A colleague of mine asked me to provide some information to a potential client he was working with. Long and short he sent me an email that said
Send me a couple of lines on what platform our system is built on
This seemed like something that should stand-out in our literature so I decide to convert my response into a post for the site.
Our platform is built on a multi-tier architecture using a number of Microsoft products.
Multi-tiered scalable design
Our presentation layer uses Silverlight 5 in the browser to provide a user experience that is far more functional and intuitive than any product in the space. We often take a bit of time to emphasize our choice as we feel it delivers a far more functional business experience for the end user. This translates to more efficient operations; easier training of new personnel and an end user experience that allows focus on business not screen navigation frustration.
DRI Office is launched from an application tier via a standard web browser. The application server is powered by IIS 7. To facilitate workflow and enforce rules the application server hosts a business object layer. The application server then connects to Microsoft Sql Server 2008 R2 for data persistence. Reporting services incorporated with Sql Server 2008 R2 provides report and form generation, scheduling, report building and many other features in an inclusive Enterprise class tool.
Workflow/Rule enforcement
To connect external vendors to the default platform, or to connect other systems used by our clients into the platform, we have a business to business communication layer in our Service Ordering Platform powered by Microsoft WCF. SOP enables electronic communication from DRI Office to other systems. Orders can be placed to external vendors for services such as Title, Credit, Appraisals, BPOs, AVMs, and other products in the default space. SOP also enables communications with external platforms such as our DRI Attorney portal for Attorney’s working with a DRI Office banking client or our DRI Broker portal. Workflow and Rules for all modules in DRI Office are also enforced through the Service Ordering platform. This enables us to limit duplication of orders, cancel pending orders that are no longer necessary, require additional service calls based on data returned from an initial service call as just a few examples.
Our development environment is C# based. We have developed a proprietary business object layer and application designer that enforces workflow and rules across the platform. This is especially important for appropriately licensed clients who have access to development tools that modify workflow and rules. The visual designer is similar to a Visio flowchart and allows access to over 3500 business data points in the system for use with workflow and rule customization. Reporting can also be customized for these clients allowing access to those data points or to other data sources external to DRI Office allowing a robust ecosystem for deployment of default information.
DRI Office offers this architecture in a cloud based offering, managed hosting in a dedicated server environment for all scales, or in an on premise model.
