Posts Tagged ‘Software Product’

Bespoke Software Development

Bespoke software development, also referred to as custom software development is the process of creating software for a specific customer, organization or need that cannot easily be fulfilled by an off the shelf product.

Such a software produces something entirely unique that is aligned with the end users requirements. It is not often though that bespoke software is commissioned. One piece of bespoke software is suited to the business it is developed for, other businesses may not find such value if they used the product directly, however with modifications other businesses could also benefit from a piece of such software product.

A number of things need to be taken in to account when considering bespoke software development. What purpose do you want it to serve? Is it for manufacturing or processing? Is the manufacturing process complex or is the processing system complicated. A number of agencies today develop bespoke software and have made them in the area of processing orders, data, manufacturing, plates, badges and much more.

To give you a run through, bespoke software goes through these steps. A company, person or group in need of software development contacts an agency or organization and discusses the initial details and requirements needed. A specific detailed plan of requirements is laid out based on the meeting and then working of the software i.e. its architecture, is designed.

Before coding begins both parties, the company and agency, work out any final details regarding cost and functionality. When these are finalized the design goes in to work in progress with developers.

Upon the software project being completed it is handed over for a wide range of testing. Once tested, it is considered final and developed. Corporate organizations as well as government organizations both make use of a bespoke software development model for purposes like inventory management, project management, and websites.

Not just big corporations take advantage of custom software development. Smaller companies and organizations are beginning to see the gains that can be made to profitability and efficiency with even a small piece of software to automate tasks and business control.

A software project relies highly on understanding the clients’ requirements and delivering software to meet them. An effective software development project can be a excellent value for money with a relatively low return on investment.

Managers should be aware of the benefits and talk to developers to understand how they can use bespoke software development to their businesses advantage. Good custom software can help a businesses get a competitive edge over its market.

Kaifu Computing help companies gain a competitive advantage by applying their wide ranging knowledge of bespoke software development and IT. Visit our website at www.Kaifu.co.uk to talk to one of our fantastic advisers today. The advice is free and we promise a friendly service aimed at meeting, and exceeding, your needs.

Author: Mohit S Jain
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Software Development Testing – An Important Step in Assuring the Quality of Software Products

Software development testing is one of the important steps used by software engineers for successful development of any software product. With this, software engineers would have to perform tests or quality assurance manually or used the automated software to make the software bugs free.

Software testing is a service that will test your software product and try to find errors, glitches, and other problems present the in programming codes, which are common with all original software packages. Software testing will help us to make sure that the software product is functioning correctly before it is released. Such testing services will have standard quality tests that all parts of the software product must pass before it is ready for launch.

In the process of software development and design it becomes essential to test them before releasing. The best practice that need to be followed while doing Software Testing to delivery Quality product:

We should initiate our testing process from starting of Software development itself. Understand Scope and limitation of the software project that will help to improve the degree/level of testing required.
Software testers should go through the requirements in detail without missing any features suggest by the customer before any writing test cases.
The test cases should be rationalized instantly once the customer gives new requirement or changes the current one.
The test case document should cover all the requirements even if some requirements are non-testable. These non-testable items should be marked as non-testable. Keeping traceability matrix document will supportive to attain this.
The Test case document should assist to clearly recognize hierarchy of test cases. It should have clear approach to organize test cases if many test cases exist with similar steps. It is not worthwhile to copy & paste the analogous test cases many times; as a substitute we can specify only the additional steps.
A leading software development companies in the market will gives you with entire software development testing services for Desktop applications like Microsoft Windows 98/NT/2000/2003/XP/Vista, Linux, Unix, web application development, mobile application development, windows application development testing, website development & testing services at very affordable and cost effective way.

Ampere Software Private Limited is an expert software development testing company with development center in India. They provide offshore dedicated team for product development testing, web development, custom application development and software product engineering services.

Please call at US/Canada Toll Free: +1-800-315-0433 or Mobile: +91-9811905564.You can send your requirement at sales@amperesotware.com.

