This is a gadget loving nation. We find hardcore enthusiasts who do not mind owning a 1000 page user manual and happily read it from start to end. This is the nation of innovation and new products arrive to greet customers every month.

The new electronic products offer superior specifications, beefy hardware, never before seen features.

So what’s making Japanese people line up to pick up iPads?
There could be several theories going around, but I think there is a fundamental shift in the way people look at electronics gadgets.It has been more than thirty years since the most advanced electronic gadget was invented. A PC and the accompanying software is the most advanced electronics gadget ever produced.

The last decade saw an indispensable use of Personal computers at home as well as in Business. PCs are no more new to people.The early adapters have now been taken over by early majority. For the PC to become mainstream, it has to satisfy the needs of early majority. It is no more serving enthusiasts, it is serving a common man. For it to be successful, it needs to work like a Microwave. It just needs to work.

The products have to be designed in a way that make them
• Extremely simple to use
• With familiar/standard interface
• Non-invasive on lifestyle
• Easy to maintain and upgrade
• Interactive

These characteristics point us to a single entity – the User. The new products have to consider user at the center of the design. It needs to start with how users will interact with it. User Experience (UX) is the King!

The UX theory has answers in why people are slowly falling into the model Apple preferred to adopt. Apple adopted a model to design and develop hardware and software that works like a perfect match. This model enabled them to put User at the center of the design. The recent adaption of Apple to design their own Micro-processor chip (A4) inside iPad is extending the same model to the last mile – the Hardware.

Now the User experience has not only influenced the software, but it has gone to the last mile – to influence the hardware it requires to generate that experience. The User experience is driving the chip design.The User experience model is demanding that the battery needs to at for 12 hours and needs to run at cooler temperatures. This may sound like exaggeration, but looks like that’s where things are moving.

It would be interesting to see how companies adopt to this change. The companies who adopt UX in the early stages, or change their existing model to orient towards UX have better chance to succeed.

The software needs to change itself to become as simple to use as a Microwave, at the same time retain it’s value to become a different instrument next moment, to become a refrigerator!

RIAs enable portals to tear down barriers that HTML creates and transform their online presence. The rich and interactive portals enable the organizations to build brand value by making people’s interaction with the brand a more valuable, productive and pleasant encounter.

The enhanced user experience and interactivity result in higher levels of customer engagement and also enable the brand to differentiate itself from its competitors.

 Integrating User Experience – Real World Statistics

•  Banking application ROI : 163%↑
•  Intranet adoption : 106%↑
•  Automobile co – Website leads: 50%↑

Here comes the importance of deep dive testing of a SharePoint implementation. Testing scenarios could range from   a small web part used by the end user to a 6 server farm, multiple BDCs, and third party databases deployed managed by the super admin. Sharing a quick description what I mean by basic scenarios.

1)      Installing a custom Web Part Testing

a) Verify the link available to download the product from the site location and installer is successfully able to install.

b) Verify Product installation, un-installation and repair process as per predefined procedure and release notes.

2)     Web parts Deployment Testing

a) Verify web parts are deployed in desired location of MOSS and WSS Sites.

b) Verify white box testing for the web application configuration.

i) Verify WSS policy file entries are updated for all installation scenarios.

c) Verify web part availability in the web part gallery is in the site.

d) Analyze log files supported by the products for failed test scenarios.

3)     Web parts configuration Testing

a) Verify the web parts are configurable for the desired backend.

b) Verify web parts can be configured for share point sites (sites with defined out-of-box and custom site created templates as required).

c) Verify web part configuration on web part page (testing on defined layout templates and different zones accessibility in the browser).

d) Verify web part is rendered in the browser.

4)     Data connectivity Testing

a) Test the web parts for back end connectivity and data integrity along with the area of coverage as below:

i) SharePoint Lists – Validate the data populated from the list configured from same site and sub-sites.

ii) Database systems – Verify connectivity and setting with different databases. Other validation done will be as follows.

1. Authentication verification (e.g. SQL Authentication)

2. Server Connectivity according to the web part wizard

3. Verify desired error messages while configuratio

4. Data integrity testing

iii) Connectivity through BDC – Verify and validate the desired LOB data is accessed through the BDC settings.

With SharePoint 2010 being deployed, level of complexity increases to another level. Features like multi-tenant and hosted environments have to be considered. One can make SharePoint do what you want it to do. That said, over-customization comes at a cost – increased resources and more bugs.

The biggest challenge faced is while upgrading, one of the customers of SpadeWorx is sailing smoothly through the migration from current version. What worked in customer’s favor was an existing exhaustive list of use case scenarios (from end-user scenarios to admin scenarios), this helped them in identifying any gaps while (and after) migrating.

