The purpose of this white paper is to discuss in brief the technology used for the zoSuite, the performance issues, how they are handled and the functional aspects of HR practices, which are covered in zoSuite.

INTRODUCTION

Ontrack has been working on gathering facts about features which are to be included in this suite of applications, which would make it flexible enough to handle any HR requirement, while being simple enough for even a layman to operate. The result of these endeavours is zoSuite.

TECHNOLOGY

zoSuite implements a three-tier architecture comprising of a presentation layer, a business layer and a persistent data layer.

The presentation layer uses ASP scripting with extensive use of JavaScript as a client-side scripting tool. The business layer is written using VC++ and VB COM+ components. A robust server on an RDBMS forms the persistence layer.

The back end operates on Oracle 8i and SQL 2000. The front end has been written with JScript specific to Internet Explorer 5.5 or above but all these features may not work on any other browser. The XML technology has been used extensively to cater to the increasing demands. DHTML has also been used freely. For database access, Microsoft ADO version 2.6/2.7 has been used for both ASP as well as the COM+ components.

FUNCTIONALITY

zoSuite comprises of the following applications, which form integral part of it:

	zoPay - Full featured payroll along with all payroll related statutory reporting
	zoCash - For reimbursements tracking and linking with payroll
	zoTax - Income tax module catering to Indian requirements
	zoFlex - For CTC auto breakup and flexi pay scenarios
	zoLoan - For complete tracking of all loans given to employees
	zoLeave - For complete leave accounting
	zoServ - For service book and post employment issues
	zoJobs - For pre-employment and recruitment related activities
	zoEval - For goal setting, KRA appraisals, manpower budget analysis, increments & decrements and other employee quality evaluation techniques
	zoOffice - For circulars, minutes, office orders, documents and other things related to collaborative work
	zoTime - Caters to attendance system and its linking with service book, leaves and payroll

RELEASE PLAN

The following applications are already released and are available within the current suite:

zoPay
zoCash
zoTax
zoFlex
zoLoan
zoLeave

The next major release (September 2002) will contain the fully functional version of the following applications:

zoServ
zoJobs
zoFlow

The subsequent major release (December 2002) is expected to contain the fully functional versions of the following:

	zoEval - For goal setting, KRA appraisals, manpower budget analysis, increments & decrements and other employee quality evaluation techniques
	zoOffice - For circulars, minutes, office orders, documents and other things related to collaborative work

zoTime is scheduled to be introduced by July 2003.

The release plan for open source environment will be mentioned in a separate white paper to be released shortly.

GENERAL FEATURES

	Light weight - Pure thin client using asp and html
	Cutting edge - Net enabled and browser based, supporting VPN
	Robust - VC++/VB Dlls running in the middle tier on COM+
	Secure - Data secured through the business logic
	Multi-tier - Business logic in middle tier, enabling easy upgrades for changes
	Bandwidth friendly - Client runs on 14.4 kbps dial up connections.
	User-friendly - Interfaces designed by professionals to deliver the maximum ease of use
	Maintenance free - Back end maintained through single script, no maintenance at client end because of thin client
	Flexible - User configurable with theoption to implement any level of organizational hierarchy in data
	Budget friendly - Low cost of installation per user
	Eco friendly - Helps in building a completely paperless green office
	Contingency secure - Full support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week available through email/phone. On-site visit within 48 hours within India.

FEATURES - SPECIAL MENTION

	Option to print reports in text mode and in graphics mode
	Option to preview reports before printing
	Client side direct printing even for text reports
	Compatible to SAP and Oracle Applications (11i)
	Easy import for almost any kind of data - helps in bridging with legacy systems

PERFORMANCE

The performance of the application is tuned in such a manner that any standard response would not take more than what the international standards are. For longer processes, which are fired as routine batch work, the invocation process is asynchronous and a regular update about the status and progress is available on the presentation layer.