CERF can be quickly upgraded and new data and data standards can be integrated as businesses require without disruptions that are frequent in larger, fully interdependent systems

Modular Design

To ensure that the product continues to meet the evolving needs of scientists, CERF was built as a highly modular platform. A high percentage of all of the CERF code is componentized. Using this approach, the individual modules have version numbers in addition to the version and build numbers for the CERF client and server. This permits components to be replaced and updated without disruptions that are frequent in larger, fully interdependent systems. Thus CERF can be quickly upgraded and new data and data standards can be integrated as businesses require.

Virtually all of the client code is based upon a design that allows the client to be updated automatically by new or improved modules – directly and automatically from the server. The server code is also based upon a set of integrated modules representing various functional areas of business logic.

Easy Implementation

CERF has been engineered for rapid deployment out of the box, with only minor configuration required. The process is so easy that installation and future upgrades can be managed across the Internet.

Once installed, the CERF Extensibility Framework makes it easy to adapt the solution to a customer’s specific workflows and research practices.. The framework also manages templates, from a single Notebook entry to protocols structured for a complete experiment.

Customizable Platform

CERF future-proofs your content and manages it in an open, extensible, system that is easily supported, configured, and customized by your IT staff or by our support team to meet the demands of R&D for today and tomorrow. Although CERF already includes many advanced features like semantic web technologies and OWL ontologies, we regularly deliver substantial enhancements to the platform and rapid customization services that keep your research operation one step ahead of your competition.

Multidisciplinary Research

CERF’s modular, flexible architecture and ability to gather and securely store any data from any source make it ideal for research or content management in any regulated environment. CERF actually becomes more intelligent and specialized with use – the longer your organization uses it, the more powerful it becomes. Your library of user-contributed shared templates, metadata tags, and functional workgroups help you match CERF to the way your organization works. You can teach CERF about your unique workflows and language use, your security needs, user roles and hierarchy. The result is a sophisticated tool that can organize any kind of research, bringing order to your knowledge assets and awareness to administrators and managers.
Integrating and Leveraging Existing Systems and Data
Data-driven services are registered based on resource types and workflows, and the semantic inference engine ensures that user menus are dynamically updated with available actions. The connections are set up on the CERF Server using the form-based Integration Manager to create wrappers with minimal effort and maximum reusability.

Using this model, CERF can be connected to your existing technologies or you can add functionality by choosing additional tools available from our growing list of partners.