For more information on outsourcing software product development, custom software development services, and Software testing services, visit http://www.amperesoftware.com.

Author: Urmi Info
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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What is Software Verification and Validation?

The standard answer to the QA testing interview question of: ‘What is the difference between verification and validation?’ is as follows:

Verification answers the question “Are we building this (software) product correctly?

Validation answers the question “Are we building the correct (software) product?

Whilst there are variations on the definitions of these two terms, within the broad software QA and testing fields, there is general consensus that verification refers to correctness whilst validation refers to the value of the final product.

Applying these general definitions to software testing, we see that the practical differences apply to the context and goals of the testing, rather than any difference in software testing methods or tools. The context and goals of ‘validating’ software is the end user or customer context whilst the context of software verification is ‘meets the specification’. Indeed many software products are built correctly, that is they meet standards and specifications, but they fail to meet the real end user (i.e. customer) requirements.

Ultimately validation is the focus of what the customer is paying for and whoever does validation represents the voice of the customer (or end user in the case of software applications developed for internal use). In practical terms this means separating the software quality control teams (i.e. test teams) into two broad groups, one that has intimate knowledge of the customer context of the finished product and another group that has strong knowledge of how a software product should be produced.

By way of example consider an accounting application that records general ledger bookings. The business requirements would be produced which outline the business (accounting) rules to be followed. From the business requirements a technical specification would be produced which would document the behavior (i.e. program specification) of the ‘to be’ delivered software.

In the above example software validation would include the initial walkthrough of the business requirements, with the business representatives, to ‘validate’ that the requirements do in fact reflect what the application is required to do for the business. When the final application has been developed any testing against the business requirements is also a validation activity. The walkthrough of the technical specification to make sure it contains all the functionality of the business requirements is a verification activity. Also the testing of the delivered software against the technical specification is also a verification activity.

In essence validation can only be done by people with knowledge of how the delivered software is going to be used whilst verification can be done by anyone who can read a specification (or standard) and determine if it is correct. Although we use the phrase ‘only’, this is not to demean the value of the verification team but rather to convey the fact that strictly speaking the act of verification only requires knowledge of standards and specifications.

In practical terms the degree of complexity of the business requirements will determine whether or not a specialized software validation team needs to exist. If there is considerable complexity and effort in understanding the business requirements then the business analyst would typically take on the role of software validation. In instances of high business complexity the analyst would specialize in given business areas in order to breakdown the problem domain.

Given a business facing team, to perform validation, a supporting team of software testers could be formed to perform verification. The advantages of splitting off the verification team, for large complicated projects, are concerned with efficiency (cost) and effectiveness (on communicating the business requirements to developers).

Many organizations will offshore the verification of a software application but keep the validation onshore (e. g. in the US) as this arrangement optimizes cost whilst respecting the value of communicating the true voice of the customer.

Regardless of how a QA team is organized, identifying validation and verification activities (together with skills and resources to optimally perform them) will yield higher degrees of productivity in the development of software that is truly fit for the intended purpose.

Further information on software verification and validation can be found at the software testing directory, which is manually maintained by the author of this article, Alex Goodyear.

Author: Alex Goodyear
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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5 Keys to Evaluating a Software Vendor

A very important component of the software selection process is the evaluation of the software vendor. In fact, when you buy software, you are not just buying a software product, but you are entering into a long term relationship with the vendor as they implement, maintain, and support your system. This is even more important if you are purchasing software in a Software as a Service (SaaS) environment because the software vendor actually maintains the software on their servers and holds your data.

The following are 5 key areas to consider as you evaluate software vendors.

1. Software Vendor Stability – Look for a software vendor that is stable. This involves more than just the financial resources of the company. Consider these things when evaluating a software vendor’s stability:

a. Financial Stability – When you get to the point that you are focusing on one vendor, you can ask to review their financial statements and evaluate their financial resources for longevity.

b. Employee Size – Make sure they have adequate employees to support and develop the product. Do not completely rule out smaller vendors. Although they may not be as big, they may have specific functionality that may be a perfect fit for your organization. In fact, sometimes you will get better support from a smaller company.

c. Install Base – Make sure the company has a good install base of customers. These customers pay maintenance that allows the vendor to continually develop and improve the software.

