CaseStudy-A Consultative approach to building a ... - Aspire Systems

Case Study A Consultative approach to building a light-weight mobile web application

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THE CUSTOMER

A Finland-based document management software provider, who caters to more than 120,000 individuals at over 14,000 companies, to manage their documents. Their software, available in 21 languages, helps increase efficiency and productivity by improving organization of business documents, information and processes. ì

THE NEED

The customer’s end users wanted the flexibility to use select features of their document management software on their mobile devices. The customer was not sure as to whether they should choose a native mobile app or a mobile web app, which platform to start with, whether to use a framework for development etc. They had not done any mobile-enablement of their systems earlier and were looking to start the engagement with mobile consultation in order to help them make the right decision. ì

THE SOLUTION

Aspire started the engagement by understanding what the customer and end-users were looking to accomplish through a mobile app. As part of this mobile consultation, Aspire gathered the required data to then carry out a feasibility study and do a Proofof-Concept for the customer. Aspire recommended going in for a mobile web application that would be compatible with various mobile platforms, supportive of touch gestures and have the ability to render HTML5 pages, document viewers etc. The technical feasibility report involved selecting the right framework for development ; subsequently, a PoC with a few important features was developed. On successful completion of the PoC, the Aspire team undertook the completion of the mobile web application, which was developed to support iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Symbian, and multiple browsers, both native as well as third party browsers.

Approach As part of the consultation, Aspire evaluated various options for mobile-enablement of the customer’s document management system, including the platforms/devices that the customer wished to support. Ultimately, Aspire recommended developing a light-weight mobile web application with the features of the document management software, most frequently needed by end-users on-the-go. The selected features would satisfy the user’s demands, at a much lower cost to the customer (compared to native apps, which would have had to be developed for each platform).

A Consultative approach to building a light-weight mobile web application


Framework selection The requirement of the app to be developed involved support of current generation sophisticated touch-enabled mobile phones and rendering of HTML5/CSS3 web pages. jQuery Mobile and Sencha Touch are two mobile app frameworks capable of fulfilling this requirement. Out of these two, Aspire chose jQuery Mobile in this case for the following reasons: Ÿ Support for wide range of mobile platforms (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows

mobile etc) Ÿ Support for multiple browsers - both native and third party browsers. Ÿ Faster development cycle

The UI layout of the app to be developed would allow similar resolution for different form factors in all platforms supported (iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian etc) – this was verified through a PoC done with few main features selected. Once the feasibility study and PoC was completed, based on Aspire’s recommendations, we given the task to develop the customer’s mobile web app.

HTTP JSON

HTTP JSON Smart Phone(s) / Tablet with Rich native UI

Device Identification (WURFL)

Laptop/ Desktop accessing the web application

REST Service API

Session Management

Cache

SOAP/ REST /RPC

Features Exposed for Mobile enablement from existing solution

Features Exposed for Mobile enablement from existing solution

Mobile-web Architecture:

Existing Host Web Application Server

Mobile Enablement Server

Mobile-web DMS The customer’s document management software comprises a centralized document repository called the Document Vault, which is physically stored on their company servers. The DMS is tightly integrated with MS Windows and appears to users as a virtual local disk drive to where they can save information in any file format (documents, emails, purchase orders, basically any information in any format). The DMS can be accessed from anywhere with the proper credentials. Some of the features that we enabled for their mobile web app were: Ÿ Login: Users select the document repository (or Vault) that they want to access

and login with their Windows user credentials or their credentials for the application.


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Ÿ Search: The search criteria for file search are in the form of

a) “Search in metadata b) “Search in file content c) “ Search in both” Since search results could run into several pages, pagination support was added for all search results Ÿ SFD & MFD viewing: Single-file documents could be opened and viewed in the

browser; Multi-file documents (MFDs) contain one or more SFDs and each of them could be opened and viewed directly in the browser; additionally, SFD/MFD properties could also be viewed. Ÿ Favorites: Users could view their favorite items Ÿ List of items assigned to logged in user: Users could view the list of items/docs

assigned to them Ÿ List of items modified/accessed/checked out by the user: Users could check the

list of items checked out, accessed, recently modified etc Ÿ Properties and relationships: Users could also check the properties of selected

documents and if there was any relationship between selected items/docs (for example, the document may have some additional documents that provide supporting information tagged to it). Ÿ Users could view the comments history of an item

Benefits to the customer Aspire helped the customer evaluate various options and build their mobile roadmap, putting in only the most essential features for end-users into a mobile web solution, at the lowest cost possible. Even though the app was light-weight, customized for a optimum mobile experience, it had features like ‘most recently viewed’ and ‘recently modified’ items, which allowed users quick access when they were on-the-go. Users could also view different kinds of files like Word, Excel, PPT, PDF etc. on their mobiles. The UI of the app was designed to be rendered in a fluid manner irrespective of the devices’ dimensions and hence would have a similar look and feel in all supported mobile platforms (iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Symbian). The app supported landscape and portrait orientation allowing users to choose their preferred way of viewing files/docs. The availability of this mobile web app allows the customer to position their document management system with mobile capabilities as an additional enhancement to their premium-segment customers.

Supported devices and browsers Devices Except for the iPhone, all devices (Blackberry, Android and Symbian) require the updated OS versions for optimum performance of the app. The mobile web app does not yet fully support Windows mobile devices – it is still in Beta.


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Browsers The iPhone Safari browser and Blackberry’s native browser supports both downloading and automatic viewing of the documents. Android and Symbian devices require installing of Opera Mobile v10.0 to run the mobile web app for the same high quality viewing.

ABOUT ASPIRE Aspire Systems is an Outsourced Product Development firm committed to helping our customers build software products better and faster. We work with some of the world’s most innovative Independent Software Vendors and software-enabled businesses, ranging from start-ups to established industry leaders, transforming the way software is built. Aspire provides complete product lifecycle services, ranging from new product development and product advancement to product migration, re-engineering, sustenance and support. Our product development teams are spread between our Global Innovation Center in Chennai, India and offices in the United States.

For more information contact: Website : www.aspiresys.com E-mail : [email protected] Tel : +1-408-260-2076 USA : +44 203 170 6115 UK : +91-44-6740 4000 India


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