Production workflow specialist Staffware Plc, on the back of its recently released Staffware 97 system (CI No 3,127), has just delivered accompanying Web client software, which it says will enable cheaper and easier remote access to the workflow process via the Internet or intranets. Staffware Global has foresaken the client-server model which the firm says is expensive and has inhibited the workflow process in the past forcing users to be desk-bound, and is using the Web browser as the means of access to the system. This means telecommuters and remote field workers can enter into the process from virtually anywhere, thus eliminating geography and time as considerations. An additional benefit, according to the company, is that no special remote access software is required, as would be the case with client- server architecture. Staffware believes its Web client, available now in beta version, is at least 12 months ahead of the competition, with the nearest rival being the Java component in Xsoft Inc’s InConcert package which it reckons won’t be available until early 1998. Global is currently running on beta sites at Barclays Bank plc, Alcatel SA, Sparbanken Sverige, and Cigna Health Care and Brigham Young University in the US. It is up on Unix, Windows and OS/2 servers and NT, OS/2, Mac clients and also works with character-based terminals.