Usually testing comes under axe with shrinking release timelines and budgets. In this case, it helped in mapping each and every scenario post migration (ensured nothing falls through the crack) and hence increased RoI.

According to the panel of experts at SiliconIndia, the Top 10 gems of the IT services industry were selected considering their unique business ideas as well as with the respect to their technology, adoption and market proposition. The experts have also noted that these companies have the momentum and will rise above the best.

The Top 10 List was selected from amongst the thousands of nominations received from companies in hot domains such as, business analytics, user centric software solutions, cloud-computing service providers and consulting.

The listing is another feather in the cap for SpadeWorx which has also been selected by Nasscom as amongst the Top 50 Emerging Companies for 2009.

Founded in 2007, SpadeWorx’s focus is to integrate techniques of building rich “User Experience” and techniques of software engineering. The company has pioneered the “User Centered Software Engineering™” (UCSE™) methodology to design and develop software solutions that are relevant and contextual to the end users.

SpadeWorx has developed rich, powerful business and consumer applications for companies in domains such as Financial Services, Healthcare, Telecom, Retail, Media & Entertainment and Manufacturing.

In the short span of three years SpadeWorx has built a strong customer base across different verticals. Some of the key clients include Fortune 100 organizations such as Microsoft and HP as well leading Indian organizations such as Reliance, Mahindra Group and Reserve Bank of India.

To know more, visit us at – www.spadeworx.com

SaaS and SOA enables cloud computing that optimizes server infrastructure utility by sharing it across multiple tenants. Organizations are increasingly opting this option as it helps reduce their infrastructure investments and the recurring costs. Optimizing the utility  server infrastructure leads to lesser consumption of electricity,  thereby taking a step towards green computing.

Applications hosted in the cloud, if designed and engineered with usability, intuitive interactivity and contextual experiences as primary focus, assist the end-users accomplish the desired tasks faster than the conventional approach, hence demanding lesser resources both on client and server side. This results in lesser consumption of computing power.

Applications with huge user base would result in significant reduction in overall usage of the resources required to accomplish tasks thereby bringing down the time spent on the clients and server in a big way, the reduction in time required to accomplish the desired goals would result in huge contribution towards overall green computing initiatives.

Rich Interactive application frameworks such as Microsoft Silverlight, Adobe Flex, AJAX are key technologies to build highly usable SaaS applications on the web.

SpadeWorx’s User Centred Software Engineering (UCSE^TM)  assists enterprises to develop highly interactive and usable applications by keeping software consumer at the core of entire software development process.

We believe that SaaS enabled software systems coupled with rich interactivity will be the new trend in future. Combining SaaS with UCSE™ will benefit enterprises to expedite the realization  of their Green Computing Initiatives.

• More intuitive – navigation and task functions should be self-explanatory, irrelevant tasks hidden, and clear display of text and graphics
• More efficient – processes and workflows that have optimal turnaround times, and simple interfaces, facilitate faster information processing.

We understand and empathize with your challenges such as Faster time-to-market, Total cost of ownership, Product’s competitive edge and advantage, Market and channel expansion. SpadeWorx service portfolio is the right fitment for your product engineering requirements:

End-to-End User Experience using home grown User Centered Software Engineering (UCSE™) methodology

• Intuitive and cognitive interfaces
• Rich interactivity
• Ease and simplicity

Sustenance Engineering

• Enables product companies to optimize profitability
• Core group focuses on new products or innovation
• Continue to support SLA with end customers

White Paper: Usability In Healthcare Applications

An overview of problems we solve and how do we engage.

In his conversation with CXO and Biztech 2.0, CTO SpadeWorx covers topic ranges from SpadeWorx, UCSE concept and benefits of UCSE in the market. For complete coverage please visit:

SpadeWorx in Biztech2

SpadeWorx in CXOtoday

The journey that begun in july, 2007 has been a roller coaster ride there were joyous moments and we had our share of tears too, we would like to thank you for being by our side at all times; your support and encouragement saw us creative solutions and made us preferred technology partners for the top fortune 20 companies, 4 amongst them our customers.

As a part of our commitment towards contributing India as the next super power, with rural India inclusivity (i.e. right from grass roots level), SpadeWorx software services inaugurated its new development center in Kolhapur (Maharashtra).

“Kolhapur center will be focusing on “outsourced product development” services. The leadership team at this center brings more than a decade of international experience in designing and developing products and IT systems. Access to technical talent, availability of state-of-the-art infrastructure and optimized cost model makes this center very strategic for us. The center will be serving customers globally” – Mandar Bhagwat, CTO & Director, SpadeWorx Software Services, Pune (India)

SpadeWorx

Clcik Here to see SpadeWorx Kolhapur Pictures