Oracle WebCenter Content Management gets a new user interface - CARA

Oracle WebCenter Content just got a great companion product – CARA from Generis, an Oracle Gold Partner. CARA is a web-based interface on top of WebCenter Content and it provides both a high-performance / high functionality end-user experience, as well as a full suite of configuration tools that allow you to build a business use case for Oracle WebCenter without coding.

How CARA is Built

CARA is a JAVA application built using the Google Web Toolkit (which means it works in any browser).  It has so much configuration, that Generis is offering a zero customization policy - if customers need a new feature, it will be added as a configurable feature available to everyone. CARA is available also as a mobile solution and in a number of languages including English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese and Polish.

Desktop-in-a-browser

When you first see CARA open, it looks like you are working on a Windows machine inside your browser. You can have multiple windows open on your screen (so you can efficiently multi-task) and you can do things like drag and drop between windows.

Widgets

The Widgets panel is available with a number of out of the box widgets (e.g. properties for a selected document) or you can add custom widgets that offer additional information from within Oracle WebCenter or outside via third party applications. A single click displays data in multiple widgets at once.  Some examples:

• A Query inside the system
• Embed a URL (like a Twitter feed, in-house SAP data, etc.)
• A Web Service – for example to Oracle’s Siebel CTMS or JD Edwards modules

Dimensions

CARA offers views called Dimensions that is the ultimate replacement for either fixed-folder navigation or running explicit searches.  Each user can view the repository in special ways - Dimensions are their personalized tree view (and search) of the repository. You set your dimension by specifying properties (1 per level up to 5 levels). You can create dimensions for roles or scenarios to make it easier for employees to get find appropriate groups of documents or filter them by different combinations.

Dashboards

CARA Dashboards allow the definition of reports that users can then access at any time, and display as charts or tables, including the ability to export to Excel.

Configuration layer

The configuration layer that underpins CARA allows you to configure both the user interface (layout, availability of functions per group and so on) as well as the business rules (for example security / folders / audits based on attribute value rules, properties screens, property inheritance / auto-generation).  The entire configuration is done through the CARA UI, requiring zero coding.

Free Webinar from Generis and Oracle

John Klinke from Oracle and James Kelleher from Generis will be running a demo of CARA for Oracle WebCenter on 19^th July 2012 at 11am Eastern Time (USA).  This demo will feature the CARA user interface and configuration layer, focusing on the benefits to end users as well as the configuration layer and the associated ROI savings from configuring Oracle WebCenter to meet your requirements rather than coding. Sign up here for the webinar.