2. Implementation – vendors offer implementation services either directly or through a network of Value Added Resellers (VARs), and implementation partners. Make sure you understand the sales channel the software vendor sells through and who will support your implementation. For mid-market companies, the selection of the Value Added Reseller can actually make or break the success of your implementation.

3. Culture Match – Make sure that the vendor/implementer is a good culture match with you and your team. Do you feel comfortable working with these people? You will be developing a long-term relationship and need to feel like they are an integral part of your team so you can work together to overcome any obstacles in the implementation.

4. Support Services – The software vendor will support you through the life of the software. What support services are available to you? Do they offer support for the hours that you will need them (ie. business hours Monday – Friday, or 24X7)? Do they have a guaranteed call-back time? A great way to evaluate support is to call user references. References should provide a good idea of how the vendor supports the product after the initial implementation is over. (You will be amazed at how honest they are about their relationship with the vendor.)

5. Vendor Direction – This is a very important consideration because you will be paying annual maintenance, which is usually 18-22% of the software list price. This money is used to develop new functionality and technology for all of the software vendor’s customers. You need to make sure that the software vendor will be developing new functionality that will be a strategic advantage to the specific needs of your organization.

The evaluation of the software vendor is a very important component of selecting software. Make sure that the vendor is stable, that you feel comfortable working with them, and they will support you as a long term partner for your organization.

Find out how you can have a software vendor evaluation done so you know the facts before determining the vendor you want. Read more here at http://www.softresources.com

Author: Chad R Fisher
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Software Development Delhi Offers High-End Software Services

Software Development is a sequence of processes implemented to improve the business methodologies using high-end advanced technologies. Software Development is a part of software development life cycle where system analysis, design and coding are considered as the main component of software development. Now a days Software Development Delhi has emerged as a big hub for accessing information technology enabled services for many business and others. Every system is trying to be computerized with help of using software services. Hence old systems are replaced by new technology-enabled system because of many features and specializations of software.

Software Development is the development of rich software, which takes care of many tasks thus making manual task easier and less hectic. In case of using hundreds of people in the industry, if a computer system is used, it can solve out the task of all those with utmost accuracy and in least time. This is one of the most important characteristic due to which software development is undertaken by many industries to make their system more flexible. Due to this software industry is gaining popularity and booming and many new software are companies are coming up in the market to offer best services and products. Software development is also known as process of transforming user’s requirement into a software product. Now this product sorts out human tasks in less time with perfection.

If one says software development then it is known that India is one such hub from where most of the companies around the world outsource their task to India. This popularity to India is due to many reasons, which makes it exclusive hub for software services. They get quality work at best lowest prices compared to other countries of the world. In this way many companies are benefited as they get best services at cheapest prices. In this way they are able to save lot of revenues for their company. This helps Indian economy to grow along with their company to earn more profits as well.

One of the reasons due to which India is consider a unique hub for software services is due to English language. English is considered as most spoken and understood language in this world and a large part of Indian population speaks and understands English. So Indian companies are getting benefited as more projects to do. Indian software market is growing day by day due to highly skilled software professionals who are able to offer best services with their hard work and intelligence. Indian knowledge industry is so large with respect to information technology, which makes it a better sector to undertake software services. Indian government is also helping companies in expansion and providing other help to help them grow in every possible way. Many new cities are emerging as software services centers for offering various services to software vendors.

Abhay Mathur works to help all those who want information about the Software Development Services,web designing,multimedia services for Software and web regarding category. To know more about software development services, e-commerce services,website designing, multimedia development service Software Development Delhi visit: www.unisoft-technologies.com

Author: Abhay Mathur
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Sage Accounting Software For Everyone

Before you being planning your business there is something you must prepare for. Here is a hint: Sage accounting software is often chosen. That is right, every business must prepare for a way to handle their financial needs. In the past, revenues, expenditures, payrolls, accounts payable, and all other such accounting subjects were painfully written down in little boxes. Digits were misread, totals were miscalculated, and items were misreported. The number of potential mistakes was high. However, that was the past and it is now the present.

