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zero to n, inc.
(Software Application Development)
Tools used:
CanyonBlue Cittera
Description:
zero to n, inc. is a web application framework company
based in Fremont, California. It provides a solution that allows customers
to develop applications or products using purely HTML and XML manipulation
on the zero to n framework. The use of the solutions allows the customer
to be oblivious of routine development, and allows for automated database
design and creation.
zero to n, inc. worked with CanyonBlue to develop its product, zFrameworks,
which allows organizations to effectively develop Web applications during
the course of a meeting. The project lasted approximately 12 months and
has now been deployed for five months by two customers. One customer site
had a high user volume with low transaction volume, while the other
customer had a small number of users but a very high transaction volume.
In total, there were eight developers, four Quality Assurance staff, and
six customers and project management staff.
Problem:
zero to n, inc. needed to find a software development tool that would aid
in the design of complex software applications, specifically its new
application zFrameworks. Additionally, the tool would need to serve as a
centralized knowledge repository and allow multiple team members in
several locations to coordinate efforts effectively and in a timely manner
throughout the development lifecycle.
Solution:
CanyonBlue's Cittera was chosen due to its many innovative features,
including the fact that it is the first UML tool to support true real-time
collaboration - allowing multiple parties across various geographic
locations to work together, simultaneously, on the same UML model.
Cittera is a tool that streamlines the development process and shares
intellectual capital among the model, team member, and organization-wide
levels. The application enables groups to work together on a project
concurrently across geographic barriers, or across the room. Organizations
can share skills and resources more efficiently. And, teams can work
simultaneously, or monitor work being done by third parties half way
around the world - all on the same model.
In addition, Cittera offers flexibility, power, and scalability. The
software can be hosted on CanyonBlue's servers and run as an ASP tool over
the Internet or hosted on the customer's own servers. Since Cittera
supports both the Java and C++ programming languages, it can be easily
deployed on a wide variety of computing platforms.
By utilizing the inherent features of CanyonBlue's Cittera, zero to n team
members were able to collaborate in real-time and leverage the UML diagram
as a centralized point of knowledge. Additionally, utilizing Cittera's
in-built version control capabilities, stored audit trail and messaging
features, and its entity based annotations, the entire development team -
from business analysts to quality assurance personnel - were able to work
in unison throughout the entire development lifecycle.
UML was used to design the application and produce documented artifacts
for the development team to refer to throughout the application
development lifecycle. Because UML is a standardized notation, it promoted
a simple understanding of the scope of work throughout the team, reducing
conceptual flaws within the application.
"Our system deals with issues of ontology and taxonomy in several of
our customer's industries. The use of a specific standard in development
led to a coherent communication mechanism between development teams in
three sites on two continents," said Bijoy Singha, Chief Technical
Officer for zero to n, inc. "We chose to utilize UML as it is an
industry standard that allowed us to promote a singular understanding of
the application requirements throughout a team that was located in
multiple locations. Furthermore, the intuitive nature of the UML diagrams
was utilized as an effective tool of communication between the end user
community and the development teams."
Benefits:
Cittera allowed the development team to stay in tune with the end-user
needs and requirements throughout the development lifecycle. Following an
initial development process, all team members were able to refer to the
model and track changes effectively leading to a higher quality system, in
diminished development time.
Additionally, Cittera's collaborative features enabled remote team members
to communicate and participate effectively, as they were no longer
hampered by the standard obstacles that plague multiple development
locations. Cittera's Internet-based hosted subscription delivery model
required zero user maintenance and helped to reduce product licensing
costs as zero to n, inc. only needed to invest funding for actual monthly
user usage. The flexibility and scalability of the tool's pricing
structure afforded zero to n, inc. the luxury of not having to purchase
product licenses for each user throughout the life of the project, but
rather the ability to only pay for monthly user licenses according to the
actual usage for each specified month.
Consequently, zero to n, inc.'s use of CanyonBlue's Cittera resulted in
multiple realized and unrealized financial benefits. By having a UML model
as a centralized forum of information that could be accessed by multiple
users simultaneously, it allowed the team to not only track and understand
how requirements translated into the application, but it also enabled all
members work more effectively on their individual tasks. As business
analysts were making changes in the model, the development and QA
resources were able to note these changes instantaneously and modify their
work accordingly. Therefore, actual development time was diminished as the
process of knowledge transfer was managed more efficiently, producing
immeasurable financial benefits. The unique per user per month
subscription based fee model also resulted in realized product license
investment benefits of up to 40% from standard licensing schemes.
Zero to n, inc. plans to use the zFrameworks system increasingly as a
services platform for extremely rapid application development and
deployment in multiple vertical markets simultaneously. The company hopes
to both increase penetration of new development, and lower the threshold
at which a manager may want to build a custom system. zero to n, inc. sees
this as allowing competitive advantage through mass customization, an
inherent but attractive paradox. This makes it essentially an adaptable
framework which accepts the continuous addition of new objects (beans),
which may or may not be industry and user/customer specific.
"Our product, zFrameworks from zero to n inc., allows customers to
literally develop Web applications in a meeting. Then, the user interface
of the application can be modified to their own specifications by them or
by us, down to having their logo on each page. We manage the logic and the
databases, which the application is designed to create to the specifics in
every case. If special logic - beyond what we provide generically - is
required, objects are added to the framework in customer specific
containers, leaving the whole intact," said Amar Chahal, zero to n's
director. He added, "We need direct design work with the customer,
sharp project management, and quick turnaround times. Cittera from
CanyonBlue gave us this, and created an international, real time
environment for our projects -- all the way from our customer to our
developers."
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