Grupo Arcor develops new service app using Oracle APEX

The Argentine multinational food company integrates its IT service management with its database application that tracked data fixes using Oracle APEX.

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Whenever I have needed Oracle's team, they have always been there, they’ve been attentive at different times, not just for the APEX project. We always have a face on the other side to talk to.

Juan Carlos MonteroIT Application Leader, Grupo Arcor

Business challenges

Grupo Arcor is an Argentine food company that specializes in sugar, candy, cookies, and ice cream produced in 40 industrial plants throughout Latin America. The company generates 3 million kilograms of product every day. Recently, Arcor began building a plant in Angola to start distributing its products in Africa.

Arcor needed to integrate its information technology service management application—where its information technology infrastructure library is stored—with its database application, which tracked data fixes. However, fixes were provided by a third party that required integration with that company’s authentication, tools, and processes. Arcor sought a new solution to track incidences and resolutions, as well as provide reporting and auditing capabilities—and it all had to be implemented in a few short months.

Why Grupo Arcor Chose Oracle

After evaluating multiple vendors, Arcor chose to build its service management application with the low code Oracle Application Express (APEX), which is included in Oracle Database Cloud Service on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for greater security and scalability. Oracle APEX was the most flexible development solution that could integrate with other data sources, both Oracle and non-Oracle.

Results

Oracle APEX allowed Arcor to build a solution in a couple of months and to integrate part of IT infrastructure compliance into the audit processes. Also, because Arcor is using OCI Kubernetes Engine (OKE) and OCI API Gateway, the food company can easily scale up as its APEX apps increase.

The most important benefit Arcor gained after the Oracle deployment is traceability. With Oracle APEX, the company can track everything from the starting point of an incident to when a data fix has resolved it. The code performs executions, impact analysis, security, and traceability of SQL code, and successfully manages over 1,500 SQL sentences monthly.

In the past, reviewing logs in databases, tracking users, and identifying the reasons for an incident could take up to two weeks. Now, the team knows in real time who approved, who executed, and who reassigned. With this benefit, the company has managed to reduce the number of incidents that require a data fix by 30%. Arcor’s applications are performing 8% better, which translates into higher productivity. In addition, the company is compliant with the Federal Taxpayer Registry (RFC) and has increased transparency for external auditors because of the easy access to data.

Using Oracle APEX with Oracle Database Cloud Service, the company can provision the database in half the time compared to before. In addition, Oracle Cloud allows Arcor to support remote workers by offering secure access to applications and data.

Partners

Oracle partner Filomeni Sistemas informáticos worked with Arcor on the implementation.

Published:August 6, 2021