In the present, there are many accounting software solutions available. In the present, people no longer wait until they have had it up to their head in loose papers and unclear reports. Now accounting software is a solution before any business starts. Sage accounting software is one of the biggest accounting software solutions that people choose. Sage accounting software is used by people worldwide and has helped businesses all over the world to manage all their revenues, expenses, and other matters easily and efficiently.

Because Sage accounting software is so widely used, most users also appreciate the support that it gives. If you are going to buy from the company directly, you can make use of their online Sage accounting software support. On their website, there are multiple ways to contact the Sage accounting software staff in case of any questions or support you need when using the software. A customer support inquiry form can be filled out to answer whatever questions you may have regarding the product or use of the product. No matter where you are located, what type of Sage accounting software product you are using, or what type of customer you are, Sage accounting software support helps you in many ways.

Another advantage that Sage accounting software presents is that there are options for different platforms. Mac users can be happy to know that there is Sage accounting software for Macs! Sage accounting software is Mac friendly so that Mac users have one more option to add to their list of accounting software. You can read more free advice on Accounting Software at http://www.AccountingSoftwareAdvice.com

Although sage accounting software was designed with businesses in mind, there are plenty of families and individuals who use it to balance out their personal finances. Needing to organize all the expenses of life and wanting to consolidate all the information involved, some decide they need a home accounting software. If sage accounting software can be such a powerful tool for companies, what prevents it from being used in the home? Using software to balance the books may even eliminate the need to hire someone to do taxes or keep track of the monthly and periodic bills. Sage accounting software truly provides many solutions. Whether they are home users or small businesses, Sage offers affordable solutions for all.

Article by Betty Hope at http://www.AccountingSoftwareAdvice.com For more great free information on everything you should know about Accounting Software visit => Tally Accounting Software and Church Accounting Software.

Author: Betty Hope
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Maintenance Management Software Retailers

Maintenance management software is a very useful tool as it helps manage several different departments or branches of a company with ease. A number of retailers sell maintenance management software to different companies. Many of these retailers sell both PC and web based maintenance management software.

The PC based maintenance management software is very useful and makes excellent use of the various features inbuilt in Microsoft windows. However, many companies are interested in web based maintenance management software because it helps an organization to manage its resources from anywhere in the world, by logging onto the Internet. Many retailers sell different kinds of maintenance management software, such as fleet maintenance management software, enterprise maintenance management software, product maintenance management software, asset maintenance management software and production maintenance management software. They sell maintenance management software with and without source code, and some even sell open source software.

Retailers of maintenance management software typically advertise their products in newspapers and on the Internet. Some also offer free software download on the Internet. The software can be used for a few days or weeks on a trial basis to ascertain if it meets the specific needs of a user. Most online retailers accept payment via major credit cards like Visa and MasterCard. Those retailers who deliver software to companies outside the US charge an additional postal fee for packaging and shipping.

Retailers buy maintenance management software from the software companies at wholesale prices and therefore incur costs for advertising, storage, marketing, installation and maintenance expenses. As some retailers are directly associated with the software producing company, their overhead expenses are lesser and they pass on the pricing benefit to the end users.

There are special terms and conditions that need to be met for individuals or companies to become retailers, the main one being that they need to have a sales permit. Retailers of maintenance management software have to be knowledgeable about other competing software products available in the market to be able to sell their products effectively. In order to win the confidence of potential buyers, they must also offer installation and maintenance services. It is essential for them to have a good understanding of demand and supply in the market and alter the service costs accordingly. It is critical for retailers to project the right image because most manufacturers and customers are bound to check their reputation before deciding to deal with them.

Maintenance Management Software [http://www.e-maintenancemanagementsoftware.com] provides detailed information on Equipment Maintenance Management Software, Facility Maintenance Management Software, Fleet Maintenance Management Software, Foundation Maintenance Management Software and more. Maintenance Management Software is affiliated with Fleet Maintenance Software.

