A sample of the organizations we have helped, in banking, higher education, insurance, engineering, fintech, retail and local government.
Request a free technical review +44 (0)1293 562730A sample of the organizations we have helped. We have many others in financial services, property management, online retail and general business. References are available on request.
Banking — Kansas, USA
The brief. A business-critical application running on PowerBuilder 6, in a regulated environment where security and continuity are not negotiable.
What we did. Migrated the application from PowerBuilder 6 to the current release, upgraded the SQL Server database behind it, redesigned the application's security, and trained the bank's own staff on the result.
Outcome. Delivered on schedule and on budget.
Higher education — London, Ontario, Canada
The brief. Western University needed a consultant to extract the business knowledge from their PowerBuilder application. They commissioned Powersoft to document the key business functions based on the PowerBuilder code in their application.
What we did. Although this was a simple brief, accurately extracting business logic from a PowerBuilder application is complex work. Our consultants carried out code analysis, reverse engineering and business process documentation.
Outcome. Delivered within quoted budget and on time, enabling the university to plan its next steps with confidence.
Pensions and insurance — United Kingdom
The brief. A substantial CRM and policy administration system developed in PowerBuilder in 2002 and deployed with EAServer, critical to the business and previously maintained by another software house. The Oracle 8 database needed to move to Oracle 11; client and server were on Windows 2000 and needed to move to current Windows; and the Office 2000 integration needed updating.
What we did. Powersoft were initially brought in to resolve a previous migration issue, which we resolved quickly for a small fixed price on a no fix, no fee basis — giving Teachers Assurance confidence to proceed without commercial risk. The second phase migrated the PowerBuilder source to PowerBuilder 12.5 and EAServer 6.3.1. The migration was involved: the application was large, and we had to rewrite some legacy Java code in PowerBuilder because it did not work in EAServer 5.5 or 6.3.
Outcome. Delivered on time and to plan. We supported the extensive testing programme and resolved the few issues raised quickly and efficiently. The project was successfully implemented, and Teachers — now LV= — are still supported by Powersoft today.
Construction and engineering — Denmark
The brief. COWI's Caretaker application was being developed and maintained in PowerBuilder 7 and had never been successfully migrated. Data retrieval errors against MS SQL Server, an ODBC-only connection rather than a native driver, and broken translation software were all blocking the move. COWI also wanted a modern Windows user interface and support for modern Windows platforms.
What we did. We proposed a multi-phase approach with clearly defined deliverables and direct business benefits, which reduced the time we needed to hold the Caretaker source and let COWI keep developing with minimal interruption. Phase one migrated to the latest available PowerBuilder version. Phase two was a bespoke development that translates the application dynamically into any language. Phase three enhanced the GUI and user experience.
Outcome. A migrated, multi-lingual application with a modern look and feel, delivered without stopping the client's own development.
Fintech — United Kingdom and Latin America
The brief. Inara run a PowerBuilder application in their money transfer shops. As part of their business development they wanted the back office solution available on the web and on mobile devices, with a slick, user-friendly and secure way for clients to send money around the world.
What we did. We assisted with the migration of the PowerBuilder application from SQL Anywhere to SQL Server, which immediately improved performance and gave a solid platform. We then designed and developed the front end web application using Microsoft .NET technologies, integrated in real time to the back end system. We also supported Inara through their PSD2 regulatory approval, which our system design and specifications helped evidence.
Outcome. Clients can get a quote and send money worldwide from any PC or mobile device. The seamless integration let Inara leverage their existing investment and handle growth in business without extra staffing.
Online retail — UK
PowerBuilder estate upgrades, plus development of a multi-channel pricing solution supporting thousands of SKUs with real-time price tracking.
Local government — New Zealand
A comprehensive review of the estate, assurance support, supplementary development resource and mitigation of operational risk.
Chemicals — global
Estate-wide assurance and supplementary development services, addressing the skills gap left by retiring resources.
Powersoft was founded in 1986. Our first major customer was Page & Moy, a UK travel company that had won an ambitious opportunity with Barclaycard and needed a bespoke system built fast. We delivered a complete production-ready system in twelve weeks, at exactly the moment their existing system collapsed under the growth. Within a year it supported more than 200 users. Barclaycard subsequently acquired the company; their commercial director remarked that they "liked the software so much, they bought the company."
We re-engineered that system into Total Solution Travel, a PowerBuilder product that ran large call centers — at its peak one customer had over 500 concurrent users selling more than £2 million of travel product per day, around 6% of the entire UK travel market. In 2015 we acquired Mainstay, a PowerBuilder-based hotel property management system, and rebuilt it around a two-way channel management API connecting to more than 150 booking channels.
We mention this because it is the honest answer to "how do we know you can handle something business-critical?" We have been doing it since before PowerBuilder existed.
Tell us the PowerBuilder version you are on, the database behind it and what is worrying you. We will come back with an honest assessment of your options — including whether you need to do anything at all. Initial application analysis is free of charge.
Telephone: +44 (0)1293 562730
