft jointly put ultimately lead to performance and scalability. The the Pivotal CRM system under a massive stress and sections that follow outline the best practices in design scalability test, pushing the application to 20,000 and architecture that have gone into Pivotal CRM to concurrent users. The results were response times of under produce a world-class enterprise application with one second. In subsequent releases, many additional unmatched performance and scalability. performance enhancements have been made to Pivotal CRM, further improving its performance and scalability. Pivotal CRM | White Paper 1
- 3. Satellite Servers in an N-tier Deployment peripherals, etc.) to do work at the local level—on the Description: Pivotal CRM’s HTTP synchronization user’s computer. technology enables deployment of satellite servers for Benefits: The power of workstation and notebook Pivotal CRM across departments or geographies. This hardware has increased in recent years. Because “n-tier” deployment allows bi-directional synchronization Smart Client applications take advantage of these of both enterprise data and metadata (customizations) local resources, users typically experience greater between master and satellite servers at set intervals of as responsiveness and performance from a Smart Client low as one second. application such as Pivotal CRM. In contrast, thin clients generally do not access local resources, and if they do, it is Benefits: Deployment of Pivotal CRM satellite servers through an extra layer, such as a COM layer, which requires allows for a hybrid of centralized and distributed information to be passed back and forth to the central server. architecture, where remote locations can access a Pivotal CRM satellite server As a Smart Client application, not only can Pivotal locally over a LAN instead CRM take advantage of the local CPU, but it also has The Pivotal Smart Client can of going across the WAN. the advantage of permitting multi-threading, which provide a single coherent This deployment overcomes dramatically increases performance by allowing interface not only to data infrastructural limitations different tasks to occur simultaneously. and functionality within the between offices and/or in remote offices with poor Indexing and Full-Text Search Pivotal application, but also connections to the master to third-party applications or servers. In addition, it can Description: Pivotal CRM supports full-text searching and web pages provide redundancy: if one indexing directly in the Pivotal Toolkit. server fails, the rest will Benefits: This improves performance by enabling faster continue to operate, queuing data access, searches, and querying. changes until the failed server is repaired or backed up. There are no limits to the number of satellite servers you Business Productivity can deploy. The section that follows discusses how Pivotal CRM Pivotal CRM’s Stateless Web Application addresses factors that affect the second performance measurement criteria: productivity, that is, how long it Description: The Pivotal CRM client is a stateless web takes to complete an end-to-end business task. application: it only uses network resources when a request is made. Navigation Structure Benefits: This architecture eliminates wasted hardware Description: Unlike most enterprise applications, Pivotal resources, since the hardware/network resources are only CRM’s navigation is modeled around the business used when a request is made, which frees up resources structure, rather than the database model. The navigation to process other requests faster. In addition, it reduces is based on a three-level structure that is not limited by your hardware costs since hardware sizing is done based the data model, which means that it is highly adaptable on the number of actual concurrent users, not the total to different company requirements. It is designed to number of users. segment and provide access to data and functionality in a manner that best represents specific end users’ roles Client-Side Caching within the company. Description: As users navigate through the Pivotal CRM Benefits: This navigation structure enables users to system, forms are cached on their computers. navigate the system more easily, with far fewer clicks to access data. Users are provided with important Benefits: After forms are cached, only net data changes information and functionality through context-driven Task are sent back and forth between the tiers, which reduces Pads and portals that provide real-time reports, KPIs, unnecessary activity and improves performance. In alerts, queries, and so on. In other words, as a user addition, Pivotal CRM forms only need to be loaded once; navigates through the system, the portals and Task Pad they do not require the screen to be refreshed as users contents change to reflect the most commonly needed tab through the different components of the forms. tasks and data for this contextual area of the application. Ability to Leverage Local Workstation Resources In addition, Pivotal CRM is built for multi-tasking in a non-linear fashion. Users can easily interact with multiple Description: As a Smart Client application, Pivotal CRM forms at the same time, peel forms off and save them can take advantage of local resources (CPU, hard disk, for later use, create shortcuts to their most frequently Pivotal CRM | White Paper 2
- 4. used functions or records, easily access their navigation within the same form. In addition, Pivotal CRM has the history, etc., all of which greatly enhances productivity and ability to divide the search results of a query or secondary reduces the time required to complete a business task. table data into pages to ensure that the database server is not overloaded. Furthermore, the Pivotal Smart Client can provide a single coherent interface not only to data and functionality within The Pivotal CRM Task Pad feature increases efficiency the Pivotal application, but also to third-party applications by allowing users to complete their business tasks in far or web pages. This provides a one-stop resource through fewer clicks—common activities are a single click away. In which end users can complete an end-to-end business addition, every button and every form that is provided to task that requires access to more than one application. It the end user is specifically designed for that user and his therefore increases productivity by reducing the need to or her role within the organization. switch back and forth between multiple applications and to enter redundant data. Multiple Views and Access Types