Author: Eddie Tobey
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Custom Software vs Off-the-shelf Products

There are two broad categories of software. One is the off-the-shelf product which is ready to roll the minute you slide the installation CD in the drive and the other is software which is built to your specification. There is a world of difference between the two and the usability of the two types is also considerably different. A quick look at the core differences between the two can help you decide which one is for you:

Price: One of the biggest differences is the price. An off-the-shelf product is usually reasonably priced whereas a customized product can be relatively expensive to build. The logic is quite simple – the cost of development of the off-the-shelf product is distributed over a number of buyers and thus the pricing is spread over the number of licenses that will be sold. The customized software product on the other hand is made just for one buyer and thus the entire cost of development has to be borne by one customer. One might think that if the option of an off-the-shelf software product is available, why would one go for a customized development?

Generic build: The answer to the above question is again quite simple. An off-the-shelf product is made for a wide range of audience. Thus the development team has to provide a set design as well as a pre-defined framework. Since the product is ready to use, it may not cater to the exact requirement of all organizations. Usually there are some adjustments that an existing organization will need to make in order to implement an off-the-shelf product. This disadvantage is the biggest advantage in the case of customized software. Customized software picks up current processes and builds an electronic framework to automate them. There is no requirement to change any processes and people can usually get used to the software within a few days. Customized software provides flexibility as well for the organization to tinker around with the software and fine tune it for better performance.

Updates: Off-the-shelf products have off-the-shelf updates. Each time there is a revision in software purchased off-the-shelf, you will need to shell out an update fee. On the other hand, some off-the-shelf products may not have any updates for a long time, thus making you use obsolete software which might have negative repercussions on your business. Updates in customized software are done based on the requirements and budget of the company.

However, off-the-shelf software purchasing decisions are not always a matter of cost and flexibility. There are many benefits which accrue when using an off-the-shelf product as well. Firstly it allows you to get automated in a jiffy. The product has been suitably tested before being sold and you are saved a lot of pain and hassle which you might have with customized software. Many off-the-shelf products offer a money back guarantee if the software does not serve your purpose. This makes the investment in the software safe. The same cannot be said for all customized software!

The choice of using either type of software is up to you. However, consideration of the above points will help you in making an educated decision and also ensure that your organization gets the most benefit at the best price.

Author: Rod Morris
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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How to Become a Reseller of PC Hardware and Software

Want to learn how to become a reseller of computer hardware and software? Good! You’re on the right track, kind of, sort of. Why only a half-hearted pat on the back?

Because becoming a reseller shouldn’t be thought of in a vacuum. The days of being able to grow a successful business, purely on the basis of reselling PC hardware and software, has seen its better days. Why? Because the profit margins on most PC hardware and software reselling run somewhere between anemic and non-existent.

Today, to become a reseller of computer hardware and software, you need to be thinking of additional related revenue streams such as installation, customization, training, and ongoing service.

That’s not to say that if you’re figuring out how to become a reseller that you absolutely must follow a prescribed business-salvation plan. But you need to be honest enough with yourself to recognize that reselling is a brutal business, it has been a brutal business since at least the mid-1990′s, and that the only way for most resellers of computer hardware and software to survive and thrive is by getting involved in selling value-added services to their customers.

What kinds of value-added services? It largely depends on whether you try to sell to “everyone”, or whether you’re smart enough to focus primarily on B2B (business to business), where there’s a lot more at stake with IT and the potential for loads of recurring revenue.

So if you want to become a reseller that focuses on the B2B segment, primarily local small businesses, consider offering the following 4 services.

