From PerlNet

Simon Taylor:

Today I'm interviewing John Bolland.

John is the Systems Analyst at Mainzeal Construction, New Zealand's second largest construction company. Working out of Auckland, John is responsible for all Unix applications and services. He oversees software development, upgrades of hardware and software, and general system maintenance on a national basis.

Since Mainzeal has been an early adopter of Open Source technologies and a strong user of Perl software, we'd thought that he would be an ideal candidate for a Simon Taylor interview.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us John. How long have you worked in your current role at Mainzeal?

Bolland:

11 years.

Simon Taylor:

What industry sectors is Mainzeal active in?

Bolland:

We're most active in the construction sector.

Simon Taylor:

Would you describe Mainzeal as having a strong reliance on contempory software technologies?

Bolland:

Very definitely. Our major systems, like our in house Citrix based document control environment and our Profitool ERP application, are well integrated into the daily lives of most of our staff.

Simon Taylor:

What operating systems do you currently employ?

Bolland:

Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, Linux and HP-UX

Simon Taylor:

What would say is the main technology or software challenge that you face?

Bolland:

Making people aware of the full potential of our current applications and that the use of Open Source facilities like Perl can extend the functionality of existing systems at very little cost.

Simon Taylor:

Is any Open Source software playing a part in your response to that challenge?

Bolland:

Sure. A lot of Perl is deployed in providing extra application functionality across the board. MySQL databases are used to store and retrieve data produced by the ERP application. Apache is used for web based interfaces and we use expect for automating repetitive tasks.

Indeed without Open Source software Mainzeal's ability to do business as it does today would be severely diminished. It's critical to the integration we have achieved between the various applications that our departments use. We could not develop applications and utilities in the time that we currently do and generally, we find that commercial suppliers who are not using opensource methods cannot match our in house development times. The best example of this is the Everest estimating application (which is Pick based), where our turnaround for support is measured in months, and measured in years for upgrades.

Simon Taylor:

What are the main ERP packages and other significant pieces of software that Mainzeal relies on in it's day to day operations?

Bolland:

Accounting and Project Management is provided by Profitool's (Denver CO) Contract Management Information System (CMIS) and an estimating package called Everest from CSSP (Adelaide). Plus the usual range of MS Office, Project, Publisher, etc and a payroll system. We also run a large Citrix farm deploying an in-house developed document control system.

Simon Taylor:

How significant is your use of Perl in integrating these environments?

Bolland:

Currently Perl is used to integrate the main accounting system with bi-directional interfaces with our bank for both communications and data massaging. It's used for automatic dissemination of tax documents relating to subcontractors and other remittance advices via fax, email or local printing. It's used in the Webview application for web based read-only access to critical business data for senior management. Plus numerous small tasks not provided by, but related to the main systems.

Simon Taylor:

Have you developed any stand-alone applications using Perl?

Bolland:

No true stand-alone applications, but Perl is critical to our integration of services. From the users point of view of course, the webview application (referred to previously) would be considered a stand-alone environment.

Simon Taylor:

Since you were closely involved with the development of the Webview package, what are your observations about the speed and reliability of the development cycle, compared to other development exercises you have been involved in that used proprietary languages?

Bolland:

The ability to demonstrate a proof of concept in less than a week and have a first cut in production and on senior managers desktops within about 4 weeks was really impressive. That we've continued to produce the requested enhancement in timeframes measured in days or weeks, instead of months or even years, continues this trend. The development cycle is considerably cheaper when compared to similar development using proprietary environments.

Simon Taylor:

Do you have any concerns about finding staff that can support or program in Perl?

Bolland:

We haven't had a need to look for anybody, but based on the experience of the OSDC conference in Melbourne in late 2004 and the numbers attending, we don't anticipate problems attracting support staff. There are plenty of good experienced programmers out there.

Simon Taylor:

Do you have any concerns about getting support for Perl from third-party organizations?

Bolland:

I haven't had to consider this before but I am sure that the web would provide a significant number of open source support providers. (Ed. Including Simon Taylor ;-)

Simon Taylor:

So, overall, what is your opinion of the reliability and robustness of Perl as a language?

Bolland:

As good as any proprietary language and perhaps better than many. It is constantly and robustly being tested and upgraded by many, many developers.

Simon Taylor:

Are there any downsides to using a language that is not owned by a single vendor?

Bolland:

None that I am able to discern.

Simon Taylor:

Do your future plans call for the continued use of Perl?

Bolland:

Definitely. Even to extent of replacing good, well used shell scripts with Perl versions as these will be transportable to other platforms and operating systems, for example a move from HP-UX to Linux.

Simon Taylor:

Thanks for your time and thanks for taking part in our interview.