Configuration of Smart Client Forms Description: The Pivotal Toolkit enables administrators to control security and authorization access for all Description: Smart Client forms in Pivotal CRM provide Pivotal CRM end users. Security rights can be set up a customized view of CRM data to end users. Each for individual users, groups, or access types (WAN, form provides 1) the end-user view (form); 2) links to the mobile, handheld, etc). In addition, Pivotal CRM’s security underlying data structure; and 3) logic, workflow, and features allow multiple views of each object. For example, customized functionality. the contact table may be associated with 10 different contact forms, each assigned to different security groups, In addition, the Pivotal CRM Task Pad provides a set of allowing users to see only the information for which they shortcuts that offer one-click launch of commonly used have security clearance and in the format that makes the activities associated with most sense for their role. This means that within the same the type of record the user Pivotal CRM system, some users can have a completely Pivotal CRM’s security filters has on screen. This Task different look, feel, and workflow/business processes than improve performance by Pad can be personalized other users of the same system. limiting the data accessed and sorted into custom categories, and its contents Benefits: Combined with the benefits of the Visual Studio based on individual needs Form Designer, Pivotal CRM can further personalize user change dynamically as the user navigates the access based on individual needs and/or access types. application to display information and tasks that fit the For example, if a group of users is accessing the system area of the application and page type the user is viewing. from a remote location where WAN bandwidth is poor, and another group of users is accessing the system through Benefits: The Pivotal Toolkit embeds Microsoft Visual wireless devices, Pivotal CRM can ensure that each of Studio form designer, which allows each form to be fully these user groups is set up for optimal performance under configured based on the specific needs of each user. their unique access conditions. In addition, Pivotal CRM’s The Pivotal CRM form designer can also be used to security filters improve performance by limiting the data configure each form to ensure optimal performance in accessed based on individual needs, reducing the amount low-bandwidth environments. This can include full control of data that is retrieved to that which is user-appropriate over the number of fields on each page/tab, number of and thus accelerating response times. records pulled from secondary tables, paging, layout of each form, and so on. In addition, certain user interface History, Shortcuts, and Portals behavior can be set using the Pivotal CRM and Visual Description: Pivotal CRM maintains a history of users’ Studio form and field properties to prevent round trips to activities. This includes both the last few items accessed, the application server. as well as a history of the last records loaded. These can Pivotal CRM’s Smart Client architecture allows you to be organized in a number of different ways (e.g., by date present data in a manner that makes sense for your or type), according to what makes the most sense for the business and takes best advantage of the screen real end user. estate. The screens are designed to make it easier for Pivotal CRM also enables end users to create personal users to retrieve information and make decisions quickly. shortcuts to records and areas within the system and Pivotal CRM loads the appropriate net data when it loads similarly organize them in a manner that makes sense a form, which means users don’t have to wait to retrieve to them for fast retrieval of records in the future. For data each time they navigate from one tab to another tab Pivotal CRM | White Paper 3
- 5. example, users can create shortcuts to their top contacts, potential network and/or system issues, so they are able reports, and forms. to isolate and address each issue accordingly. Pivotal CRM also offers personalized portals, which give quick one-stop access to features and data that each user Conclusion requires to do their job effectively, all in a single page. As this paper suggests, scalability and performance considerations go much deeper than a simple question Benefits: All of the features above reduce the number of how many users an application can handle. There are of clicks and amount of typing end users have to do to many factors that combine to impact performance and access their most commonly used items. In addition, scalability for any size of CRM deployment. Ultimately, these feature reduce the user productivity is the true performance concern. load on the database server, Each task the user performs in the system—whether Ultimately, user productivity is since users don’t have to viewing a record, retrieving search results, processing the true performance concern go through extra steps and a lead, running a pipeline report, or converting a quote queries to retrieve the info to an order and submitting it to the back-end ERP they most commonly use. system—must be as fast, efficient, and easy to perform Pivotal Diagnostics as possible. Each second wasted performing any of these tasks (or the multitude of other daily activities users Description: Pivotal Diagnostics is a web-based utility perform in the CRM system) can quickly add up and that provides system administrators with a detailed result in a loss of efficiency and productivity. breakdown and performance measurement of the Pivotal CRM system. For this reason, Pivotal CRM has been carefully architected to take all these factors into consideration, Benefits: This tool shows a detailed and graphical break- leveraging best practices in design, technology, and down of each transition point at each layer of the three architecture in all of the ways described above to create tier architecture, from the time a user makes a request at a world-class enterprise application with unmatched the presentation tier to the time that the request is fulfilled. performance and scalability. Administrators can use this tool to get greater insight into Experience CRM That’s Built for You To learn more about how Pivotal CRM can meet your organization’s unique needs, call us at +1-877-PIVOTAL or visit us at www.PivotalCRM.com. Copyright © CDC Software 2009. All rights reserved. The CDC Software logo and Pivotal CRM logo are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of CDC Software.