  1. Technology Assessment Services. Before you can make sound hardware and software product recommendations, you really need to spend some time getting to know your customers’ true IT needs, what they already own, where their businesses are headed in the next 2-4 years, and what IT problems they currently face. As this is more of a consulting service rather than a traditional reseller role, you should most certainly charge a nominal fee for your Technology Assessment Services.
  2. Systems Installation Services. While there’s little value-added in just un-boxing equipment and plugging it in, there’s tremendous value-add in the software patching, data migration, integration work, and customization. Again, as this is more of a consulting service, you should be charging extra for Systems Installation Services and strongly recommending them for any of your customers who don’t have in-house IT support.
  3. Training. While Fortune 1000 companies usually have formal plans for employee software training, small businesses rarely have this luxury. As a result, the only training employees often receive is from their reseller. Even if your customers can only afford to pay your company for an hour or two of ad-hoc one-on-one training with each employee, this training can make an enormous difference to your customers getting better utilization from their newly purchased systems. Again, add this to the list of easy incremental sales for most customers.
  4. Help Desk. When your customers have how-to or troubleshooting questions, customers rarely have the expertise or patience to deal with multiple vendors each pointing the finger at each other. Solve this problem for your customers, with a single point of contact help desk. Once again, this is a relatively easy, high-margin incremental revenue source that’s very conducive to selling on a subscription basis.

Most entrepreneurs, when thinking about how to become a reseller of computer hardware and software, just focus on what reseller programs to join. While you certainly do need to have your favored product lines, the harsh financial realities of becoming a reseller in this day and age demand that you diversify into higher margin value-added consulting services.

In this short article, we’ve introduced you to some simple strategies to take the brutally competitive, low-margin prospect of becoming a reseller and turn that into a much more lucrative value-added IT consulting business.

To learn more, be sure to sign-up for the free additional tips and business strategies now at http://www.HowToBecomeAResellerTips.com.

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Author: Joshua Feinberg
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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How Software Sellers and Users Both Benefit From the Use of a Software License Agreement

A software license agreement is either a manual or electronic memorandum of a contractual agreement between the producer of software and the end user, granting to the end user a software license to use the software legally. The user can be either a legal entity or an end user and sometimes the agreement is called the end user license agreement. This contract will clearly state all the parameters of the various permissions given to the end user. In case the software license agreement is between the software producer and a business or government undertaking some special clauses are included relevant to the agreement which are unique for the licensed software.

Very often, the agreement comes shrink wrapped with the product prior to installation of the software. If the user agrees to the terms and conditions, as stated in the agreement, he or she may continue with the installation and use of the software product or else he or she may refuse the product and thus not use the software. Mostly, users do not take the trouble of reading all the clauses of the software license agreement and just click on “Accept” and begin using the software anyway. This is because of the great depth of detail held within the license agreement. The enforceability of such agreements is open to debate, especially in the United States.

The copyright laws governing making backup copies of the purchased software allows the owner of the software to make copies for the intention of backup purposes only. However, there are various interpretations to this and a certain amount of ambiguity in this regard allows end users to make copies for purposes other than merely backing up their software.

The majority of the purchased software is liable to perform as per specifications but mostly the agreement disclaims any warranty and limits any damages to just the cost of the software. In addition, some agreements prohibit the use of any reverse engineering in order to protect their trade secrets.

In the world of computers, copyrighted software sold is of two types, namely open source/free software and closed source/proprietary software. It may be added that not all software is copyrighted. There is also one other type of software that is called “abandonware” software. This is a type of software that is not being sold or supported by its copyright holder. This means that though this software is still available in the market its support and development has ceased and that it is not actively being protected, represented or supported.

Using box wrapped software implies that once the wrapper has been opened the user is giving their assent to the software terms contained within. This type of agreement is termed as “click-wrap agreements”. The popularity of click-wrap agreements is increasing since it allows the user to read the terms and conditions prior to accepting them. It has also been found to be legally enforceable in the United States with courts generally upholding such contracts. A prime example of click-wrap agreements is Hotmail, the email program sold by MSN.

There is also a distinction between personal and commercial use of the software. Personal use implies that the software is being used in one’s personal capacity while commercial use implies that the software is being used to obtain commercial or monetary gain from use of the software.

Wade Anderson is a CPA and operates DigitalWorkTools.com

Click to view a Software License Agreement.

Author: Wade Anderson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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